Solomon Gunda, a passionate entrepreneur driven by innovation, is tackling a major hurdle in Africa’s transportation sector: the difficulty of finding tickets for various modes of travel in one place.
His brainchild, TicketSafari, founded in 2023 and headquartered at Temeke, Dar Es Salaam is a one-stop platform aiming to revolutionize how people book their journeys across Tanzania, East Africa and the continent at large.
Mr Gunda’s studies in Civil Engineering at the University of Surrey in the UK exposed him to the convenience of seamless online travel booking. This experience sparked a desire to replicate that ease for Africans, particularly those in underserved regions.
During the iconic Connected Africa Summit 2024, TicketSafari was feted in the Trade and Logistics Category.
In Tanzania, the firm has partnered with Flutterwave to enable easy change of money for the customers. Recently, the firm has also partnered with Tahmeed bus to ensure seamless tickecting for travellers in Mombasa, Kenya to Tanzania.
“This year maybe the by the end of July, my platform could be able to allow users to book Tahmeed tickets,” said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who is also a software developer.
In an Interview with TechMoran, Mr Gunda shares his insights as an early-stage start up in Tanzania:
Briefly tell us about yourself
My name is Solomon Gunda. I’m passionate about leveraging innovation to drive change in Africa. My goal is to tackle issues in transportation, housing, healthcare, education, and energy. I believe this can be achieved with the right support, creating a positive impact for all.
What inspired your entrepreneurial journey?
I founded Ticketsafari to solve one of the biggest problems in transportation on the continent: the difficulty of buying tickets online for buses, trains, boats, and flights. Ticketsafari offers people options they didn’t have before, allowing them to choose their travel mode conveniently based on criteria like budget.
During my studies in Civil Engineering at the University of Surrey in the UK, I experienced the ease of choosing how to travel from the comfort of my room. This experience inspired me to establish Ticketsafari and bring similar convenience to Africa, especially to underserved people and locations
TicketSafari was born from the passion to solve the transportation problems in Africa when it comes to buying tickets, the struggle to find tickets for bus, train, plane or boat in one place and the difficulties to get the prices too.
What is your business model?
Transactional Business Model. Revenue comes from commission and booking fees for train tickets. We act as the intermediary between passengers and operators.
Entrepreneurship is said to be the one safest way out of unemployment and poverty in Africa. What gap are you addressing?
Entrepreneurship is important in solving the unemployment and poverty problem both directly and in-directly. But it is filled with challenges with the biggest one being funding support. However I believe entrepreneurship despite being risky and challenging is very important for the youth in Africa to do it because regardless of the outcome the lessons from it are far more valuable than the results themselves.
Instead of focusing on zero-sum game whereby one person gains is another person loss like gambling and scamming it’s better to focus on win-win models/businesses where solving problems in society actually leads to an improvement in their lives in one way or another which is something I’m focusing on and believe in 100% as in the future I will be making services to solve problems regarding housing, healthcare, energy and education.
So far there is no platform that offers all tickets for all modes of transportation such as bus, train, plane or boat. This is the gap I’m addressing.
What are your experiences so far?
The experience towards targeted end users is that they are excited with the ability to easily book tickets for all modes of transportation in one platform. Additionally end-users are super excited with the ability to earn money from affiliate/referral by sharing links to their friends and family.
For providers(bus,boat,plane and train) the experience has been difficult with very long negotiation and expensive requirements for an early startup. The providers dealing in flights such as Precision air have a good system for integrating online services externally but for buses is challenging and expensive in terms of integration.
The issue is for some providers to understand that the standard when it comes to selling tickets involves multiple sources, not just one. As bus is among the most used transportation in Tanzania and East Africa in general it is important to educate people on this as it benefits everyone.
My experience in getting licences and necessary documents was good with many being able to be obtained through online means. This helped greatly in meeting initial compliance. However for a startup the initial costs can be high in some cases. I believe lowering some of the costs will attract even more entrepreneurs to actually make their dreams possible
My experience in general is that the whole journey has been difficult but the potential of solving a big problem like this pushes me forward especially considering the impact it will have on end users. So far despite the product still being in early development it has changed to fit the user feedback and the current market such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementation in the booking process when users use whatsapp to book their tickets.
Have you raised venture capital before?
I have not yet secured any funds. The support so far hasn’t been from Venture Capital as the startup is still on its early stage.
Why is it that many local startups don’t get as much venture capital as their western counterparts?
Western startups receive more funding because they invest in their economy and their youth. So until Africa starts to do so it’ll always be the case. Those Venture Capital invest big taking big risks hoping to get big returns as well. They also get big losses but the same rule applies. For Africa if investors don’t invest big then no big results will come which means local startups will always struggle and will look elsewhere.
Any local competition and how unique are you from them?
Competition exists but many focus on individual modes of transportation but for me I believe there’s a lot of potential in unifying all modes of transportation to open up Africa. Only flights tickets are truly accessible online in the continent and even then it’s a US or Europe based platform that offers those services making the tickets expensive. But TicketSafari will actually give options to people to choose which mode of transportation they want based on cost or other criteria. Something like that will be difficult to do if only one mode of transportation is used, such as what’s happening now with flights.
What can be done to reduce the skills gap among African youth compared to their counterparts in the West?
Invest and support to local youth especially in terms of funding
How big is your team?
We are a team of 5.
Where do you expect your business to be in 2 years in terms of new features, products, geographical reach, etc
Not specifically features but in terms of access point for the service, it should be working for all access points such as app, website, whatsapp and USSD. Also, I anticipate integration to mobile money agents and at least operational in whole of Tanzania and parts of Kenya.
What are the challenges in the industry and ways to mitigate?
1. Funding and Investment
Securing sufficient funding to support growth and development, especially in a region where venture capital is less prevalent is a challenge. However, we choose to diversify funding sources by seeking grants, angel investors, and partnerships with larger corporations, demonstrate a clear value proposition and strong market potential to attract investors, and maintain a lean operational model to optimise resource utilisation. Agents located in various locations can help in generating the revenue that will be crucial for the business making the startup attractive to investors.
2.Competition:
Competing with established local and international platforms that may have more resources and market presence is another hurdle. To mitigate, we are differentiating our platform by offering a unique value proposition, such as an all-in-one solution for multiple transportation modes, superior customer service, and competitive pricing. Focus will be on the African markets specifically especially the underserved regions such as villages to build a strong initial user base. Furthermore, it will enable people to earn money by simply sharing the link to friends and family which will incentivise the business
3.Integration with Transportation Providers:
We have also faced challenges in securing partnerships and integrating with various transportation providers, particularly smaller and more traditional operators, can be time-consuming and very costly. To mitigate, we are developing flexible integration solutions that accommodate different technological capabilities, offer incentives and support to smaller providers for digitisation, and prioritise partnerships with providers that have scalable integration processes.
Also showcasing clear benefits to them so they can see exactly how they’ll benefit from the process financially. Since the service can also integrate hotels bookings it’ll compliment the transportation providers who also have affiliation.
How can one access your services?
Customers can use the app on android (TicketSafari), Website and WhatsApp chatbot(+255752364854) and USSD is coming soon. iOS version is also coming soon. The WhatsApp Chatbot can be crucial because users can directly buy tickets there with the possibility of implementing AI soon. So far the WhatsApp number allows users to enter a waiting list.