How Keturah became CEO of 2 tech start-ups in 2 years

Keturah Ovio-Onoweya is the CEO of Qeturah.com and Usanii, two tech start-ups that are supporting the growth of Nigerian brands.

A Software Engineering graduate of Nottingham Trent University, UK, the 25-year-old Keturah worked for Grabit, a South-East Asian tech company, where she was exposed to so much information that gave her confidence to found Qeturah.com. A multiple award-winning entrepreneur, Keturah started with just $200 which she used for domain purchasing and hosting. Today, she has grown in a way that 150 brands and independent sellers all over Nigeria are in her platform. She spoke with ODINAKA ANUDU, Start-Up Digest Editor.

What is Qeturah all about, and what motivated you to set it up?

Qeturah is a Lagos-based social enterprise dedicated to promoting made-in-Nigeria brands and businesses through our online and offline platforms and partnerships.

Primarily, we are an online marketplace that makes it easy for anyone, anywhere, to discover and shop for quality made-in-Nigeria brands and products made by independent sellers scattered all across Nigeria. We make it easy for local brands to compete in the global online marketplace.

Living in the Diaspora for many years, I just never could find an easy way to buy anything that identified me as African or reminded me of home. When I did find, it was either ridiculously expensive or not much variety or both. I was sitting in my room one day and thought, ‘Why can’t I build a platform that makes the buy and sell easy? After all, I am a software engineer and I’ve got the skillset to quickly build suchlike platforms and test the market.’ That was all it took, a little ‘Aha’ moment that has now turned into a fully functional business that is helping over 150 brands and independent sellers all over Nigeria.

 

I noticed that you have another platform called Usanii. What is it all about and why and when did you found it?

Usanii was birthed from Qeturah. When we started, we tried selling art (premium and street) on same platform but quickly realised this was a terrible idea as firstly, you can’t sell art together with shoes, bags, and clothes. Secondly, you can’t sell premium art and street art together; it just diminishes the value of the premium art. We couldn’t find an aggregated platform that one could go to, to discover, collect and learn about unique African artists and their works.

Usanii was ideated to be the online resource to discover, collect and learn about unique African artists and their artworks.

Usanii was founded in July 2016 and we held a group art exhibition for three contemporary artists – Dimeji Alabi, Baruwa, and Emmanuel Dudu at the British Council Nigeria office in Ikoyi. We wanted to start building momentum office and then take it online. Usanii has been kept under wraps for a while now as I do not have the bandwidth (time) to run two companies. I am, however, looking towards partnerships with individuals, organisations, or better still, all the above and finding a CEO who can run Usanii whilst I concentrate on Qeturah.com.

You won the Enterprise Challenge Award and are a beneficiary of Tony Elumelu Foundation. How much was handed to you and what has changed in your business since you got the money?

Both organisations offered cash prizes, trainings, mentors, and access to a wide network

Tony Elumelu Foundation  provided $5,000, business training, mentoring for  one year with a seasoned entrepreneur in Nigeria.

Enterprise Challenge provided $10,0000, a day mentorship with Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group (Virgin Atlantic); four free upper-class flights and paid expense to the UK British Council, business training boot camp in Nigeria, business training and networking in the UK at Oxygen Startups, all-expense paid trip for a business training at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, South Africa, and further support till date.

With TEF grant, I was able to conduct market research and validate my business concept. So when the Enterprise challenge came about, I had a proof of concept to show the potential of my business and what impact it could have on people at large and in our economy.

With the Enterprise Challenge grant, I was able to hire more people, build a better product (online platform) with sophisticated functionalities, strike more strategic partnerships and grow.

 

What do you see in Nigeria’s online business and tech entrepreneurship?

I see a lot of growth potentials, I believe billion-dollar businesses will emerge (are already emerging) from the Nigerian tech ecosystem and I’m glad to be part of it. I believe tech is Nigeria’s new oil, so it’s time for investors and government to give attention to the serious boom about to happen, or rather is happening.

You must have challenges. What are they?

Finding the right talent with good work ethics took me a while but I’m currently happy with my team.

Being a woman in tech and commerce, it can be quite daunting in a sea of men to stand tall and be taken seriously, especially as we live in a society that does not really encourage women to make much of themselves or have daring aspirations in life.

 

You are organising Tropika Summer Splash with some partners. What do you intend to achieve through this?

First is brand equity for all the participating businesses. Second is a sustainable offline support platform for all the businesses that do not currently fit into the scope of selling on our online platform to make sales and be visible in our community.

Next is new revenue streams – for the businesses as well as selves– to be able to sustainably support the independent craft makers and businesses. It will drive traffic to our online marketplace, thus growing our online community, and will improve customer experience of the brands selling on our platform as they physical get to meet and engage with these brands.

Any plan for expansion? How many employees do you have?

We are currently a team of three. There are definitely expansion plans. Our goal is to reach 50,000 active sellers from across Africa 18 months from now and we’re looking to expand into two new African markets by March 2018.

What advice will you give to upcoming entrepreneurs?

Never give up.. Ideas are worth exploring; don’t let anyone shut down your idea. Your ideas and dreams are valid irrespective of who you are and where you’re from. Even if you fail, you would have learned something.