Most ideas that end up as big ideas started small. Unnoticed. The T-CETRA idea is no exception. It was pretty small when we got started in 2007. But we opened our ears to the people we were looking to serve. We conceived of a solution that would address prepaid wireless retailers’ needs. And we believed in it.
When T-CETRA was just getting started, a few of us went on a usual sales call, and listened to the independent dealer we were seeking to serve. We were watching worry and anxiety mount. Independent wireless retailers (and not just this particular retailer) could not accurately and quickly track their inventory and their owed spiff commission for recent wireless transactions. We asked a lot of questions. What was the problem, exactly? “Why are you tracking cash flow and inventory manually?”, “Why isn’t the current system working?”, “Who isn’t it working for?”, “Why the delay?”, and “What are the barriers?” And then we genuinely listened to their answers.
After conversations with hundreds of similar independent prepaid wireless retailers in low-income communities, a few common themes emerged. They needed their commission soon and they needed their inventory secure. We came to understand that independent wireless retailers had very specific challenges in security and cash flow that were not being addressed. The system was flawed and outdated. These retailers, and the people they served, needed help. But how could we help them?
The solution was clear. We needed to disrupt the existing, outdated, manual method of applying payments in the prepaid industry as well as the archaic commission flow for the retailer. T-CETRA’s VIDAPAY solution was built, revolutionizing the prepaid wireless industry with the introduction of Instant Spiff™. The retailers could now receive their commission immediately and the system started to flow, and work, for everyone.
If “necessity is the mother of invention” and that invention is the baby, how does a family continue to nurture that child? We had the idea, but we have to keep nurturing it.
Building on these early days, the T-CETRA mission has grown in scope into what it is today — a solution that breaks down the barriers that contribute to the widening digital divide, bringing the services and products that most Americans take for granted to the underserved, the un/derbanked.
T-CETRA’s small idea is flourishing. Let’s fast forward to today……we have grown to a nine-figure company, solidified partnerships with industry giants like Amazon, Google, Verizon, and TracFone, amongst others, and built relationships with 10,000 retailers across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Where would T-CETRA be today if we hadn’t engaged with and listened to the worries of that small wireless store on that sales call? Would we have gained a true understanding of what these retailers, and the un/derbanked population, need to improve their business and their quality of life?
The answer is that we would have wasted a lot of time guessing about the pain points of independent wireless retailers (and to the larger un/derbanked population in general). It would have been a lot of guessing, and a lot of trial and error, and not a lot of addressing what the retailers really needed.
T-CETRA leaders get asked occasionally, “What would you tell the entrepreneurs of today?” and we think the simple answer is “Don’t do a lot of telling. Do a lot of asking. And then do a lot of listening.”