Lovebase.com a top Nigerian Dating site becomes profitable

Lovebase.com is formally alarena.com a top Nigerian dating site with over 60,000 members and growing, turned positive. We got this tip-off from the founder Simdul Shagaya in our recent interview we conducted with him.

How it works

You sign up on the site with the basic information you wish to be recognized on the site, and activate via your email.

To get people of interest, you can use its search function which allows you to specify whether you need male or female and the age grade, location and users with picture.

A New Deal?

Yea! We asked the founder of the reason for the change of name and he said; “The name change happened for several reasons. One was to have the brand appeal to a greater population of Nigerians in terms of ethnicity and age. As you know, Alarena means matchmaker in Yoruba. The brand now addresses an ethnically wider and younger crowd that may be looking for casual relationships in addition to those seeking marriage”.

The design is sleek and aesthetic, a world-class and web 2.0 compatible website. It’s really one of the top Nigerian sites with powerful user-experience.

The site also has a dedicated line 080-66-33-22-99 for customer support.

The Real Deal

The site has two options; premium and free membership. With premium membership, user get message from serious people and reduces spam. You can actually upload your picture to increase relevance. On the other hand, the free membership allows people to use the site for free!

Business Model

The site has seen considerable number of people making payment for the premium service. With this, the site has been able to sustain itself, innovate and reach broader audience. The model adopted by this site is Subscription model under Web Business Model structure.

Downside

The site can leverage the power of social media to reach far more audience as we now have more than 1.6 million Nigerians on Facebook.  Integration with Facebook will do the site good and help users find match faster and better.

Also understanding that mobile has more penetration than computer, a mobile site and SMS alert will help users get result faster and make them stick to the site, eventually increasing word-of-mouth.

Have you used this site before? How was it?

visit: Lovebase.com

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My Startup Story – Godwin Noah

I can categorically say that; personally am inspired by various stories shared by Nigerian technopreneurs via this platform in the last couple of weeks, today we’ll be sharing with you,a very inspiring story of an innovative Nigeria that has indeed revolutionized his sub-sector. Godwin Noah is the founder of bbnsms.com a mobile solution company based in Surulere, Lagos. Enjoy the ride as he takes us through his journey so far!

Godwin Noah is the revolutionary CEO of Browser Based Nigeria (BBN) Limited. A company that had started with a passion to revolutionize business processes and people. He started the company, now over two years old, in a small corner of his mother’s tailoring shop in Satellite Town, Lagos, Nigeria.

He has had passion for entertainment, multimedia, sciences and computers. What drives him is the passion to understand the ‘HOW’ of any ‘WHAT’ he finds interesting.

He would usually say his career life had started breathing as early as age seven (7) when he started exploring his environment, skill sets and finding out how things work. But the business in his career was not till January 2008 when his computer skills needed the energy to cause that revolution in businesses and people.

From a poor family he also needed to revolve, financing a business, like most Nigerian startups, was as much of a challenge as securing a good job or a bank loan. Godwin has used a laptop without a flex.

To finance his start-up he got a job as Software Developer while simultaneously running his Business Administration course with the University of Lagos Distant Learning Institute. He grew within a short period of six months to become Head of the software department at Oak Computers Limited and continued for an additional one year before resigning to fully concentrate on the business of his business which had already kicked of operating 100% online.

In January 2009, we secured our first small office in Satellite Town, Lagos with a very loudly designed BBN Place official website to back it up because we’re actually an internet company. Through same year we’ve been through challenges ranging from business financing and relevant manpower acquisition to development and implementation of policies to check scammers and even hackers’ activities.

The key factor that has helped BBN to grow fast is that we started up by identifying a product with a ready market. We were not the pioneers in our business but, I believe, we are the revolutionist. We developed and adopted internet marketing strategies within our financial limits that challenged the industry, increased our popularity and sales within a short period. And, today, some of our competition have adopted a minified version of same strategy – For six consecutive months We sponsored five free sms daily for all our subscribers. This amongst others increased our growth quotient.

