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Our focus is to bring sense out of the noise in the web space, get insight from industry players and consumers, insightful analysis of events and innovations on how it affect you and your business.

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Interview with Saheed Adepoju innovator of Nigeria’s first Android based Tablet

Saheed Adepoju is co-founder (with Anibe Agamah) of Encipher group, the company behind Nigeria’s first tablet. The tablet has gained recognition locally and around the world. He shared his shared view about the product, e-payment and Nigerian internet market. He was a panelist at the recent MobiFest 2010 which we are a partner, and also at the last Barcamp Nigeria held in May.

WTN: Gist us about your “baby” Inye Tablet, what do you hope to achieve with it?
Saheed: Inye is a mobile internet device inspired by Encipher limited. It provides mobile internet capabilities, watching movies and also listening to music. Encipher aims to use the device to enhance our local heritage via the use of local contents.

WTN: How will your product impact the Nigerian tech market?
Saheed: We believe this will open avenues for creativity and a more surge in the acceptance of the android platform. We also see a different type of IT business model springing up within the industry similar to international standards.

WTN: How do you see competition from big international firms (Apple, Google, HP) that are also making tablets?

Saheed: Competition will always be available. We don’t see Encipher Inye as a competition but rather an alternative to existing brands. Most android tablets being churned out are based on Android 2.1 which is why we upgraded ours to Android 2.1.

WTN: Talking about apps market place how do you think Nigerian will be able to join the ecosystem with our e-payment challenge?

Saheed: One of the fundamental systems behind e-payment is trust. There are upcoming and trustworthy mobile payment systems coming up as well as the introduction of VISA and Mastercard, which are all international brands. With time, i believe the world will learn to accept the notion that our e-payment systems are reliable and trustworthy and integrate us into the popular payment platforms such as PayPal. Also with the current NIMC (National Identity Management commission)  project underway, an identity system will further validate and solidify our stand.
In the interim, Mobile Payment licensees should also take this opportunity to connect with payment systems such as PayPal who can provide a bridge to the outer world. The licensees can work out a deal
and proposes a sharing formular with such platforms. Since it doesn’t support using actual debit cards(i.e. Mobile Payment licensees ), trust can be built with PayPal and allow them to become a mode of payment for such applications on the market place whilst we try to get our Mastercard & VISA onto the same platform.
WTN: Battle between Android and iOS who will win eventually and why?

Saheed: The battle isn’t really within only these 2 but also with Symbian, Meego, Blackberry OS & Windows 7. We need to understand that these platforms will only evolve as no company is in this business to lose money. I can state categorically that there would be no clear cut winner within these OS space just as there isn’t a clear cut winner amongst Apple OS, Windows, Ubuntu and any other Unix-based or Linux based systems. Every user would pick a platform because of what it provides them. With respect to Android, it breathes openness, flexibility and building different types of devices with it, for iOS it breathes Aesthetics while not compromising on stability and UI. I believe we will see all these platforms for many years to come, platforms will only evolve.

WTN: How much can we get the tablet when is ready for purchase?
Saheed: The tablets come in two variants: There is a $260 (4GB, 256MB RAM, 800Ghz) and there is a $355(16GB,512MB, 800Ghx, 1.3mp camera).

WTN: When will the product be widely available to the public?

Saheed: We intend to announce this after we unveil the product to the public via an unveiling event which will allow potential buyers use the devices first hand. We intend to make available the $260 version tablet for now.

WTN: What’s your perspective on Nigeria internet market?
Saheed: The Nigerian Internet market is an interesting market as lots of players are providing state of the art internet and broadband access unimaginable 10yrs ago. Thanks to the GSM and CDMA providers we are now seeing unprecedented internet speeds comparable to the western world.

WTN: Where you see Nigerian internet in the next couple of years?

Saheed: The Nigerian internet market will grow exponentially similar to the number of subscribers attributed to the telcos at this stage. Internet penetration will increase dramatically and also introduce a drop in prices.

