WhereYouDey.com-An Emerging Digital Brand
There is no doubt that Africa’s techsphere is fast evolving with great opportunities orchestrated by the broadband and fibre initiatives into and around Africa which lights up the continent with affordable internet access.This has also increased the appetite of foreign investors into Africa as seen by several delegations to Africa in recent times just to explore these opportunities.But in all of this,it still baffles me that we have shown little or no interest in this Emerging global brand called Africa,all we see is a continent filled with bad and corrrupt leaders while foreigners are seeing opportunities,Isn’t that the new war we should be fighting in Africa and especially Nigeria,a giant of Africa?
When are we going to wake up from this slumber?we have all been taken hostage digitally and yet we dont seem to know,even our government have no clue about this.We have been digitally colonised,where are our own digital brands like Facebook,Twitter,Google,Apple,Nokia,Microsoft,Blackberry you name them.Interestingly from letter A-Z no digital brand from Africa that can hold her own on the Global arena of competitiveness,yes in deed we have been digitally colonised if all we do and want is work for this brands and help them make more money in our Africa!
Well,this is not what i intend writing about right now,i will in a detailed approach bare my mind on how deep this digital colony called Africa is fast evolving.But right now i like to intrioduce to you whereYouDey.com
Early this year,Akin Olaoye and his team at whereyoudey.com were at the Mobile Web Africa where they presented the platform,few days ago,we got talking and it is amazing how their platform has grown and i decided to let you know about them.
Whereyoudey.com as a business directory is one of the fastest growing internet brands in Nigeria with coverage in 10 cities in Nigeria. They currently have listings for 80 percent or more of businesses in Abuja,Asaba, Warri, Benin, Yenagoa, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Nsukka and recently Lagos
For me,thisbrand has proven that Nigerian startups are capable of competing ona global scale considering their zeal for constant innovation and productdevelopment on all facets making the most tech savvy and less experienced mobileand web users enjoy their array of products.
Their Mobile Apps for Nokia, Android, Blackberry, Samsung and Sony Ericsonoffers users a variety of choices to experience their services on the move.
Their search technologyhelps you find businesses offering the services you want within your location ,byentering the name of the type of business that you’re looking for as wellas the name of your city. The search tool will then automaticallygenerate listing of businesses that offer the service and not only that, it takes the uniqueness of its service one step further by providingdirections to the business, hours of operation, the businesses website, discountsand other services offered by the business as well as ads associated with thebusiness.
The Whereyoudey platform includes an Events section that allows users to view eventsby categories, locations or other parameters they wish to apply while viewing eventlistings.Their Movie Schedules provides information of movie schedules in various cities withcurrent box office,showtime and movie.
The platform also features features a section called iDey, whichallows users to create classified adverts. These adverts can be placed at the samecost of sending a standard SMS message. To increase the value and expand the numberof users, free submissions can be done online by creating a user login account tosubmit a post.
Their social media integration has very unique qualities, as users can share favoritebusiness listings, event information or other information to friends and family in aseamless manner.
Users can review business using a grade system that is published in real time. Thiswill definitely serve as a feedback mechanism to businesses wishing to understandpublic perception about their brands.
Their mapping feature integrated with Google maps, allows a user to view the exactlocation of business in the city where they operate.They definitely tookthis feature an extra mile in Port Harcourt by updating Google map’s street and roadlayouts to achieve near perfection.
Banner Ads of businesses can be viewed on the home page search results creatingmaximum exposure for subscribers of this service.
Their Mobile Apps experience is something to talk about where
userscan search for listings, access event information, view the classified section andmovie listings on their mobile devices at no cost. For most mobile users inNigeria with Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, SonyEricson and Android phones all have fully functional mobile Apps for free. Users candownload the mobile app for free by visiting their mobile app store from theirdevices or by simply texting the phone identifier to 33812.
For example a Nokia userwill text “NokiaApp” to “33812” and doing so a standard SMStext rate obtains, after which a link will be sent to the device to download the application. For Sony Ericson text “SonyApp” to “33812”, Blackberry text“BlackberryApp” to “33812”, Samsung text “SamsungApp” to “33812” and Android phonetext “AndroidApp” to “33812. The mobile app provides similar features available onthe website and allows users to stay connected while “on-the-go”.
With these array of services and many more on WhereYouDey,advertisers will benefit from advistising their product and services on their platform.
