Ever had to queue for hours to make certain you’ll get tickets to that gig you absolutely must have? Ever missed that match when your top team came to town, because you didn’t check on the right ticketing platform?
Angolan entrepreneur Carlos Baptista has, and he got so fed up with missing out on tickets he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Baptista has developed Ingresso Prático – a one-stop-shop online portal providing a central ticketing platform for all types of events happening in Angola.
“Ingresso Prático was built out of a personal need, which luckily turned out that it was also a huge discomfort to a great number of individuals. In order to buy tickets for any genre of events, people had to visit the most traditional outlets, or just take the risk and try to get them straight at the event’s venue,” says Baptista.
“That is where Ingresso Prático comes in. Users can now get tickets for every type of events: soccer matches, concerts, shows and so on, anytime, anywhere and with any device – provided it is connected to the internet.”
Since launching in February 2016, Ingresso Prático has proven popular – with over 2,000 active monthly users, and achieving revenues in excess of AOA1,500,000 (US$9,050) in its first year of operation.
Baptista has also added new functionalities to the platform, including an integrated e-wallet system, as well as credit card acceptance.
International organisations have also seen the potential of the platform, and Ingresso Prático made it to the top 10 of Seedstars Angola; and Baptista was selected to join the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).
Baptista says the company is in the “lucky” position of not really having any direct competition in Angola yet – there are a couple of ticket platforms focusing on specific events, but none that offer a centralised service.
As such, he is primarily focused on establishing Ingresso Prático as the go-to platform for events and ticketing in Angola. Further down the line, he sees opportunities to expand to other countries around the continent, and maybe even outside Africa.
“We, at Ingresso Prático, have a huge ambition of establishing the quality of our services and positioning the company locally first,” Baptista says.
“The internet is definitely changing the way everything is done in Angola. Although it is just at the beginning, it is already the most influential medium among the youth. The differences between the reality we live in and what is happening around the globe, puts a lot of pressure on innovative companies like the many startups in the country today, forcing us all to operate at a world class level.”