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Interview with Jide Ogunleye – A Nigerian Web Developer

Today we got in touch with Jide Ogunleye; a Nigeria based web developer who currently works with MooreAdvice, a leading consulting firm in Lagos. He is an avid user of social media; active on Facebook, twitter and also operate a personal blog here.

WTN: Let’s meet you

Jide: Name is Jide Ogunleye as you already know. Born in the late 80’s in Lagos, Nigeria. My slogan is “Everything is possible” But I recently adopted one from Bank PHB which states “possibility is the possible that’s yet to be done”.

I design website layouts, wordpress themes, write web programs like; PHP/MySQL, Java Script, and Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). I also enjoy taking pictures and blog in my spare time.

WTN: Can you share with us, your experience in the industry?

Jide: My experience in the industry has been good and also bad. The good part is; I have been able to garner experience over time in how one can manage clients and projects the proper way. The bad part has been; clients making projects hell for developers and paying peanuts.

WTN: Your view about business adoption of internet?

Jide: In a computer age like we are, no other means will be more productive than the use of technology which the internet is part of.

WTN: What is your view about the Nigerian Internet market?

Jide: The Internet market is Nigeria is growing, but we are yet to tap into the full opportunities that it offers. I only know of a few successful Nigerian Internet businesses. But not to worry, am in collaboration with one of Nigeria’s leading IT Solutions provider, and we have got quite a good number of Internet business cooking that will revolutionalise the Nigerian Internet Market. So keep your fingers crossed on that, as you also will be doing write up for some of them.

WTN: In the Corporate web Development Company you work, how is it like?

Jide: Well, it’s great, especially when you have a wonderful team you work with. There’s a saying “No man is an island” as a result, you get to learn something new every day from your team members. It is also good, as it has helped me understand how to handle clients in more professional ways. It’s been a lot of exposure for me.

WTN: Tell us about your startups before joining MooreAdvice

Jide: Well, before joining MooreAdvice i only used to do web for the fun of it. I will normally accept anything give me as payment. I remember designing my first website in 2003 (though it was hosted on a free host).

I actually started out with graphics, but then, I wanted something more, something dynamic. I was always tripped whenever I logged into my Yahoomail  and saw “Welcome Jide, you have 14 new mails”. I wanted my designs to be able to that. So I got researching and discovered it was web programming and that there was variety of languages that could help do things like that. So I hopped for PHP. I started building dynamic websites.

I continued working and learning, building myself, more for pleasure and knowledge until I was called on by MooreAdvice.

WTN: Do you wish to go solo one day?

Jide: Hmmm…..yeah I do.

WTN: What will you be interested in, consumer internet or corporate internet business?

Jide: Corporate Internet Business

WTN: What impact have social media had on you personal and business wise?

Jide: All I can say about social media and its impact on me is waaooowww…Social Media has gotten me more jobs, made me meet more people (business and friends). The social media am currently loving now is twitter. Twitter is awesome, if only more people knew the advantages and the power.

I have been able to seal major deals via twitter and facebook. Though I still have some other public profiles but FB and twitter are my best so far. You can follow me on twitter here: @jideogunleye

WTN: How is the response you get on your blog so far?

Jide: Response to my blog has been awesome. I get tremendous hit every other day. Though many of my readers are returning users. I also get users commenting on articles I post.
WTN: Investors & technologist, what do you think is missing, money or innovation?
Jide: Innovation!

WTN: If you are not doing web development what would you have been doing?

Jide: I probably will have been doing some other IT related stuff. Have always loved my PC and if there’s anything else I wanna do, it definitely will be centered on Information Technology. Besides, my course of study in the University – Computer Science.
WTN: Going forward, what should we expect from you?

Jide: Be expecting some tremendous online solutions that will change the Nigerian Internet market real soon, and I mean real soon.

WTN: For our internet market to grow at a faster rate, what should we do as investors, technologist, entrepreneur, business and government?

Jide: For investors, I think IT is a place where you should invest your money in. Take for example twitter, they haven’t started making official profit but because some people believe in it, they put their money there. Companies like Google even sell shares, and you’ll see investors rushing to buy. I think our investors should look into the Nigerian internet market as there is a lot that can be invested there.

