If you reside in Lagos, one of the first places you may take your device if it’s faulty is computer village. If not computer village, then it will definitely be a service centre. This can be time-consuming and stressful. But, Do you know you can now fix your device yourself via the assistance of Hovatek? Well, Innovation Village had an exclusive chat with Bodunrin Yekini, one of the co-founders of Hovatek and he told us about how Nigerians can fix their devices themselves and much more.

Can you tell us about Hovatek And what you have to offer Nigerians?

Hovatek was founded in 2012 by Bodunrin Yekini and Olanipekun Tosin when they were final year students at the University. Hovatek is an online/remote tech support platform where any device user can easily and conveniently get solutions to device problems or questions. We have detailed tutorials and videos (spanning across many common device issues) which our visitors can easily follow in fixing even the most difficult device issues on their own. Our resources are free to access and use. In a case where a device user encounters difficulty finding or following a tutorial, we have an experienced Support Team always on ground to help out via our: Instant Messaging Service (IMS), Live Remote Assistance Service (LRAS), This enables us remotely connect to and fix device software issues without needing any physical access. We can also fix mobile phones which won’t even boot at all (due to software issues) by connecting to a nearby PC and Hovatek Forum: This is an active community where our Support Team provides free step by step support to device users who post their device problems or questions

What this means is that you can get your device problems resolved from the comfort of wherever you are without necessarily needing to pay or spend anything other than your internet data. We are bringing education and convenience into a secretive and exploitative device repair niche.

Why should Nigerians patronize Hovatek instead of taking their phones to computer village for repairs? Can Hovatek be trusted?

A good number of device issues can be resolved by the owner if given the right instructions. Even when you seek external help, you tend to make some wrong assumptions. For example, you might assume that an engineer who has a shop in computer village would be experienced since the place is a hub for Tech. That isn’t always the case. What makes us stand out? We’re convenient, you don’t always have to pay, We educate you, We have a global reach and we are tested and trusted.

Our youths claimed there is no money to startup businesses yet they were able to raise huge sums of money to invest in the now-defunct MMM.

What was the motivation for setting up Hovatek?

We want to make getting solutions to device issues or questions cheaper and more convenient for device users. From the novice who has a hundred and one questions which nobody around is patient enough to answer, to the tech enthusiast who wants to learn a lot about devices and resolving issues, to the worker/parent/student who doesn’t have the time to keep visiting repair centers, to the expert who wants to stay updated on latest trends.. We aim to make the quest a pleasurable one for all.

What are the challenges you have encountered?

One challenge we faced initially was power. We were spending a lot on fuel since we had to regularly be online so we opted to acquire inverter + battery sets and are working on going solar because we believe clean, renewable energy is the answer to global warming. Anyone who has ventured on such a project would know the financial implication. Also, the interest rates on Bank loans makes such a no-go area for startups to raise badly needed funds.

Any word for budding entrepreneurs? Any growth plans?

We’re currently working on launching an affordable pickup and delivery repairs service to save our clients the stress and cost of visiting a repair centre. My advice to budding entrepreneurs is for them to snap out of the lies they’ve been feeding themselves. Funding is not the biggest challenge we startups face; its actually the passion and will-power (or team) to execute our ideas. Our youths claimed there is no money to startup businesses yet they were able to raise huge sums of money to invest in the now-defunct MMM.