In the early days I used 23401 which is for a town in the US, somehow the sites accepted the code and took it to be a US based user.

To easily target people with information and serve Nigerian internet users better, it is of great importance that we have these codes in accessible format… now here comes the solution!

Tim Akinbo, one of Nigeria’s brilliant programmer has solved the problem and make the data available online.

It’s currently hosted on Google Fusion Lab, you can test it out here.

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Ahmad Mukoshy is a young Nigerian doing great thing up there in the north, very passionate and consistent. He has been in the industry since 2007 and since then have serviced hundreds of client around the country and beyond. Read trough his story has a shared with us, the journey so far!

I am 20yr old born and brought-up in Sokoto (Nothern Nigeria) and I am the CEO of Aimtech Ltd a pioneer web hosting company and also Founder and Developer of Yarnable and Yrn.me a micro-discussion site and a free URL shorter respectively.

I started my first venture (Aimtech NG) in 2007 when I just graduated from Secondary School (High School).  As of that time, I was only 17yrs old and I was a bit versatile with web design and development. Web design has been my hubby since SS1 (Senior High).

I had zero support except for my enthusiasm! My father was “Not Ok” with me sitting on a computer all day long because to him, I was wasting my time when I could be studying Mathematics (his favourite). It was really challenging! But thank God to that, I am not in my Final year soon to be a University Graduate!

Financially, I had to struggle to establish and sustain my ventures. I remember I actually sold my mobile phone back in 2007 to raise capital for my hosting company, that was about 11,000 Naira ($70) or there about as of then.

I was selling Domain Names to my friends and internet contacts who were asking me of how I registered my own back then to make money. So I figured I could turn it into a business and I ventured into web hosting service with just 1 customer. Today, my hosting company empowers over 450 web site owners.

Looking at the challenges in running business in the country, I believe in the saying, it does not matter in which situation you find yourself; but how you react to the situation. Nigeria has been a challenging place for online-business in particular, but the answer for me has always been…. I cannot change the fact that I am here,  all I can do is look around for possible opportunities.

The key that have helped me so far, I will simply say; Persistance, Persistence, Persistence!

I have been tempted to quit times without number, but what kept me going is persistence. This has been my hobby, it is what I like to do no matter how tough it gets, I only stick more to it and learn from the challenges. It takes courage to drive success, that was my main ingredient.

That is why, I always advice upcoming entrepreneurs to venture into what they like the most!

Is it really possible to succeed in this country as a start-up?
Sure, absolutely sure!

I have seen countless success in Nigeria and if they can make it, why not you? I succeed, some one did before me and surely more will do it after me, it all depends on your courage and devotion. Nigeria and Africa in a whole is still a virgin region when it comes to businesses and start-ups. So much is yet uncovered and success awaits you!

The future of technology business in the country is promising with the evolving growth rate of computer literacy in Nigeria; I will say the future is so blossom.

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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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While Mr. President on the other hand, as been growing at an extremely high rate less than a month the Fan page was created. On the launch date, he had at 3,000 fans and that number has grown to a whopping 117,243 Fans. Just last week, it hit 100,000 and barely a week after it has added over 17,000 fans.

Mr. President remains the hottest celebrity online, as his facebook sensation continues.

One of the funny things on this is that, the top artiste(9ice & Dbanj specifically) with most fans on Facebook are not very active on twitter.

Other Artiste

9ice 119,789
Goodluck Jonathan 117,321
D’banj 66,260
Banky W. 42,648
Asa 25,019

Expect more stats in our half-year of the Nigerian Internet market. If you know more Fan pages, please drop below.

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Nigeria Internetworld Conference and Exhibition (NICE2010) is a internet for business focus conference to be held next week in Unilag.

Nigeria Internetworld Conference and Exhibition (NICE) is an annual event which provides education, empowerment, networking, business opportunities for Nigerians. It is a gathering of Internet based businesses, service providers, e-Commerce providers and experts that are involved in online marketing, e-commerce technology, web technology and development, content development and management.

Focus
-Internet access and Connectivity
-E-commerce and Digital marketing
-Web technology and development
-Internet security
-Social media
-Content development
-Internet and its application in different fields like media, medicine, governance, security
-Internet Trends and Business opportunities like domain name business, web hosting etc.
-Legislation

The theme: Internet for Business (I4b); Empowering Nigerians through the Internet.
Date: July 20, 2010
Venue: Afe Babalola Hall, University of Lagos.

The conference will feature discussion and internet product exhibition. If you have a product and willing to let the word out, Register here. Room is also available for sponsorship.

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We recently wrote about our President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan joining Facebook to engage Nigerian youth. He has consistently used the platform to communicate with fans on the page and it went from 2,ooo fans at our last writing to a whopping 100,000 today.

With just about 11 comments posted by the president, he got the following comments and likes;

That is an average of 1,946 comments and 2,117 likes on each comments. The post is driven mostly of praise singers but more aggressive people are joining the page and asking the president serious questions like the proposed 10billion for the Nigeria at 50 Anniversary and electoral reform.

Any impact so far?

On monday the president announced to  rescind his decision to suspend super eagles from international competition qouting some of the comments on the facebook page as the reason for taking the decision. Should we say the president is connecting perfectly with the people? Only time will tell!

During the time of writing this article… another 156 has joined the president’s page making it 100,156!

What is you view so far about the presidents Facebook presence?