Technologist, develop something unique that the masses will use. Like the saying goes “the best things in life are free.” Let me give you a hint, the most successful internet business offers free quality services. Example, Facebook-its free to use , Google – Free, Twitter- Free, Yahoo – Free, E-bay Free, Wordpress – Free, Gmail – Free, Youtube -  Free, Firefox – free. These are some of the most successful online solutions ever, and their primary services are free and very useful, many of which we cannot do without.

Entrepreneur, no man is island. I will advice you find someone that shares your views and ideas so that you can collaborate. Like the saying goes “two heads are better than one”, partner with someone who also has an offering. I.e; you are a very good backend developer, but your User Interface is wacked, your end product might not be well payed for by clients. Functionality has to meet good design, while good design meets functionality. This doesn’t mean the collaboration is limited to designer/developer.

I will also advice that as an Entrepreneur, if you have any unique service offering, always patent it and be also careful who you share your ideas with as they might run off with it.

For Businesses, It’s not just sufficient for you to have a presence on the web with static pages for people to read about your business. It should now be about how you can extend the things you do in your office to the internet. E.g, if you sell furniture’s, users should be able to log on to your website, see furniture’s, select furniture material, customize furniture material and send. This will have reduced time waste on the user’s side and also on the site owner’s side.

Businesses can also take advantage of Social Media engagement by creating public profiles for their brands or products. This is some sort of advertising in a very cheap way.

I will advise that our Government help reduce the cost of internet connection from ISP’s, they should also give us power supply. Power supply is something I know will boost our economy rapidly if it’s in place.

Thank you.

Connect with Jide;

On Facebook, Twitter and Blog.

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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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Start lean and watch your expenses carefully – Interview with Simdul Shagaya on Nigerian Internet Market

Simdul Shagaya Speaking at Barcamp Nigeria 2010

Simdul Shagaya currently the MD, E-motion advertising based in Abuja, Nigeria and also runs various tech companies. He is a veteran web business man in Nigeria, he gained experience working with an IT company that served Fortune 500 companies, and he also worked with companies like Google, Real Network and Rand Merchant bank, South Africa. If you were at the last Barcamp Nigeria, you would have experienced, first hand his dept of knowledge about technology. He shares his experience and perspective with us about the Internet Market in Nigeria and how technopreneurs can get it right in the Country. He knows what he’s talking about, he’s been there, he has built stuff, and he has encountered both success and failure. Enjoy as you read through his mind-blowing revelations.

WTN: Can you give a brief overview of the Nigerian internet market in your of perspective?

Sim: The past few years have been marked by the growth of mobile telephony. We are now entering a period of explosion in mobile data (or more specifically, mobile broadband) services. In aggregate, the economic value of this new chapter will be even greater than the mobile telephony revolution but the mobile and internet service will have a lower share of the total revenues. Innovative application providers will make staggering amounts of wealth and create unprecedented amounts of value and may represent as much as 10% on entire industry revenues by 2015.

WTN: Can you brief us about your journey so far in the industry, how has it been?

Sim: In industry terms, I suppose I’m a bit of a veteran. My first job in information technology, in 1999, was with a company called MicroStrategy that mined massive amounts of data for Fortune 500 companies. I later spent some time with Real Networks (who basically invented streaming audio and video) and Google Inc. This was punctuated by some time with Rand Merchant Bank putting money in mobile operators and other infrastructure in Africa. I quickly learnt that banking was not for me. My first internet startup was in 2005 –  inollywood.com which sought to distribute Nigerian movies over the internet. It failed for a number of reasons – probably most notably because of my inability to, at the time, accurately read the local context in terms of broadband availability, licensing and securing movies rights, billing, etc. We got as far as licensing a valuable catalogue of content from NTA including New Masquerade, Village Headmaster, Samanja and other Nigerian classic. This classic content, interestingly, did quite well but, at the end, the timing was not right. I certainly hope my sense of timing has improved since then.

WTN: The rate of clone startups (without unique local concept) we churn out in the country, what’s your view about it?

