Angelo Ngugi Becker has told HumanIPO his “self-serving” African holidays site will give visitors a different perspective on Africa as he prepares for a range of upgrades and monetisation.
Vibanda.com is a long and short term holiday listing site which is aiming to differentiate itself from the usual hotel and safari packages.
Ngugi said: “Our main focus is to promote holiday in Africa from a different perspective other than the usual expensive hotels and safari packages.
“We would like our clients to explore Africa on a more independent level which will allow them to experience living in Africa and thus learn the importance of preserving and respecting the riches of our continent.”
Based in Germany and operating from East Africa, all the staff give their time to the project voluntarily and hold down full-time jobs as well.
Vibanda offers holiday property owners, agents and property managers to list their properties on the site.
That service is currently free, but a monetisation model is moving the company towards two packages. Either a rental owner can upload for free and pay for individual support services or pay a one-off KSh5,000 (US$58) for “exclusive services currently to be re-defined”.
An additional service offered by Vibanda.com is website management and consultation.
Ngugi said: “Quite often managing a website takes least priority as businesses grow and people become occupied with other more important tasks. For a minimal surcharge, vibanda.com will take a close look at these websites, keep an eye on the developments of the business and ensure that the website reflects that.”
In an attempt to alleviate poverty in Africa, Vibanda has also partnered with non-government organisation (NGO) Neema International e.V. to drive a long term solution to this predicament.
“If you list your holiday rental with us, we guarantee you that your money will be used appropriately in social projects,” Ngugi said.
This is done by passing all of the profit gained by Vibanda to Neema International e.V, which Ngugi was one of seven founding members, in order to be able to offer support social projects on the continent.
Ngugi also mentioned future plans to expand the site into going beyond holiday rental listing and offering more services to their clients.
