Today, I am recommending 10 web startup ideas that are worth exploring in Nigeria. These ideas might even get you funding from venture capitalists and might just be what Google could buy:-)
1. Photo/video sharing services
Photo/video sharing sites allow users to upload music and music videos, photos, etc and share them with an online community. Don’t just be a Youtube or Flickr fan. You can start one for Nigerian music, movies, videos, photos, etc an make sure you choose a good startup name and unique concept.
2. Dating sites
Dating sites in Nigeria are not bad at all. But how about adopting a different approach to the dating game differently. I like the concept of plentyoffish.com where you don’t have to pay to join. How do you make money? One word: ADVERTisement
3. Auctions sites
There are only a few auction sites in Nigeria such as Firstnaija.com, and they are not doing badly. If you are thinking of an auction site that will sell in Nigeria, why not consider an auction startup that auctions jewelries real-time. I’ll recommend a site like bidz.com
4. Web Office apps
Can you start a startup that can compete with the Microsoft desktop software? According to Paul Graham, this is a rich market, considering the huge sums of money Microsoft makes from it. He also thinks that “a startup that takes on such a project will be helped along by Microsoft itself, who between their increasingly bureaucratic culture and their desire to protect existing desktop revenues will probably do a bad job of building web-based Office variants themselves. He further advises that before you try to start a startup doing this, you should be prepared to explain why existing web-based Office alternatives haven’t taken the world by storm, and how you’re going to beat that. A Nigerian site called nigeria.ms seems to have an idea of web desktop & office apps.
5. Online learning sites
Nigerian schools don’t seem to have the best to offer our youths. Candidates who sit for WAEC, NECO and JAMB exams fail because of a failed system, where the learning environment is not conducive. Perhaps, youths can enjoy learning online if there are sites that help them go through revisions and prepare for tests. InstantRevision.com is an example. Another idea could be to design online games that would help children improve their learning abilities and thinking faculties.
I also like the idea behind naijalingo.com - an online dictionary of Nigerian pidgin english words. Maybe we can also have a Naijapedia just like Afropedia that offers a free online encyclopedia and social networking where users can all contribute information and enjoy the learning experience.
6. Search sites
Is Google Nigeria search discouraging us from developing our own search sites? I hope not. Oh, I love Sturvs Search. But there’s probably something that Google hasn’t done with search that we can still do. Paul Graham thinks that Google’s biggest weakness is that “they have no sense of design” with their search pages, thus they tend to keep things sparse. But if there were a kind of search that depended a lot on design, a startup might actually be able to beat Google at search.
7. Online payment sites
Have you noticed that Nigeria is not listed as a Paypal member country? That’s sad! Ok, I know what the world says about Nigeria and scam, blah blah blah. Is it not time to develop an online payment startup in Nigeria that could cater for the African market and beyond? I like what Interswitch has done in Nigeria.
8. Sites decicated for startups
The future of Internet startups in Nigeria and Africa is a bright one. That’s why I started StartupsNigeria to cover web startups from Nigeria. But hey, I hate competition, so try something else…haha!
9. Online shopping sites
We have a handful of online shopping sites in Nigeria such as buyright.com, nayourshop.com, tokunbo.com amongst others. There are also sites where you can recharge your call credits such as prepaidnigeria.com and rechargenigeria.com Most of these sites are on the Interswitch network.
10. Portfolio Valuation sites
These days, Nigerians are becoming aware of the benefits of investing in shares, stocks, bonds, etc. in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. If you are a stock market broker, expert, enthusiast, or novice like me you could consider a startup that evaluates the portfolios of investors (i.e that monitors the value of people’s investments on the NSE). A good example is InvestorDelight.com
It was an interesting exercise and experience for me writing this list. The list is by no means exhaustive, so if you have a great startup idea that’s not on this list, we’d love to hear them. Cheers