Sim: Cloning is a bonafide form of innovation. There is nothing really wrong with it in principle but local developers must be careful in certain respects. For example, some sites that are cloned are intrinsically global and to create them for a purely Nigerian or African market may not be viable. On the other hand, cloning without taking into account local nuances is just as likely to fail.

WTN: As an experienced person in this industry, what do you think is our major challenge in the country?

Sim: For entrepreneurs, the challenges are several folds. On an industry wide basis, one of the most daunting challenges is a dearth in technical skill. Also, our culture does not encourage risk taking. This is probably a consequence of a nation where most look to government in a paternalistic manner and youth has historically not been given adequate regard. On a micro level, challenges of monetization still exist on both the fronts of advertising and online commerce. Ad agencies and big brands have been slow to recognize the internet as an effective channel for advertising and this has stymied the flow of revenue to application developers. On the commerce side, paypal and other forms of online payments are simply not available in Nigeria. This may soon change however with the advent of mobile payments and micropayment schemes like Facebook Credits. In combination, these will allow for capital to flow into the industry in the form of revenues.

WTN: How do you think startups can package their ideas to attract funding?

Sim: Not to sound fatalistic but the availability of structured funding channels for web startups in Nigeria is basically zero right now. Look for angel investors – friends and family. These are people that obviously must believe in you. Start lean and watch your expenses carefully. Prioritize your features and roll them out as you get more funds in the form of either revenues or investor capital.

WTN: Global competitiveness can Nigerian startups reach that level?

Sim: Most certainly, but it will take a lot of hard work, creativity, time and capital. We have a potentially massive market and one that will be, by definition, mobile. This creates huge opportunities that cannot be ignored.

WTN: Gist us about your tech companies; lovebase.com and gbogbo.com how are they doing in the market?

Sim: Lovebase is doing well. We can confidently say that it is the leading dating social network in West Africa. All revenues are derived from subscriptions as we made a choice not serve advertising on the site. It is profitable but not cash flow positive. This means that all profits are reinvested into the business and probably will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Gbogbo is a labor of love but has gained quite a reputation for being an effective way for Nigerians to buy and sell things and find local services.

WTN: Talking about lovebase.com; formally alarena.com, why the name change?

Sim: 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.

WTN: Still on lovebase.com, I discovered it’s got premium user package, what is the acceptance in the market and particularly the percentage of paid to free members?

Sim: Premium membership is a bit of a necessary evil. It is a way of establishing seriousness of romantic intent – meaning to communicate, you must first pay. If we don’t do this, then our members will be sent massive amounts of messages from unserious people.
Frankly we have been working to find other ways to make the site even more open while improving revenues. This sounds like a contradiction but it isn’t. We believe we may have found a way for people to communicate for “free” while still establishing seriousness of romantic intent. As mentioned previously, we have a healthy conversion rate and people actually go to GT Bank and make deposits to avail themselves of our premium services. We expect that revenues will jump substantially with the advent of mobile payments.

WTN: I must tell you this sir, we are following your footsteps, what new stuff should we expect from you soonest?

Sim: As you know, I co-founded an outdoor advertising business – E-Motion Advertising  - that is doing quite well. E-Motion will be doing some pretty exciting things in the internet space over the next few months that I am not at liberty to speak of now but represents my most challenging (and gratifying) project so far.

WTN: Talking about the future of internet business in Nigeria, where do you see the industry in the next 3-5years?

Sim: Nigeria has a huge population and that will drive demand for online services that will then push out into larger Africa. This means Nigeria will probably be the nexus for many African services along with cities like Cape Town. Funding for developers will start to emerge in terms of capital investments (from large media companies like the mobile operators and other traditional media companies (like Naspers in South Africa which is making bold internet-related investments in emerging markets)). The internet will be almost purely mobile in nature in Nigeria. The next wave of innovation will be disruptive in its fullest sense. Incumbents like Microsoft and possibly Nokia will stall and possibly decline. New entrants like Facebook, HTC, Google/Android will take their place. Mobile internet will become an indispensible part of our lives. We will not understand how we lived without it. Huge fortunes will be made (and lost) during this disruption and Nigeria is not exception. Industries such as print news, financial services and Radio/TV will be massively disrupted.

