24 Oct Victory Airuoyuwa: I am driven by self-belief and determination

27-year old Victory Osayi Airuoyuwa is the Founder & CEO of Retenvo Limited, an IT company based in Benin City, Nigeria. He is also the co-founder of OgaAgent.com, a hyper-local on-demand service advisory and virtual assistant platform that connects people with verified service providers.

Victory is  a graduate of Computer Science from Auchi Polytechic, Nigeria. His career in IT started in 2008 during his first year in school. In his second year, he began developing software and web application for final year student projects. In 2010, he started freelancing and developing fully for clients outside the school campus and collaborating with others in the same field.

Victory describes his foundation as a tough and challenging one. From learning with mobile phone, poor internet access to online resources to borrowing a friend laptop to learn and practice how to code. As a student, he took up challenging roles in school as Director of Software which gave him opportunities to learn more.

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THE SPARK

The idea of establishing OgaAgent crossed my mind on two occasions. The first time was when I was looking for new apartment to rent. Then the estates agents I found online ended up collecting registration fees from me but couldn’t provide me with an apartment that matched my requests.

The second time was when I was looking for a plumber to help me fix some leakage from my W.C. I came out of the house and started searching for a plumber because I had none to call and some contacts I got from some classified listing platforms had unverified and incorrect contact details.

I took note of the stress I went through and thought of a platform or agency that everyone could trust and  just submit their requirements, and a recommendation with direct contact will be provided within a few minutes or hours.

ABOUT OGA AGENT

I started Retenvo Limited on August 15, 2017 as an IT company based in Benin City with main aim of providing innovative and cutting edge web design and development, software development, cloud based solutions and general IT services to small and large scale business and public communities.

In April 2017, I and my business partner Sylvester Ighodaro launched OgaAgent.com a hyperlocal on-demand service advisory and virtual assistant platform that that advise and connects people with verified service providers.

OgaAgent also engages in real estates, property sales and management. There are uncountable service providers offering a wide range of services to Nigerians. From real estate to event planning, plumbing, shoe-making, tailoring and other services. However, users are often unsure of expertise. Also a large number of the sites lack great customer relationship skills.

Besides this, some are very unreliable and can possibly take days before they respond to the service requested or demanded.  To limit the stress of searching for service providers, OgaAgent was established.

DRIVE

I am driven by self-belief and determination. Seeing some of the problems that have been solved with technology by successful personalities like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Larry Page and others, has been my source of inspiration.

GETTING THE WORD OUT

We have greatly used word of mouth and social media marketing, and it has been an effective strategy.

Victory Airuoyuwa: Your business partners should complement your skills #StartupStories Click To Tweet

BREAKDOWNS

There are always two common challenges in every startups, that is funding and building that trust the potential customers need. I thought of giving up when the business got tough and results were not coming as expected.

THE FUTURE

We have plans to expand business to other locations in Nigeria and get more customers involve. We also have some other projects we are currently working on that will solve some problems in Africa.

DEAR BUSINESS TODDLER,

The startup journey is always tough. Ensure you find and work with a great team of people that share the same igniting spirit. Never choose startup partners for friendship sake, choose people that complement your skills.

If you’d like to share your startup story with MzAbiola, click here.