16032019 - How women stripped half naked to half rigginh

36—SATURDAY Vanguard, MARCH 16, 2019
These men have built an
app to promote
hairdressers, make-up
artists, others
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ment of the youths in the
country. A lot of empowerment
programmes are been
carried out by the government
but they are not targeted
at the right people. They
just do empowerment for social
and political reasons.
What we have done is to
bridge the gap for government
and the artisans. When
the government requires an
empowerment for the youths
they can approach us and
tell us who they want to
reach out for. We can easily
give them those data.
Through that, they can also
create tax remittance while
they are working.
Let’s get to know more
about the app and how it
works?
The app is a revolutionary
tool for artisan services and
skilled workers. It is more
like sitting in your house and
needing maybe a barber and
clicking on your phone. The
app will direct you on the artisan’s
location, then you
click and request for a service.
Category of skilled workers
on our platform are
plumbers, bricklayers, barbers,
carpenters, electricians,
make-up artists, lesson
teachers (private), hairdressers,
cobblers, tailors
and so on. It is for everyone
that has special skill to sale.
For example, when you
have a wedding and your
make-up artists or your barber
is not available or probably
stuck on traffic, a click
on app will enable you see
other service providers near
to you. What we have done
• Steve Asemota
is basically to make life easier
for people. The app gives
you an option to select
whichever service you need
at a particular time.
Do your services include
drivers?
We don’t provide drivers.
Ours is basically for skilled
artisans, including educational
tutors that can handle
private lessons. This is also
good for people who are already
in a job and wants to
do something extra. When
you download the app and
get registered, you will be
approached for services. After
your regular job that
ends maybe, 5.pm, you can
switch on your app to receive
service request from clients.
And this can be carried on
till 10 pm. We are not engaging
drivers because their
kind of services already exists.
We are not also engaging
baby-sitters and related
duties like that. Our focus is
on skilled people.
In this kind of service,
there will be competitors.
How do you handle such
challenge?
We started the whole idea
since 2016 and it took us almost
two years to get it running.
We have put a lot into
the application. Competition
is not a challenge to us because
we created unique operational
schemes that will
outclass any competitor.
Moreover, our App was developed
in Canada by some
experts. We didn’t just
start by asking artisans to
log into it because customer’s
security is very important
to us. We worked with
some government agencies
that are already training
skilled men. We ask them to
identify and verify these artisans
and after that, we onboard
them into the app to
start working with us. We do
extra security check. That’s
what most of our competitors
do not do and that
keeps us ahead of others.
We don’t send
unverified artisans
out to work. We
make sure that
their identity, integrity
and background
check are
intact and approved.
Security is our
top priority in this industry.
Although, there’s a saying
that you might not know
what is in a man’s heart, but
the best we do is an extra
security check on both the
customers and the artisans
on our platform. We have a
regular security line manned
by our chief security officer
(CSO) in the office. He is always
on point to treat any
We started the
whole idea
since 2016 and
it took us almost
two
years to get it
running
matter from both a customer
and an artisan. If any life is
threatened while at work, the
CSO will immediately relate
with the nearest Police officer
within the area for immediate
action.
Besides, we do a special
ethical training, safety and
customer relations training
including environmental
management and financial
training and others for the
artisans before we set them
out to work. Our coverage
areas for now are within Lagos
cities. We intend to cover
the entire Lagos state after
which we move to Abuja,
Port-Harcourt, Owerri, Benin
and other parts of Nigeria
cities. We are currently doing
a documentation to start
off the business in Canada
and United States and this
will be handled by our partners
who reside in these
countries.
How is payment made between
the customer and artisan?
For the mode of payment,
currently, a customer pays
an artisan direct. We want the
artisans and the customers
to get used to the app first,
then other means like a payment
gateway app will be
introduced to handle efficient
payment method with
a minimal percent deducted
by the app for running cost.
There is also a monthly subscription
fee of N5.000 by the
artisans while in the company
services. This covers a
monthly period that gives an
artisan the full opportunity
to use the app and reach as
many customers as possible.
With regards to the low
educational background of
some of the artisans in
terms of handling the technology
involved in the use
of the apps, how do you handle
their shortcomings?
Actually, we do have few
challenges in that area, but
mind you that these artisans
are smart equally. Operating
the application is very easy.
In less than 10 minutes, the
app is operated and like you
know, everyone uses an Android
phone this days and
operating the app is not difficult.
The issue here is that
government have not taken
this particular set of people
serious based on their low
academic background thereby
losing huge income that
moves around them. For instance,
my gateman has an
Android phone and he is on
face-book, WhatsApp, instagram
and other applications
that the phone offers. He
communicates with me easily
on these platforms, send
message to me without necessarily
coming to my office
to report any issue. What
we have done also is to create
a whatsApp group for all
the artisans after onboarding
them, where information are
shared.
Talking about technology
also, how do you handle
network and server failures
including phones on low
battery as a result of inconsistent
power failure in the
country? These, to me can
easily demoralize either the
artisan or the customer when
a service is critically needed.
Nigeria as we know is still
a developing country technology
wise, but I can boldly
say that we have exceeded
all the expectations in
terms of technology challenges.
The app was developed
in Canada. We are very
confident that it cannot fail.
The network services are
now competitive among the
providers. As a result this,
users have option to switch
to a provider that is consistent.
It will not be difficult
for us because we created an
application that is as easy as
opening an email. Our app
is very easy to use. You can
download it from Google
store for android users.
When you type
hustlesquare, the site will
appear and lead you to other
ways of getting information
about us and how to
register and become a member
of the group for both the
artisans and customers.
Do you have any insurance
plan to cater for injury
at work?
Naturally, we are not employers
of labour and do not
include any insurance plan
to cater for any artisan at
work. What we did is to create
a platform where the customer
and artisan can relate
and agree on common terms
excluding our absolute involvement
or interference.
However, we train and sensitize
the artisans very well
before onboarding them on
our platform so that safety
consciousness should be
their watchword all time. We
also give them safety tips
periodically.
Secondly, we do not determine
job costing nor prizing
for the artisan, neither do we
have a prize list chart as in
the case of other platforms.
We only connect the two
parties while they determine
and agree on prize before
job commences. Our only
concern is that the artisan
has to register and fill the job
completion form in the app
for our record purposes. And
also, we sensitize the artisans
of customer ethics so
that they should be reasonable
and sincere in dealing
with customers. Moreover, a
customer will always review
artisan’s chart, agree on our
terms and conditions on the
app before engaging him.
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