It’s 2019. Everyone wants fast internet! You are either on a blazing Broadband connection or a fast 4G internet connection. This is where the MTN TurboNet Router shines – A morph of broadband and 4G LTE.

Every new tech has its own pros and cons. Heck even the internet itself has its own issues.

Today we take a look at one of Ghana’s leading internet and telecommunications service providers MTN. We’re particularly looking at their newly introduced internet solution – the Turbonet router: the pros and cons of it (and some freebies).

To make this as practical and truthful as possible, we had some chats with a few current users of the device. We’ll be summarizing their views based on the data packages, internet speed, and customer service. These categories were based on the views they expressed during the “interview”. 

Pros Of The MTN TurboNet Router

Initial Device Setup

It’s a plug-and-play device so setting up is a walk in the park. Plug it in, turn it on, and start surfing. Since it comes with 5GIG free data, you don’t even have to worry about purchasing data initially. 5GIG is not much but it should give you something to test the blazing fast speed with.

Free Data For 6 Months

Remember the free 5GIG data I mentioned above? You get it every month for the next 6 months. Yep. For all the freebie lovers out there, this one is for you!

Bonus On Every Topup
More goodies! For every top-up you make on the TurboNet Router, you get an extra 50% bonus data free! This does put a smile on everyone’s face. I’m not surprised our interviewees enjoyed this. I mean come on, who wouldn’t? 

From the information we gathered from our interviewees, it appears the pros far out way the cons. Nonetheless, every tech has got its own wahala. Let’s dive right into what they said.
But before we do, don’t forget to check out the full device specs from the Hubtel Mall here: MTN TurboNet Router 
Bonus: Get free delivery and GHS10 cashback when you purchase today!

Cons of The MTN Turbonet Router

Initial Bundle Activation
Most of them mentioned that they had a hard time getting the initial free bundle. It turns out that sometimes it takes a while for your free 5GIG to hit your account. But once you pass this first encounter, it’s a smooth sail from here on. I actually experienced this myself as I had to call their customer helpline to get this activated.

In Conclusion
I personally use the MTN TurboNet Router at home. The only issue I have is the fact that the data runs out so quick! Maybe I stream a lot on YouTube. Should I qualify this as a Pro or a Con? 

While you think of an answer, don’t forget to grab one today from the Hubtel mall. You’ll love it!

Three years ago, Alex Bram had an idea. The idea was quite simple. He believed there should be an app that connected users to their favorite brands. This connection was quite different and novel, in the sense that users would have the power to purchase digital services from these brands; and review them as well for the kind of service they received. Also, it had a mix of loyalty where users were rewarded every time a digital service was purchased. This was meant to create a positive feedback loop that would keep customers coming back for more. Someway somehow it worked and we all enjoy it to this day.

For this idea to come alive a team of engineers was assembled (sort of like the Avengers. These guys did not have superpowers).
At that point in time, Hubtel’s focus was on businesses and the core of our product was business-facing, so most of the engineering effort and time were put in that direction. This team that was formed was as agile as you can imagine.

These were the members and their roles as of then:

1. Alex Bram (Part-time Project Manager)
2. Selassie Afenya (Team Lead)
3. Liman Labaran (Backend Developer)
4. Paul Gamedzi (Front End Developer > Backend Engineer)
5. Bill Inkoom (Android Developer)
6. Emmanuel Rockson (Visual Designer)

Since we were free to do what we wanted, we chose a different stack as opposed to what Hubtel was using – Microsoft Framework. We went Laravel. On the business platform, Hubtel had users and businesses but because we were building a side app, we created our own users. We also created our own brands and basically created everything that our little platform needed. The app was launched to the public on Hubtel’s birthday, 12th May (2017). We started work on it around July 2016. It was initially named Hubtel Exchange then we did not like that name so we changed it to Hubtel Connect. Then we didn’t like that name either so we changed it to Hubtel Gratis. But Apple said no to that name so we chose Hubtel.me and we got fed up and just removed the .me so now it’s just Hubtel.

The app released to the public was really simple: you could buy airtime and pay some bills and get great rewards for doing that. We started with a few users: less than a hundred. Our daily transaction volumes were in hundreds of cedis a day. We had no ads or no big promotion plans in mind. We wanted the dream of virality, to build a system so good that it would sell itself. As time went on our users increased in number and the volumes came with it. We steadily climbed to GHS 100,000 a month and crossed the 1000-user mark, then we hit a million Ghana cedis in transactions (“a milli, a milli” in Lil Wayne’s voice). That was great.

The fire sort of died down a little bit because we had become another credit-selling and bill-paying app ( a sect of apps that are just waiting to be slaughtered by the Industry Giants (Banks and MTN).

