Entrepreneurs are people who see solutions to problems in a market and set about delivering it to customers in pursuit of great rewards despite the risks and sacrifices.”
How did you become an entrepreneur and why?
Entrepreneurs are people who see solutions to problems in a market and set about delivering it to customers in pursuit of great rewards despite the risks and sacrifices.
I’m not exactly sure why one would want be one (because it is hard as nails) but we were just born like this, it’s in our DNA. As a team we love the challenge of creating something from nothing, growing it into something significant and making the world a better place in process.
What gap did you see in the market for your business?
More people are renting today than ever before, but the way we do it hasn’t changed in decades.
More and more property owners are choosing to let their properties themselves (versus using an agent) but the tools available make it difficult to find a great tenant amongst all the faceless strangers of the internet. Managing your property and the tenant relationship can be stressful and time-consuming.
For tenants facing an increasingly competitive rental space, even finding a place is hard since you need to navigate your way through multiple sites and hundreds of classifieds and deposit scams only to find out the place you like is already taken.
It’s impossible to stand out in the crowded market and secure the place you want and having to supply all your confidential information in paper form is not only a pain, but a real security risk.
Nobody is winning.
We see an opportunity to create a place where both property owners and tenants can come together in a trusted environment to rent better.
What does the business do and what is innovative about it?
With Ekaya, would-be tenants can verify themselves through our quick and easy verification tool, which builds a neat (and ultra-secure) profile containing everything they need to nab the property they want – including verified identity, references, credit history and bank statements.
By having all this information available in a single, secure place they can beat out the competition by coming to the property owner “pre-vetted” making them three times more likely to be selected than any faceless stranger. The whole process is more efficient, cheaper and a lot more secure than the traditional way of finding and applying for rentals.
On the other side of the coin, property owners are getting access to a steady stream of pre-vetted tenants who meet their standards for affordability and risk profile, making it elegantly simple to find and select a great tenant for their investment property.
We’re so confident in ability to deliver on this promise that we guarantee our qualified tenants with the most comprehensive risk cover for property owners in South Africa (up-to five times the monthly rental) as well as a host of other great benefits that make renting a stress-free breeze for property owners.
Read the full article here.
