Black-Owned Start-Up Called " Airfordable " Offers Layaway Plans For Expensive Plane Tickets
Founders - Craig Henry II , Ama Marfo , and Emmanuel Buah
Airfordable , launched by a group of Chicago-based Black entrepreneurs , allows users to create a payment plan when buying airline tickets . Users can secure a plane ticket with a deposit upfront , and pay the remaining balance in bi-weekly recurring payments before the departure date
The founders - Ama Marfo , Craig Henry , and Emmanuel Buah - decided to collaborate after realizing that they all pretty much had the same idea in mind , and had the knowledge and experience needed to build the platform .
How does it make money ?
The revenue model is simple . Airfordable charges a one-time fee on the price of the ticket that varies between 10 % and 20 %. Users can sign in to use the payment calculator to determine their fee and payment schedule . The service does not charge compounded interest , and does not require a credit check .
The concept is very simple and so far - the site has more than 27,000 users that are booking both international and domestic flights . The service is especially popular for people who want to travel overseas but can ' t afford to pay a $ 1,500 or $ 2,000 ticket price upfront .
Marfo comments , “ We have a lot of students using Airfordable to travel home or for study abroad programs . While other users are planning travel based around life milestones such as destination weddings and family vacations . We are covering just about any travel need you can think of .”
How they got started
Of course , funding is always a major obstacle for such ideas . But they were able to successfully secure a seed round of funding from Y Combinator - a startup incubator headquartered in Mountain View , California . So far , they ' ve been using the funds to build the technology and for marketing .
Once the company gets more traction , they plan to expand their model to also launch micro-loans for vacation packages and hotels . For more details about Airfordable , visit www . Airfordable . com
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