2015 is our 5th year in business. I and our Founder spent the first 5 years building the Company and explaining to people how to pronounce XyPNET and what services we offer and how we can help them with our products and services. Since our inception in 2010, we have been explaining to people that we are a Zambian Company and not a Company from the US (they really thought we are from the US!)..
In the first 2 years of our business in Zambia, we focused on gaining size and momentum, in order to run away from the books and statistics that say 90% of start-ups die in the first 5 years of their business. In the 3rd to 5th we have been focusing on keeping our clients happy as much as possible. So our challenge this year and beyond is to keep our company growing by keeping pace by winning as many clients as possible, while keeping competitors away from our clients as much as possible.

running a business in Zambia
running a business in Zambia

We know there are big guys in our midst, so how are we going to achieve this? Keep offering great services to our clients. We know that the only way to keep customers is through offering them better business solutions than the guys next door, I am not talking about solutions that every Jim and Jack is able to offer them, I mean real solutions that will solve their problems. In the 5 years we have been in business in Zambia, we have seen a lot of Companies in our industry opt for cowardice; we have differentiated ourselves by going for “agility” –literally, I would say we are running for our lives. We know business is not  like a sprint competition where everybody cruises to the finishing line. Yes we are moving fast, but at the same time, we are careful enough to be patient in times when we lose deals and face rejection. What makes us different is that we get better failure after failure. We learn from our mistakes, we take NOs as opportunities to enhance our skills. In doing this, we hear more YESs than NOs. That’s what is keeping us moving.
After looking for years for the right place, the right location and right landlord for our offices (not all of them are ok with the idea of having some young men with weird outfits hanging out in their building), we finally found our place, First Floor, Mpelembe House Broadway, Road, Ndola, Zambia.
In terms of the market we are dealing with this year, we expect a newborn trend to develop further. The XyPNET effect. Since 2010, XyPNET Limited has become one of the preferred  Software Companies in Zambia, others clients have even labeled XyPNET as the Best Web Hosting Company in Zambia, calling the attention from existing and of course the new comers that want to follow our recipe for success ( a secrete here: it’s not that simple!), but it all begins with a well designed website for your business.
We are witnessing old guys trying to pose tricks in order to win customers, and new comers with barely any programming know-how claiming to be the best software developers in Zambia. We were many, others have fallen and new ones are rising, this gives us another reason not to relax when running a business in Zambia, but to keep moving forward.
We know we have to keep running in order to succeed, we expect the same from our customers as they also run businesses.