When you ask if it’s really possible to succeed as a startup in this country; I’ll prefer to “Nigerianly” reply with a question: Did I really succeed in this country as a startup?

It only requires a stronger passion and will-power.

Technology businesses in Nigeria, is in its cradle days. The Chinese economy for Instance is a highly industrialized one, because they woke up to Industrialization. India woke up to Information Technology and likewise Nigeria. So if by tech business, you mean Information technology business. You may quote me right that Info tech training institutions like NIIT, APTECH and New Horizon are the most subscribed in Nigeria and by Nigerian youths – The future leaders.

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Interview with Emmanuel Okoegwale – Organizer MobiFest2010

Emmanuel is the Principal Consultant at MobileMoneyAfrica and a leading mobile commerce on the Africa space. We asked couple of questions regarding the upcoming event MobiFest2010 of which we are partner; these question can shed light on some of the questions you might want to ask, go through and endeavor to ask more in the comment section below.

WTN: What is mobiFest2010 About?

Emmanuel: MobiFEST  is Nigeria’s first mobile apps, contents and devices
conference and exhibition. It will hold in the heart of the Nigerian
youth market in the Yaba axis of Lagos, targeting  students from
about five higher institutions. MobiFEST was conceived to accelerate
mobile apps development focusing on areas of strong compelling need
across all areas of human endeavors  in Nigeria.It will be hosted at
the University of Lagos.

WTN: How will it impact Nigerian mobile market?

Emmanuel: Immediately what we are looking at is a Nation wide buzz on mobile apps and how it can be leveraged to address some developmental challenges
in Nigeria.When this has been achieved,the next stage is to commence
development efforts in making this a reality.

WTN: From the developer’s perspective… what should we expect?

Emmanuel: Basically, we want the event to be a launch pad for Nigerian
developers to gain a share of the market. Nigerians are very
intelligent people. However, it is important to note that  abilities
are limited where there are no opportunities. My expectation is that
the mobile network operators and device manufacturers active in the
mobile landscape in Nigeria will consider setting up an innovation lab
in Nigeria where Young mobiprenuers can develop their ideas. Such a
lab can be housed in one of our universities to create a hub for a
thriving mobile apps developer community.

WTN: What should we expect from the business perspective too?

Emmanuel: If new innovative services are successfully launched and it becomes
commercial success, then those players will reap the benefit of such
efforts. If we have More Nigerians striving to become the likes of
Alexandre Amosu, Chika Nwobi, Goke Akinboro in their own
communities,then we are on our way to launching a Nigerian Renaissance
via the mobile technology.

WTN: Looking at the speakers they are such movers in the industry, is there going to be a kind of synergy between budding technopreneurs and the established players?

Emmanuel: The essence of bringing the established players like you rightly
noted,is to bridge the gap and learn from them.The disconnection
between these two groups is the reason for the limited growth in that
sector. We need to come together,share experiences and forge a way
forward.

WTN: In the mail we got, top mobile brands are coming to look at innovations  worth investing in, what’s your advice to our mobile developers?

Emmanuel: Apart from top Brands, some enterprenuers are actively seeking out
young developers to explore outsourcing developmental jobs from EU /
North America.While it will be great to attract these scouts,my advice
is,present or showcase what you have and where you are. Dont  hurry  to
complete your developments only to get it wrong. Be proud of your
efforts and show is as it is,even if it is still at conceptual
stage. You may not just know who will be interested at that stage.

WTN: Looking forward, what chapter will this event open, will it be an annual event?

Emmanuel: It will give us the ability to measure what is out there. Measure the efforts,understand the short falls in terms of resources and what is
needed to move forward.It is my sincere believe that this humble
efforts will open a new vista for Nigeria developers as we celebrate
the 9th year of GSM in Nigeria and hopefully, we may get our version
of mobile Monday and maybe, an innovation lab to make all these dreams
a reality. It will be an annual event and we hope to replicate it
across the geo-political zones in Nigeria.

Thank you.

