A successful startup story
Few years ago I had an older student in my entrepreneurship class. When most students were in the early 20s, Oluwassen was in the late 30s. He studied hard, did well and graduated with honor. Last week I received a letter from him sharing his experience with others:
“Fifteen years ago, I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management and got a job at a top hotel in Nigeria. My starting salary was good but the work condition was hard as I must spend 14-16 hours every day at the hotel. Tourisms are popular business in Africa so many people want to study Hotel Management. Like most young person, I did not know much about career development so I just followed the trend. Because I graduated at the top of the class, I got the job at the top hotel. After working there for few years, I discovered that the career growth in this industry were limited.
In this type of work, no matter what you do or how good you are, the work is always hard as you must work long hours. You have to deal with all types of customers, some are nice but many are demanding but you always have to be polite, and patient even you are distressed. I saw my boss who worked there for thirty years, at the same place, doing the same thing, and growing tired everyday in this stressful environment. As a young man, I did not think I could do that for long so I began to look for other careers. The opportunity came when a guest at the hotel, a professor from CMU, told me about Computer Science and the potential opportunity in this field. He helped me to apply to CMU but as a top student, I did not have problem to get admitted. During my study for a MS degree in Computer Science, I took the entrepreneur class and it completely opened a new horizon for me. By the time I graduated and come back to Nigeria, I determine to start my own company.
One thing few people know about Africa is it is very difficult to buy books. There are only few bookstores in the capital or big cities, if you live in small town, you will not be able to buy books. Most bookstores also do not have new books; most books for sale are at least several years old. You cannot buy new books on-line either because there is no delivery system. If you send a package via the post office, it may get lost or stolen so people would not send anything valuable except personal things. My first idea is to sell e-books so people on the African continent can download. Although Internet connection is not well established outside big cities but mobile phone is very popular. Young Africans love their mobile phones so there is a good business opportunities to do that in mobile platforms. Mobile phone is a “status symbol” that people must have and they often do anything just to get the newest and most sexy phone possible. Within five months, I began my startup selling e-books from my website.
My business pick up quite fast as expected and I made good money then one day another idea came. Tourist business is very good in Africa with several million visitors every year. Most top hotels and vacation resorts have their own websites to advertise for tourists. Major global travel agencies like Expedia or Travelocity listed about 4,000 hotels in Africa, but the fact is there are 200,000 more mini hotels and small hotels that nobody knows about. These Mini-hotels are small, maybe five to ten rooms often owned by a local family that never advertised. Since not every traveler can afford to pay the price for top five stars hotels, many are willing to pay less for lesser known hotels as long as they are clean and safe. Since I have worked in hotel business and know many people who owned mini-hotels, I started a new business of matching foreign travelers who are willing to pay less with these mini-hotels.
I began to work with mini hotels owners to upgrade their place to good international standards that are acceptable for foreign tourists and build my second startup. My website aims at tourists in the U.S and Europe with pictures of the hotel locations as well as the rooms. I worked with a Taxi company to provide transportation from airport to hotel so they do not have to deal with bad taxi drivers who may cheat them for more money; I also works with guide tours organizers to put in special priced packages for these tourists who want to visit Nigeria, S, Africa and other countries for much less. This is what I learned in the entrepreneur class, always look for opportunities in place where big companies less likely to pay attention. My start-up serves travelers who do not have much money. In three years, my business grew to be the biggest and fastest startup in Africa. Of course, there are many challenges for entrepreneurs in Africa as each local government is different, and each city has “special customs” who expect to be paid “Special fees” but the key is to get to know each area and each local government. This is why many foreign companies failed because they do not know how to work here. There is no substitute for knowing the culture and that is why as a local person, I succeed.
Of course, I do not compete with big travel companies or top hotels. Our business is not focus on rich tourists who could spend ten to twenty thousand dollars each trip but getting down to tourists with limited spending budgets. What work great about a start-up is that you see the whole business getting built up. Anything can be a revenue-generating business if you know how. If I can get more tourists to come to Africa, then there will be lots of jobs and lots of revenue and it will make a difference in people’ lives. It does not take long as I saw that within a short time, everybody that works with me is happy. From the mini hotel owners, taxi drivers and tour guides as everybody has a piece of the business and with African mobile technology booming, I think my effort in startup is really worth it and I appreciate the best education that I got from CMU.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
