Nurturing start-ups ought not to be burdensome, but the Nigerian situation is just funny.

First, the basic amenities an average start-ups needs are constant power supply and access to fast internet service.

These are basic things every society must have in the contemporary world, but in Nigeria they are either lacking or prettily expensive.

Logically, there are basic principles that anybody intending going into internet related business must know; aside adopting software with ‘free resources’.

Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, Mr. Oluwaseyi Adepoju, head of Business Development & CRM at Hellofood.com (Nigeria), said that cost management is crucial. “You must figure out what the society needs. ‎Provide a solution to it with strategic moves. With that, you can find a niche in an internet business; while on the business, remember internet business is expensive if you intend going into regular marketing activities, like bill board, radio advertisement, etc. The critical thing is: be more service oriented. When service is at its peak even your customers will refer people to your service. An average Nigerian is comfortable with the testimony of a colleague, friend or family member”.

Speaking specifically about the idea behind Hellofood.com, he said, it was culled from what is obtainable in other Western world where services/products can be brought to people’s doorsteps.

“At such, people who don’t have time to go shopping can have access to those services. But in countries like Nigeria, even when people want to eat, they are ‘forced’ to go outside looking for one restaurant or the other. And that has pushed some people to become stereotyped to a particular restaurant or the other. Thus, restricting their choice to whatever they can get around. Hellofood is here to fill that gap; you sit in your room or office and order for food for delivery, at the same amount it’s sold at the restaurant.  You don’t need to spend much, just download the free app & with less than 15mb place an order through your smart phone. Even without a smartphone, you can visit the website from your desktop and place your order or dial our number”.

Adepoju who kicked off his career as a Market Research Analyst, as far back as 2005 had worked cross-functionally to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaign and media efforts, creating dashboards and reports that explain what happened and why, assessing the lead funnel, understanding sales & marketing wins, and analyzing direct and indirect influence across the opportunity mix.

He said that the ultimate goal of the business module is to provide evolving ways, tapping into the trending technology (App, website etc) to order food for delivery from your favorite restaurant at the same price as the restaurant.

“Now, with the way things are we have adopted other options like customer care hotlines as standby during internet downtime. We have applications to ensure the customer does not spend so much trying to contact us. Today, some mobile operators have made apps free for usage; for instance you don’t need to have data to use your app with MTN Apptitude. Imagine where you are sending someone on errand with few clicks. When the delivery man comes, he charges you a reasonable amount for delivery.

“Some restaurants even deliver for free. So, on the internet, there are days all the networks are down, therefore, it becomes imperative that a startup considers other means to reach out or be reached. In other words, no matter how large or small the company is, there is absolute need to put into considerations the social and economic need of the country before launching”.

Criteria for Selecting Restaurants
“The thing is, we have some basic criteria to signing up a restaurant. We have a sales team that includes a health officer. They go around and seek for the best restaurants in town. Even from afar, there are restaurants people patronize than others. For instance, in Yaba, people cherish the White House; so we make a list of all topnotch restaurants and cuisines. We are not limited to the franchise like KFC, Mr. BIGGS, Chicken Republic, etc. We go for the local served-bucker scattered around both the Lagos Island and Mainland.

“We channel orders to them. But we agree with them that before such could happen they have to abide by the basic principles of healthy cooking and neat environment. So, Hellofood health staff has to ensure they keep to the standard before we put them on the platform. Customers are permitted to rate them too based on their experience.  
Growth Rate of Hellofood.com
“Hellofood.com is barely two years and some months in Nigeria. We are in 10 other African countries & operate in 45 countries worldwide. In other countries like the Latin America it is called foodpanda. So, it is Hellofood/foodPanda global initiative”.

Startups and the Challenges of Customer Service
“Customer service can be modeled in different ways. It is very expensive to have a standby customer care where 10 to 15 people are stationed to pick up calls or answer queries. In exchange for that, you can have an effective communication channel whereby you the founder or entrepreneur can pick up the calls; have a notepad or writing material to put down inquiries as they arise. Customer service must not be in a particular order.

