General News
Mobile Internet Drives Online Marketing in Nigeria- Spalazzi
Massimiliano Spalazzi is the managing director of Kaymu Nigeria.
Prior to joining Kaymu, Spalazzi was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Zanui.com.au, a Rocket Internet based in Australia and co-founded an online venture in Italy.
He also worked with the Jumia founding team before Kaymu and believes in Nigeria’s online market potentials
Spalazzi spoke to peter ugwu on how Kaymu wants to help other online entreprenuers in Nigeria to to monetize their ventures.
Why Kaymu.com is Nigeria’s Safest Online Market Place
Kaymu is Nigeria’s safest online market place where buyers and sellers meet to perfect transactions on the Internet.
Everyone can be on the platform to sell his or her product; both new and used products. So, is a business focused platform where everyone has equal opportunity to reach out to the wide range of potential buyers and can be reached too to make purchases.
A student might need to sell, a staff might need to sell or buy products ranging from Fashion, Electronics, Jewelry, Accessories, Books and millions more.
The interesting part of it is that when buying or selling at Kaymu, you deal with people from your City and from all over Nigeria.
To do that is very easy; just register and join thousands of people who successfully sell items on Kaymu.
Kaymu’s Level of Patronage
Number of users across Africa has been growing by the day. The adoption rate is increasing tremendously thanks to internet provisioning in Africa.
It is a proof to us that the business model is such that people appreciate as well. What we are doing is providing tools for people to maximize sells and reduce costs as well.
This platform is such that lure people to the online space.
Virtually, everybody has something to sell or buy.
Presently in Nigeria, we are in Lagos, covering the very important market. We have a plan to start nationwide and cover as many cities as we can.
Unique Selling Point
For clarification purpose, we do not sell products rather provide platform for others to market or sell their products.
It starts with what the seller has to sell and how much he or she puts it. If you have quality product and fair price, of course, Kaymu.com is the right avenue to make your sells.
We are different from others due to the unique services and safety.
Marketing & Safety
When it comes to safety we check everything via email and telephone numbers and confirm that the seller is really the person we are dealing with.
We are always cross-checking to ascertain the authenticity of anything we allow to be put up on the site.
Aside that, our sales team is concerned with inserting the price, images, and other factors, that will aid the seller and the buyer. Everything is managed by our team.
Infrastructural Challenges
It is true that internet penetration in the country is not at the top when it comes to laptop or desktop, but it is a different case when you talk about the mobile.
The mobile internet penetration in Nigeria is very significant and drives e-commerce presently. In fact, it is growing at a very fast rate.
The question will be: can we cope with the growth level? The answer is yes; that is why we are here, trying to find means of utilizing the growing trend.
Facebook, for instance, has maintained constant growth in the last two years and that is a good measure of, not just the growth in internet penetration but how people have been active on the web.
Mobile Adverting for Online Marketing
Like I advocated during the mobile West Africa conference held recently in Lagos, it is important and given the opportunity we have, especially the telecommunications networks, it is a good and efficient way of doing business by using the channels to reach out to as many customers as possible.
Nigerians have their mobile devices on their hands and we can explore such means to reach them.
Kaymu Referral Scheme
We launched the scheme to enable sellers on the network and individuals earn money without selling a single product. What they do is to refer their friends and family who sell a wide variety of products ranging from household products to fashion items and gadget.
Kaymu provides independent sellers or small to medium scale business owners a platform to market to a large homogeneous client base while providing buyers with a central location to purchase a wide variety of products at competitive prices.
Therefore, as the referred sellers climb the seller pathway, a performance reward rating system that helps sellers improve conversion rate, the referees earn money on Kaymu without making a single sale. The pathway enables sellers to improve performance by increasing the number of successful orders, improve delivery time and ensure all transactions are completed effectively.
Then, the improved performance ensures the seller moves up the ladder from bronze, through silver and gold to become platinum sellers.
For each step of the pathway, sellers get additional benefits including increased visibility on the website, competitor analysis as well as visibility on the facebook ads and newsletters.
Are You Targeting Any Age Bracket?
No, it is for everyone. It is for students in the universities and could serve sellers in the various markets. It is very simple to recommend a seller; get your friends and family to successfully list products on Kaymu and require them to mention your name as referee or comment on the facebook page listing the details of the sellers you are referring and you will be contacted.
Affiliate Programme
Yes, we looked at online shopping in Nigeria has caught on like wild fire, with proliferation of e-commerce platforms operating different business models. Kaymu is a product of this revolution.
