Introduction

Triply continues to distinguish itself above competitors through strong performance metrics and growing industry recognition. Today, the platform serves over 5,200 travel businesses, processes more than 50,000 bookings, operates across six countries, and offers 24/7 customer support.

It therefore comes as little surprise that Triply emerged as the winner of the Tourism Category at the Africa Sustainable Futures Awards 2025, a prestigious honor hosted by the Financial Times in partnership with the World Bank Group. The award recognizes commercially viable initiatives that create quality jobs, demonstrate commercial excellence, and contribute to resilient local economies. Selected from over 300 project entries, Triply’s recognition marks a major milestone for both the company and Africa’s travel-tech ecosystem. 

R: Ed – Africa had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Peter Watchira, the Co-founder and CEO of Triply.co, to explore the success story of a leading travel tech business and shed more light on its chapters that inspire African entrepreneurs and business owners. 

R:Ed: Can you describe the foundational story of how the company began its journey, specifically as a B2B platform, and what pivotal moments led to shaping that initial business model? 

Triply: Founded in 2021, Triply’s journey began through lived experience. The company’s co-founder first entered the travel space while based in Zimbabwe. During that time, he converted his Nairobi apartment into a short-term rental, later expanding the portfolio upon returning to Kenya. 

As the business grew, friends began seeking guidance on investing in short-term rentals. Many faced similar challenges: uncertainty about where to invest, how much capital was needed, how to access customers, and how to manage daily operations. These recurring pain points led to the creation of Luna, a vacation rental management company that supported both individual property owners and real estate developers seeking to convert unfinished apartments into serviced units.

The pivotal transformation toward a scalable platform occurred in 2019. This moment sparked a critical question: How can travel businesses anywhere access the same tools and support, regardless of location or scale?

It also exposed a broader systemic issue—despite travel being a major economic driver, the sector had been largely overlooked in Africa’s tech ecosystem, often dismissed as a “leisure” industry rather than a legitimate livelihood. Triply was born from the conviction that travel businesses deserve the same level of technological support as any other sector.

R:Ed: What specific methodologies or techniques did your team employ to deeply understand and unravel your customers’ core needs, pain points, and aspirations? 

Triply: Triply’s philosophy has always been customer-centric. The platform today is built around two core offerings: short-term rental management and a travel agency operating system. 

For short-term rentals, the tools reflect challenges the founders personally faced—pricing analytics, calendar synchronization, payment collection from international customers, and multi-platform listing management.

For travel agencies, the journey was equally hands-on. The team initially ran an in-house travel agency to better understand operational realities. They quickly encountered familiar frustrations: fragmented communication across WhatsApp and email, disjointed CRMs, payment difficulties, lack of access to flight ticketing due to licensing constraints, and inefficient hotel booking workflows.

Each challenge became an opportunity for innovation. Triply consolidated these fragmented processes into a single integrated platform—offering CRM, invoicing, ticketing, hotel bookings, communication tools, and global payment collection under one roof. The product evolved organically, shaped by real operational pain rather than assumptions.

R:Ed: Can you share an example of a significant financial challenge that you faced recently and describe the strategies or creative solutions you implemented to overcome it? 

Triply: Like many startups, Triply faced significant financial hurdles—particularly as a travel tech company in a market where investor interest traditionally favours fintech and agritech. Initially bootstrapped through personal savings, the company eventually reached a point where capital was running low, and fundraising proved difficult. 

Rather than pivoting away from their mission, the team doubled down on sustainability. They restructured the business model to prioritize early revenue collection and focused on achieving profitability before seeking external investment. This approach allowed Triply to demonstrate strong product–market fit through revenue growth, ultimately positioning the company for future funding opportunities.

The lesson was clear: when investors hesitate, customers provide the truest validation.

R:Ed: What is the core value proposition that sets Triply apart from its competitors, and how do you measure the impact of this value on your customers?

Triply: Triply operates in a space crowded with specialized tools—payment processors, CRMs, booking platforms—but its core value proposition lies in integration. Rather than forcing travel businesses to juggle multiple systems, Triply delivers an all-in-one operating platform tailored specifically to their workflows.

Success is measured not only through retention and usage metrics, but through tangible customer impact: increased daily transaction capacity, reduced operating costs, and higher overall revenue driven by efficiency.

R:Ed: How has AI specifically been integrated into Tripoli’s business model and services and how does it currently serve your long-term vision?

Triply: Artificial intelligence plays a strategic role in Triply’s long-term vision, particularly through automation. AI-powered tools help automate inquiry responses, generate travel packages, optimize pricing across vendors, and streamline repetitive workflows.

Rather than replacing human workers, AI enables travel agents to focus on complex, high-value interactions—scaling their ability to serve customers from a handful per day to dozens.

As the team emphasizes, AI will not replace people—but people who use AI will outcompete those who do not.

Triply currently employs 36 in-house team members, all working on-site, and sees human relationships as irreplaceable in a sector built on trust, problem-solving, and real-world coordination.

R:Ed: Do you think that this journey applies to different models in Africa or maybe internationally?

Triply: Certainly, Triply’s challenges—payments, regulatory barriers, and inventory access—are not unique to Africa. They are shared across emerging markets globally. This universality positions the company to replicate its model beyond the continent, extending its impact while staying rooted in its original mission.

R: Ed: What is the single most critical piece of advice you would offer to other emerging technology businesses driving to scale and thrive across the continent today?

Triply: Build for your customer.

Too many startups attempt to replicate Silicon Valley solutions without accounting for local realities. Sustainable success comes from deeply understanding customer needs, solving real problems, and building products people are willing to pay for.

As the co-founder aptly puts it: You can’t build a Ferrari where the roads don’t exist. Build for what Africa needs today—and grow from there.

Conclusion

Triply’s journey demonstrates how purpose-driven, customer-first innovation can build lasting impact in overlooked industries. By addressing real operational challenges within Africa’s travel ecosystem, the company has created essential infrastructure that empowers businesses to scale, generate revenue, and compete globally. Its recognition at the Africa Sustainable Futures Awards 2025 validates both its commercial viability and its broader economic impact. As Triply expands into other emerging markets, it stands as a clear example that sustainable growth is achieved not by copying external models, but by building solutions rooted in local realities and real customer needs.