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Not too many people have heard my story though some have. I specifically withdrew from writing about myself in the media, particularly because I have not got to where I really want to go, am still in the making. So let me share a brief of the journey so far and I believe it could stir something in your nerve, if you are thinking of jumping into the startup river in the country.

The Journey started around 2002 when I opened my first email, I was amazed at the swiftness of the technology. What really made me be conscious of its essence was the fact that at a very young age (under 10) I’d dreamed of getting people connected all over the world something Facebook seem to be doing now. So after the email, I started research on how to build websites. As at the time I didn’t have access to a PC, except in the cyber café.

“…you really may not get the help you need until you get started!”

In 2004, I launched my first startup, a web development consulting firm. When I launched, I didn’t have a domain for my business so I used a freeservers. I printed fliers, and distributed around Ketu and Ogba areas of Lagos. You know, you really may not get the help you need until you get started! It was after I started that I met a man (Mr Seye AJagbe, founder of Lagosians.com) who challenged me, he said; ”how could you be building websites for people without having your own domain?” I was dumbfounded! Then he said, if I could register a domain name he would host me for free! So I went ahead, raised money and registered my first domain name.

“At times, your community/market may not be ready for your idea, but building it expands your vision for possibilities ahead.”

In the late 2004, I started research for my next startup; a comprehensive directory of businesses, café and interesting places in Ogba, Lagos. What Yelp is currently doing in the US kind of. At times, your community/market may not be ready for your idea, but building it expands your vision for possibilities ahead. It was semi-successful because (in hindsight) my courage was boosted on how to raise money and getting partnership for my projects. I struck a deal with a café operator to share an office space. I’m still wondering where I got the courage from, because I didn’t know the owner from Adam! But looking back I think I can connect the dot (like Steve Jobs will say). It was nothing but courage to get my idea to the market. I also tried to raise fund from few people and in a particular place (which I will never forget) I was called a 419, I was damned! In my mind I said, “this woman just missed a great opportunity to invest in a business that will soon change the world!”.

Eventually I had to relocate from Ogba and since the business could not generate any fund, and the café I used as office had closed up, I had to move on and concentrate on my web development skills and future projects.

One of the very interesting projects I am very glad I worked on was a solution deployed for couple of universities in the country (Unilorin, Unijos and Futminna). An automated payslip dispatch system that reduced bursary department expenses and staff work load for more than 90%. Imagine reducing work load of one week handled by 3 staffs to 20 minutes and handled by just one person! I was excited! I still continued to consult on web building and all that!

I joined an investment banking outfit in Lagos to further experience the corporate world and add my quota to the company. Some of the take home I got were;

1. I worked closely with research and corporate finance department to understand basics of investment analysis.
2. Got trained on financial advisory.
3. Worked on preparing private placement for startups willing to raise money (most in excess of N250million).
4. Also worked with corporate finance guys to provide, business plans for companies that were leaving startups to go public.( getting listed on Nigerian stock exchange)
5. Some of the stuff foreign direct investment and others stuffs.
6. Also engaged analysis of business plan for investors wiling to either invest in private placements or initial public offering (IPO).

As at that time the bubble was still on in the Nigerian finance industry.

I eventually left the company to focus on my next startup fulltime. Some of the reason I left include the fact that; balancing personal project with official duty is very tasking, I wanted to share with the world what I have learnt so far beyond just one company. I was concern about the Nigerian tech industry (internet specifically); I felt it was more or less like a ship without rudder and thought I can add something to it. That was why I started Web Trends Nigeria to address the industry’s fundamental issue; trends analysis. To give insight driven analysis that will separate the business from the buzz, structure the internet industry and make it suitable for investment and consequently realize its potentials. So far so good, the journey has been interesting as we would be clocking 2 years in next couple of months.

So for anyone willing to start a startup, I say to you; learn as much as you can learn where you are, then burn your boat; I mean RESIGN and get your dream on course! There is nothing like security anywhere, the industry needs you now to bring innovation to the market. I can understand there are so many challenges; no light, no funding, no government support. Yea, but the sad note is that we may not have them soonest but they aren’t enough reason to sit tight where you are and hoping some day miracle will happen somehow!

Bootstrap with what you have and iterate as you go on… We want t o celebrate you, remember; there is no HIstory without a story, so what is your story? Go start something!

Do you wish to share your story with us? Let’s know, read more here.

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We will be writing a series of post highlighting how technologist in the country started their companies; the challenges they encountered, how they overcame and how they have been able to sustain and grow their businesses over the years.

For now, we are covering Nigeria but plan is under way to cover whole of Africa in shortest time possible.

So what do we want to achieve with this?

1. We want to assess the tenacity of young people to startup in Nigeria/Africa
2. We want to know what the problem really is; we don’t want to assume financial or technical limitations are the main problems.
3. We want to know how big the industry is and by extension how fast it can grow in the coming years.
4. We want to give head-start to the budding entrepreneurs on what it really takes to start a tech business in this part of the world.

We want to inspire CHANGE!

So if you have built a startup and have been able to sustain your business for the past 2-5years, let us hear from you, we want to hear your story, we want to celebrate you!

Send an email about your story to info [at] webtrendsng.com. We will be glad to know some certain things in your story;

1. How did you start?
2. How old were you when you started?
3. What support did you get starting up? Financial or otherwise?
4. How did you make money with your business when you get started?
5. How did you overcome the challenges of starting a business in this country?
6. What is the key factor that helped grow your business (success)?
7. Is it really possible to succeed in this country as a startup?
8. Does tech business have future in this country?

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