In 2018, Folayemi Agusto and Nosa Oregun launched Festival Coins with the aim of taking away the problems that are associated with organizing events in Nigeria.
Festival Coins first product, Tix, was first used by EatDrinkMedia. The media company was experiencing difficulties with selling tickets to attendees of its EatDrinkLagos festival. Tix which is a ticketing solution, was deployed to solve that problem.
“All we needed to do was create our event, link our bank account and we were good to go’
Nosa Oregun and Folayemi Agusto
With that success in the bag and seeing that many event planners struggled with that aspect of their planning, Festival coins was launched as a permanent solution.
Festival Coins’ products and adoption.
Tix is an online ticketing platform that allows event organizers to create customized pages with details of their event. From Tix, the user can share the event on social media.
The check-in app allows organizers to manage the guests coming to the event. Whether it is an individual or business that creates the event, they can collect their funds by adding their bank account to the event.
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A complimenting service to the ticketing service is Festival Coin’s Access Control. For event organisers who use this service, a RFID (Radio-frequency identification) chip in the form of a wristband is provided to the guests. With the chip, guests are screened and allowed into the venue in lesser time than is obtainable with manual checking.
The products have seen increased adoption by individuals and organizations. At least 11 events have been organized using the Tix platform since April. Some of the organizations that have used the platform to order their events include IBFC Alliance, FemmeAfrica, Kewa’s kitchen, Microtraction, Imoteda, and SPW.
Since developing the first product for EatDrinkMedia, Agusto and Oregun have become co-founders of the media company. Tix, Access Control, and Cashless Coin are Festival Coins products that have been used to regulate EatDrinkLagos since 2018.
Cashless Coins is the startup’s way of ensuring a seamless transaction between buyers and sellers at events. It reduces the need for POS terminals and provides buyers with a pre-paid coins that can be used for purchases at the event.
Funding and expansion
Since its launch, Festival Coins has raised one funding round. The amount is undisclosed but was raised in 2019 from VC firm, Microtraction. Currently, Festival Coins is part of the 8 startups from Nigeria that have been selected to be a part of Google Startup Accelerator for Africa.
Suggested read: Meet The 8 Nigerian Startups Selected For Google Startup Accelerator Africa
The services of the company have been used for events in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. More of the clients come from Lagos, according to Festival Coins, and enquiries about the services are already coming in from Egypt and Ghana.
Ghana, however, is the next point of expansion for the startup. Co-founder Nosa Oyegun said, “As far as expansion goes, we definitely want to get into the Ghanaian market properly in the coming year (2021).”
The startup’s line of products solve the problems that Eventbrite does not cover in Nigeria, and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. It, however, is still working on getting a stronger presence in the country, as shown by its social media following and engagements.
Festival Coins’ products will help event organizers get the best out of their events, in a structured manner.
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