We have emphasized severally that for you startup to actually pass to be called a startup, it has to address a particular problem. In this post, I want to bring to you a startup which is poised on solving the accommodation problems in Nigeria. This time, not for everyone, but of students across the various tertiary institutions we have in the country. Meet RentALodge.
I must laud their insight and clever decision not to address the whole Nigerian market, as some would have loved to do. They are focused on just students. It isn’t news that ToLet.com.ng takes care of the general market, and a new entrant in the same market might just be dead on arrival.
One major problem students face in their various varsities is getting a room or space to rent. They would have to encounter the stress of walking and touring their school’s student area in search for a hostel that matches their exact specifications. Sometimes, this search ends up in futility, other times, they are forced to settle for a lesser option.
RentALodge encourages hostel agents or landlords to list their property on their platform which would enable students search for their preferred hostels, in their university of choice. This would help save time, resources, and what have you. What more can students be interested in than something that’ll save them time and resources.
If we were to bring out a lesson from the way RentALodge structured their startup, it’d be to always carve a niche for yourself. An average entrepreneur or startup founder would have preferred to serve the same market as ToLet.com.ng (the general market), and it could be certain that they wouldn’t cut it, as at that point, their startup would be a surplus to requirement.
The platform was launched on 28th of November 2016 by Tosin Adeoti and executive team members comprising Joshua Rotimi (CTO), Mercy Anih (Operations) and Philip Bashorun (Operations).
RentALodge boasts of having a great number of accommodation listings across different schools and cities. Students can search for their hostels by typing the school or city to know the many options available to them at that point, after which students proceed to make payment and then, they are finally handed the key to the apartment.
Thoughts?
Sounds like a very good idea and concept to me. We can only hope the startup keep standing on its feet in a few years, and they would need funds to be able to keep that up. If any investor had seen any potential in ToLet.com.ng that made them invest their resources, I think they should see same in RentALodge, only that in this case, a more specific market is addressed.
What are your thoughts about this startup? What do you envisage for it in the next two or three years? Let’s hear you.
