I'll like to know if there are Nigerian Venture Capital firms that believe in and are willing to support and fund Nigerian oriented startup dot com ventures.Honestly speaking ive tried to start some pretty cool dot com concepts in the past and to be sincere they never really succeeded due to lack of proper funding, a bullet proof buisness plan and the non internet driven approach of the average Nigerian.

Now i'm wiser and ain't giving up the dream to have a truly viable dot com venture business model that will bring both hits and return on investment for investors.I think Nigeria is still yet to mature in terms of dot com ventures that can appeal to venture capitalist. However we must give props to nairaland.com which in my own view is an emerging dot com venture.

Anyway if you have any leads on local venture capital funding for a viable nigerian dot com venture,please dont hesitate to let me have your own opinion or views,better still you can hit me a mail on tunde@nextofficespace.com

The question is even whether there are Venture Capitalists here
And my guy, what do you want to do that needs the support of capitalists?

I used to think Internet ventures are low-capital businesses that anyone can start?

Let us know what exactly you want, you never can tell, help can come from this
GREAT place.

Yea I guess you may be right,we may not need a venture capitalist after all.There may just be venture capitalist amongst us.Regarding what the dot com venture is about.send me your email address so i can send you a blue print.

my email address is temietope@gmail.com. And yes, there are venture capital firms in Nigeria

I have also been working on an internet business whihc has failed to take off. I think you need serious money to assemble talents to produce good content and a decent advertising budget. good designers also cost money. Otherwise, the business will remain a hobby!

I work in branding and am willing to offer budget branding/advertsing services.

Wolof

Forget it. Nigeria isn't ripe enough for a dotcom startup. Even if you came up with a great idea, a number of Nigerians wouldn't know that it is, even if it mobbed them.

I suggest you create a startup somewhere where there is a market.

For some guidance, I suggest you read some of Paul Graham's essays. Very good stuff to be learned from the guy.
How to start a startup
http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html

The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups
http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

And also, Why Startups condense in America
http://www.paulgraham.com/america.html

For more of his essays, you can click on the Essays section.

Good luck. And most important of all, be wise.

I dont share your pessimism! I have not looked at any newspaper today but have peeped in at 3 Nigerian websites. These sites will start getting serious adverts soon. check out legwork.com.ng

@shockreaction: what is a 'dotcom' startup that Nigeria isn't ready for? Is nairaland[b].com[/b] not one?

@Shockreaction
Do not be decieved 'Dot Com' startups can succeed in Nigeria,First before starting up you need to do your homework and that is what we are currently doing.Rubbing minds and exchange opinions.

Afterall clear examples of emerging dot com startups in Nigeria that are doing well are :

1. Nairaland.com
2.whogobuy.com
3.enownow.com

the poster got that topic 4rm ma mind,

i think the nigerian market is emerging, and sooner or later we'll get there,

the most common business model adopted by web 2.0 start ups is "Online Advertising" and unfortunately, nigerians would rather advertise in the dailies, or TV than advertise online, hence its difficult to convince venture capitalists,

i think an easy way out is to start small and get somethin people like , when people start using it, i dont thinkventure capital funding shld be a problem, at least nairaland shldnt have problems wit venture capital funding

but all the same, i think we need more dotcom venture capitalists in nigeria

Wolof:


I work in branding and am willing to offer budget branding/advertsing services.

Wolof

i might be interested in ur budget branding/advertising services

I don't think all Dot Com startups revenue stream should be dependent on online adverts,i believe that some dotcoms should render user oriented functions where users subscribe and pay for a certain service.A good example of functionality oriented nigerian start up is a web2sms portal called www.smslive247.com.

If we were to consider advertising alone,i think most venture capitalist may not want to even listen to you because you may not have enough hits to justify the viablility of your dot com.

I think location has nothing to do with a dot com company, except if your target market is limited to certain people in certain location, so talking about venture capitalist company in Nigeria is just you thinking in a little space of a box, why can't you think outside the box, go for venture capitalist companies around the world and you will probably get something.

And dont forget venture capitalist companies are gonna go for about 40% of your company so be prepared and be ready with your negotiating skills because if they will see you have a great idea they will talk you out of it. And make sure your idea has a patent on it before you proceed. anywayz mail me and we can talk more skipoff4life@yahoo.com

Doing well in what sense?

A venture capitalist is only going to fund you if your startup shows a lot of promise, and I highly doubt Nigerian funding companies (if there are any), are going to shell out as much cash as foreign companies do without requiring your soul in return. I may be mistaken, but I'm not sure Nairaland.com is exactly a business, and if it is, well, I'm not sure about revenue it's generating. And once again, I may be mistaken, but I don't think there are any venture capitalists funding enownow or Whogobuy. That, and I lack faith in the Nigerian market.

Think about it this way: Are there any major companies who are going to want to acquire eNowNow or Whogobuy for at LEAST N10,000,000 (and this is even minute compared to the dot com acquisitions that we do not even hear about)? I think not.

