Whatsapp just got a new competitor! Not just a new competitor, one from Nigeria.
The new Instant Messaging app, Qbee Chat was developed by a group of 3 students from the University of Jos.
We all know how the IM market is – there are big players with billions of users worldwide, as well as tons of others, that people have varying options to choose from when it comes to connecting with friends.
But for the the founders of Qbee Chat, Abel Alabi, Emmanuel Alabi and Allen Brown, they come with something better. They believe with the unique features that have been loaded in Qbee Chat, they can take on Whatspp, the biggest Instant Messaging App in the world.
In this interview, they tell us more about Qbee Chat and how they plan to make a name in the Instant Messaging market.
Tell us about Qbee Chat
Qbee is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS.
Qbee Messenger is available for Android on the Google play store, Because Qbee Chat uses the same Internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, there is no cost to messaging and staying in touch with your friends.
What inspired the idea for this?
It all started when we were using some instant messaging apps, we discovered some flaws these apps didn’t care to fix, so we taught ourselves coding and the development of QBee Chat started.
What stands Qbee Chat from other Instant Messaging platforms?
Like we said, Qbee Chat was built to solve the flaws of other instant messaging apps, so you won’t be surprised to see new features never seen before in other instant messaging apps.
Qbee chat stores all your data on the cloud to save your storage space and not lag your device; With Qbee you are totally unlimited in terms of number of group member with max of 10,000 members per group; you can catch all the world latest updates on music, movies and general entertainment; you can have a secret chat with your friends, that would require a user assigned key to unlock.
Qbee chat also comes with a processor optimizing feature to enable operations like adding a contact or sharing a file run in seconds.
How were you able to raise funds to build the app, and get business rolling
We got funds from family and friends who saw great potential in what we were doing. They either supported us in cash or in kind. These funds were used to get us the resources we needed to build the app and also learn coding.
If you were given $1m to invest in your startup, where would it go?
Okay, the major thing we would do is publicity, right now what we need the most is for people to know about the app. Marketing the app to the world would make them really know why they need to make the switch to Qbee.
Secondly, the rest of it would have to go to upgrading. Right now, we are only available on Android devices, and we would like IOS users to use the app also.
What are the challenges of being a student entrepreneur?
Seriously speaking it’s the hardest combination ever, it hasn’t been easy trying to concentrate on building an Instant Messaging app and facing our studies. But we have received support from our close friends and family members who gave a reason to move forward.
We have always had one short goal in every project we did, to “…get better every time you fall”. Actually that has been our watchword, we all know falling is inevitable so getting smarter every time you fail is the only thing you can do to stop failing.
How are you able to combine running the platform and schooling?
We actually created a schedule for every member of the team on what they would do and when they would do it, keeping in mind the time they have lectures. But the time we coded the most was during weekends or public holidays.
What advice would you give aspiring Nigerian entrepreneurs?
Our advice for every aspiring Nigerian entrepreneur out there to never give up. They should also know that “The bigger the odds, the higher the pay”.