We launched the affiliate program in line with our mission of empowering Nigerian entrepreneurs. The program allows 3rd parties to place ads on their platforms and get rewarded. We have said it over time, Kaymu is committed to provide a safe and convenient platform for Nigerians to sell and buy products. However those with nothing to sell, have the opportunity to join those smiling to the Bank through the affiliate program.
For instance, bloggers and anyone who is active online are given the opportunity to promote what we are doing and generate traffic. The traffic generated by anyone shall be rewarded, especially as the traffic is productive.
Building Technology Entrepreneurship
Certificate, usually, should correspond to skills. But skills most times are based on something we focus on often times. That is the reason we should help people discover themselves. In Kaymu, this is very important to us.
The drive for online entrepreneurship spurred a workshop we organized corps members in Lagos with 2000 in attendance.
We are committed to contribute towards the growth of small and medium scale businesses. We made them understand the importance of maintaining an online presence in this age where internet interaction has empowered young entrepreneurs and the global community.
Nigeria, as we know, has emerged one of the fastest growing countries in global information technology access surpassing the United Kingdom in ranking.
A recent report released by digitXplus, the digital unit of Mediareach OMD Nigeria, puts the country has recorded a 200% growth in internet users between 2009 and 2013.
NYSC Empowerment Programme
The statistics has indicated that Nigeria which tied at 55 million internet users with the UK in 2012 took a 14% leap with about 62.4 million users above the United Kingdom’s 57million users in 2013.
With the statistics, it is evident that to capture the online consumers it is imperative for any business that wants to maximize its exposure to maintain an online platform.
Our team specifically, told them that, Nigerian youths are entrepreneurial by nature. So, they need not slack back. Right from the university they have engaged in one trade or the other via BBM, WhatsApp and social media.
We even seek to provide a better and more structured platform for them to make more sales and have a wider reach.
Gone are the days you come looking for white collar jobs; you have to be creative and remove yourself from the queue of job seekers. So, we saw the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC), which was originally created in a bid to reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian Civil war through the youths; there are more to it now. The country can leverage the Scheme to build a robust online entrepreneurship NYSC was established to provide the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity.
e-Commerce & Digital Divide in Africa
We see e-commerce as very essential in the quest to bridge the existing digital divide between African and rest of the world.
That is why you see a lot of incentives out there to attract peoples’ interests. If I register my presence online and it benefits me, of course, I will share the success story around and others will be willing to join.
Through that means, Africa can grow its contents and the rest of the world will appreciate more the ingenuity of the people here.
Challenges of e-Commerce
Education is very important in the passage of information and assimilating or appreciating it. It is important for people to understand the basic aspects of the internet for them to make up their minds on the way forward; that is to sell or buy.
Kuwait’s Criminal Security Sector has dismantled an international cybercrime ring composed of Nigerians responsible for coordinated attacks on telecommunications towers and banks, the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday.
According to Arabic-language daily Al Qabas, the case was initiated after the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority reported cyber intrusions targeting local telecom networks.
Specialised security teams quickly launched an investigation, discovering that the suspects used advanced electronic devices to breach networks and distribute mass phishing messages impersonating banks, aiming to steal account information and siphon funds.
Signal-tracking technology led investigators to a vehicle in the Salmiya area.
When authorities attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver tried to flee, colliding with several cars before being apprehended following a fierce struggle.
A search of the vehicle uncovered sophisticated electronic equipment and various technical tools.
Upon investigation, the suspect confessed to collaborating with an accomplice to hack telecom networks and send fraudulent messages posing as banks and telecommunications companies.
Police subsequently located and arrested the second suspect, and a search of their residence uncovered additional devices used to analyse the stolen data.
Both suspects, along with the seized equipment, have been handed over to the relevant authorities for prosecution.
The Ministry of Interior reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the nation’s cybersecurity and intensifying efforts to combat electronic fraud targeting both citizens and residents.
Space in Africa, the Lagos-based firm Oniosun founded, is expecting its Egusi melon seeds to splash down in the Pacific Ocean Saturday—fresh from a trip to the International Space Station.
Once Earthside, experiments will begin on what is being hailed as the first food native to West Africa to be sent to space.
As Oniosun told AFP on Friday, it could herald an era where space exploration reflects the planet’s diversity.
“When we talk about humans colonizing other planets, this is not just an American mission or a European mission—this is a global mission,” he told AFP.
And future African space explorers might enjoy a taste of home.
Experiments on extraterrestrial food, which is to say tested in space, have been going on for years.
Growing food in space is seen as a crucial part of long-distance space flight and long-term missions, where frequent resupply won’t be feasible.