To put things in perspective, you can take a look at the following:
http://www.tnl.net/blog/2006/10/09/no-bubble-20-yet/

This shows a number of acquisitions made. The lowest earner there is just under $1 million, which is equivalent to N128,000,000, and that is a far cry from N10,000,000. Heck, I haven't even heard of WebJay or Upcoming.org.

And Google and Yahoo! are even relatively young companies when you come to think about it. Yahoo! only started in 94 or 95, and Google in 98.

Nigerian advertisers will soon wake up to the potentials of online advertising. On average, what you pay to advertise online for a month will get you only half a page in a newspaper. Some of these papers have a print run of only 50,000, including the biggest brands. The higest is not up to 65,000 per day. nairaland has over 100,000 members, you have an opportunity for these people to see your ad once or repeatedly for farless than you would pay on a newspaper over one month.

Internet ads are more targeted. Profiles of visitors to sites are sharply drawn in demographic terms, same community of interests and lifestyles. So you chose sites that matches your products. , improved targetting. Plus you can measure, if you dont get clicks, you stop putting your ads there!

I think internet advertising is very very suitable for some products/services in nigeria. People will soon wake up to it. I think operators of internet sites should form a group to highlight the gains of online advertising to Nigerian businesses.

Camden, u can reach me via biimbob@yahoo.co.uk

Well said Wolof,i believe in your ideals also.Soon the internet advertising will be most viable and effective means of ads in Nigeria.Just a matter of time.

Nairaland.
enonow.
whogobuy
, are all kool concepts that can generate income from ads including google ad insertions et al.
Any bizness plan for internet start ups must be hinged on income generation devoid of advertising revenue (IN D NAIJA REGION , THAT IS)
Since credit cards, debit cards and online payment facilities arent fully functional in Naija venture capitalist will want to see how you intend to generate income through sms gateways. A gateway can be wholly owned or leased from the likes of ITOUCH, MTECH,

I am tempted to go on, but i know for a fact that alot of ppl here already know what im talking about. Lets continue thi gist and we'll continue divulging more info

Any bizness plan for internet start ups must be hinged on income generation devoid of advertising revenue

Why?

well if you are talking about dot com ventures that are making progress on the Internet, i would agree with you to an extent but I think the legwork team at www.legwork .com.ng are a clear example of a Venture dot com business

others that look similar include nairaland but not fully in that niche and whogobuy etc

i have some sites that may not sound venture like but there are still in the pipe line
www.egusiland.com
www.articlejoint.com

As much as there are world class Nigerian dot coms needing the neccessary venture capital funding,it might not be eureka yet,reasons been that the few venture capital entity operating funds for Nigeria dont see dotcom ventures in Nigeria providing a 33% MRI within a financial year.
Actis is the largest venture capital operator in Nigeria with its $300 million EMAP 2 Fund,its criteria for investing in a business is the business must have a strong business plan that would guarantee a return of 35% .That is why its investments are limited to property development,banking,telecoms and FMCG entity.
The dotcom startups are not fully on ground in Nigeria,we do have a few nigerian centric web sites,agreed do they have the clout to generate enough revenue to keep their ops running ?
Unless owners n business development execs of Nigerian websites come together to form an allinance,the future might look bleak.

Making Dotcoms work takes proper planning,adequate funding and most importantly publicity of the dotcom venture.Even some bad ideas become successful if all these 3 elements applied in the right proportion.

I totally agree with you.

Seun:

Why?

@ Seun,

I said this in terms of making biz propositions to venture capitalists in Nigeria. Advertising revenue is key to the growth of the dotcom industry, but how then do you defend this claim to these dragons who probably own shares in ad agencies or hv biz concerns that mk'em privy to the advertising scenario in Nigeria.

Trust me if anyone comes up wiv a full-proof proposal detailing feasible methods of income generation, the dragons will budge.

I cant particularly admit to being caught up in that web cos although i hv a start up dotcom bizness with links in Nigeria, operations are in the UK.

The Naija mkt can earn me a whole lot in terms of billing GSM fones, but the fact that broadband access is not widespread across the country makes the iptv biz less attractive to the region, hence advertisers wont be interested.

It's going to get better, but until then we hv to find ways of working around setbacks.

Hi Seun, Wolof, Kashikapor ,Axiomlogic ,camden ,Babasegun ,Shockreaction,Uzomaeze

How does a dot com venture sound that focuses on providing up-to-date realtime information such as photos, profile,facilities and room & rate details of the all listed hotels(regardless of Size) with in a particular city with in Nigeria.

That catch is that we working on application that can actually read realtime room availabilty to enable convinient reservations as well as a hotel proximity search locator to major conference & event centres in the City.

Currently of focus is not mainly on advert revenue generation but ensuring that our target audience you use the website's apps so that they derive value.

Publicity and awareness of the website will be done through a small pocket guide coined after the dotcom ventures name and to be distributed at airports,bus terminal to the City of focus.

The domain name is brief / precise and actually captures the essence of the dotcom venture.

I'm personally thinking of submitting a blue print with a Bank that i currently have a working relationship,I want to sell the idea of them footing the bill of the small pocket guide so that i can brand it with their advert in the center spread.

