We would like to know if there is any SMS payment service in Nigeria. We are talking of a situation where you can Pay for a service by sending text (sms) message from you GSM/3G phone and then you get a return text code with which you may access a website etc. Any similar service existing?

Please inform us in this thread if any such service exists and which company is offering it. Any link to their website will be appreciated.

Good discussion people.

Has anyone here considered setting up an online IT outsourcing firm just like Elance.com etc which, first of all, would focus on outsourcing freelance IT skills to companies in Nigeria and maybe west africa?

It is possible that if you succeed in getting Nigerian businesses and individuals to buy services from IT freelancers in Nigeria then the quality of Nigerian techies will start becoming clear to the world.

If this is accomplished, i believe that folks worldwide will buy their services from Nigeria.

Finally, we do visit this forum every now and then because of our business interest in Nigeria, I must confess that it appears to me that Nigerians are the ones that seem to have more problem with their image. You seem to worry more about fraud (at least you write more about it) than europeans. No harm meant here.

You must understand that serious businesses do not give a damn if you are in Nigeria, Irak or where ever. What is of interest is if you can deliver the services and the quality. People will come to you when they see you have what they need. I have a feeling that Nigeria has not shown what it can do yet, but on the other hand this IT thing is still in its infancy worldwide.

BTW do you think online IT Freelance outsourcing will fail in your country Nigeria and in west africa? If so, why?

Vicjustice:

So good to be true, i'm impressed. But, are you sure it's going to work for visa applicants in Nigeria?
 I suppose it is for those applicants in stable countries like the USA and the EU countries where documents are credible and where there are substantial social and economy ties. It is actually a good means of obtaining visas for people who want to save themselves the stress of going to the embassies (these people are visa worthy) they are visiting countries that their own countries are better than; and they will surely return home after their intended purpose of visiting. But i doubt it would work in Nigeria, i trust my people, the first set of applicants will ruin it all, they will even defraud them

Hi, actually this service will work for those in your country Nigeria. It will. Keep reading.

We did do a lot of research on African, Asian and South/central American  countries and their issues. Nigeria is not such a big deal really when it comes to problems. We have been in business and have plenty of experiences in these matters. Nigeria only has the problem of people not customizing solutions to solve the Nigerian problem. Happily, we could customize our solution to Nigeria and many other countries in the world www.fixmyvisa.com. That is something.

We know very well that people would be people, in any case, no matter where they come from. However, these problems are the reasons we are in business. It is in our interest to ensure a fraud free markeplace at www.fixmyvisa.com. We shall keep ahead of the problems as you will see in the nearest future.

The only problem with your country was online payment when it comes to depositing money (to pay your agent anywhere) in dollars. We solved that problem by introducing CASHU (cashu.com) payment services (like Paypal) which has agents/offices in Abuja and Lagos (I hope I am correct since I don't have the details at this moment) as one of our payment modules. In this case you can even pay an agent in Nigeria in Dollar but with confidence that you won't lose your money since it is in Escrow. If it goes well the agent gets paid. If not you get your money back.

I can now imagine a visa seeker meeting an agent personally (perhaps from his newspaper ad in Nigeria), but the seeker will then request the agent to register with www.fixmyvisa.com. Then the visa seeker will post a Request at www.fixmyvisa.com ONLY for that agent (this means no other service provider can make you an offer except for that agent). You can do this by using a function limiting your Request to INVITED agents only. The agent will then place a bid (in the sum already agreed on) and the seeker will accept that agent's offer as already agreed, but now it is formal. The seeker will then place money in Escrow at www.fixmyvisa.com for that agent. Then work can start. I hope you see the trend and advantage.

If visa seekers follows our instruction, there will be fantastic results.

We chose this revolutionary aspect of service auction and we intend to make it work, just like our past projects that involves non-european or north American countries.


***We shall keep doing our best to respond to comments and questions in this forum.

manoy:

Can this work for Uk(student visa) application?

In practice, we can't say one way or the other since we start our pre-launch today. The fact is that many visa service providers have experiences and specialisations. I expect that issues like student visas can certainly be expedited. In any case, a marketplace like www.fixmyvisa.com gives you access to a wide range of experts who may be able to help. Since it is free to post a request, it doesn't hurt to try.

Breaking News!- World's First Visa And Passport Auction About To Start | 2007-06-27

Dear All,

As you read this, you are part of history being made on the net.

This is an invitation to the pre-launching of fixmyvisa.com (http://www.fixmyvisa.com), which is the world’s first online auction place for travel visas and passports. Be among the first to post a Request at fixmyvisa.com.

This is a sort of Ebay for migrations services but we use the reverse auction system with the goal of finding the best visa agent at the lowest possible price for visa seekers.

It works like this in brief: A person that has difficulties getting his/her visa applications granted at embassies and needs the help of an agent with processing/expediting his visa with guaranteed success can anonymously post a Request for help asking agents to make him/her an offer. Then, competent travel agents and visa expeditors, worldwide, eager to help this person will respond to the Request posted, along with their price/offers just like an auction, of course along with details of his methods of operations and time lines. This way the visa seeker can compare the prices and quality of the agents and choose which one he wishes to work with.

In order to protect our users, we have a secure Escrow service. When the visa seeker finally chooses a visa expeditor or agent, he does not need to pay the visa expeditor until the work is done as agreed. The money is held in an Escrow account by fixmyvisa.com until the visa seeker gives the go ahead to release the money to the visa expeditor. Of course, this is by choice.

It should be made clear that it is very legal to employ the help of visa expeditors/agents in your dealings with embassies. This has been a well kept secret since this is very often used in the USA and Europe for dealing with difficult embassies like the Russian embassy. What we hope to do is bring the services of the best expeditors to visa seekers in the remotest countries in the world. Fixmyvisa.com will give a visa seeker’s Request high exposure giving him unimagined access to expeditors worldwide.

At www.fixmyvisa.com, you are not limited to visas, you may also request for invitation letters, help with legalizing your residence permit in any country, renewal of passports, legal representation etc. It will not be unusual to come in contact with an expeditor in your country at fixmyvisa.com before you meet face to face.

Currently, it is free for a visa seeker to post his/her Requests, hurry up and be among the first to post yours at fixmyvisa.com.

www.fixmyvisa.com is the first of its kind on the net. We are aware of all the issue involved and have put things in place to ensure success.

Finally, the concept at www.fixmyvisa.com was born out of careful research. The company which owns fixmyvisa.com is Proffpoint Network AB, located in Gothenburg, Sweden and is subject to Swedish and EU laws.

If you wish to take advantage of this pre-launch invitation then visit our site http://www.fixmyvisa.com and see for yourself. We have comprehensive information on our site. You may also contact us if you have any question.

BTW, if you accept this offer, you will get US$2.00 as credit in your account at www.fixmyvisa.com to use as you wish.


Regards

I have been quietly reading threads on this site for weeks now and I must comend you webmasters and enthusiasts in Nigeria. It is great to get fantastic information about the going ons in the Nigerian e-world.

I represent a Swedish internet company that will be making our presence felt soon in Nigeria and other African countries and so far this is most dynamic forum that I have seen with valuable information focused on our market area. So much information that could have been impossible to find anywhere.

We were worried about how our clients in Nigeria, Ghana etc will be able to pay online for our services but we are now relaxed about it after reading various threads on this issue.

I hope to be contributing my bit on this forum even if it is just questions.

Keep it up guys.