Scientists at the University of Florida in the United States, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan, will examine the seeds “to see the effects of exposure to space” and zero gravity, including on the seeds’ DNA.
Once planted, researchers will monitor their post-space performance and germination.
The seeds went up to the ISS on a SpaceX flight last week, as part of NASA’s partnership with private firms.
Oniosun said the inclusion of Egusi seeds marked an important step forward, both for those on Earth as well as future astronauts.
High in protein, they are typically used to prepare soups and stews across West and Central Africa.
Africa’s most populous country has a small space industry, but the launch of the seeds seemed to generate more excitement on social media and in newspapers than previous launches of Nigerian satellites, he said.
“The moment that we’re sending food that they love, a food that holds significant cultural contexts to Nigeria… everybody starts getting interested in the subject,” Oniosun told AFP.
“The launch of Egusi melon seeds into space is more than a symbolic gesture,” he added.
“The future of humanity among the stars must reflect the diversity and richness of life on Earth.”
Whether pounded yam—the key dish served alongside Egusi soup—will make its way to the final frontier remains to be seen.
In a powerful demonstration of its commitment to the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has launched the second cohort of the IgniteHer Bootcamp for Women Entrepreneurs, a strategic initiative aimed at accelerating gender inclusion and economic empowerment through digital innovation.
The bootcamp, themed “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs for Growth and Innovation”, was launched in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and brought together selected women entrepreneurs from across Nigeria, both physically and virtually, for rigorous training in digital skills, innovation management, business development, and investor readiness.
The NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, who declared the bootcamp open, reaffirmed the Agency’s role in aligning Nigeria’s digital development with the national priorities of reforming the economy for sustained inclusive growth and accelerating economic diversification through industrialisation and digitisation.
“Through IgniteHer, we are actualising President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by expanding women’s access to technology and economic opportunity,” he stated.
The DG, who was represented by the agency’s Acting Director of the Digital Literacy and Capacity Building department, Dr. Ahmed Tambuwal, noted that inclusive innovation is a cornerstone of NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0: 2024–2027), which supports national aspirations for inclusive growth, poverty eradication, and youth empowerment.
“We are not merely imparting skills; we are creating self-reliant entrepreneurs, change-makers, and leaders,” he added.
Inuwa disclosed that the IgniteHer Bootcamp is also a key component of the National Gender Digital Inclusion Strategy (NGDIS), through which NITDA is working to empower 12.7 million Nigerian women with digital literacy skills by 2027. He averred that the programme complements broader government efforts to bridge gender gaps, enhance productivity, and reduce unemployment, especially among young women.
Citing a report by the World Wide Web Foundation, the DG emphasised that closing the digital gender gap in Nigeria could unlock an estimated $13 billion in GDP growth over the next decade.
“This training is a step towards harnessing this economic potential and ensuring that women play an integral role in shaping the digital landscape of Nigeria,” he noted.
He therefore called on participants selected from over 12,000 applicants to seize the moment and shape the future of Nigerian entrepreneurship.
While highlighting NITDA’s leadership in strategic partnerships, the DG commended JICA and the Government of Japan for their ongoing collaboration in supporting digital empowerment through programmes like IgniteHer and the iHatch Incubation Programme, which provides startup support, mentorship, and innovation development to early-stage entrepreneurs.
“At NITDA, we believe that inclusive innovation is not just an ideal but a critical strategy that ensures the growth of a stronger economy, the development of smarter solutions, and the existence of more resilient communities. Through IgniteHer, we are dismantling barriers and replacing them with pathways to opportunity,” he concluded.
In his remarks, the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, reaffirmed Japan’s long-standing commitment to innovation and gender inclusion in Nigeria. He announced that Japan, through JICA, is currently supporting two grant projects worth $30.9 million, focused on improving Nigeria’s startup ecosystem, strengthening the investment climate, and building an inclusive innovation hub.
The Ambassador also referenced the upcoming Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9), themed “Co-create Innovative Solutions with Africa”, as further testament to Japan’s dedication to deepening Africa-Japan cooperation on digital transformation and entrepreneurship.
Lead Facilitator of IgniteHer, Hajiya Hafsat Salabi-Dange, described the programme as a catalyst for social and economic transformation. While praising NITDA’s visionary approach to development, she stated that the programme is a movement that is bridging the digital gender divide and fostering economic independence.
Encouraging the participants to remain curious, intentional, and bold, she said, “What you will gain here goes beyond business; it is a tool for community upliftment, national growth, and generational impact.”
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