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The tech ecosystem in Nigeria is vibrant and has attracted significant attention from the investment world. It is almost becoming a ritual of some big tech companies to visit the country with hopes of exploiting the many potentials of the tech ecosystem.
Sometimes the achievements are overstated leading some critics to tag the ecosystem as more of hype than reality. For instance, although an increasing number of startups are able to secure funding from investors, especially overseas, there are majority of tech businesses still unable to unlock the funds they need to scale their enterprise. There is also the economic policy environment that stifles the growth of tech startups in the country.
Consequently, there have been a number of the startups that began with promise and never made it past their three to four years anniversary. Here are five of the tech startups we have selected.
OLX
At some point, many people including this writer thought, “finally a classified platform to kick up enough competition dust in the online marketplace environment has arrived”. Customers that wanted to buy or sell their tokunbo (used items) merchandise at much reduced rates went to OLX. The company was bankrolled by Naspers, a South African company that recently sold its stake in Konga to Zinox. However, OLX journey which began in 2015 came to an unceremonious end in 2018.
Efiritin
Like OLX, Efritin had a lot of promise in the classified space. Buyers could sell just about anything on the platform so long as there was a buyer to buy. However the company went down citing high cost of data, poor internet penetration and adoption as well as harsh economic environment as reasons for taking the high road.
GoMyWay
GoMyWay was one of those innovative startups that wanted to create a new niche in order to solve some of Nigeria’s transportation problems. It was not quite successful. As a ridesharing platform GoMyWay struggled to convince Nigerians to share rides while on their way to work, church, theatre, party and everywhere. The business plan was to run the services free for two years then start charging a fee. But the investors patience ran out in 2017, barely one year after it was established.
Easy Taxi
Easy Taxi can be described as an expansion project gone wrong despite its ambition to transform ridehailing in Nigeria and give Uber a good competition. The Brazil-based company arrived Nigeria in 2013 but announced its exit from the country in 2016 after its co-founder in Nigeria, Bankole Cardoso quit his position.
Yudala
It was supposed to be the funeral of Konga after Naspers pulled out and sold to Zinox – the owners of Yudala. But it appears the owner has realized the superior potential of the Konga brand and decided to give up the Yudala name. During the weekend, the new management of Konga announced that it is bringing Yudala under the Konga brand with two CEOs from May 1.
