By Andile Makholwa - FINWeek 8 Oct 2012

Until a couple of weeks ago, few people knew of Daki Nkanyane. The 38-year-old from Giyani (Limpopo) is one of the few emerging entrepreneurs standing to benefit from South Africa hosting the 2013 Orange African Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament. His firm, eQtickets - jointly owned with ICT group ConvergeNet - won the rights to distribute the tourna- ment's tickets at Spar outlets.

Since the Confederation of African Football opened the sale of the tickets two weeks ago, Nkanyane's phone has been ringing almost every minute, and he has been swamped with queries from the media and soccer fans about ticket categories and which outlets are selling the tickets. This is a big contract for Nkanyane and certainly a major breakthrough for his company, so he can't afford to fail.

The ticket distribution business is dominated by Shoprite-owned Computicket, with about 97% of the market. Its channels incorporate retail, online and call centres, while its smaller competitors only sell tickets through their websites and call centres. If he has his way, Nkanyane hopes to dent that dominance. He says the partnership with Spar, a non-exclusive arrangement, has put his business in another league.

"The majority of South Africans still use cash to buy tickets. I realised that if we're going to compete with Computicket, we need a strong retail footprint, and that's why we went into partnership with Spar," says Nkanyane.

Currently, there are about 200 Spar supermarket outlets selling tickets. Mike Prentice, the group's marketing director, says the number will rise to 320 outlets by the end of this year. He envisages further roll-out next year, saying the group sees this as another opportunity to attract customers into its stores.

Though the Afcon contract is his major breakthrough since he founded the business in 2005, Nkanyane also got a slice of the 2010 FIFA World Cup where his company won the contract to validate tickets in six of the 10 stadiums used for the event. That's when his partnership with ConvergeNet started.

Interestingly, Nkanyane did not originally want to compete directly with Computicket. If anything, he wanted to avoid or partner with Computicket. What he sought to do when he started was to sell tickets via cellphones and bank ATMs. But that idea didn't fly with banks, with many citing security concerns.

Left with no other option, he decided to go head-on with the mighty Computicket. But it's only now - after going into partnership with Spar - that eQtickets is posing a serious threat to Computicket. Still, it will take a while before eQtickets wins over a significant number of event organisers, most of whom are said to be in long-term contracts with Computicket.

Nevertheless, Nkanyane says various opportunities abound in the sector though the business requires volumes to be significantly profitable. He's currently in discussion with one of the major oil companies to put up 500 eQtickets kiosks in its filling stations to have 24-hour availability for cash customers over and above the online offering, currently catering for those using credit cards.

Other major contracts held by eQtickets include Free State Rugby Union, which owns the Cheetahs, and City Tours Cape Town.

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