Many people have lost valuable items such as national identity documents and academic qualifications, which sometimes take forever to replace.
If you are one of the people that have been inconvenienced after your valuable possessions were lost or stolen, Easy Tracking Systems Namibia has a solution for you.
Established in 2015 by 29-year-old Mac-Donald Vihanga, Easy Tracking Systems Namibia helps you reconnect with your lost valuables for a reasonable fee.
According to Vihanga, the company spares clients the trouble of having to look around for their lost items in different places, all you have to do is call or visit their offices located in Windhoek.
Although business is picking up, Vihanga said he worked from home for about a year due to a shortage of funds. It was only after he pitched his idea of a tracking company to a Swedish entity, Global Business Labs (GBL) - an organisation that assists selected start-ups in emerging markets to reach their full potential - that he was able to open an office in Windhoek.
GBL agreed to give him free office space, among other things, which helped Easy Tracking Systems Namibia to provide a professional service to clients.
“We saw a niche in the market to create a platform where fellow Namibians can help one another recover their most sensitive and important valuables and goods, making ours a socio-entrepreneurship platform.
“We mostly use social media to get hold of the rightful owners of missing items that range from the least important to sensitive items, including official documentation.”
Vihanga said he is the owner of the business together with an unnamed silent partner, who prefers to be in the background.
“The (silent partner) believed in the viability of the concept so much that after helping with registrations, they bought office equipment and a vehicle for the company to operate,” he said
Vihanga added that he has over the last two years received invaluable business advice or mentorship from some of Namibia’s top business personalities, courtesy of GBL.
A former restaurant manager at Mugg and Bean and Ocean Basket, Vihanga said one of the greatest challenges for his start up business is to convince clients about the importance of his business.
Other challenges include lack of recognition by various Government arms such as the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) and Social Security Commission, which would make it easier for him to locate the owners of the various items lost.
“They cited confidentiality and the sensitivity of people’s information being made available to a third party as the main reason to decline.
“The Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development as we speak is looking into the matter to find ways of how Easy Tracking Systems Namibia can set up memorandums with these key institutions as part of the Growth at Home Strategy. So it is a bit of work in progress, but we do not despair as we hope for the best,” Vihanga said.
He was, however, optimistic that the various strategic initiatives that he has been learning from his mentors would help him to capture the market and gain the trust of clients and potential partners.
Easy Tracking Systems Namibia charges different prices for services rendered depending on the cost incurred in maintaining or advertising the lost item until it is retained to its rightful owner, but on average, the company charges N$45 for simpler items such as national or official documents or bags.
Vihanga’s ultimate goal is to open branches across the country, and to that end, he has already begun traveling and seeking partners in other towns where the demand for the company’s service is high.
“Although the project could automatically expand in all 14 regions in no time due to its franchise-like model, we have not been able to move or operate anywhere else other than Windhoek.
“In the next 12 months we expect to open mini branches in the northern and coastal parts of Namibia, but that is dependent on several other factors we are still considering,” Vihanga said.
