Jambolo.com

Jambolo.com provides an online yellow pages and e-commerce platform for Blue Collar Service Providers ("BSP") and Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises ("MSMEs") in Nigeria who have limited internet access and are unable to leverage online sales channels to generate income which is why for the most part they earn less than US$4 a day. According to a 2018 PWC survey, finding customers was a top 3 issue for MSMEs.

The e-commerce section of our platform provides BSPs and MSMEs an opportunity to earn extra income from online sales. 

Jambolo.com has partnered with AXA Pensions ( A Pension Service Provider)  to provide micro-pension services to the BSPs and MSMEs on our platform as current MSME pension coverage is just 8.5%. Products sold on our e-commerce platform will include an additional charge for pensions remittances.

This solution is scalable within African as MSMEs operating in most African countries have similar challenges  

Historically BSPs and MSMEs have been excluded from the digital and formal economy of Nigeria. Their limited earnings of less than US$4 a day means they have limited funding to spend on advertising. Our online yellow pages provides a suitable solution.

Likewise our e-commerce platform provides an avenue for them to earn additional income as they are unable to leverage digital platforms to generate revenue. A PWC Survey in 2018 indicates that 10% of MSMEs believe that the Internet of Things will have an impact on their business. This gives a clear indication of the magnitude digital exclusion currently being experienced by Blue Collar Service Providers and also considering the fact that this segment contributes 48% of the Nigeria's GDP whilst providing employment for over 60 million people, the scale of the opportunity is undeniable. 

Recent statistics indicate that 90% of MSMEs/BSPs in Nigeria have been excluded from pension services and as such we have partnered with AXA Pensions to bridge this gap. 

The PWC survey indicates that access to customers and low demand were 2 of the top 3 issues facing MSMEs/BSPs in Nigeria.

Our portal currently  has over 11,000 verified service providers which is crucial for market acceptance. 

Our online yellow pages is a listing service currently  deployed in a search engine format such that users are able to customize their search criteria (i.e. according to the following parameters: City/Location/Category) towards securing the contact details of service providers operating within their area of the city. 

Once these details are provided our search engine generates a list of service providers (that fit the parameters set by the users) and their contact details and users are able to subsequently reach out to them. 

Our solution runs as a web based portal www.jambolo.com and is compatible with mobile devices, however we are in the process of developing a mobile application which would incorporate new features to our solution.

Our portal also includes an e-commerce platform (Marketplace) where BSPs are able to advertise their products for sale to the general public via the internet. We have secured partnerships with 2 renowned logistics/delivery firms in Lagos towards facilitating the delivery of products to customers. 

Our service from a demand perspective is focused on the middle income segment of the Nigerian populace who require the services of Blue Collar Service providers on an ongoing basis. The middle income segment represents 23% of the nation's population which stands at about 200 million. Hence our service could potentially be used by 46 million people in Nigeria who are able to afford a smart phone and data services (i.e. as our service will run as a web based service).  In addition, the middle income segment of the market represents individuals who have the earning power to make purchases on our e-commerce platform. 

Security is a big issue when procuring online services in Nigeria as potential users of the service want comfort that the listed service providers have been verified and are actually blue collar service providers. Back in circa 2015 there was an incidence, where an individual thought they were hiring a babysitter on an online platform and they turned out to be kidnappers. As a result, we do not allow service providers to list their details on our platform, as we prefer to conduct an independent verification exercise. We have done this by primary data collection, partnering with various BSP associations in Lagos State, and partnering with a Government agency (Lagos State Employment Trust Fund) to secure the contact details of verified service providers. Consequently from a demand standpoint we are able to assure users that service providers on our platform have been verified. This will no doubt facilitate demand for the BSPs and MSMEs listed on the portal.

From a supply perspective our solution seeks to provide digital and financial inclusion to BSPs and MSMEs in Nigeria. 

As previously stated the BSPs and MSMEs in Nigeria have limited earnings profile (i.e. less than US$4 a day) and as such they are unable to invest in advertising and develop an online portal to support the sale of their products. Jambolo.com provides a suitable alternative where their details will be listed for free and they can also leverage the portal's e-commerce platform to generate additional sales. This segment of the market contributes 48% of Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product and employs an estimated 60 million individuals. We believe that a considerable proportion of them will benefit from our service. Recent statistics indicate that only 8.5% of MSMEs currently benefit from pension services in Nigeria and as such we are using our platform to facilitate the delivery of pension services to an increasing proportion of MSMEs. We have partnered with AXA Pensions in this regard. We have also partnered with a number of BSP associations in Lagos State towards building a portfolio of products that will be displayed on our e-commerce platform. We have worked with these associations to develop  and agree on pricing methodologies for their products.

