By Giyo Ndzi
Buea-based startup, Mungenow Technologies has launched a platform to revolutionarise real estate and guest house booking in particular. The platform, Mungenow Stays has as primary goal, helping travelers to and across Cameroon’s major cities and eventually the rest of Africa to find verified and affordable places to stay during their trip, regardless of their budget.
“More than just listing different stay options on the platform, we provide actual value to our customers by doing the difficult leg work of physically verifying each guest house that is listed on our platform to ensure the physical existence, confirm their actual location and the availability of the full range of amenities on offer before listing on our platform,” explained George Enow, Co-Founder and CTO of Mungenow Stays.
“This way,” he added, “our customers can be confident that what is seen on our platform is actually obtainable at the stay. Hence, they can book and make payment in advance, using any of the local and international payment methods integrated into our platform”.
Though the renowned startup is based in Buea, fondly referred to as Silicon Mountain for being Cameroon’s foremost tech hub, its services span across the entire country. This, George Enow, noted, gives the platform a universal appeal: “We created this platform to cater for everyone just looking for affordable and reliable guest house / holiday home to stay at during their trip in the major cities of Cameroon”.
He explained further: “… we trust that our platform will really provide so much value to the Cameroonian diaspora who visit Cameroon from time to time and always want a nice and quality place to stay where they can receive visitors, enjoy home cooked meals, and have access to internet facilities during their stay”.
In addition to its universality, Mungenow Stays believes versatility easies booking of venues and check in than ever. To this end, it has capitalized on the integration of a variety of payment options “including but not limited to visa/mastercard, mobile money wallets and even bank transfer in some markets making it easier for potential guests to book and pay in advance and be sure of their confirmed reservations before showing up at the location”.
“Our goal is to have high quality and verified listings from across all major cities in Africa, however, we must start from somewhere and home is always the best place to start. Therefore, we have started here in Cameroon where we have listings from Buea, Limbe, Douala, Yaounde and Kribi”.
Mungenow Stays is expected to provide solution not only to those in need of guest houses and places to stay, but also to property owners facing hard times in getting tenants and customers. It has since opened its doors to both groups. “We want to speak to you. Kindly reach out to us at info@mungenowstays.com so that we can get your guest house verified and listed on our platform,” the Mungenow Stays co-Founder appealed.
Mungenow Technologies prides itself as a Business to consumer technology-based startup aiming to make it to the fore of Africa’s technology future. To achieve this, it places keen interest on developing tech solutions to real life challenges in the African context.
First published in The Guardian Post newspaper (August, 2022)