Kamooni

Mission:

Kamooni’s goal is to turn South African tourism into an industry that works for the people. By supporting small backpackers and lodges, we encourage travellers to support sustainable businesses and ecologically friendly activities. Through our Kamoonity upliftment schemes and ‘give a minute’ program we ensure that the youth and eco-travel industry continues to grow, while simultaneously supporting the primary education of learners in need.

Vision:

We imagine a future wherein every host in the country is using the Kamooni system, and aligning themselves to our Kamoonity mission. We believe that every child in our country will have access to quality education provided by the funds raised through the give a minute program. We see a sustainable future in which every animal, plant and human receives the respect they deserve and we know we can make this change happen.

Values:

Convenience – We believe that travel in South Africa should be easy and effortless, which is why we’ve collated everything from bookings to payments and transport all on one simple app.

Community Upliftment - We believe that we have a responsibility to help right the wrongs of this countries past. By supporting small, community run, business that care about their staff we help pave the way for a brighter future. Through our Kamoonity upliftment scheme’s we ensure that these business continue to grow and thrive.

Equal Education – Knowledge is the key to the world and we believe that every child deserves fair and equal access to primary education. Through our ‘give a minute’ program we help provide quality schooling to children who otherwise wouldn’t receive it.

Privacy – We know how important privacy is in this digital era, which is why we encrypt all of the data you put on Kamooni so that even we can’t see it. By using the check-in app you are able to enter all of your sensitive information once and rest-easy knowing that you never have to give anyone your credit card or passport number ever again.

Sustainability – We realise the importance of environmental preservation and make a concerted effort to align ourselves with hosts and activities dedicated to ecological regeneration. It’s no good travelling now, if our children won’t be able to enjoy the same trips in the future.

Timeline:

· 2015: Kamooni Was Born: While working at Wild Spirit Backpackers in Wilderness Herki designed the first prototype of the Kamooni System.

· 2015 – 2017: ‘Market Research’ Phase: Herki began touring around South Africa with his band, staying at a great many backpackers along the road.

· July 2017: FUNding: Herki partnered with a socially-conscious investor, inspired by his mission, and received R1million to kick-start the project and turn his dream into a nationwide reality.

· July 2017: Creating a PMS: We realized that the only way to build a traveler app people would want to use is if we had places for them to stay! And so we designed an extensive property management system for all hosts in South Africa… And we made it free!

· September 2017: Beta Phase: Three amazing backpackers: Wild Spirit, Terra-Khaya and Bohemian Lofts agreed to be our first Beta testers; braving all the bugs and initial feature requests.

· 2018: Recognition: Kamooni began to get noticed within the youth / adventure tourism industry. Working closely with SAYTC we successfully signed up and trained 16 hosts.

· October 2018: The traveller app was born! Guests could now check-in to all of our hosts on both android and iOS devices using a unique QR code, view and pay bills and find places of interest.

· Jan 2019: Introducing the ‘Kamooni Upliftment’ Scheme: 5% of every reservation starts going towards creating sustainable business growth and marketing South Africa as a youth/eco-travel destination.