In search of finding a solution, to the problems faced by many futsal enthusiasts, Bishow Basnet along with his childhood friend Prakash Regmi, came with an idea of introducing the app- WePlay. The app lets players search their playing venue and their opponents.
Basnet, himself being an avid futsal player, explains how he had to face a lot of hurdles in his early days when arranging simple futsal matches. “We couldn’t find a proper venue in time, sometimes we didn’t have enough players to play futsal, and not finding any opponent to play was also a problem” he added.
After finding out they weren’t the only ones facing these problems, Basnet explained, “The demographic here in the valley are heavily interested in football. We were very well aware of the impact football has made in our youth, which translates into how much people love playing futsal, which was also the reason why we began first with futsal in our app”.
WePlay app, officially launched in February 2021, had 35 different futsal venues partnered within the beginning.
Over the past six months, it gained quite some traction. Things are great but there were few rocky months as well, Basnet added.
Currently, they have 5,000 app users, from both iOS and Android devices combined, and they have extended partnership with over 60 major futsal venues within Kathmandu Valley. And are also planning on having 100 futsal venues by the end of this year.
“Despite the lockdown, the number of people who have reached out to us and taken their time to use our app is amazing,” Basnet expressed with pleasure.
“After the ease of lockdown from July 2021, we’ve hosted over 300 matches from our app on a monthly basis, which is increasing gradually each month, and we only hope to progress further,” he added.
Talking about the future of the app, Basnet said, “WePlay’s main motto is “For Players, By Players”. The main vision is to develop a platform that enables people to Play Anything, Anywhere. Focusing on the motive, we want to expand our venture to other sports including basketball, cricket, swimming, volleyball, badminton, table tennis to even small board games. As for “Play Anywhere”, we want to partner with all sporting venues where they can provide a place for our players to play, give resources and build teams, as well as training sessions or workshops which can further assist the players in having a greater playing experience.
Basnet believes, “This also brings us to our motive of sport and player development. From improving playing spaces, providing the required playing equipment, connecting players to form teams, and have access to professionals, coaches, and trainers to develop and then showcase their skills in events and tournaments. And that is where we see the future of WePlay – connecting people who love sports to one another.”
WePlay even before launching the app were actively involved in building networks with players and different sports venues. Basnet said, “We met up with them, host them for matches, frequently interacted on social media where we ask for their feedback, which played a major role in how we decided on which sport we wanted to diversify to next. People are interested in a wide range of sports, they refer to their favorite sports and venues. And it has been a major driving force in reaching out to more sports listed in the app. We frequently interact with our player community and do research on what kind of community exists in each sport, the challenges players face, and also the solutions for it. We then take forward by assessing what kind of value we can provide to our venue hosts.”
WePlay also collaborated with multiple brands to run campaigns, such as the “Adiball Challenge” which encouraged people to send videos of them enjoying and being creative with sports of their choice.
Basnet says, “This helped us connect with many players who love basketball, and upon further networking with them, we gathered information on how we can help make their playing experiences better.”
At the end, this again goes hand-in-hand with taking feedback from the customers on how venues can improve playing spaces for them, which covers development on both ends - player development and venue development, Basnet added.
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