A Sociologist and Human Resource Manager who fell in love with the capital market was a 360 degrees turn for Estelle Nnanna Kalu, but she did not stop there, even after honing her skills as a Customer Relationship Manager. While still in the capital market sector, she was working on helping to create platforms to engage small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). When she left the capital market sector, she became a full advocate on how to help micro and small and medium scale enterprises (MSME’s) into the Nigerian digital space. This inspired her to launch Nectare, a digital platform with the objective of helping MSMEs to be more visible to their specific audience and link up with customers. In this interview with Afrikan Heroes, Estelle Nnanna Kalu speaks with Kelechi Deca about her drive, inspiration and what she hopes to achieve: excerpts.
How did you come about the idea of Nectare?
I observed existing platforms had a lot of loopholes, from not putting out adequate information about their listed vendors to not covering a lot of categories, this means that there are services out there that do not enjoy adequate visibility. I also noticed we have a very large pool of entrepreneurs and small businesses that weren’t being paid attention to, a lot of them are on social media jostling for space, I felt it would be great to create a platform that would attempt solving these problems and give them a level playing field to showcase themselves.
Also the process of verifying vendors to a large extent has been very porous, people are scared of patronizing small businesses because of trust issues, At Nectare, and we want to make sure clients get what they want from a verified provider.
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What value proposition do you think you’ll bring to the market?
Nectare will reach out to a wider market based on our expanded list of categories; there are services that weren’t in existence a couple of years ago that we have now which haven’t been captured in the directory market.
We’re raising the security level between service providers and clients, this ensures trust issues are reduced to the barest minimum.
Nectare intends helping small businesses improve their return on investment by guiding them on how best to make every customer a loyal one, by improving customer service. As a newly subscribed vendor, you’re meant to understand your job description as a Nectare vendor is to offer your clients your best service ever.
We also have a better secured platform due to the measures we’ve taken to vet vendors; this means end users can be sure of what they are getting.
What are the challenges you faced in nursing the dream to fruition?
My challenges were basically trying to deal with thought leaders in the industry who felt I was coming up with an idea that already existed and I should try something else. For me, it was about filling a void, finding a specific niche to focus on. Existing platforms focus a lot on big businesses. Nectare has a specific audience which is individual entrepreneurs and small businesses that aren’t being given much attention.
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Have you thought of quitting, and what made you to keep pushing?
I’ve never thought of quitting, I’m yet to make the required impact so I need to see it happen and the thought of creating a community of service providers like I’ve always envisioned is what keeps giving me the push.
What do you think are the major factors militating against startups in Nigeria?
Many entrepreneurs are frustrated by policy somersaults, unclear implementation of policies, and a very unfriendly business environment. Inflation rates are close to 20 percent, with one of the highest interest rates in the world. Nigeria definitely is one of the toughest places for business ideation and growth but for the resilience of the people. Presently, the level of regulations in many states of the federation is strangulating. Fees and multiple and oftentimes enforcements are done by faceless groups. Nothing works as smoothly as it should; just call it the Nigerian factor.
Where do you see Nectare in the next five years?
I’d like to see Nectare fully established, I want to nurse it to being a community of unique service providers that are willing to work with me closely to put out the best, a platform that is much secured and is everyone’s first port of call when any task needs to be done.
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Just like the name, Nectare should be an angry client’s last resort to finding the smallest of everything or service personnel. People appreciate when things are done properly, in the next five years; I hope to have raised an army of efficient vendors to meet those needs.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry