The CEO of Pukena.ng, Emmanuel Udeagha, was a guest on “Amazons on Radio”, an interactive radio program on Classic FM 97.3 that showcases emtrepreneurs who are making a difference in the society using their innovation. Mr Emmanuel shares his thoughts on "Artisans and their Antics" and how Pukena is fast positioning itself as the last hope of an average Nigerian in finding reliable artisans for their everyday service needs.
Meet Okuoba Akomeah, a Nigerian carpenter who makes chairs, beds and tables to earn a living. He just posted the photos of the Electronic bed he made that has television and can charge phones and laptops. Impressive.
He posted the the Photos and the Caption below; "2017 Sofa king size electronic bed powerful song system, 32 inches digital satellite television, charging system for 2 phones and laptop, including mattress 8,200gh (N661,635.60)"
One satisfied customer can give you more advertising than money can buy.
The first three months in Pukena, we made no sales, except for the Free Cleaning Tour we used to promote our services. We spent the bulk of that time on boarding service providers across all our service categories. It was a very rigorous exercise. It's the main foundation of Pukena. Our stock in trade are these top rated professionals.We even set up Pukena Academy to prepare them to stand befor the King!
Lagos is an exciting and arguably the leading startup ecosystem in Africa.
Yaba is considered the silicon valley of Nigeria as it houses the headquarters of major tech companies such as Andela, CCHub, Techpoint, prepclass, etc
This morning, this got me thinking...
Could it be because Yaba is home to two major tertiary institutions of learning, Yabatech and UNILAG (close to Yaba)?
Many small business owners and startups dread banks and have little to no relationship with bankers. They either see bankers as enemies, fraudsters, the group that does not want SME’s to be great or all of the above. The truth is while there is a lot of room for Bankers to improve their value proposition to SMEs, there is a lot SMEs can do to extract value from Nigerian Banks – especially in the area of funding.
Excellence is not a function of resources, it's a mindset!
This morning, during my devotion, these words erupted in my spirit like a vulcano! I talked in tongues for hours meditating on it.
God took me to the book of Daniels 1.
I saw how the King ordered for a certain calibre of young people. Experts in their own field. People who have done their own part of acquiring a certain skills.
Top organizations and high end households, who constitute our primary market targets increasingly depend on Pukena to supply them with trusted, professional and highly reliable service providers.
This week alone, I have received tens of emails from startup entrepreneurs like me asking me questions believing I have all the answers to the questions in their minds.
First of all, I let them know I too, am still learning the ropes, like everybody else. I am facing the same challenges every regular startup faces at this stage of business.
Most of their questions bother on sourcing funding, when to hire, company valuation and stuffs like that.