Eradicating the menace of unskilled  artisans with ArtisanOga

Have you ever hired an artisan who messed up your project real bad? It means starting all over again and spending more money than what you initially budgeted for! You know the feeling of overwhelming dejection that accompanies such an experience? You might have to worry no more if you look in the right direction because a new start-up; ArtisanOga is delicately poised to eradicate the menace of unskilled artisans in the country.

The journey into what is today known as ArtisanOga started with three friends in a dormitory room in the university, with  three carpenters and a plumber, they set up ‘Lambanomai Fix’ to fix household furniture and carried plumbing repairs for faculty and students, due to some reasons it was scrapped and everyone went their separate ways seeking greener pastures. His sojourn took him to Hotels.ng where he worked for two years as the Business Development Manager.

Yet, the fire of entrepreneurship was burning fiercely in him; he had to resign his appointment with Hotels.ng to set up ArtisanOga. ArtisanOga CEO; Victor Jibrin who hailed from Omala Local Government in Kogi state possessed a B. Tech in Library and Information Technology from Federal University of Technology, Minna. His secondary education was at Federal Technical College, Otukpo, Benue state, where he studied Carpentry and Joinery; he shared his amazing story with Adebayo Obajemu

About ArtisanOga

ArtisanOga.com is an online platform with pre vetted artisans/technicians ready to be hired on contract basis by businesses and individuals. Artisans available on the website currently include plumbers, carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, cleaners, inverter/solar panels/CCTV/DSTV installers, auto mechanics and spray painters. We did beta launch of ArtisanOga in October 2016 but started full operation in January, 2017. ArtisanOga is a mix of an English word and a Nigerian colloquial word, Oga. We realized that ‘Oga’ (meaning master) is very common among artisans, so we decided to bring the 2 words together to form ArtisanOga.

How ArtisanOga works

People seeking to hire any artisans could easily visit the website, click on the search box and type in their keywords. From a pop-up of related vendors, they could easily view details/reviews and then contact their vendor of interest. Also, people’s response to the platform has been enormous, much more than I anticipated at the beginning. I have gotten job requests even with little marketing. I have realised that the market is ripe for such a time as this.

Funding

Funding is the major challenge. To get things done, one has to ‘wear many hats’ since there is not too much fund to hire staff. My current team is made up of 4 co-founders and everyone is sweating it out with enormous workloads ranging from sales & marketing to coding. So far, I have invested about N1, 100,000. This was possible because I worked with Hotels.ng for 2 year. During that period, I channeled some of my savings into building ArtisanOga from scratch. When I left Hotels.ng in November last year, I had just N180, 000 in my account which I used to acquire and verify the current inventory of artisans we have.

Challenges

The major challenges faced by startups in Nigeria are poor power supply and rents. No matter the size of a startup, power and office space are necessary for its operations. Sadly, in Nigeria, one has to invest heavily in power and rent just to get started.

It’s not been all round tough; there have been some cheering news too. An experience that stood out for me since I started was the day I entered a BRT bus from Obalende enroute Oshodi. Just as I was about sitting down, someone in the bus shouted “ArtisanOga!”. I wasn’t putting on any souvenir with the company’s inscription. So, I looked in the direction of the caller and was flabbergasted because the guy hadn’t met me before but has known about the company.

Artisan’s competence checking mechanism

We vet artisans based on 7 criteria:

He/she must be specialists in a particular trade. He/she must provide at least three (3) references from previous clients for whom they have worked and agree that we contact them. He/she must have all the basic modern tools necessary for the trade.

In case of a complex project – and based on the preference of the client – the artisan must agree to work under our assigned supervisors who are professionals in the same trade. For instance, an electrician must be ready to work under an assigned supervisor who is an experienced electrical engineer.

Have a functional cell phone and is always easy to contact, must be physically fit for the job and must also have basic vocational certifications such as Labour Trade Test, NTC, NABTEB or membership of a recognised association.