We are wrapping up soon but really need opinions of folks like you guys,the most wonderful pal with like minds that i can count on.

lastly regarding the city,It certainly is not Lagos but a good clue is the "Seat of Power".

I agree with Kashi and most all, alot still need to fall in place in Nigeria before you can expect dot com to take it's place, however we'll have to concentrate on solving challenging problems before thinking of a pickup in dot com in naija.

among this is having to create the platform for people to be informed and be interested on the internet , imagine people ( police man) still feels u'r yahoo yahoo once u have a laptop, talkless of internet connection,

Imagine u still have to pay (Starcomms N10,000 monthly) for such a link that can not do much, (rip off)

Imagine u have to run GEN to run things,

Imagine u still have to manually do our transactions even though we claim it's now automated. (some banks r trying though)

IPtv is a good one but having to contend with the broadband access n the few that will afford it.

If all hand is put on deck n group of selfs in areas of specialty are in place>>for no selfish interest to arrest part of our problems, we'll have a situation where the internet will now be a place for almost everything at ease.

That way the traffic will flow, naturally and the PAY will Flow to dot comers.

othewise let the builder build in vain.

less i forget nairaland is the only naija project i stay tunned, @ seun alot can be don to turn things around,

Button Line,

We have to solve little problems before kickoff,

@tundewoods

try to move in on your idea instead of procastinating, i tell you one thing someone has already started on such a venture idea and he has already made an impact the thing there with this guy is by the end of the year he would be smiling to the banks, now what i would suggest you do is try tom see how you can start and give your self some time then talk to the banks later on that way you would be making some progress if not ,

@ uzomaeze

Thank you for the post,your points have been noted.

Interesting post.

What makes a website popular and busy? What can I do on this website that I cannot do on other websites? Why must I come back to this website after visiting it today? Can I accomplish the tasks I have come here to accomplish without spending a lot of time?

These are some of the questions web developers have to honestly ask themselves even before they start coding. The idea of build first and they will come is becoming old fashioned.

I do not think in the real sense that one needs a venture capital for a website to do well. Put differently, venture capitalists will come your way if they see a huge promise in what you are doing.

www.afamite.com was developed from scratch about 2 months ago as a pet project with only spare time allocated to the project.

Less than 1 month after uploading the website I have 2 people from UK that have been in discussion as regards buying it off and this has even stalled any additions I would have implemented like the online payment facility, free website feature for both personal and business use etc.

My point is that we have a lot of web developers that have created small worlds for themselves and they believe they have seen it all. A lot of web developers spend more time and energy trying to run others down or try to talk big.

While I agree that we have lots of talents in the web industry in Nigeria it is equally important that web developers must learn to accept responsibilities of what they know and what they don't know.

@Wolof
Thanks for the encouragement,honestly i'm not considering or relying on revenue from ad banners on this website.What im particular is actually user functionality.By this i mean that sole aim is to ensure that the website delivers value and the right people are aware about the website and use it as designed.

My brother revenue from Ad banners or advertising will follow when user functionality falls in place.

Tunde,

I am so sorry for getting back here so late. Got a lot on my hands for now.

I am happy so much has being said already and the advises are AWESOME!
Just like someone said, ACTION is what matters. We all can talk and talk
over here, what you do is what matters most.

@uzo, do you now own articlejoint or what? You better correct what is on the
Contact Page. getting this:

Add your contact details to "User Side Templates->contacts.tpl"

@ Beetintin

Thanks for the feedback,Yea contrary to alot of folks thoughts that  this dot com venture is yet to kicked off in terms of development,the project will soon be live on the internet just ensuring that we take care of all the pre launch requirements with venture capital or not.We are already in ACTION.

Secondly we are not scared of competition,honestly have you ever tried running a google search on hotels with in a particular City in Nigeria ?I bet the results you get wont leave you with much desired information that is in depth.

@Afam

Are you bragging about afamite.com ?This thread isn't about flaunting our websites,its about brainstorming on how to get up a successful dot com start up in Nigeria,just like the rest of the world.

tundewoods:

@Afam

Are you bragging about afamite.com ?This thread isn't about flaunting our websites,its about brainstorming on how to get up a successful dot com start up in Nigeria,just like the rest of the world.

If what you concluded from my post on this thread amounts to bragging about a website then you really have a huge problem because I am sure that I made comments concerning the crux of the matter you raised on this thread but as usual you will rather focus on non issues.

Reference to the site was made to show that you do not need venture capital to start up a project because venture capitalists are business men, not gamblers.

Meanwhile, it seems that very soon I will cede ownership of the website www.afamite.com to the new owners so I decided to create another simpler personal website (under 3 days) where I can publish my thoughts without anyone setting the rules at www.afamnnaji.com.

Stick to the issues, increase your skills, hope for the best and trust God, the rest will be easy, bad mouthing will not achieve anything.

NB: If you are serious about brainstorming, then you should be able to tell us what you have done and how it can be improved upon. Without real work on ground you may not achieve what you claim you want to achieve because I have heard a lot of people talking about building another yahoo or google when in the real sense they do not know how to write a single line of code neither do have have any meaningful plan to achieve what they claim they want to achieve.