Founded in 2018, Paytree has three main products – integrated payments tool Paytree Direct, payments distribution system Parallel, and Mzizzi, its online shop platform. The latter was the first African solution that allowed anyone to open a fully branded online shop for free.
Dayvee Ngugi and James Munyeria are the faces behind Mzizzi, an e-commerce start-up platform for businesses to sell goods and services online.
The platform that comes with payment gateways and delivery solutions is the flagship of the Paytree Group, their platform for helping firms set up online shops and electronic payment solutions.
Failure to find “quality” honey and fruit for James’ child was to become the inspiration behind what is now a promising start-up in a highly digitalized global marketplace.
James, the co-founder, and chief operating officer for Paytree, saw a need and decided to set up an online grocery shop complete with payment and delivery propositions.
“I wanted to run this as a ‘side hustle’ and, therefore, needed to have a platform that would allow customers to place their orders, pay, and have the items delivered without involving much of my time; a solution was hard to come by and I decided to build one with my colleague, Dayvee,” he says.
“After working on this for some time, we realized that this was an unmet need in the market and decided to help other entrepreneurs just like us.”
“I view problems as unmet needs and come up with ways to satisfy those needs,” says Davyee, the co-founder and chief executive.
“When we create solutions that help other businesses succeed, it gives me a sense of purpose. I ensure that the customer is well served and happy to recommend us to the next potential customer.”
The duo spends long hours working for the business with an understanding that it takes “sacrifice on most aspects of life to grow a business from scratch”.
Finding, hiring, and retaining the best skills has been the biggest challenge for the business partners who met in college.
“As an entrepreneur, you are a Swiss Army knife tasked with providing different value to different people, and I get joy being a useful tool to different people be it, my customers or employees,” Dayvee says.
And his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: “Don’t be entitled, the world doesn’t owe you a thing. Find a path in life that you feel is right and direct your efforts in its growth, then keep working on it until you succeed.”
