We invest in and own the rails that coordinate labor, data, and attention in emerging markets. Founder, @MalokunLabs owners of @geturgent2k @uptownUGC
Joined October 2009
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Traditional market research in Nigeria takes weeks, @MalokunLabs will turn around answers in 48hrs with our:
Insight Flywheel™️ service.
You get :-
StreetLens™
Geo-tagged photos + videos & micro-surveys for on-shelf reality
Delivery: 48 h
TasteSwitch™
Blind product/message tests with UGC reactions
Delivery: 7 days
PulseMap™
Live QR feedback + shelf audits, Monday dashboard mail
Delivery: Live
We’ve built a system that gets you promoted at work. Yes you brand managers!
Supermarket or local market, which is cheaper in Lagos?
Our mystery shopper found out, and the results are eye-opening!
Need real-time market data? We’ve got shoppers nationwide.
@MalokunLabs has you covered.
You won't believe this, but cloves were once worth more than gold. They fueled ancient trade routes, made Ferdinand Magellan sail the world, sparked brutal colonial wars, and birthed the modern global economy.
My office today. Gidan Makama Museum, Kano.
Workshop on what heritage and culture STILL means to us as Nigerians from the POV of our cultural centers and specifically our museums.
Yesterday I was in Benin City today I’ll know what lines connect us and what lines divide us ethnographically.
@MalokunLabs
One of the most effective, self-managed and deeply optimised for engagement is a football-focused WhatsApp group. In fact, no country in the world is more self-sustaining than such groups! 😂✊🏾
I’ve attempted to run at least 25 WhatsApp groups of different themes and interests, and none has the survival rate of a soccer group! Chaotic, dramatic, yet extremely entertaining and self-governing, and the way absolute strangers bond in there is something!
Please how much is one of this? Need to get me one for the motion, tired of dealing with delays and missed flights. I’ve got places to go!
😞
A 3:00pm flight became 7:00pm then 10:30pm without any accountability from the airline, @flyunitedng you do this one oh. If person begin para next thing na trending video.
Bossman @mikeachimugu01 please is this normal?? Zero accountability. Zero penalties just bareface anyhowness and risking the lives of me and my colleague as we now have to enter our destination which we’ve barely been to at almost midnight??
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
The question now is which changes persist.
Does improved demand translate into cash retained?
Does more inventory produce lasting growth?
Do new operating decisions survive the next month?
A first visit gives us a baseline.
Returning gives us the opportunity to test it.
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
A food merchant reports earning enough to hire help.
But power interruptions threaten refrigerated goods.
A business can become stronger financially while remaining vulnerable operationally.
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
A merchant opens a second stall.
Both locations are reportedly performing well.
But the original shop recently experienced a break-in.
Expansion creates opportunity.
It can also increase exposure.
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
Another merchant replenishes stock after receiving savings-contribution proceeds.
Customers begin finding more of what they want.
The merchant reports better sales.
Inventory availability may be as important as demand.
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
A merchant starts delivering to homes.
Orders increase, according to the merchant.
But customers owing money for months remain a problem.
More orders do not necessarily mean faster collections.
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
FIELD LOG / YABA
We’re approaching 100 first observations across one Lagos market cluster.
One pattern keeps appearing:
The problem facing a business is not always the same as the thing driving its growth.
A few examples. ↓
Thank you for all the kind DMs. Quick bit of context, though: we didn't just wake up one morning and wander into the markets,
For years we've been building the muscle to reach every corner of Nigeria. We've backed and collected the data behind some of the most-cited studies in the country today.
Our new bet is permanence. Instead of starting and stopping with each project, we stay. Staying is what lets longitudinal patterns show up, and that's where it gets really interesting.
One more thing. I hold the largest private photographic archive of Lagos, built up over ten dedicated years. As a person and as a company, this is what we obsess over: understanding the human carnival and coming back with evidence. It means a lot to know you care about that too.
Thank you for all your positive reactions to this. I’m the one that has tweeted about it but the progress has been made possible because of the wonderful people I work with @MalokunLabs
Michael, Paula, Promise, Heritage, Michael J, Chidinma, Kaitlyn, Dorcas, Adeife, Femi and Enoch.
Stick around you will Love how this shapes up.
We went to Yaba and asked 89 traders how business dey. The answers?
Interesting First week of a study that won't stop until we hit 10,000. We are now building continuous memory of the informal market, one key market at a time. We started with Yaba(Sabo/Tejuosho incl)
Half of Yaba is feeding the other half. Food and drinks make up about 50% of the businesses we saw, and 68% are one-person shows. Oga, manager and cashier, all at once.
Where you sell matters more than you think. 30% of shop owners make 100k+ a day. For table sellers, it's 12%. Those four walls are doing serious work.
89% said business is better than 3 months ago. 87% said restocking costs more. Zero people said things are worse. Nigerians and "we move" energy, name a more iconic duo!
Cash is no longer king. 59% of traders now get paid mostly by transfer. But only about 4 in 10 display their account details, so for the rest it's still "abeg, call the number again"
What's the biggest problem? Capital, by a wide margin. But only 24% borrowed anything last year. Everybody needs money; almost nobody can get it.
63% keep no sales records. 83% use WhatsApp Business. Book-keeping: no. Broadcast list: absolutely!
This is week 1. We're going to keep listening until we hit 10,000. What should we ask Yaba traders next?
For a more detailed analysis of this project follow @Groundtruth54
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
Small sample
Big stories!
Keep going man
We went to Yaba and asked 89 traders how business dey. The answers?
Interesting First week of a study that won't stop until we hit 10,000. We are now building continuous memory of the informal market, one key market at a time. We started with Yaba(Sabo/Tejuosho incl)
Half of Yaba is feeding the other half. Food and drinks make up about 50% of the businesses we saw, and 68% are one-person shows. Oga, manager and cashier, all at once.
Where you sell matters more than you think. 30% of shop owners make 100k+ a day. For table sellers, it's 12%. Those four walls are doing serious work.
89% said business is better than 3 months ago. 87% said restocking costs more. Zero people said things are worse. Nigerians and "we move" energy, name a more iconic duo!
Cash is no longer king. 59% of traders now get paid mostly by transfer. But only about 4 in 10 display their account details, so for the rest it's still "abeg, call the number again"
What's the biggest problem? Capital, by a wide margin. But only 24% borrowed anything last year. Everybody needs money; almost nobody can get it.
63% keep no sales records. 83% use WhatsApp Business. Book-keeping: no. Broadcast list: absolutely!
This is week 1. We're going to keep listening until we hit 10,000. What should we ask Yaba traders next?
For a more detailed analysis of this project follow @Groundtruth54
Power minister says government can't keep covering the tariff shortfall. Fair. But with a 40% metering gap, a big part of that "shortfall" is estimated billing nobody trusts. You can't ask people to pay the real price for something you won't measure…
Anyways Let There Be Light the good book pontifices…
LOGOR' | Malokun Labs retweeted
I've been asked many times about my approach to parenting, & possibly creating a guide. Honestly, I'm still figuring things out, but I've always believed in sharing my experiences & learnings. My son calling me Daddy was when I decided to lock in. rapkids.io/blog/my-son-calls…
If you want brilliantly researched extended read on the state of Nigeria from a grounded perspective about how things actually work. Check out this handle and the threads and of-course the Substack for the full P.