Then Patrick Asare-Frimpong joined Hubtel and for the very first time, we had a full-time Project Manager. He brought fresh energy and new ideas.

The next few months were exciting: we worked on Gift-cards; we worked on fraud prevention and we built our beloved Sophie. She is truly a darling. Sophie is certainly one of a kind, she is a fully automated bot that can process natural language and give level-headed replies. At first, she was just cracking jokes and giving people Hubtel’s phone number. Well, Patrick disagreed and insisted we equip Sophie to become Hubtel’s first Automated Support (RoboSupport). It worked! Sophie can now reverse transactions when issues are reported to her. Her database of possible questions has grown making her a great support personnel to talk to all the time.

Then came a powerful alliance with marketing to create the potential future of Hubtel – the Mobile Mall and Car4ce. Around this time most of the earlier comrades had left and new comrades had entered the scene.

• Max Cofie
• Andy Nickson
• Sam Eshun With a new team and more motivation, work on the mall and CareForce was completed.

A New Dawn

That was the past, and now Hubtel looks to the future. The fragmentation of Hubtel Consumers and Hubtel Businesses will be no more. We all look ahead to forge one story where consumers can go through a Hubtel journey that’s clear as distilled water. A future where the Hubtel app owns no users, owns no streams, owns no transactions and owns no data, and owns no algorithms. A future where everything belongs to the Hubtel platform, allowing us to build many meaningful apps for our lovely customers.

Article by: Bill Nkoom – Software Engineer at Hubtel

Hubtel wins three awards at the just ended GITTA Awards ceremony, held on Friday June 28, 2019.

• Fintech Company of the Year
• Fintech CEO of the Year (Alex Bram)
• Emerging eCommerce Initiative of the Year

About GITTA Awards 

Now in its 9th year, the Ghana Information Technology & Telecom Awards (GITTA) is the most prestigious awards program in the industry. Most times called the “Oscar Awards”, it recognizes innovation and excellence. GITTA 2019, which has an independent panel of industry experts as judges, recognized organizational performances, products, services, innovations, executives and management teams, women in ICT, and CSR initiatives.

GITTA has become one of the industry’s most prized honours. It is an accolade given to individuals and teams and is a vindication of the hard work, innovation and dedication of those at the forefront of this dynamic global profession.

It was an awesome day at the office today as we hosted reps from the MTN Global Graduate Programme.

During a Q&A session, the team engaged with some staff to learn more about what Hubtel does. The visit to Hubtel was part of their ongoing training in the MTN Global Graduate Programme.

The staff from Hubtel that led the Q&A sessions were:

About MTN Global Graduate Programme

MTN’s Global Graduate Development Programme seeks to source, develop, and accelerate top graduates from across MTN’s footprint in Africa and the Middle East. The programme offers a privileged experience that fast-tracks talented individuals into critical roles at MTN.

The MTN Graduate Development Programme combines both formal development in partnership with Duke Corporate Education and the MTN Academy, as well as on-the-job development through full employment and placement into a strategically aligned role.

The formal component includes modules at MTN’s 3 regional learning centres, located in Southern, Northern and Western Africa.

Bulk SMS Services In Ghana

Bulk SMS is a must for any business looking to reach its customers faster. When you want to send messages to customers and even leads, SMS is your first best option.

Hubtel provides an easy way for you to send messages online using just your browser. Our online portal for messages (Notify) is a simple interface that anyone can use to send messages to their leads and customers. It also comes with an option to personalize your messages.

USSD Service

2-way messaging is also a feature that we support. You can use this to send messages and get replies from your recipients at any time. If you need USSD service in addition, you can refer to this guide on how to get one. With a USSD code service, your customers can interact with your business regardless of the phone they use.

Ready to sign up for our bulk SMS service?

Visit hubtel.com to create an account now.

Once you log in, click on Notify. This is the bulk SMS service you will use to send all your SMS messages

First, you need to top-up your Hubtel credit and purchase an SMS bundle.

Once you are done with the top-up, head back to the Notify page and start your bulk SMS campaign. Simply follow the on-screen instructions to get started.

USSD service is now readily available everywhere. Developers and companies alike have come to like this service due to its ease of use and fast deployment times. The question then is: how do you get the best USSD provider in Ghana, and how do you get the service?

Hubtel USSD Service

Hubtel provides an easy way for developers to build and deploy their apps on USSD.

There are different types of USSD codes with various capabilities to meet your needs. Hubtel is the best USSD service provider in Ghana.

There are three types of USSD Codes available to you on Hubtel:

Dedicated Codes

A dedicated USSD code is typically owned by one account. It has only one segment. Eg *714#. You can add as many subcodes (extensions) as possible. It is more expensive than the other types of USSD codes. To purchase a dedicated code, kindly contact any of our friendly sales personnel for more information at [email protected].

