Agegelabs

There has been a lot of buzz around the Nigerian web community over the last 12 months with great coverage from Loy Okezie (StartupsNigeria¹), OotheNigerian and StartupAfrica. I thought it might helpful to compile a list of the 10 Nigerian web start-ups to watch. I have included the name(s) of the individual(s)/company behind the start-up where possible. The list below is not in any particular order.

1spotsearch
Think Kayak, add domestic flights within Nigeria and you have 1spotsearch. The site is functional and has the potential to become huge. Do check out my full review from May.

Izogn Movies (Chidum Okwue)
Izogn Movies is an online movie streaming services focused on Nigerian movies. If you love Nollywood, you’ll love this site! Although this award winning site is not a new startup, still worth mentioning.

MapNTL (Ireti Ajala)
MapNTL is a tool that allows users to find street locations (currently only Lagos, Abuja coming soon!) and provides point-to-point driving directions across the country. Certainly ahead of Google maps in terms of street data but the visual design has some way to go. Read my full review here.

NaijaBorn (Franics Oghuma and Mambe Nanje)
NaijaBorn is a social network platform that connects Nigerians across the globe and launched earlier this month. Probably the most talked about web start-up in the Nigerian scene right now. Read my full review here.

Nairalist (Seun Osewa)
Nairalist is a classified adverts website modelled after Craiglist. The site faces fierce competition from other market participants (Nairalists, Whogobuy, Ariaria). However, Nairalist’s close association with Nigeria’s most popular forum, Nairaland should keep it on top.

NaijaLingo (Obilo Nwokogba and Adim Ofunne)
NaijaLingo is an online dictionary for all your pidgin/broken English needs. The site allows users to add new words and edit existing ones. I really like the implementation of pronunciations. With the NaijaLingo platform, I wonder if the team has considered creating an online dictionary for the 3 main languages (Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa) in Nigeria.

NaijaPulse (Naijand)
NaijaPulse is a microblogging service that lets you post text updates (140 characters) about yourself and what is happening around you. The site is based on Laconica microblogging open source platform. It is also helpful that you cross post to Twitter and Facebook.

RiRanWo! (Ademola Morebise)
RiRanWo! based on the Elgg open source platform, is a social media site which can be used to bookmark, blog and share Nigerian content online. The site also has an aggregator called xplore that gathers Nigerian content from news websites and blogs².

Sturvs (Temi Kolawole & Antigravity)
Sturvs (Nigerian slang for “stuff”) is a sharing and voting website similar to Digg. Users are given the ability to vote on stories, music and videos submitted by other users. Make sure you check out the Sturvs radio for the latest Nigerian music.

Turenchi (Nnanna Obuba)
Turenchi is a news aggregator which sources content from several Nigerian Newspapers as well as other sources covering the country. The site stirred up some minor controversy earlier in the year but this hasn’t stopped the team. I really like the concept and hope a business category will be created for my reading pleasure. Another site doing exactly the same thing is Nigeria 70.

Let me know if I missed a particular start-up or have comments on the list I have put together above.

Footnotes:

¹ Archives of Loy Okezie’s old blog can be found here

² Disclaimer: This blog is featured on Xplore News aggregator