Why Konga founder, Sim Shagaya is building his new startup in Jos
Only one entrepreneur in Nigeria has served in the Army, went to Harvard University, founded a media firm and then pioneered the country’s eCommerce industry. That man is Simdul, popularly known as Sim Shagaya, the founder and former CEO of Konga.
But when Konga, the online shopping company he founded ran into trouble in 2016, his image which loomed larger than life seemed to suffer from the setback. Amid questions on what transpired in the sharp decline of the company, Shagaya quietly exited from the company and remained under the radar for almost two years.
However, the formidable serial entrepreneur bounced back in 2019 after some moments of absence. Initial speculations suggested that he was planning to venture into agriculture, but the ex-Konga CEO announced on Twitter that he was launching an edtech platform, uLesson.
“We’re on a mission to change the way Africans learn,” he tweeted. “It’s ambitious. But so are we. And we need some pretty amazing people for a shot at success. Students will interact with our platform via video tutorials and tests underpinned by deep personalization and machine intelligence.”
In the days that followed the announcement, he opened up that unlike Konga which was based in Lagos, his new startup, uLesson will be based in Jos. Shagaya says he made the decision out of a desire to build the company in a conducive location that is devoid of traffic and stress.
“Basing uLesson in Jos is the most counterintuitive and smartest decision I have taken. The principle is simple: pay Lagos wages in a low cost location that’s traffic and stress free (and genuinely beautiful). Employee satisfaction is higher than for any company I have founded,” he told his Twitter followers, a few weeks ago.
Although there are fears of a volatile security situation in the North-central city, Shagaya refuted the claim by insisting that the security challenges are all in the past. He also boasted that Jos is at par with the majority of other Nigerian cities in terms of security.
“A couple of people mention security concerns. I thought about this carefully and didn’t allow this anxiety drive my decision. First, these concerns seem to be in past. Secondly, Jos is now equivalent and even better in security to most cities relatively speaking,” he explained.
“Also, uLessons offices and residents are in the Rayfield Area and is close to the Gov’s office, Airforce Base and essentially shares a boundary with the 3rd Armoured Division. Rayfield is as secure as it gets in Nigeria,” he added.
Shagaya who mentioned that the company maintains a sales office in Ikeja, Lagos confirmed in a Twitter thread that more than 90% of prospective employees who have visited their office location in Jos love it there.
