Jara app is a free mobile app for buying airtime. But not like any you’ve seen or used before.
Subscribers on the app can recharge on all major telecommunication networks in Nigeria, paying via their debit cards and then getting free shopping coupons that can be redeemed with merchants signed up with the platform.
It’s the whole concept of “Jara”, a Nigerian pidgin reference to “a little extra”, that has etymological roots in the Yoruba language.
According to startup’s co-founder, Chinedu Onyeaso, who pitched the product to TechCabal, the discount coupons won’t stop at anytime as the retailers get a higher sales lead once the discount coupons are used, thereby encouraging them to continue with the arrangement.
Redeeming Jara coupons seems limited to Lagos for now with Jara having only signed up two merchants including Mico’s House of Chicken & Waffles, and Filmhouse Cinemas in Lagos for now. The startup’s co-founder, Chinedu Onyeaso informs TechCabal that they are in talks with more merchants across food, entertainment, clothing and travel to sign up on the initiative.
In addition to the free coupon, Jara goes a step further by donating 10% of it gross profit to a Lagos-based charity organization, Destiny Trust Children Foundation.
If you are wondering how Jara will make money off the product, here’s how Chinedu explains it.
“Telco Distributor sells N100,000 ($506) worth of mobile airtime (for example) to us at N95,000 ($477) (5% volume discount).” he says “We resell the airtime bundled with discount coupons to subscribers at full value, making a N 5,000 ($25) margin and N 3,500 ($17) gross (after payment charges).”
“Our product rewards users in a way that nobody is currently doing. Our business model makes us stand out from the competition,” Chinedu Onyeaso says.
Jara was developed Entarado Technologies, a tech startup, founded by Chinedu Onyeaso and Emeka Akano.
The beta version of the app will be release in July on the Google PlayStore and App Store.
Image via: Jara
