How PressOne turned fast customer growth into a profitable cloud-telephony business
The core value proposition was simple: a small business with four, five, or ten employees should be able to run a professional phone network—complete with automated greetings, extensions, intelligent call routing, and complete interaction records—without requiring an enterprise IT budget or a bank's capital.
In 2021, Nigerian entrepreneurs Mayowa Okegbenle and Opeyemi Shokunbi founded PressOne, a cloud-telephony business aimed at helping small businesses establish professional phone networks without the need for an enterprise IT budget. The founders recognized that the country's unreliable infrastructure, complex telecom ecosystem, and lack of familiarity with private network providers presented significant barriers to entry for SMEs.
PressOne's solution involved converting complex cloud telephony technology into a user-friendly, plug-and-play service. By leveraging familiar local mobile number formats, businesses could securely manage incoming and outgoing communications through a centralized dashboard. The service included automated greetings, extensions, intelligent call routing, and comprehensive interaction records, allowing small businesses to provide a professional phone network akin to that of larger enterprises.
The founders' initial challenge was not only acquiring customers but also retaining them long enough to convert rapid adoption into a sustainable, profitable business. In a subscription model where customers were unfamiliar with recurring charges and service quality depended on external telecom networks, PressOne's success hinged on ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty.
PressOne's founders drew parallels to the evolution of digital payments in Nigeria, highlighting how fintech pioneers like Interswitch established the necessary infrastructure before introducing innovative solutions to a broader market. Similarly, PressOne aimed to abstract the complexities of cloud telephony, enabling small businesses to access and manage professional phone networks with ease.
Written by urgent.news from TechCabal's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
