The start up story from SMSPortal, South Africa's leading bulk SMS provider.

1. #mystartupstory

2. SMSPortal is a bulk SMS service provider

3. Then students, Charles Stretch and James
Pearce started the business in 2002.

4. From the back of a garage, with R20,000.

5. And no business experience

6. But time showed them they were onto
something, and they went from sending
SMSes from nightclubs to their revelers, to
local Port Elizabeth SMEs.

7. The pair found their feet, invested all their
revenue into developing their
business, creating an innovative product and
service.

8. They didn’t draw a salary for two years.

9. The tipping point came, a large South
African retailer became a client.

10. “We evolved the system to the point that is
was robust enough to handle the needs of a
large corporate client.”
James Pearce

11. Their timing was perfect, corporates were
looking for better and more measureable
ROI for their marketing spend, SMS was
and is a great medium for consumer
communication.

12. Today SMSPortal:
• Sends 180 million SMSes a month
• Has a R400 million turnover
• Has 15% of its income from international markets
• Has access to 750 mobile networks worldwide
• Serves over 10,000 clients