Biz Idea: Consolidating Used Prepaid Calling Cards(a .6 billion dollar industry)
09-22-2013, 03:58 PM
Biz Idea: Consolidating Used Prepaid Calling Cards(a $1.6 billion dollar industry)
I went to a nearby store to buy some gloves, there i ran into these two hot and semi-hot Bengal girls talking back and forth in bengali...i inserted myself into their convo....i then learned that they were discussing the headache of using calling cards...long story short, i didnt get a number close...but i did get a business idea: consolidating used prepaid calling cards.
The prepaid calling cards business is expected to be $1.6billion dollars in 2013 alone.
One of the main headache these girls were talking about, is that you can use a calling card and have a tiny amount remaining... e.g start with a $10 calling card, make your call, then have $0.25 remaining...then you will have to start over with fresh calling card because $0.25 cannot make the next round of fresh calls...therefore, you will need to go and buy a new $10 or $5 or $20 calling card.... this can repeat itself ad nauseum ...with a tiny amount remaining everytime...and starting over with yet another new one and still having tiny amount of minutes/cash remaining... one calling card could have $0.10 remaining after you've used most of it..another calling card could have $0.24 after you've used it... and then another could have $0.05...another could have $0.40..etc all piling up...one card after another after another after another....
the problem is that, if you want to call somebody, you cant call them with a $0.05 or $0.24 calling card...you will need to go and buy a new calling card with $2 or $5 or $20 for you to have enough minutes to call them internationally..and this new $20 could be left with $0.36 after you've used it...wash, rinse, and repeat and this piled-up fractionally used pre-paid calling cards.....
Also, there is the problem that there are soo many different calling cards... you can have all these little amounts spread across different calling cards....
THE SOLUTION?
wont it be nice to consolidate and dump all those little unused calling card minutes that is spread all over the place...consolidate them all into one, single pile and use it to make calls all from one random card of your choosing?
In this way, i could have a $0.02 left on my habla espanol calling card...and $0.13 on my Asia first international calling card and $0.29 on my Africa lion international card....i can then go to a website(e.g. nemencine's international poosyraider's calling card unlimited.com) where i can then consolidated all of them(habla espanol, asia, africa calling cards) = $0.02 + $0.13 +$0.29 = $0.44 into one calling card(be it asia or latin america or africa card calling cards) and used it to make my calls. And If i want to spread the consolidation into more than one calling cards, that is cool too.
this business model is not unique at all. We already have: Business that allows you to consolidate coupons for supermarkets. There are businesses that helps consolidate your various loans. There are business that let you consolidate your reward points. There are also businesses that allows you to consolidate credit cards. Wallaby is such a business.
etcetera, etcetera ... But none that i can find that does calling cards consolidation despite calling cards generating $1.6billion per year. Strange. Weird.
Why not a business that helps consolidate your used, fractionated prepaid calling cards-- a $1.6 billion dollar industry--into one calling card of your choosing? Any calling card of your choosing.
Instead of joining the fray with one calling cards trying to outdo and outsmart the other...this business will be a facilitator. Letting customers convert the remaining fractional dollars on various calling cards into one, single calling card through a website(nemencine international poosyraider calling card website). The technical structure: Instead of converting cash into minutes......it will convert minutes(from diverse calling cards) into cash and then back to minutes.
That is the gist of the idea.
criticisms, analyses, etc are welcome. Especially, if you have background in telecom or if you have experience with a business model involving similar consolidation strategy.
I went to a nearby store to buy some gloves, there i ran into these two hot and semi-hot Bengal girls talking back and forth in bengali...i inserted myself into their convo....i then learned that they were discussing the headache of using calling cards...long story short, i didnt get a number close...but i did get a business idea: consolidating used prepaid calling cards.
The prepaid calling cards business is expected to be $1.6billion dollars in 2013 alone.
One of the main headache these girls were talking about, is that you can use a calling card and have a tiny amount remaining... e.g start with a $10 calling card, make your call, then have $0.25 remaining...then you will have to start over with fresh calling card because $0.25 cannot make the next round of fresh calls...therefore, you will need to go and buy a new $10 or $5 or $20 calling card.... this can repeat itself ad nauseum ...with a tiny amount remaining everytime...and starting over with yet another new one and still having tiny amount of minutes/cash remaining... one calling card could have $0.10 remaining after you've used most of it..another calling card could have $0.24 after you've used it... and then another could have $0.05...another could have $0.40..etc all piling up...one card after another after another after another....
the problem is that, if you want to call somebody, you cant call them with a $0.05 or $0.24 calling card...you will need to go and buy a new calling card with $2 or $5 or $20 for you to have enough minutes to call them internationally..and this new $20 could be left with $0.36 after you've used it...wash, rinse, and repeat and this piled-up fractionally used pre-paid calling cards.....
Also, there is the problem that there are soo many different calling cards... you can have all these little amounts spread across different calling cards....
THE SOLUTION?
wont it be nice to consolidate and dump all those little unused calling card minutes that is spread all over the place...consolidate them all into one, single pile and use it to make calls all from one random card of your choosing?
In this way, i could have a $0.02 left on my habla espanol calling card...and $0.13 on my Asia first international calling card and $0.29 on my Africa lion international card....i can then go to a website(e.g. nemencine's international poosyraider's calling card unlimited.com) where i can then consolidated all of them(habla espanol, asia, africa calling cards) = $0.02 + $0.13 +$0.29 = $0.44 into one calling card(be it asia or latin america or africa card calling cards) and used it to make my calls. And If i want to spread the consolidation into more than one calling cards, that is cool too.
this business model is not unique at all. We already have: Business that allows you to consolidate coupons for supermarkets. There are businesses that helps consolidate your various loans. There are business that let you consolidate your reward points. There are also businesses that allows you to consolidate credit cards. Wallaby is such a business.
etcetera, etcetera ... But none that i can find that does calling cards consolidation despite calling cards generating $1.6billion per year. Strange. Weird.
Why not a business that helps consolidate your used, fractionated prepaid calling cards-- a $1.6 billion dollar industry--into one calling card of your choosing? Any calling card of your choosing.
Instead of joining the fray with one calling cards trying to outdo and outsmart the other...this business will be a facilitator. Letting customers convert the remaining fractional dollars on various calling cards into one, single calling card through a website(nemencine international poosyraider calling card website). The technical structure: Instead of converting cash into minutes......it will convert minutes(from diverse calling cards) into cash and then back to minutes.
That is the gist of the idea.
criticisms, analyses, etc are welcome. Especially, if you have background in telecom or if you have experience with a business model involving similar consolidation strategy.
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A year from now you will wish you had started today.....May fortune favours the bold.