 Anyway, a very good afternoon everyone. My name is Serena Naroka Kasere and I am the founder of Trillion Goods Store. Yes, you can see a very beautiful branded banner and table right there. And I'm going to share with you my e-commerce story. Okay, how do I start this? I want to use... I want to use ten minutes to make my presentation and five minutes maximum, in case you have a question for me, but make sure you ask me questions and I can answer. Yes? Okay, so in 2018, I was invited by Anna to one of the one press makeups in Kampala. That time I was a business developer in a cybersecurity company where I was doing marketing, business development, strategy and all those things. And I used to do a lot of writing. Now I used to blow on blogspot, you know, I used to use blogspot. And so, Anna told me that you can come and speak in one of our one press makeups about agile project management. So that was the first time I joined one press and the first time I joined a one press meter. Now when I was there, I got to know that I can actually switch from the blogspot to a one press platform and that is how I got to know about one press and all these beautiful features that you can use with one press. So I started writing. If you can Google Trillion Perspectives, that is the blog, the one press blog I used to run them. And then one day I started writing and then one of the one press community members tells me that they are going to buy for me a domain. I had never heard about that. Okay, I had heard about it but I had no inspiration on owning a domain. So I later on registered a website for the first time and I started doing a lot of writing and content creation and that is how I started building a brand online. So I shifted from business development to content writing and digital marketing and using all these one press features. Then another day, because I told you one day, so another day I joined a one press, no, no, no, a one camp. I think that was 2018 in Kampala and while these guys were talking, they said so many things about e-commerce and I'm like, okay, so there is a possibility of someone sitting at home and running the shop online and then selling so you don't have to run a physical shop. I started thinking around those lines of how do I build a shop while I am home and this shop is running. So I started learning about e-commerce and that is online commerce, online shops and everything. So you're going to forgive me because I'm going to mention Arthur a lot because I've known him for quite some time and every time I have a technical issue I ask him. So I asked him, is there a way I can run an e-commerce shop that sells art and crafts in Uganda and then that is how he told me actually I can help you build one. Love for him. You see how someone helps me make money. So he told me he could help me build one. Now my, what I had to do was to learn more about how to run that e-commerce store because him as a developer all he knew was I'm going to put you online. Whatever happens online, I don't want you to know. I'm going like most of you here. A client comes and says I want a website to let me build one. But how do you sell? You don't want to know. It's the clients to invest in all the things that they have to invest in order to make those sales. So my job was to learn how do I make these sales online. So I invested a lot in reading. I invested a lot in research. So I can run this show successfully. So welcome COVID-19. That is the worry in Uganda I showed up in February 2020. And by that time I was marketing for one of the crops villages in Kampala. And so they sent us home for all that time and that time I had been paid. Anyone has not been paid for six months. Teachers. Only six. Oh, okay, more than six. Okay. So I said I need to start up something that I can be home and I can still make money. But again I could not do this without people. Because honestly speaking the only thing I can do on our website is maintain it and update it. How to implement all the other things guys, I don't know it. But I know how to maintain it. How to do my SEO. How to do my writing and updating. But tell me, may I put this thing over? Put this plug in those things I don't know. So I needed people to work with. And I got that. I have these guys around. I have Penny. Where is Penny? Yes, she's right behind there. I had Penny. I had Arthur. And some other guys. So I told these guys, you know what? Me, my vision is to build an e-commerce store that sells art and crafts. So Penny knew how to do social media marketing. And I knew how to implement the website. Me, I am a strategist. So I knew how to strategize and go out there. Actually that's what I know best guys. So, I mobilized those guys and they convinced me that this idea can work. And they believed in me. And for two years and a half now, have been running that shop. Plum for us. Impossible to relax only. So, some of the challenges we've met along the way. One thing that I needed to do was to find where and how to do those things. I am a designer, a fashion designer's child. So I knew how to make some of those designs. And that is how I started from home. But again, I needed morality. So I won't tell you that I can do everything. And that is how I mobilized over 67 artisans who make those products and contrast us to market and sell those products on their behalf. So we have a network of the team that is implementing the technicalities and then we have a network of the designers, for the artisans who bring those products for us to sell. Now I'm just discussing the business model here. Then I also needed to sell. So everything technical about search engine optimization, what plug-in to use, what else? Okay, there is WooCommerce. We use Yoast to work around. Okay, Yoast is one of the banners. So I'll mention Yoast. So we have those, there's what you call them, plug-ins. Yes, we have those plug-ins. And the truth is the technical person