Semi-Dedicated Codes

A semi-dedicated code is dedicated to one account but shared among other accounts. The owner of the semi-dedicated service code can create as many extensions as possible. You can contact any of our friendly sales personnel for more information on acquiring a semi-dedicated code at [email protected].

Shared Codes

A shared code is a code that is shared among different users. This option is less expensive and the most preferred one. You can add as many subcode (extensions) as possible. Eg *713*20*xxx#. You can search and buy a shared USSD service code from your Hubtel account. You can request for a shared code directly from your Hubtel Unity account.

Follow this link to apply for a USSD code today.

The Switch-Over Update

It’s all coming together

Here’s what to expect on the new platform

Login With QR Code

Simpler, faster and more secure way to log in

Stream

Your personal page to view all your personal account activities on Hubtel

Products and Services

A brand new inventory sub-system to manage all the things you sell, be it a Product or a Service

Money

A new accounting system built on an ISO 8583 compatible banking system to assure proper accounting of all sales

This will enable hourly settlements (a significant improvement over the current next day settlement)

Hubtel POS

An entirely new POS app. Rebuilt to be simple and fast so you sell without hassle

Business Dashboard

Your new Dashboard is faster, easier to use and re-organised so the most important data is one click away 

• Branch Specific Insights 
  View key information and trends per branch. Add a mobile number and an email address for notifications on incoming sales and inventory updates.
  If you run a one-branch business, the information you see applies to your business. 

• Customer Rating  
  New dashboard now shows you how your customers generally feel about the quality of service they receive from your business. 

• Sales Summary
  Gives you a 360 overview of all your sales information. See all your pending orders; orders awaiting pickup and every single transaction for business.

• Customer Insights
  Get a detailed profile of your customers from the first time they ever paid you. See who are churning as well as your most active customers and reward them accordingly. 

Hubtel POS

• Scan Barcodes with the Camera on Your POS Phone/Tablet
  No barcode scanner? No problem, you can now scan item barcodes with the camera on your mobile device (tablet, iPhone or iPad).

• Multi Cart  
  If your business serves many customers who constantly update their orders — at the same time — like restaurants, car washing bays, hotels, beauty shops,
  your sales employees can now open multiple tabs or carts; and checkout when the customers are ready to pay. 

• Discounts 
  Apply random discounts to any sale! Simply enter the discount amount to the customer’s cart before checkout. 

• Contacts  
  Save contact details of your customers directly onto your POS for easy access at checkout. 

• Sales History
  Detailed overview of sales completed in-store, online and on mobile by payment channel right from your POS. 

Online Payments

• Onsite Checkout 
  Your customers no longer leave your website to make payments via Hubtel. You can switch to the onsite Checkout and avoid the redirect to the Hubtel Checkout.  

• Quick & Easy Payments With Vodafone Cash: No More Tokens 
  Payments using Vodafone Cash is now easier. Simply send your customers a prompt to complete payment. Your customers don’t need to generate a token before payments can be made. 

• Optimized Customer Checkout 
  Removed all barriers to ensure customers easily make payments once they start the checkout process. 

• Multiple Payment Wallets 
  Make payments faster by adding multiple wallets to your personal phone number. 

The eCommerce Boom

According to Bigcommerce, eCommerce (or electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods (or services) on the internet. From mobile shopping to online payment encryption and beyond, eCommerce encompasses a wide variety of data, systems, and tools for both online buyers and sellers.

Globally, eCommerce growth projections are on an upward trajectory:

Taking Advantage

What does this all mean for you as a business? Taking advantage of such an opportunity is the logical route to take here. Now you may be wondering why the attribution to Instagram?

Instagram has an estimated 1 billion monthly active users, according to Statista. As a business, establishing a strong social media presence is not only a smart move, but a wise business decision. Most consumers now prefer to establish relationships with their favorite brands via social media. This is a good time to get active on Instagram. Images speak louder than words. Combine both and you have something going!

The Instagram Link “Curse”

Instagram has one caveat however: You can only post links (active links) on your profile. And you are allowed just one link. Placing links in your captions doesn’t cut it here: they make it visible as a normal text and not formatted for clicks. What this means is that you get one CTA on your profile. Have you ever seen a brand using this in the caption: “Click on link in bio”? Yep. That’s the one.

How do you make good use of this real estate? You may have to use your website link here. But what if you only have social media accounts and not a website? What if you don’t have the budget to afford a web designer?

What you can do is to have one unique link that sends your customers to a page that lists all your products/services. This is where the Hubtel Webstore comes in. You get a unique link like hubtel.com/kny where customers can easily view and shop from your business. Plus it’s free. You don’t need a web developer to work on this. It’s your own special eCommerce platform to help you extend the reach of your business. Plus it comes as a bonus when you sign up for a Hubtel account.

