Imagine you are in the middle of cooking your favorite meal and all of a sudden, everything stops due to an empty gas cylinder. To those who cook frequently, these are things that can happen now and then.
Now imagine that as soon as you find out that your gas cylinder is almost getting empty, you can through your mobile phone place a refill or replacement order and have it delivered to your kitchen doorstep.
Both these imaginations are legit; one is a problem and the other is what technology does to fix such problems.
In Dar es Salaam, GasFasta is spearheading the clean cooking revolution, aided by technology. Gas Fasta simplifies the process of ordering cooking gas from the nearest verified vendors and gives a free yet reliable delivery service to all corners of Dar es Salaam. Its catalogue features all brands of LPG gas available in Tanzania such as Oryx Gas, Taifa Gas, Mihan Gas, O Gas, Cam Gas, Alpha Gas, and Manjis Gas among others.
According to Mohamed Alberti, the Founder and CEO of GasFasta, the users of his company’s services simply download the GasFasta APP, register, add their location details, place orders, pay and enjoy free deliveries.
“We are solving the problem of accessibility, affordability and delivery to cooking gas end-users. We have an Application available on IOS and Android, and a WhatsApp chatboard. We also have a network of vendors across Dar es Salaam. We provide free delivery to end users hence making gas affordable,” Mohamed Alberti said.
He added: “We have several modes of payment. You can pay cash on delivery, or pay through the APP with mobile money or your bank account. These digital payments are supported by payment aggregators licensed by the Central Bank of Tanzania.”
Alberti noted that the uptake of GasFasta services across Dar es Salaam has been impressive and thus encouraged them to start working on an expansion strategy that will see them serve other parts of Tanzania such as Mwanza, Arusha, Moshi, Dodoma, Morogoro and Zanzibar.
Nonetheless, he noted that consumer behaviour is among the main challenges they face as most customers still prefer the traditional manual way of ordering gas and thus need time to adjust to the technological way of placing these orders.
We interacted with GasFasta on the sixteenth day of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for Tanzania. First implemented in Uganda, 40 Days 40 FinTechs is an annual FinTech Innovation initiative presented by HiPipo to recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations who are making significant strides in promoting financial inclusivity through the use of technology.
It is aimed at promoting innovation and collaboration among FinTechs in Africa. The initiative is designed to provide FinTechs and startups with mentorship, training, exposure, and networking opportunities to help them grow and scale their businesses.
Alberti noted that the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is a timely intervention as it will not only attract more investors but also encourage innovators to ideate and roll out more financial inclusion solutions.
“We know that a lot of investors will come to Tanzania after watching these episodes. It will also encourage a lot of innovators to come up and showcase their products. More FinTechs will come out and approach 40 Days 40 FinTechs to showcase what they have and seek ways of how they can scale across Africa,” Alberti said.
40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Tanzania is part of HiPipo’s broader Include EveryOne Program that is generously supported by the Gates Foundation and implemented in partnership with Level One Project, ICTC Tanzania, Ideation Corner, Cyber PLC Academy, INFITX, Crosslake Technologies, NG Films, Founders Academy and Mojaloop Foundation.
The Include EveryOne program is a beacon of acceleration of FinTech Innovation, empowerment for Women in FinTech and a catalyst for investment and development in the ICT sector. Minus 40 Days 40 FinTechs, other initiatives under the Include EveryOne Program are the FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit and Incubator, Digital Impact Awards Africa and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit.
HiPipo is recognized as a premier advocate of digital Innovation and financial inclusion champion, a fervent proponent of the #LevelOneProject. HiPipo has been at the forefront, actively promoting digital innovation, Instant, Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS), and DFS across Africa. With a legacy of advising, mobilizing, and facilitating the adoption of inclusive financial services, HiPipo’s efforts have been nothing short of transformative! For almost two decades, HiPipo has successfully facilitated the inclusive adoption of these crucial services.
