Navboy Technologies Limited is a Mauritian start-up incubated at Turbine. Registered in 2019, ShopPaddi is the flagship product of the company. ShopPaddi.com is an E-market aimed at enabling local businesses to thrive. The platform connects local businesses and buyers in Mauritius through an affordable and innovative solution that leverages automation to drive profits.

Meet the Founders

Test Drive 3: Laure & Tabi

Laure Shara Pather is the Co-founder and Marketing and Communications Lead of the company. She holds a BA (Hons) in Advertising, Public Relations and Media from Middlesex University. She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Moka, and serves as the current Chairperson of the fundraising committee.

Hope Tabi Okorn-tabi is the Co-founder and CEO of the company. Tabi holds a Master’s in Business Information Systems Management from Middlesex University with several years of experience in IT product/project management within and outside Mauritius. He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Moka.

Achievements of Navboy Technologies

We have successfully launched the first and second versions of the ShopPaddi platform for web and Android devices.

As a start-up, we are proud to have onboarded our first customers and collaborated with partners within the island to onboard more businesses. We have also finalised the integration of online card payments on ShopPaddi.

Successfully completing our incubation period with Turbine is also a milestone that we are proud of.

Turbine’s Role

Test Drive 3

Turbine has been an invaluable partner and a reliable resource centre for information and support on how to scale through the turbulent start-up ecosystem through our incubation period. The Coaches are lovely, and the staff is always helpful. A good portion of our progress so far is because of Turbine‘s unwavering support.

Challenges faced by Navboy Technologies so far

One of the main challenges was the Covid-19 pandemic which forced us to rethink and pivot from our original business idea.

Also, finding readily available developers in the IT sector in Mauritius is a bit challenging.

Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs

We would advise aspiring entrepreneurs to understand that it is a learning process and that what the customer wants to be solved is more important than what you as a business want to show off. Finally, never give up because it is never as easy as you thought it would be.

Plans for the next three years

For the next three years, we plan to expand our business into other islands within the region. Integrating features to serve businesses offering time-based services is top on our list for the next stage of iteration.