 Our service offering will provide financial empowerment for MSMEs as our platform will provide an avenue for them to make additional income and our partnership with AXA Mansard will ensure that they have access to pensions services which will guarantee them a reasonable quality of life when they retire.

Our service is an empowerment program which  provides digital access, financial empowerment and financial inclusion to BSPs/MSMEs in Nigeria who due to limited earnings and  exposure have been traditionally excluded from the formal economy.

Our online yellow pages provides them a digital footprint which allows potential users of our platform to access their services and our e-commerce platform provides them an opportunity to make online sales without having to make an upfront investment in a digital platform. 

This aligns with Solve's objective of scaling safe private digital identity and financial tools to allow small businesses thrive in the digital economy.

We have selected prototype as our stage of development because we have for the most part completed the development of our online yellow pages and our e-commerce platform. We have also secured the necessary partnerships that our business model requires for execution as follows:

1. We have executed a partnership agreement with 2 logistics firms that will facilitate the delivery of products purchased on the e-commerce platform to customers

2. We have secured a partnership with AXA Pensions for the delivery of pension services to BSPs/MSMEs

3. We have secured partnerships with BSP associations in Lagos towards securing contact details of service providers in their organisations. Notable partnerships include Carpenters, Shoemakers association, Fashion Designers associations in Lagos.

In summary we have secured the necessary partnerships that we require for execution, and following the substantial completion of development work we are ready to commence a Pilot of our solution.

1. Pension Assets: our business model offers a unique means of generating pension assets from the lower end of the market. The pricing model we have developed (i.e. for products displayed on our e-commerce platform) makes allowances for an additional charge of N500-N1000 per product for remittances into the Retirement Savings Accounts of the respective BSPs/MSMEs responsible for each sale on our ecommerce platform. Industry regulators have been exploring various options towards unlocking this segment of the market, we however believe that our model could provide a veritable option in this regard.

2. Triple Purpose Platform: our portal is probably the only online business in this part of the world that has attempted to combine a digital financial inclusion element, an online listing service and an e-commerce platform to generate demand for services offered by BSPs and MSMEs. This unique model has been adopted as a response to the unique nature of our local environment in Nigeria and tries to address the specific issues that BSPs and MSMEs face with respect to digital and financial exclusion.

Our portal currently has over 11,000 artisans/MSMEs (“service providers”) listed operating within Lagos metropolis, in addition we also have about 840 registered users. Our coverage for now is restricted to Lagos State , Nigeria, however we plan to expand our service offering to other major urban centres of Nigeria. Our service is driven primarily by GSM coverage, internet and smart phone penetration rate(s) hence the focus on major urban centers of Nigeria.

The Covid19 pandemic significantly impacted our ability to embark on our social media campaign which would have driven transactions on our portal. Consequently, we have not completed any transactions on the e-commerce platform thus far. 

In terms of the listing service our call logs indicate that as at December 31st 2020, 406 (Four Hundred and Six) service requests had been made to service providers on our platform which indicates an average of about 34 service requests per month. This was achieved with little to no social media advertising. We believe with a comprehensive and consistent marketing campaign we can grow these numbers significantly. 

The table below provides a summary of our targets over the next 12 months and the next 5 years:

TARGETS

1. Annual Site Traffic :  One Year - 108,000  site visits

                                     Five Years - >1,500,000 site visits

2. Service Requests (Annually): One Year - 10,000 service requests

                                                  Five Years - >50,000 service requests

3. E-commerce Transactions (Annually): One Year - 6,000 transactions

                                                               Five Years - >30,000 transactions

In terms of our progress towards achieving these goals and objectives the following key performance indicators will be utilised:

Online Yellow Pages

1. Traffic to jambolo.com 

2. Number of service requests

3. Service request by category

4. Service request by location

E-commerce Platform

5. Number of transactions

6. Total value of transactions

7. Number of transactions per product category

8. Value of transactions per product category

Each of these key performance indicators will be tracked on a daily, monthly and annual basis

The number of people working on our project are outlined as follows:

FULL TIME (2 Staff)

CEO: Poyepo Simoyan (Full Time)

CTO: Michael Okorie (Full Time)

PART TIME (3 staff)

COO: Kayode Ayo

Company Secretary: Tunde Simoyan

CFO: Robert Jibunoh

CONTRACTOR (3 call center agents)

Our team consists of individuals that have a combined experience of over 100 years in financial advisory, Mergers & Advisory, project finance, transaction advisory, business consulting, project management, legal advisory experience. The project team has individuals that have worked for some of the Big 4 companies such as Ernst and Young, KPMG Professional Services etc. In addition, most members of the team have worked for prominent investment banks operating in Nigeria.