implements them. I do the research on how to make them real ones. Because I own this business and if this business fails, it's not the IT person who is going to fail, but it is me as a business owner. So I have to be knowledgeable as much as the IT person. There are some times I ask him, okay, is there anything we can do to do this? And now it opens his mind to actually, there is something we can use to achieve this. Another challenge we have met along the way, payment get-wiz. Anyone has a challenge with payment get-wiz here in Uganda? Yes. You people fight on the WordPress community group, now you're not showing me hands. Payment get-wiz. Okay, now, one very good thing. I have a client who is a French client that I'm supposed to sell products to. And they are using an international cash to make payments on my website. I go to them and I tell them, okay, here is your product, but I want you to buy it online. I don't want you to give me cash. And guess what? While they are making the purchase, somebody pops up. The merchant is not collecting money right now. How would you feel? You are at the client's office. You have convinced them that they don't have to pay cash. They can make the transaction through your system. Then they tell you that my shop cannot collect international payments. Now that was a hassle. I went back, I called it and I know what. Now the website is not. Meanwhile, it collects mobile money. Very good. In Uganda, you make payments. Mobile money, it is very good. But when it comes to international cards, given that these are cards in Uganda, very good, but when it comes to international cards, there is that challenge. And to overcome that challenge, took me a full month of communicating back and forth. The merchant does not have an office here. So you have to communicate internationally. So we have that challenge. If you are here and you are part of the WordPress community, have a solution for this. Because I do believe you are so many, okay, we are so many brilliant heads here. But we have that very huge challenge in Uganda. My other challenge that I am going to talk to you about is you yourself. Look at yourself. Look at your neighbor. You are my biggest challenge right now. You know what? Every time I tell you, buy from the website, you tell me. Now, is it going to collect my details of my card? They will be chopping my money all the time. So we don't have trust between you and us. But we are here to tell you, you have seen me speak at the World Cup, 2023 in the interview. This is an international World Cup. For Christ's sake, believe that we are an authentic platform you can buy from. You promise? Ladies and gentlemen, can I stop there? No? But you want me to stop here? Okay, allow me to stop there. I stopped. I know I have talked about the challenges. Someone might be asking, what good things have you gotten out? First of all, guys, we have made money through some few people who trust us to buy online. And the other thing is we have been recognized in different competitions. For example, I am privileged to be a holder of the Best Women Entrepreneur Award by Total Energies 2022. And the rest of the things that I can't share really. Yes, allow me to stop here. And in case we have any questions, I can take the questions now. Any questions? I think I will give my phone here. So Serena, I was interacting with someone whom I was encouraging to pick up this e-commerce system in Uganda with the likes of Jumea and the likes who are selling food. It has kind of picked up other platforms like Sephora that try the little bit things or the little bit shaking. But this is what this particular match I told you. They were dealing with gadgets and they told me that actually you have talked about the payment gateways. The challenge they had was the person who took the cash in the liquid, which I am sure is one of the options because of the trust people have between the merchants and also their parties. But then you take the particular laptop and someone directs you along the way that they could plan for you. Then the tax takes the two million laptop without, you know, anything. But just because you received a phone call or someone told you they saw you on the website, as children stores, what have you done to mitigate any particular resistance when it comes to transactions that cannot be really controlled within the WordPress ecosystem. If I'm the user, I've been here. At the end of the day, I just get your phone call and ask for a specific African bag and you trust that I'm buying out of you by the time you send me the delivery person and beat them up. So in your e-commerce story, what have you done to solve some of my challenges? Thank you. Actually, thank you very much for that question. As my belief has always been e-commerce should be completed online. I don't have passion delivery. Unfortunately, I don't have. If you want to complete the transaction, it is cash fast, then I will deliver because I am trying so much to create a trust between me and the buyer. And one of the things that we emphasize is communication from the time the person places in an order to how we are processing the order to when he reaches that client. But apart from that, we don't accept I'll deliver, I'll pay when I when you deliver the products. You'd rather come to the physical store and pick your products and then take cash. All right. Thank you. There's a money in there. Why not cash? It's a little bit. But also, the other thing is we have tried so much to make transactions online. For example, I am one of the people my business is not so huge, but at least I have a POS machine for transactions where people can swipe and pay. The other thing is I also have those merchant quotes for where people can complete their payment through mobile money because in Uganda people can transfer mobile money more than they can. So I try to find a way of understanding a client at their level.