WTN: In conclusion, what do you have for budding technopreneurs in the country?

Sim: Work hard, retain a childlike curiosity of the world for as long as you possibly can, and look to solve real problems of which there are many.

WTN: Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us.

Sim: You are Welcome.

Sites: emotionadvert.com, lovebase.com and gbogbo.com

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Interview with Dudutoonz a Nigerian top creative house

In our ongoing quest to profile top young Nigerian talents and company, we present to you Dututoonz, a top Nigerian digital Art company with world class illustration and trend setting designs, they are truly Nigerian and worth celebrating. We covered some of their headline marking designs recently.

WTN: Let’s meet you

DUDUTOONZ: DUDUTOONZ is a company powered by a team of creative, cultured and
dedicated Nigerians passionate about hoisting the standard of corporate
excellence, driving fresh and creative innovation. Our services include
all areas of digital arts- motion graphics, TV commercials, radio
commercials, website design and hosting, animations, graphic design, brand
packaging, and a host of other digital Art productions.

And then our products include a TV animated series titled BABA IMULERU.
It’s a clever blend of humor and the proverbs of the Yoruba tribe which
comes out as a simple and interesting act of storytelling; a full-fledged
comedy magazine called CRAZY. It a 22 pages entertainment editorial. It
employs the irresistible power of beautifully distorted imageries of our
celebrities and society in general.

WTN: How as it been, working together as a team to build this
wonderful company?

DUDUTOONZ: Well it has been a lot more fun working as a team, it’s due to the fact
that we all share and agree to a common vision, every single member is so
passionate first about his own discipline, and secondly about the works of
the next person. No one works in isolation. There is high level of multi
tasking here. We are constantly learning, making research, from time to
time we are always making sure we are improving on the existing structure
so as to foster our strength, stability and growth. Over the years we have
built a strong acquaintance and working ethics among ourselves, putting
aside the business side of things I believe some of us share a similar
lifestyle; values, music, leisure, recreation and so on.

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

DUDUTOONZ: Simply for the fact that there are lots of brands out there that are not
well position, or at least are not where they belong, mostly because of
their designs. This creates a barrier between the brands and their target
audience. It is true that design is everything; it’s a major tool in
creating perception, especially in the business world of today where you
have a million and one company and billions and billions of products in
the market. The question now is how will your products or services get
noticed and accepted? One of the key areas of attention is the design. The
beauty of your product and the positioning of your company have a massive
influence on people’s decision. These are some of the practical and
effective solution we have been offering to many. It’s a known fact that
beauty sells any day, anywhere.

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

DUDUTOONZ: It’s so vast; there are millions of active companies in Nigeria from
manufacturers, to engineering companies, financial institution, agencies,
aviation, telecommunication, media houses, co-operate bodies to an
individual and many more are coming in existence. Each of these companies
is constantly evolving, coming up with new ideas, product, events,
upgrades of services and products, needing to reach out to their clients,
customers, and the world, and so on, it’s really a vast and ever needy
market.

WTN: What are the challenges you face as designers?

DUDUTOONZ: With the world becoming a global village it is a lot easier to gain access
to any part of it in search of research materials, latest software,
hardware, news and updates though that used to be a common challenge in
the past. Most of the challenges come from the briefing, simply because
many times clients have not clearly defined their path and brand this
causes a lot of back and forth, wasted time, and resources.

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

DUDUTOONZ: To design a very effective website you need a very good understanding of
graphic design in order to give it that expected beauty and appeal.
Though, the programming, maintenance and hosting aspect maybe alien to a
graphic designer. The graphics is the first thing that will register on
the mind of the visitor.

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

DUDUTOONZ: A lot of projects, couples of music videos, television commercials, we are
also working on the branding of certain events, and also we are organizing
an exhibition of paintings, music, and graphics design, a unique
combination it is coming up by October.

