25 May 2023
Sefalana is Botswana’s second-largest food retailer. As a multinational FMCG retailer, it operates over 1,200 stores across the African continent. In towns and villages across Botswana, people rely on the quality of Sefalana’s food products – and on being able to purchase them from the company’s network of stores. 
Patchy connectivity that prevents card payments from being authorised and processed is simply not an option, so Sefalana urgently required an always-on internet connectivity solution that would work anywhere.
Effective back-up solutions
Botswana is a vast nation, but with a relatively small population that is widely distributed. For a retail group like Sefalana, being committed to manufacturing and selling affordable, quality foodstuffs, this means having a network of stores in dispersed locations.
The risk of primary service failure (of either mains electricity or cellphone networks) is a reality, and this meant that Sefalana requires an internet connectivity solution that includes an effective back-up option. Their requirement is for ongoing, seamless operations with no inconvenience to customers, and no impediment to continuing to trade. Only in this way can Sefalana meet the needs of the communities in which they operate.
The role of satellite
This unique combination of factors strongly suggested that satellite connectivity was the answer, and indeed, Twoobii Smart Satellite Services from Q-KON Africa proved to be the perfect fit. Twoobii’s Smart Satellite Services offering was designed with enterprise users in mind, and delivers always-on, from anywhere internet connectivity, that meets challenges including Point-of-Sale (PoS) data transmission, stock inventory management and communications across a network of locations.
Working with their channel partner inq. (previously VBN), Twoobii provided Sefalana with an end-to-end network architecture that ensures seamless implementation and network delivery. The entire solution was online and operational by the end of the first quarter of 2020.
“We’re delighted that Sefalana was won over by Q-KON Africa’s flexibility, efficiency and scalability, and our ability to serve different applications as and when needed,” said Dawie de Wet, CEO of Q-KON Africa. “The Twoobii Smart Satellite Services solution has now been serving Sefalana and their customers for three years and has ensured that Sefalana can continue to focus on growing their business, and on being there for consumers in Botswana and beyond.”
In almost 50 years of operation, Sefalana has built up a trusted reputation across Botswana and beyond. The ongoing deployment of Twoobii’s Smart Satellite Services across the Sefalana network of stores means that consumers can count on being able to shop even in the event of a localised power failure or interruption to terrestrial network communications.
Sefalana’s growth can be attributed to their ability to meet the needs of consumers – and having chosen Q-KON Africa to operate and inq. to install the Twoobii Smart Satellite Services, they are continuing to do so, without interruption.
