A dotcom business with a start-up cost of £250 was sold for over £27.3m in January 2007. An online dating Agency DatingDirect.com has been sold to a firm known as Meetic. The company was established in 1999 by Darren Richards and Andrew Pike and now claims over 4.5 million members – 3.5 million of them in the UK – which makes it the UK’s largest dating service.But as well as running its own very successful service the company also offers white label services for other brands like Channel4 and TrinityMirror.
DatingDirect turned over about £11m last year. The acquisition also includes the Chemistry company which organises real-world dating events. Meetic is a French company which does pretty much the same thing across Europe. Meetic said the acquisition would put it in a leading position in the UK market without the need for an expensive advertising and marketing campaign.
This is how internet has evolutionised our lifestyles and the way we conduct businesses. Unfortunately, for developing countries such as Malawi, such business opportunities are hard to come by as resource constraints inhibit prospective enterpreneurs from attempting to set up their own businesses and trade with the rest of the world. Not many have access to internet in Malawi and those that have, can only access it at place of work and risk reprisals from employers if found using Company’s IT infrastructure. Although start-up costs may be relatively cheaper, online business in Malawi has still lots of challenges to overcome e.g. proper regulation, market involvement due to limited internet access and speed and above all Payment authorisation methods. The government allows the importation of computers duty free.However, the question is,Can it do more to open more opportunities for business minded people?
Leave a Reply