Ugandan Radio Helps Orphans via GiftBox

We knew there were some cool ways to use GiftBox, but we’d like to commend Eryck of Ugandanradio.com for his really great ideas. Eryck is using GiftBox to collect donations to purchase a generator for orphans in Uganda!

It’s great initiatives like that that make us proud – as our motto goes, “Innovation for Change”. When Eryck heard about GiftBox, he immediately jumped at the chance to host his own and has been a valuable source of beta testing and feedback.

UgandanRadio.com is the only online radio station in Uganda, providing the international community with Ugandan news and music 24 hours a day - Check it out!

Got a cool way you’re using GiftBox? Let us know!

With only a week to go till Valentines, you’re probably searching for the perfect Valentine’s Gift.

Well, we have good news for you: FlowerBox allows you to Send Flowers to your loved ones via GiftBox!

On top of all the other Gifts that you can send, GiftBox now let’s you send flowers to Kenya and Uganda – just select “Flower Delivery” as the Gift type, select “Flower Box”, choose your price and bouquet size, and we’ll do the rest!

Remember to include a message for that extra personal touch, and it helps if you let us know where to drop your gift …

Want your gift delivered on Valentine’s day? No problem! GiftBox let’s you tell us when you want your Gift delivered, so send your gift now!

Many of you are already using GiftBox sending (and receiving) Gift Vouchers for your favourite restaurants, shopping malls and clothes stores.

These Gifts make the perfect Valentines’s and we want to give you a chance to make it even more special!

For starters, we’re giving away 5% discount coupons for you to use on on all your transactions until the 14th of February! To get a discount coupon, all you have to do is:

• EITHER Participate in the review-and-tell-a-friend program by filling out the short form at http://www.beyonic.com/review and we’ll email you your coupon
• OR Follow @beyonictech on twitter and send us a review or “tell a friend” using the hash tag #beyonic-giftbox and we will send you a coupon!

But that’s not all – One lucky winner will be picked from the users of these coupons and will win a GiftBox Valentines Special at Steers!

Click here to get started on your GiftBox Valentines Special.

One significant omission at the time was the ability to login with your Facebook account. Today, we’re starting to make good on our promise to integrate our services with Facebook by letting you do just that: login with your Facebook account!

It’s as easy as ever. Just select “Facebook” from the drop down menu on the login form, and you will be redirected to Facebook to authorize “Beyonic Web Services”, once that’s done, u’re logged in!

This is the first part of our Facebook integration. We’re putting final touches to the second part, which will bring Beyonic GiftBox to your Facebook profile!

But starting today, you can send more! You can now choose to send shopping vouchers, eat-out vouchers, bookshop vouchers & movie tickets for the top stores, cinemas, restaurants & hang-outs!

Vouchers are great gifts because they give your friend & loved one what we’re giving you now – Choice. So, if you want to send that unique gift that says more, give GiftBox a twhirl.

For a full list of available gifts click HERE.

To reward early adopters, we’re running an early adopter program starting January through February 2010.

If you host a GiftBox during this period, you access Early Adopter benefits including better profit shares.

Interested? Click HERE For the complete early adopter invitation.

The new UI is less crowded, making it easier to use. It’s also more pleasing to the eye (we hope) and generally more awesome than the one of yester-year. It will also look better on your website.

If you already have a GiftBox on your website, you should be seeing the new-ness already. If not – grab one now!

We’ll be making subtle changes to it based on your feedback, so give it a try and let us know what you think!

Join the community discussion on this post

If you’ve been around for any period of time, chances are:

1. You already have an account with Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc – in fact you have more than one already
2. You frown every time you come across yet another website that wants you to create a user account before you can access its services

We feel the same way, and this is where OpenID (and a little OAuth) comes in. These technologies allow you to login to Beyonic Services using your existing account at one of the websites I mentioned earlier. This is exciting because you no longer need to fill out a lengthy sign up form to test our services… Read More >>

What’s more, it’s also secure because you do not ever have to share your password with Beyonic to get this to work. OpenID ensures that your login information.

Starting Today, you can login to Beyonic Services using your Google, Yahoo, Twitter, AOL, MyOpenid, Flickr, Technocrati, Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Livejournal, Claimid, Vidoop & Verisign IDs OR any OpenID provider. If you do not have an OpenId, grab an account from any of these services!

Existing users will continue to use their regular credentials as if nothing’s changed.

We’re also integrating OpenID into the forums and comments using RPX – you should be able to use your Google, Yahoo, WindowsLive, Twitter and Facebook to post in the forums and comment on articles.

Give it a whirl and let us know what you think or if something’s broken!

Join the community discussion on this post

One of the things that GiftBox can do is send money directly to someone’s mobile phone.  GiftBox, used like this, is essentially a web-to-mobile bridge, akin to the web-to-sms gateways used to send sms messages from the web.

It does so by leveraging the new Mobile Money “wave” that is sweeping across Africa. Why is Mobile Money on the rise in Africa? And why may web-to-mobile money transfer services like GiftBox be the your best choice for sending money to Africa? … Read More>>

Reach More People – Empower More People

Mobile Money was recently taunted as the new killer app for Africa . It’s more than an application, it is a social trend. It works because it empowers the consumer – not the banks: At least 1 billion people are un-banked AND yet have a mobile phone (ref). Africa alone has approximately 230 million unbanked families. With over 278 million mobile subscribers, only 25% of the population have bank accounts (ref).

Lower Transaction Costs

Furthermore, transaction costs are lower than other traditional money transfer systems: check books, bank transfers, etc. There are no charges for maintaining a mobile money account and therefore, there is more money “left over” for what you actually want to use it for.

Instant, Safer,  Convenient Delivery

When you send money to someone’s mobile, they get it wherever they are – a farmer in the village, a daughter in high school, a business man in the market place. They do not need to pick it up from a special point.  In many cases, they can purchase goods and services directly from their mobile wallet. The elimination of “money” in such transactions is not only safer, but also more convenient.

GiftBox takes Mobile-to-Mobile Money transfer one step further by merging it with the web. We have always believed that the merging of mobile and web technologies will produce powerful services that are simple to use, cost effective and more importantly, socially beneficial.

You can find out more about GiftBox HERE.

We’re starting out with 2 major gifts you can send: Mobile Money – MPESA (Kenya), ZAP (Kenya and Uganda) and MTN Mobile Money (Uganda) and Airtime-Online products – Prepaid airtime vouchers for Kenya and Uganda. We’ll be rolling out more gifts for Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe over the next month or so. If there’s a gift you’d like to see in GiftBox, let us know! Contact Us or Discuss your idea with other giftboxers in the forums!

What makes GiftBox even more interesting is that you can have your own giftbox! If you’re a blogger, a webmaster, or simply want to spice up your intranet, grab a giftbox of your own & as a bonus “goodie”, you earn whenever your giftbox is “opened”! – and you can customize your giftbox to match your website. Learn more here!

Lastly, watch out for a facebook app – coming soon to a pc near you…