Nigerian online platform Off-k.com has launched to enable students access accommodation off campus with ease.
Founded in 2017 by Aliyu Bello Aliyu and the trio of Abubakar Muhammad Hassan, Zayyad Abdulrahman, and Stephen Laban; all graduates of pharmacy from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, off-k.com helps to alleviate the plight of students searching for accommodation off campus.
Speaking in an interview with Innovation Village, Aliyu said, “We Help students conveniently locate, book and securely pay for accommodation off campus using an online platform, thus helping them save time and money while also minimizing the risk of fraudulent transactions.”
While speaking on the inspiration behind the online platform, Aliyu also revealed that the idea of creating Off-k.com came as a result of the personal torrid experience he had while trying to secure a space to stay in his final year.
“To be very specific, I would say it was the experience I had while in school; it was my final year, I was looking for accommodation off campus. The process was so stressful and took such a long time, the whole thing made me sit down and think; there had to be a better way to do this,” Aliyu said.
Off-k.com is quite unique as the platform provides 3 key things: the first being choice; the students are able to scroll to hundreds of vacant properties close to their campuses. Also, it provides convenience because students are able to search, choose, book and pay for accommodation using their mobile phones, While it also makes the process faster, students can now complete the process of securing accommodation in minutes rather spend a couple of weeks.
Speaking on how the platform works, the Co-founder said, “As a student all you need to do is visit the site at www.off-k.com, you select the state your institution is located, the next is you select your school from a list of the schools in that state, and then you are a taken to a page with all the vacant properties close to your school.
“On this page, you can go a step further to specify the exact type of apartment you require by refining the various search criteria on the page, on selecting the particular apartment you are interested in you can book a physical tour to check out the place and then make payment arrangements.”
When asked how business has fared since launch, Aliyu said, “we started operations on a commissions-based mode, i.e. charging a 5% commission on each completed transaction however as a marketing strategy we resolved to delay monetization and process most transactions for free so that people can get used to the novel service first, as a result even though we have processed up to 2500 transactions from a single school, monetization hasn’t been our primary focus.
“However; we have just commenced implementation of our new business model which is subscription based; in this model independent partner agents all across the country are given access to our platform where they able to upload properties from campuses around them, In return they pay us a fixed amount depending on the number of apartments they upload.”
Aliyu noted that Off-k.com has made some good progress since launch, however, not without a few challenges.
In his words, “In our 2 years of operations, we’ve been fortunate to achieve some milestones these include coming 1st runner-up in the Global student entrepreneur awards (Nigerian chapter). We were also among the six startups selected by NITDA and sponsored to represent Nigeria at 37th Gulf technology expo, GITEX 2018 Dubai UAE.
“The major challenge we have faced has got to do with the conservative attitudes of Landlords towards technology because the bulk of the properties for rent are owned by people of the older generation, we have had to go to extra lengths to allay their suspicions.”
“And we also found it quite surprising that even some young people in Nigeria share this suspicion and apprehension towards technology,” Aliyu said.
Commenting on the growing Nigerian startup ecosystem, Aliyu said, “The Nigerian startup ecosystem is vibrant and promising however like most startup ecosystems around the world; the major challenge we face is lack of access to funds. Because most banks consider tech startups as too risky while most intervention funds set up by the government are mostly structured to favor none-tech inclined businesses.
As such if progress is to be made, the government should consider the possibility of setting up a dedicated technopreneur support fund to cater to tech startups. Also; public institutions should be encouraged to become early adopters of relevant tech solutions developed by indigenous startups.”
On future plans for the startup, the co-founder said, “The future is bright for off-k.com, we are presently on the verge of expanding to 70 tertiary institutions in Nigeria, we expect to have completed this phase of the expansion before June 2019. Then I guess after this, the next logical step would be to make efforts to penetrate other African markets.”
Aliyu while advising upcoming entrepreneurs charged them to make it all simple but big. He also advised them to be mindful of the resource-limited and conservative nature of the markets.
“But above all, I would urge us all to dream bigger dreams while pushing the boundaries of smart work. But most importantly learn to enjoy the hustle,” he said.