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

DUDUTOONZ: There is a lot of great graphical works, expression and fantastic images
in the market but I know there are so many consumers out there waiting for
fresh and exciting way of employing color, tones and shape to communicate
to their own consumer too, creating room for endless creative ways and
means. Graphics designers need to be more adventurous, more daring, and
think more outside the box; we need to create more extreme but functional
pieces. The market is not completely saturate with this.

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

DUDUTOONZ: There are more affordable internet service providers (ISPs), more access
for almost anyone, Nigerians are now cultivating the habit of internet
shopping among other things and the company’s web page is already becoming
a viable platform for expanding your reach, this will certainly lead to
growth of web/internet market.

WTN: Where do you see tech market in Nigeria in the next 3-5 years?

DUDUTOONZ: The technological market is fast growing especially among the younger
generation. We have
seen a huge leap in the last 5- years, the availability of information,
software, hardware, has greatly hoist the strength of this market. With
the yearning of the younger generation and the need for different brands
to reach out, its obvious that the technological market will keep growing.

WTN: What do you think we really need in this country (technology wise)?

DUDUTOONZ: We need people, structure, and a system to sustain the structure. When it
come to the issue of technological advancement the challenge most of the
time is with the fact that we want an instant or overnight change or some
kind of miracle and it won’t happen. we need to have a 5, 10, maybe
15years plan plus we need to start now, part of what we need is a genuine
education, enlightenment about what is ideal and why it is ideal, Strong
competitive spirit, an organization setting and defining standards
relative to global standards. People and a structure that will run
whatever system that is created, this will automatically change the
perception of what we believe the minds of the young Nigeria can achieve.

WTN:  You are doing a great job with your Academy; can you share with
us, the success so far?

DUDUTOONZ: We are presently taking our time to expand the dimensions of our scope so
as to reach a lot more people aspiring to perfect their skills and
efficiency when it comes to digital arts. We might introduce an online
curriculum soon for some of the applicant residing outside of Lagos and
Nigeria.

WTN: What should we expect from you guys soonest?

DUDUTOONZ: Series of short downloadable animated comedy videos readily available on
the internet, also there will be an exhibition few months from now.

WTN: What words for you have for upcoming designers?

DUDUTOONZ: Among other working ethics being passionate is key. It prompts you to
become more inquisitive, teach you to ask question, force you to make
research, all this is equal to a professional.

WTN: Thank you.
DUDUTOONZ: You are welcome.

Visit Dudutoonz: http://www.dudutoonz.com

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Interview with James Abinibi; CEO of Abinibi Multimedia

In our effort to continue to showcase Nigeria’s best talents, we caught up with the wave making Creative Artiste/Web Designer, international multi-awards winner,  James “Abinibi” Alabi, CEO of Abinibi Multimedia  to share with us the journey so far in Nigeria tech market.

WTN: Let’s meet you

Abinibi: My name is James Alabi popularly know as ABINIBI. I’m a Graphics Artist, Web Designer, Tutor, Entrepreneur and Publisher. Born and bred in Lagos, Nigeria.

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

Abinibi: I’ve always had a thing for the ARTS. I studied Fine and Applied Arts and that has majorly helped in defining my orientation about design. I’m actually a self taught designer and It happend in 2003 when I got hold of my first PC and it’s been excitement all the way. I started practicing with CorelDraw then I got interested in Web Design and that was when I discovered DREAMWEAVER. From there on I built my skills in other programs such as FIREWORKS, FLASH, AFTER EFFECTS, 3DS MAX, etc

WTN: Seriously, how did you come about the name, Abinibi?

Abinibi: The ABINIBI name actually means ‘inborn ability’. When I started I found it easy learning the softwares on my own without any aid or supervision and I was able to produce works that matched international standards in a short period of practice. Now when people see my works they know it takes the ABINIBI factor to do such. I’m the type that finds joy in designing which is why most of my personal works are the most popular because I really get to express myself as I want. Also, I’m big advocate for the brand NIGERIA which is why I chose a name from our local dialects to use as my company name ABINIBI MULTIMEDIA. It is also why GREEN is the official brand colour for ABINIBI. I’m showcasing the Nigerian spirit in me to the world.

