My best advice to anyone going into online business -Kobindi Uba, co-founder, naijagasonline.com.ng
Tommy Kobindi Uba and Olamide Onipede are two Nigerian entrepreneurs who have pushed the boundaries of e-commerce in the country with the sales of cooking gas on their platform naijagasonline.com.ng
“Our dream is to be the first name that comes to the minds of Nigerians when it comes to prompt gas delivery anywhere in the country,” Uba said.
Uba, whose background is in petroleum engineering and Onipede who is a GIS analyst have between them years of vast business experience in the oil and gas product sales and management to make the business work.
In this interview with THE NIGERIAN XPRESS, Kobindi Uba, shares their experience thus far, laying out the dynamics of selling gas online, the importance of integrity to e-businesses and tips on how to attract customers to new online ventures.
The idea of ordering and selling gas online is revolutionary. Where did the inspiration come from?
The idea came from the concept of making life easier with the available new-age online experience. You will agree with me that in this age and time if you are not online you are out of line.
Secondly, the use of domestic cooking gas (LPG) is a core necessity for every home, but the unfortunate thing is that it usually runs out when you least expect it and ends up putting the family in a very precarious situation. It’s either you are cooking a meal when you suddenly notice that the gas burner flames are going dim only to confirm that your gas is finished or you are busy with a lot of other house chores when you remember that the gas cylinder is empty and nobody is around to help with getting a refill. We have all experienced this embarrassment in one way or the other sometimes.
We thought of how to develop a Mobile App (Naija Gas Online) that will make it so easy for people to request for a refill of their cooking gas and buy other gas accessories by the click of a few buttons on their mobile phones, and a dispatcher will deliver to your doorstep in few minutes. After developing the App which is downloadable from Google Playstore/ Apple store and putting other logistics in place we launched the idea into the market in December 2019 starting with Port Harcourt as our pilot location.
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Since you began operations online, how have consumers been reacting?
Customer’s response has been interestingly progressive as they are gradually building trust in our service delivery. Initially, there was this usual fear and doubts about online businesses in this part of the world, but over the time as they experience our core business values – integrity and prompt service delivery – they became more confident in dealing with us.
Most cooking gas users have an idea of their estimated duration of use even when it is not exact due to some variance in usage, but there’s always a range. Some family use 12.5kg for averagely one month depending on the size of their family.
So, we ensure that our customers get exactly the quantity of gas paid for so they would have every reason to call back again. Cooking gas is a routine consumable and if you don’t get the quantity and quality of services needed, you won’t come back again. The continuous increase in our customer base and great feedbacks from most of them are very encouraging.
Based on your experience so far, what are the advantages brought to the business by the online transaction?
The online experience is truly the new world. It’s been a very interesting experience with the ability to communicate with a lot of customers on our App, our web page and other social media platforms. It has made it so easy to reach more people and for them to enjoy the ease of getting their needs (i.e. cooking gas and accessories) by the click of a button or by just a phone call.
One of the beautiful parts of our services online is that as soon as your request hits our portal, the customer service centre personnel will put a call across to you for confirmation of your request and location. A dispatcher is immediately sent across to you and in a matter of minutes, he is at your doorstep to attend to you. You don’t need to spend your airtime making the calls. Some customers still prefer to call over the phone. For such customers, our customer care lines are always active for a swift response.
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Seeing that you operate across Nigeria, which region/state has the best responses to online sales of energy products and what could be the reason for such a positive response in comparison to the states/region?
Presently we are doing very well with the South-South region and I think it’s simply because it’s our pilot region, but the trend is on the increase across all our locations as the confidence level grows. We have put up a tender request for franchise sales of some location in the country to help improve our coverage.
What are the main issues/hurdles that you have to deal with when you first started, and how did you scale these hurdles?
One of the major challenges at the beginning was the issue of trust from the regular Nigerian customer who finds it difficult to believe that businesses can run on the sincerity of quantity and quality of service delivery. We had issues of some customers feeling that the quantity of the gas will be compromised. Integrity is the soul of this business; it is either 100% or 0%, there is no halfway mark on integrity. Over time, the customers found out that our word is our bond. In the end, most of them gave referrals that helped us to build the desired network.
Tell us how you attract new customers to your online services?
We do a lot of adverts on billboards, radio jingles, social media and other online ads, roadshows, handbills and posters. For a new business concept like this, we need a lot of sensitization for the general public to know about it and create your image in their heads. One of our strategies of making our customers stick with us is prompt service, ensuring that they don’t have to be stranded anytime their cooking gas runs out.
To this end, we have a Free Emergency Response Service (FERS) for all our customers who run out of gas while cooking their meals. We have a backup arrangement that we deploy to our customers in such a situation to make sure they continue cooking while we take their cylinder for a refill. There is also a subscription package for customers who want to take off the burden of budgeting for a gas refill every month.
The subscription plan has so many advantages in the sense that if you subscribe for six months or one year when the market price of gas fluctuates, you don’t have to worry. Naija Gas Online will make sure you never run out of cooking gas.
What new insights have you gained about online service that you would like to share with Nigerians?
If there is one thing I would advise anyone going into the online business anywhere in the world, it’s the simple rule of keeping your integrity intact at all times. The online service is like a virtual reality experience that is built on trust, so if one must succeed and sustain his business, integrity must never be compromised. Let it be that what you say is what you mean, and what the customer sees is exactly what they get.
The moment you can develop this attribute in any online business, you’ll go far. Business growth is a gradual process built over the years; this is one thing we must understand in the Nigerian entrepreneurship space. Fraudulent practices in any business might get you quick cash but will crash faster than you can imagine.
The common saying that, “Rome was not built in a day” is ever relevant in life and business. Growing a customer base is a gradual diligent process that one must take seriously and sincerely. It’s never easy but it’s a worthwhile venture that can only be achieved with determination and perseverance.
From your experience, why is it important for businesses to move online and what are the pitfalls they have to avoid?
In this age and time, if you are not online you are out of line. The world is moving so fast on the internet track and every business owner must as a matter of importance and urgency get on the train or be left behind. Service delivery in this new age is gradually moving away from the old concept of where the customers come physically to you for businesses. The online experience brings the business to your doorstep and takes the stress off the customers.
The visibility of several choices has been made so clear to customers that service delivery is the selling point for any business owner in the today market. The world is truly becoming a smaller global village with the online experience and business owners must up their game in quality service delivery.
