It’s a pleasure to meet you Nigeria
I’m sitting next to a window in the office looking outside. I’m here for the view. Do not be fooled to thinking that I am overlooking a fantastic view, no, I’m looking down into a loud and busy street, with Keke’s and Danfo’s buzzing hurriedly by, many of them leaving a smoky trail behind them.
I know that it is not all that, but I am here with the hope of getting some writing inspiration to jot this down.
This, well, this is trying to be the story of why we decided to come here.
By we, I mean Africa’s Talking.
A new venture is always scary, but the only reason I think we do new things is because there is nothing more exciting than that.
Nothing beats that adrenaline rush and the flow of never ending ideas.
Grace, our tech support lead has been having a rush of “semi-good” ideas since she landed here and attributes them to Chapman, a popular sugary drink here that she is totally obsessed with.
New is the always needed breath of fresh air. Our new venture has brought us to Nigeria.
But why? Why would we do this?
Well, I ask why not!
We set up shop here a year ago, but it is just now that things are starting to shape up.
Don’t read this and imagine for a year we did nothing but sit on our hands. We were doing what developers needing to work with telco’s and regulators have to do to access mobile communication services.
It has all been footwork. It has been knocking on doors, attending countless meetings, drafting and redrafting contracts and agreements, hearing a lot of ‘no’s’ and rejoicing at the ‘yes!’ that comes by rarely. It’s been nothing but a whirlwind and by no means are we done.
Naturally, you’d begin to wonder why would we subject ourselves to this? For what purpose? Is it really worth it?
Simple answer, YES!
We do this for developers because we ARE developers. We care for our own.
Let’s consider this scenario. You are a developing a system and for it to work, you need to use a telco. This means you going to the telco, finding the right person to talk to and you are either sent to an aggregator or to the regulator. You need to pay high prices for licenses and products. This has been the story all round. Once you somehow manage to do this with one telco, you begin the crazy dance with another.
We are human, we have our limits. There is only so much you can take. If you are not a big company, you will suffer! So many ideas and solutions have been lost this way. You get to this point and give up.
This is the saddest thing.
Do you want to know a crazy fact?
What you might be struggling to do is what we decide to do!
We go out in the mud and work to get services. We work to build a platform that just works. One that will scale with you as you grow. Yes grow. You do not just get the platform, you get us as well. We don’t work that hard to just have you sign up. We work to keep you working.
Lagos has been a completely new experience for me. I have eaten food with levels of spice that I hadn’t thought possible. I have attended a wedding here and all I can say about that is…WOW!!. I have meet developers and tech enthusiasts here and you are all simply brilliant and dedicated and always out to learn.
Lagos has been new and unforgettable for us. It is bringing new, fresh ideas to us as we become one with Nigeria.
It is now time for us to return the favor. Let us give you new experiences as you have been continually giving us.
Are you in the mood to try new things? To traverse uncharted waters? How about building on what felt impossible? Experiment and find new ways of creating value.
Stop by our office at 249, Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba and have a chit chat with Mike(michael@africastalking.com) or Suyi (eresuyi@africastalking.com)