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

Abinibi: The market is actually not fair in Nigeria, in the sense that most people want to pay less or nothing when it comes to computer based works such as Graphics or Web. This is why some clients tell you to go ahead and design and send them Demos that they will pay you once they see what they like. A lot of young designers/developers fall into that trap and end up not getting good value for what they do. In my own opinion, the market is you and what you bring to it. It’s a great market in Nigeria if things are done professionally. For instance, I don’t touch your job without a proper brief and upfront payment. Plus I charge premium for my jobs because that’s how I see them. Premium!

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

Abinibi: The major challenge is as I’ve mentioned earlier; ‘unprofessional-ism’.  Aside that, we have some other major discouraging challenges such as power issue. I would charge less if the power issues is fixed in Nigeria. Right now, I don’t see how my fees would be cheap when I run a generator for almost a day all through the week and I end up spending nothing less than N40,000 on fuel monthly. It’s very discouraging!

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

Abinibi: Yes. A very big line! You would agree with me that designing for web is different from designing for prints. If you give a web design job to an average Graphics Artist, apart from not understanding key factors needed for a web design, such designer may also not know about optimizing images for the web not mentioning web standards. So, in my opinion, there’s a line between the two. But it’s usually an easy transition for a normal designer to web design.

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

Abinibi: Right now, the major project on my hand is personal. I’m publishing a creative magazine called SKILLZ. It’s a creative magazine that covers Design, Web, Video and Photography. We are ready to launch a Pre-Release version for the web a few weeks from now. It’s a total package and I’m excited about the content so far. Aside that, I’ve been involved in a couple of eCommerce projects launching real soon. I’m also working on a new version for my company website http://www.abinibimultimedia.com and http://www.abinibi.net which has both won me awards internationally.

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

Abinibi: The creative design market in Nigeria still needs a lot of work. We are improving by the days though but I see a lot of work ahead for us to be able to attain the same level as our international contemporaries.

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

Abinibi: I foresee a great boom in that area once the necessary structures are put in place. It’s the next step for us.

WTN: What do you think we really need in this country?

Abinibi: What we need is discipline of the mind and the right orientation. Most of the issues we have can be attributed to these two matters. A person with the right orientation would know what is right and wrong and he or she would also have the discipline not to do or aid the things that are not acceptable to the society. period!

WTN: You are starting a new session of your training… can you reflect on the success so far?

Abinibi: Yes. I run different training programs under ABINBI CREATIVE ACADEMY and I can authoritatively inform you that I’ve contributed greatly in helping people achieve their creative dreams. We’ve had laymen come to the academy and leaving as Geniuses in the making you can check some of their works on http:/aca.abinibi.net. I personally love to teach people from what I know creatively. Our courses are GRAPHICS DESIGN, WEB DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT, FLASH ANIMATION and PRINTS TECHNOLOGY. I’ve also managed to reduced the course fees by 50% this is as a result of me wanting to make the fees affordable. Also, we give out scholarships every session. This new session promises to be exciting as students from our last sessions are also coming for new courses in the next session.

WTN: What words for you have for upcoming designers?

Abinibi: Nowadays, you see everybody uploading jobs on FACEBOOK and receiving comments. Unfortunately, FACEBOOK is a social networking website and people are only interested in seeing things that excite or appeal to them. I go online and see a lot of errors in designs posted by our guys and its saddening with the rate at which they allow themselves to be deceived with comments. An average designer on FACEBOOK does not even know colours. All they are excited about is jam-packing stock images and PHOTOSHOP brushes.

My strongest advice would be for them to really learn and research properly. Graphics Design is bigger than PHOTOSHOP if you know what I mean.

WTN: Thank you

Some of the Awards in the coffers of Abinibi himself:

• American design awards,
• New web pick
• rgbgarden.com
• mydesignaward.com
• xhilarate.com
• designslices.com
• adobekit.com

Photo Credit: Shola Animashaun

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