“What matters is, should the customer complain, how quick are you to answer and find a solution to their problem. So, it means you will be helping customers solve their problem instantly. That is customer service. You can attach an inquiry email straight to your mobile phone. Anywhere you are, you can reply mails & answer tweets, depends on the nature of the enquiry; just be close to the customers by being accessible and trustworthy.

Traditional vs ePayment
“Our business model entails we do pay-on-delivery, because the service we render is food. There are occasions when you make an order and probably what you get is different from that. For now, we don’t have e-payment attached to our platform, but we have some delivery personnel that go with Point-of-Sales (PoS) machines. What we encourage startups do is to give room for pay-on-delivery. It’s customer satisfaction first; and you have no such money to pay for damages”.

The Future Impact of Not Investing on Local IT Startsup
“Generally, around the globe, people barely invest in startups. What we have are startup incubators or specialized conglomerate that invest in start – ups around the world. For the later they send their professionals to establish different business models. Startup is a very risky business venture. The guarantee of success is very low, except the starter/founder has passion for what he is doing. It is not always a smooth start. Startups are hardly funded. Having a dream and nurturing it to maturity are different things. When you push out, sometimes, people will not appreciate it. Do you give up the dream? No!!  For people to appreciate your dream or service you intend offering. They most perceive you are the best option in your sector & know that there interest is protected by your service.

“First of all, you have to resolve to free resources such as software’s, referrals etc. There are software to help you with designs, financial management, CRM, etc. There are others you can link to your social media channel like scheduling posts to make them interactive & all, but most importantly, you have to specialize, you can’t be into everything.

“From an ordinary man perspective, if I am a shoemaker in Yaba market, and I want to come into e-commerce, what I need to do is ensure my shoes and services are unparalleled. Create a signature look for my shoes, search for some platform that offer free website hosting, go online , build a website, open accounts on different social media platform, print business cards and resolve to marketing channels that are affordable. What will determine people coming back to my platform is the quality of the shoes i make or sell & delivery time. With the exposure I can get from the internet, I can render my services to someone in Lekki or even out of Lagos, while i remain in my Yaba location.

“So, startups should concentrate more on their products and services in such manner that when they spend little resources on marketing, the product/services can do the rest of the marketing. For instance, when Jumia was launched, I looked at it that they were not making money, because their products were cheaper than the market price.

“But with time I understood they were more interested in servicing people. If you can achieve that, then the assurance is there; the trust and confidence reposed on you become additional currency for the long time survival of the business. An average Nigerian will pay for your service if they are sure of the quality. There are a lot of eateries around here, but people prefer to visit White-House. Why? They are specialists in preparing local dishes. Your brand or business has to be known as a master or the best in its category to survive.

“E-commerce is Nigeria next gold mine & its high time government knew that. As it has become imperative that brand knock on customers’ door with offers & with E-commerce I think the knock is polite”

Success Rates of Startups in Nigeria
He said that in Nigeria, most of the startups is either incubators or off springs of Mega investors like Rocket Internet, but the government should make the environment conducive for even individuals to start up their own.

“When investors come, they are business oriented. In as much as they want to render services, they still want to make money. If young entrepreneurs are encouraged to go into startups and online businesses, they are going to become successful due to three key values: drive, passion and will to find solution to societal problems. For example, the need for a service like hellofood was long overdue;

“We must be aware that the society is a big circle & innovation & services like “Hellofood” has it role in the society at large. With hellofood service, traffic at lunch time could reduce, people won’t have to miss lunch because of a busy schedule & a large chunk of people won’t have to be on the road at lunch time. Because with hellofood, you can order food for delivery to either your homes or offices without paying extra, just the same price as you pay in the restaurant.

The way and manner business operate have short or long term impact on the economy. Now, to encourage startups goes beyond policy making; may be dole out N50billion to support startups. It doesn’t work that way.

