The ability to create a human connection is a key ingredient to success in Nigeria, according to Lola Masha, former Google business development lead for West Africa and current country manager for OLX Nigeria.
Masha told HumanIPO many people can create a website, but the key differentiating factor is whether the company provides a physical and human connection to users.
“Because frankly, the internet is a little bit remote – it’s in a cloud somewhere, and the company that is able to create that human connection will win,” she said.
According to her, customer service is paramount as the average Nigerian user wants to know a channel is available to handle issues when things go wrong.
“I think what an average Nigerian user cares about is to know that if things go wrong, there is a channel where they can voice their concerns,” Masha said. “They want to know the company is taking customer service extremely seriously and they are available and around to provide the best support possible.”
Security is another major issue Nigerian users are concerned about, and she said OLX Nigeria is dealing with this issue by verifying ads and by opening up new channels.
“For every ad that is posted on OLX, it does not go live right away, we have a group of people that review and approve every single ad. They try to stop fraudulent users from posting items on OLX,” she said. “However, we know it’s not perfect, we know they can’t always get it right which is why we want to open up as many channels as possible for users to get back to us and give us feedbacks on the platform.”
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