CEO, Innocent Mayawa

I worked in the hospitality industry for 6 years of college and University in Houston, Texas. Then I came back to Tanzania and worked in Telco for 7 years and Renewable Energy for 2 years. This idea came up in 2020 during COVID-19. I used to shop my groceries at Mabibo Market, hence the source of MabiboSokoni Service name. The lack of foot traffic to the market got me thinking on how I can offer a better solution that will have a positive impact to the customer, especially working women who wants to go to the market but do not have time and at the same time assist the small vendor, porters, transporters and farmers eventually to earn their daily income.

So, I did a survey for 1 month asking my riders, especially women about 80+ people while driving Uber if they will use such service and how much service fee they are willing to pay. I kept contacts of those who showed interest. When we started the MVP, I called the same people and at least 15% were willing to give us a short, those 15 to 20 early adopters spread the word and we grew organically since then. Most of our customers we acquire are through word of mouth.

In the beginning it was tough, I used to do it all by myself, receiving the orders, going to the market to buy groceries, then making deliveries to customers and that took a long time and was hectic. Gradually, I recruited porters and drivers (motorbikes aka bodaboda) that I could trust and we are learning and growing steadily.