Government has been saying, “we are putting N20billion into agriculture; N50billion into IT or N200billion into Nollywood”; that is not how to grow startups. At the end of the day, the real startups don’t have access to the grants/funding; the structure in place doesn’t ‘cover’ them. Since, for some reasons, policy-making has not been working, government should provide the basics – Free education at primary to secondary level, reliable & constant electricity, reliable and affordable internet services, subsidies food production not petrol “Because for me, car is a luxury & if government feel the need to help in transportation they should provide, good & effective public transport like the BRT programme & co”, security etc..

If all this are put in place, people would become innovative & spend more time to create solutions to other societal problems at large. Just take a look at the jobs the internet has created, a lot of youths now are entrepreneurs because of social media, those that have a large chunk of followers are now being paid by big brands to endorse there product or help in publicity.

“Look at the role social media played in the last election, a lot of youths made money of just doing publicity for politicians and some have even made a notch for themselves, like Omojuwa & co. while some have taken it to the next level like making money of blogs, like Linda ikeji & co. All this won’t have being possible, if there was no internet.

Foreign vs Local Investors on IT
“As a Nigerian and a Pan-Africanist I’m concerned about the foreign domination of investments on our IT space. It appears we Africans are slow in everything. What is happening now in the e-commerce world is similar to the era of oil boom. Government ought to facilitate opportunities to guarantee indigenes participation in such sector of the economy. When government fails to see that, outsiders will see the opportunities and flood it. Most of the finances made will, in a smart way, be diverted outside back.

Why should a government over look an industry that generates over $1.3million every 30 seconds globally & about $10 million every week for Nigeria, with a major chunk of the sector’s revenue being cornered through social media?

“Venture capitalists in Africa should look inward too. Just like what Tony elumelu is doing.  Right now, a lot of dreams are been killed. Most times, it is either your idea is stolen or nothing will come out of it. In a society like Nigeria, the government cannot provide jobs for everybody; just provide the basic amenities and allow people follow their passion & we will have innovations.

Hellofood Market Share in Nigeria
“We have competitors, but they are different from us. They are just interested in delivering food, making money, but we are focused on making life easier for you at whatever cost. We are concerned about the customer experience. We want to take the full burden of getting food to everyone at an affordable rate; Food ordering shouldn’t be just for the rich!! The problem we face as a brand, is working with restaurants that don’t have a reliable operation system. Most times we end up doing double job, just to make our job easier. We advise and even help them structure there operations.

“Eateries in Nigeria are still used to the old ways of doing things, no professionalism. May be they have one old woman dishing out the food & because of her age it takes her 15 minutes to finish packing the food, before it’s transferred to the delivery Hero to take it to the customer. Take a look, if we are to deliver in 30 minutes and restaurant operations alone has taken half of the time. What time do we have to meet up with the delivery time, talk of Lagos traffic that can even hold a bike down & overzealous law enforcement agent! These are some hitches we face, but as a brand we have found a way to go around it & yet meet up with time.

“While we are taking care of the customers’ we are taking the lead in the food delivery business. Hellofood has been doing well; since about 11 months ago I joined the family the company has recorded about 500% increase in sales.         

Adepoju Oluwaseyi is a guru in the art of business development, with kin interest in E-commerce; he was the business development manager & acting Managing Director of PROSONS NIG LTD; during which he instilled every rare skill required for a groomed business developer. He has many years of experiences from different sectors of the economy; Oil & Gas, Construction, real estate & Entertainment.

He said his experience in other sector gave him a better stand in E-commerce. He now volunteer as a business consultant & mentor for the Grow Movement, an NGO backed by the UK govt & London Business School, where he helps transform the businesses of people in Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi, empowering African entrepreneurs by sharing his professional knowledge and experience. As such aim to enable them to run their businesses more effectively, increasing their profitability and creating jobs in their communities.

The Grow Movement has worked with over 260 entrepreneurs and has created over 550 jobs since started in 2009.