During this time our team members have aquired experience working with MSMEs in Nigeria and this is what has informed the business model which we have developed and plan to deploy. In addition the CEO offers some of his time to providing consulting and advisory services to owners of micro small and medium scale enterprises that have relationships with the Enterprise Development Centre of the Lagos Business School. Through this experience the team has been able to gain unique insight into the needs of MSMEs and how best to deliver services that would meet these needs. 

Our management team is focused on facilitating economic empowerment for BSPs and small business owners who contribute 48% of the nation's GDP and employ 60million individuals. This segment of the population consists of diverse segments of the population. However we have forged relationships with Hair Dressers association in Lagos State which is made up almost exclusively of women. We are planning to deploy our services to the benefit of women in this association. Likewise we have also forged a relationship with the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria ("FADAN") whose members are for the most part women. According to their management FADAN consists of about 70% female representation. Hence our service is keen to support female led BSPs that require and value our service offering. The Hairdressers and FADAN associations have nationwide representation and as such as we expand our service offering across the country we will be in a good position to expand our service offering to more female led businesses across the country. In addition, we will look to support female led businesses when we expand our service to other African countries

We are applying to Solve to secure grants to establish our business case and also to fund our operations for the next 18-months. This period is crucial as we need to demonstrate a proof of concept to potential investors in order to raise the medium to long term equity we require to expand our service to other major cities in Nigeria and Africa. We believe that if we are able to establish a business case using a grant provided by Solve we will be in a good position to access your network to secure funding from potential investors.

We believe that our project would also benefit immensely from the the experience of business leaders within Solve and MIT network. We believe their guidance and vast experience would be beneficial to our project and would perhaps provide some insight into how we can deploy our proposed business strategy.  

1. Financial: we require support in the area of accessing a network of potential investors as potential sources of early stage funding in Nigeria are few and far between. In addition, our current funding sources (i.e. promoters, family and friend) have been adversely affected by the COVID19 pandemic and as such funding is one of the barriers we need to overcome towards taking our project to the next level.

2. Public Relations: we could use some advice on how best to position our service offering from a branding perspective. This especially critical as we plan to expand our service offering to other African markets, and its important that we establish a common theme from a branding perspective in all markets that we are represented. 

3. Technology: we also require support in building extra capacity in this area as we expand our service offering to other cities in Nigeria and other markets in Africa. The expansion of our service will no doubt have direct implications on our web maintenance and development capabilities and we would appreciate support in this area.

From a funding perspective we would like to partner with potential early stage impact investors that are interested in investing in a digital and financial inclusion project in Sub-Saharan Africa. We believe that our solution's strategic objectives align with opportunities that would interest potential impact investors in the MIT/Solve network and as such we would appreciate an opportunity to pitch to these individuals/companies towards taking our project to the next level. 

In the area of branding we would like to work with brand consultants in your network who will be able to provide some insight into how we need to position our brand within the African market. 

We would also like to receive strategic advice from technology experts in your network towards improving our capabilities in this regard. We are always looking for how we can improve our service delivery from a technology perspective hence we would appreciate any type of support we could receive in this area.

Our service is geared towards providing digital inclusion to an under-served market in Nigeria and Africa at large. Blue collar service providers ("BSPs") and micro small and medium scale enterprises ("MSME") are not able to leverage digital resources due to their low levels of income, (i.e. they earn an average of US$4 a day) education and exposure. 

Our platform will not only provide digital inclusion but also economic empowerment as our online yellow pages and e-commerce platform will put them in a position to earn additional income which would improve their credit ratings and provide them access to other services which have historically been inaccessible. 

In addition our micro-pensions program will guarantee a reasonable quality of life for blue collar service providers and MSMEs after retirement. These services have never been offered to this segment of the market in such a structured manner as only 8.5% of the market has been covered. Hence we believe this service represents a critical economic empowerment program geared at improving the lives of BSPs/MSMEs in Nigeria and Africa at large.

We believe this aligns closely with the objectives of the HP Prize for Advancing digital equity which at its core looks to support projects that advance inclusion, digital literacy and economic empowerment. We believe that our project meets the outlined criteria. 

Our project is geared towards alleviating the economic conditions which Blue collar service providers and micro small and medium scale enterprises experience on a daily basis in Sub-Saharan Africa. This segment of the population are characterized by low income levels and as such we have designed our solution in a manner where they can improve their earnings by leveraging our digital platform. These limited earnings means that they are unable to invest in advertising and digital platforms to promote their respective businesses. Hence our platform provides a solution as they dont need to make these investments as our platform will provide them exposure and put them in a position to leverage our portal to sell their respective products without making any investment in this regard. 

In addition, we are using existing technologies in an innovative manner to achieve these objectives and this goes is in line with the ethos of the GSR prize which focuses on innovative technology powered solutions and also digital inclusion.

Consequently we believe that our project for the most part meets most of the strategic objectives which the GSR prize is striving to achieve.