Next Steps – How To Use Your Webstore

• Visit your instagram account. Go to profile > Edit Profile.
• Insert your new webstore link as your website link on your instagram account.
• You can then refer your followers to always check the link in your bio.
• Educate followers in your posts on how your webstore works. Make them understand that they can purchase items from you using your webstore, and have it delivered to them almost instantly.

Your Own Webstore

Need a free webstore for your business? Visit the registration page or simply dial *713#. Everything can be done in a day for you so you can start selling from anywhere (especially online). Happy selling.

Numbers Don’t Lie

The following stats on social media usage should interest you. As a business, you want to be where the action is. Your potential clients/customers are all on social media.

Social Media Statistics (brandwatch.com)

• For context, as of November 2018, the total worldwide population is 7.6 billion
• The Internet has 4.2 billion users
• There are 3.03 billion active social media users
• On average, people have 5.54 social media accounts
• The average daily time spent on social is 116 minutes a day
• 91% of retail brands use 2 or more social media channels
• 81% of all small and medium businesses use some kind of social platform
• Internet users have an average of 7.6 social media accounts
• Social media users grew by 121 million between Q2 2017 and Q3 2017.
• That works out for a new social media user every 15 seconds.
• Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp handle 60 billion messages a day

Facebook topped the list of most used social media platform (obviously). With this in mind, the next question is: how do I tap into this goldmine?

The Tools For Selling

If you already have business accounts on Facebook and Instagram, you’re halfway through. The next thing is driving traffic to these accounts. Once your followers know where to go from your account, that’s a big start. On Instagram, you only get one link on your profile, and you have to make this count. What if you don’t have a website? Selling online is the new shopping experience your customers want (and actually use). Having an online presence is a sure way to tap into this massive number of users sprawling the internet every day for things to shop.

On Facebook, you can always include links to your website in your post captions. The same goes for Twitter. The tricky one here is Instagram. In a later post, we’ll have a look at how to maximize your Instagram for good conversions (Remember, you only get one link).

Selling on Instagram becomes relatively easy when you have a CTA for your customers to use, once they show interest. The one link Instagram provides should be used to its maximum. Imagine having all your products on one platform where everyone can access and shop from.

Hubtel Webstore

When you sign up for your business on Hubtel, you get a unique webstore (free eCommerce platform) where your customers can shop from you anytime anywhere. Plus it comes with delivery options. So all you need to do is just stock up. We’ll handle the delivery for you. Sounds interesting?

How To Get Yours

Visit the registration page or simply dial *713#. Everything can be done in a day for you so you can start selling from anywhere (especially online).

MTN today held the Top 10 Customer Centric Partners ceremony at the MTN house. The ceremony was held to acknowledge partners, stakeholders, and service providers for their loyalty and faithfulness.

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Selom Adadevoh said outstanding customer service engendered loyal customers, and most successful business people believed that customers even looked beyond the quality of a product, thus placing emphasis on exceptional customer service.

Hubtel received an award for Commitment, Support and dedication to MTN Ghana’s Customer Experience Agenda. Thanks to MTN for the continuous support. We appreciate this and will keep doing more to promote this agenda.

Hubtel Now Uses OTP For Logins

What is OTP?

An OTP (One Time Password) is an automatically generated numeric or alphanumeric string of characters that authenticates a user. The password is only valid for a single login session or transaction. That means each time you login into your account, a new password is generated, which you can use to authenticate your login. This password is usually sent to you via SMS. If the number you use is also registered on the Hubtel app, the code will be sent as a push notification as well.

Benefits of OTP

There are several important benefits of using an OTP, including:

• An OTP isn’t a static password, so it’s not vulnerable to replay attacks. As such, if a hacker steals an OTP that has been previously used to log into a service, it won’t work again. Security matters and this method keeps the bad guys out.
• A second major advantage is that a user who uses the same password for multiple systems is not made vulnerable on all of them if the password for one of these is gained by an attacker.

The way you log in to your Hubtel account has changed: It’s now more secure and easier. Simply enter your phone number, wait for a PIN (OTP), and you’re good to go.

STOP. THINK. REPORT

Hubtel does not sell Airtime or Internet data directly to customers. Anyone posing as an employee or representative from Hubtel and undertaking such an act is a scammer and not authorised to do so.

Report such people directly to Hubtel or to the police. We do not authorize anyone to sell Airtime or Internet to anyone. You can use our app – Hubtel.me to make such purchases yourself directly from the app. You can download the app for:

Android

iPhone

Kindly avoid persons that post on social media and other platforms claiming to sell Airtime and internet data at low prices, in the name of Hubtel. Find below an example of such scamming activities. Do well to report such people to us via any of our social media accounts:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter