Uber has completely disrupted the taxi industry in most of the world; it owns no taxis, has no idle inventory. Same with AirBnB - it’s now the world’s largest hotel chain.
Which local industries are susceptible to the on-demand effect and where do you think we’ll see the effect next?
Artisans and unskilled workers. Rated, recommended and high-quality on-demand. Plumbers, painters, carpenters, electricians, cooks, maids, babysitters (there are so many Friday nights and Saturday afternoons when the wifey & I just need a TRUSTWORTHY nanny-for-a-day)…
I was looking into this last year; a marketplace for semi-skilled workers. I think these kinds of ‘send am’ services are already built into our culture. I was playing around with the idea of using shortcodes (paid) to request for certain kinds services and receiving a list of workers. Something similar already exists in Ghana; it’s called mPawa if I’m right. Building the supply side of such a marketplace and validating workers would obviously be the big issues. But it is a very fundamental need to this environment. I hope someone takes a stab at it.
The issue with a lot of these services is that validation thing. Look at what happened to OLX for example. If you can sort out validation, there’s real business there IMHO.
It’s such a pity that NIMC (National Identity Management Commission) hasn’t lived up to expectations. For there to be validation, there needs to be a very solid identity management system. We already have reputation system that works offline - word-of-mouth recommendation; we need an equivalent that works online and what that means is that you cannot claim to be what you are not.
In Kenya, every citizen gets a lifelong ID once they turn 18. You have to use it to register for everything. it is easy to be verified for the purposes of any service, because there’s no real need for KYC. By the same token, if you refuse to pay parking, and they have your license plates, the authorities will definitely pay you a visit. Kenyans I have talked to can’t believe that Nigerians have no universal form of identification.
I think maybe the BVN will help with this in the near future.
It’s one thing to have this data, it’s another for them to provide a way it can be accessed (programmatically). Take data like NAFDAC numbers for example, is there an API for this? If I want to build a simple app that allows users verify the authenticity of a drug, how do I interface this data? What about drivers licence?
I look forward to the outcome of the BVN but I am honestly not expectant about it. We may not have a single complete identity database yet but we have this data in bits, here and there, with different entities already. It’s just locked in. Where is the sim registration data collected by telcos for example?
BVN, really? In most countries I have visited, private organisations have no business with biometric data of citizens. In the Nordic, your social security number is tied to your biometric data and banks don’t need that just your SSN but in Nigeria, the same is either replicated or taken by various organisations. India, a country with a larger population has been able to implement such system.
BVN, really? Our banked population is less than 30% (and 90 - 95% of those accounts have less than N5,000). NIMC is the solution for a lifelong ID. Even if we have to “duplicate” registration e.g. INEC or Immigrations, FRSC - the prerequisite for those services should be a valid National ID card and these services should embed/imprint your National ID on theirs. I think NIMC is on the right track (Idea) but there are 3 other critical success factors - Product, Team and Execution (https://clip.mn/tag/NThiYTEyMDM)
I think Food is ripe for Uberification.