In 2007, my blog was among the most popular blogs from Nigeria (that’s history) and I am truly not seeking to get back to that position but to leverage on my blog to build my coaching and consulting business which IMHO I believe has a better potential to my future goal than the fleeting whims of a media position – an expert possess more power than a crowned leader. However, the Nigerian blogosphere is very instructive and seems to be a contradiction to the recent growth principles I am studying from Professor Hess of the Darden School of Business, University of Virgin.
Linda Ikeji is the most popular blog in Nigeria according to Alexa.com. Rewind to 2006, Linda’s blog was simply a copycat of Uche Eze’s Bellanaija – a highly popular blog at that time. Bellanaija decided to grow by moving to a new hosting platform, acquiring an independent domain name, changing theme, broadening scope offerings, engaging staffs and locating to an official office space in Opebi. I can’t truly place my hands on it but I believe something was lost during this expansion – my guess will be the dilution of Uche’s input – the true signature of the blog. Despite the fact that Bellanaija is still popular, the older Bellanaija blog had a better economic potential as Linda’s blog has proven.
Nairaland is the most popular site in Nigeria according to Alexa.com. With its new Ad strategy, it has a potential of making a maximum revenue of 32.448 million Naira per annum on minimal operating cost without kissing the butts of any corporate firm. This is very huge for a sole proprietorship internet platform in Nigeria considering bigger players with huge budget and staff like Deal Fish Nigeria – whose revenue does not come close (from personal observation). Despite the conservative approach of Nairaland to growth and non-implementation of fanciful cutting edge design and theme, it has spiraled both in traffic and revenue.
The aforementioned case studies are not meant as a smear campaign (I will never do that) – they reveal strategies and principles that every startup entrepreneur can glean from. They raise important questions like: “Does one need to expand to grow?”; “what are the metrics that define growth?”; “is fruitfulness significantly related to expansion?”; “what are the main drivers that establish growth?”; “Do you really need an office to establish a lucrative business in Nigeria?” These questions need answers despite the inclusion of confounding factors like outlier positions and individual skills and dispositions to work.
Despite the fact that solo players seems to be doing better than corporate bodies in the internet space, the disadvantage of running solo still exists – the inability to create a system that runs itself without the operators input e.g. it will be difficult for a solo player to go on holiday for 1-month without causing a major dent in income and traffic. Even if the solo players technical function is a generalist, there were will be flaws in customer service (there will be plenty unanswered emails and in-efficient sorting of emails in order of importance – this will be a major challenge) which smart competitors can leverage on. Despite its allure and success in the short run, this strategy will definitely not survive the long run except the operator wants to go the Oprah Winfrey route – no child, no spouse, no life.
Another relevant and important question that seems to bother moi; “can Nairaland or Linda Ikeji Blog be modeled?” and If not, they are not useful to startup entrepreneurs for example Bill Gates and Steve Jobs being college dropouts do not correlate to being successful entrepreneurs since there are more successful college graduate entrepreneurs than drop outs. In view of this, it will not be advisable to tell an aspiring entrepreneur to drop out. However, if these two successful platforms – Linda’s Blog and Seun’s Forum– can be modeled and replicated, then we have a part solution to unemployment in Nigeria….