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Interview with Daniel Emeka ‘Da-vinci’ – Creative Genius

In our continue effort to showcase young Nigerians doing great stuff, we keep discovering more talents than we’d expected. We got in touch with this young, energetic and creative guy, Daniel Emeka, popularly called “Da vinci”.  He’s a digital art expert, with message-drive illustrations… I must emphasize, this guy is world class. Let’s go on a journey to his world…

WTN: Let’s meet you

Daniel: My name is Daniel Emeka, a 22 year old graphic designer/digital artist, a proud Nigerian and the vision bearer of DANIZCONCEPT

WTN: What inspired you to go into design and when did you start?

Daniel: I got into design to evoke an emotion and also cause a reaction in the minds and hearts of people. That’s what makes it interesting, I started designing in 2007.

WTN: Your designs are message-driven, what drives you to developing concepts for your designs?

Daniel: Love for arts and the beauty of the world I would say is really what drives the message in my art. When deep messages pop in my head I jot down and meditate on the idea before I start designing 

WTN: How has the market been so far in Nigeria?

Daniel: The market is getting tougher everyday because of the emergence of new talented graphic designers. Access to the internet has really helped the growth of graphic designers that it is becoming hard to make a choice out of a lot of us.

But only a few of us have carved out niches for ourselves in-order for clients to differentiate each designer’s quality i.e: There are different kinds of graphic design skills, namely: Visual art, page layout, interface design and typography.

WTN: What are the challenges you face as a designer?

Daniel: Challenges exist everywhere and in different ways but to me, my biggest challenge as a designer is poor acceptance in the corporate world. It is really annoying that they give credits of branding, advertising ads, collateral designs to their marketing executives instead of the graphic designer. Why can’t each company have a creative director the same way they have marketing executives or something… just my opinion.

WTN: Can we really draw a line between web designer and graphic designers?

Daniel: Even if we do, the line is so thin, that it will soon be a criterion to be able to do web design as a graphic designer. The best websites in the world are done by graphic designers’; the only problem is that some of us (me inclusive) are either worked up or too lazy to study some little programming. That aside, there is really no difference.

WTN: Tell us more about Naija Design Challenge?

Daniel: Yeah, it’s a project that I and David Osaige is working on. We really want to show the world that there are talents in abundance when it comes to graphic design here in Nigeria.

We will be posting more info on our Facebook page, but for now we are still sealing our lips on some details. Not to worry, it will be BIG!

WTN: Which other project(s) are you currently working on?

Daniel: Nothing serious just improving my skills, and praying to God to be better with each passing day

WTN: What is your view of the creative design market in Nigeria?

Daniel: Number one is we are not being supported at all. Not just from only the government but the corporate firms too. The second issue is, we keep hearing complains of “we are too creative to the general public”, or our clients are too archaic. Until that is tackled, I doubt we will be able to grab international recognitions like, Cannes, Pencil, Grammys, Mobo’s, Oscar’s  etc.

WTN: In the global/world scale, where do you place Nigerian designs in terms of design professionalism?

Daniel: hmmm on the global scale we are not there yet, but we are getting there, but here in Africa, maybe the best after South Africa.

WTN: What’s your view about web/internet market in Nigeria?

Daniel: It is a very large, lucrative and effective market. There is a wide space for anybody to play with and Nigerians are taking full advantage of it. And there are still a lot of places to explore but we are definitely going in the right direction

WTN: What’s your view on digital art in Nigeria?

Daniel: Digital art here in Nigeria has not yet gained its ground mostly because most of our schools are yet to embrace it into their curricular. The few of us that practice such art are either self trained or trained outside the shores of this country.

WTN: What words do you have for upcoming designers?

Daniel: BE YOURSELF!!! Do not ever try to be like Daniel or any other designer.

After learning the basics, try and build your own style of art and improve on it.

And lastly, its all about self expression, but remember you do not owe it to yourself alone but to everybody looking at your design. Accept critiques, good or bad, but do not let them kill your zeal or put you on a comfort zone because it could kill your talent faster than you imagine.

Connect with Daniel on Facebook here.

View His design works here

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Yrn.me; URL shortening site improves interface, add new features

The Nigerian url shortening site, launched in February this year and currently making waves. The new features, was announced on Sunday morning by the founder Ahmad Mukoshy.

What are the new features?

1. User accounts,
2. Custom url for users,
3. Mini statistic report,
4. Home page display of top links
5. Remove link to statistic report for any link.

For me, the statistics feature is a killer, also on the statics page you can view a screen shot of the URL. wow!

Some expected features (requested by users) are; Wordpress and Joomla plugin, which I think are very important. As soon as that is launched, trust me, I will integrate with our blog in no time!

The site is maturing up as the above features are already functional on top url shorteners, it’s a welcome development on the project.

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Techcrunch.com down on 5th anniversary courtesy of wordpress.com

We are already catching the fever of the 5th anniversary of techcrunch.com and I’ve been glued to the site for the past 20hours. Suddenly the site went down! I have been refreshing for minutes now, I guess the error is from Wordpress.com as the error message reads “WordPress.com will be back in a minute!”.

I’m very sure the TC tech people are working on it! We are already preparing to pop champagne tonight ooo.

Get well soon Techcrunch!

Update: Site is back up but most recent post still missing! World said “We are working on restoring WordPress.com as quickly as possible.“

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Swift Network upgrades to 4G Technology

Swift Network is a top broadband internet service provider in Nigeria with extremely fast connection. About a year ago, it launched  hotspot internet service in various restaurant in Lagos and has since continued to expand it’s network.

One of the main headache using their old platform is that every installation of their network must be done by their engineers reducing the potential expansion of the service. I recommended and install their network for a microfinance bank about a  year ago and I must say, the service has been awesome.

4G Technology refers to the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to 3G and 2G standards. The nomenclature of the generations generally refers to a change in the fundamental nature of the service. The first was the move from analogue to digital (2G), which was followed by multi-media support (3G) and now 4G, which refers to all IP packet switched networks and increases in data speeds. -Wikipedia

Swift operate one of the fastest internet service in Nigeria, how superfast will this new 4G bring? The launch is next month.

Hardware upgrade

For people currently subscribed to Switch Network radio-based connection, you are ask to update you profile information on their website to exchange it for a new 4G Wimax modems to use 4G technology.

To update your details:

(1)  For changes to your address; email; and contact phone numbers:

(a)  Visit our website (http://www.swiftng.com/payments.asp);
(b)  Log on with your username (Your Subscriber ID number) and enter your password in the required field.
If your password has not been changed from the default password since you
became our customer, then use the default password.
(c) Click on “Edit Profile” to edit/update your contact information

(2) For changes to your name and/or subscriber ID only, please send an
email to customercare@swiftng.com

April 15th is the deadline for update.

Have you used Swift Network internet connection before and believe is the best in Nigeria? Please vote for it here.

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Innovation Hub lands in Kenya

If there is a country on African soil that has shown consistent commitment towards technology development in recent time, I sure will choose Kenya! Kenya is home to M-Pesa and some other innovative technologies.

Innovation hub or simply iHub is an open environment for techies to express themselves, launch startups and take on the world! The place was launched yesterday in fanfare!

iHub: “It’s an open space for the technologists, investors, tech companies and hackers in the area. This space is a tech community facility with a focus on young entrepreneurs, web and mobile phone programmers and designers. It is part open community workspace (co-working), part vector for investors and VCs and part incubator.”

Facilities

• 10MBs internet connection (hardwire and WIFI)
• Free Membership Access
• Space of startups to meet with VCs, Investors and local business
• and many more

For innovation to thrive , an accommodating environment is very important! This is a step in the right direction and it will reduce the startup headache of running an office before generation fund.

Advisory board

• Riyaz Bachani, CTO of Wananchi
• Josiah Mugambi, Co-Founder of Skunkworks
• Rebeccah Wanjiku, Tech reporter and entrepreneur
• Conrad Akunga, Blogger and Software Manager
• Erik Hersman, Tech blogger, Founder of AfriGadget and co-Founder of Ushahidi

Big ups to Kenya for this great foresight!

I hope to see this happen in Nigeria soonest! We have the market, we have the techies… can we make it happen?

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