For years, Charles Dairo stored a clear, low lower, and an unshakeable Sunday ritual. Irrespective of how packed his schedule as founding father of CKDigital, an online design company he launched 13 years in the past, he all the time discovered time after church to get a haircut. However in a life run by digital calendars, this was the one exercise he by no means needed to schedule.
On one among such journeys in 2020, he met a crowded barbershop and questioned why he couldn’t e-book an appointment, present up at exactly the time he’d picked, have his hair lower, and be on his method. Coincidentally, he had began nursing the concept of constructing software program, and this problem was his first try at fixing an issue utilizing software program.
With the assistance of a small crew of builders and a product designer, he constructed the primary model of an app he referred to as Rizevo and hit the streets to drive adoption. To his chagrin, no enterprise needed the software program six months after launch. That puzzled him as a result of it clearly solved an issue for him.
Decided to discover a resolution, he launched an appointment-only barbershop — Haircot — powered by Rizevo to check the concept and perceive the entrepreneur’s ache level. That enterprise ran for a 12 months till he needed to shut it down in Could 2022.
“I began it as an experiment to check whether or not Nigerians can be prepared to e-book providers on-line and pay upfront. In simply over 12 months, we proved that they’d. We might have stored it going, however on the time I didn’t have the bandwidth or the capital to scale it alongside my important enterprise, so we made the choice to shut it,” he advised Techpoint Africa.
Quick ahead to 2024, and he received a notification. A magnificence enterprise had simply signed up; over the following few weeks, extra magnificence companies signed up and had been receiving bookings from prospects. Rizevo was again, however this time as Kindlybook.
Discovering a distinct segment in magnificence companies
In Nigeria, magnificence companies are largely casual; from the barbershop on the road nook to the hairdressing salon, most are unregistered and lack a digital presence. For these companies, buyer acquisition is essentially pushed by referrals and walk-ins, as they are usually positioned in easy-to-find spots.
However regardless of rising Web and smartphone penetration, many stay unable to take appointments in a structured method, utilizing something from notepads to notice apps on their smartphones. It’s a behaviour Dairo hopes to vary with Kindlybook.
Since relaunching as Kindlybook, almost 500 companies have signed up on the platform, with greater than 90% of them being magnificence companies. A handful of enterprise consultants and wellness companies additionally use the app. In comparison with when he launched in 2021, Dairo factors to higher smartphone penetration and the elevated acceptance of digital instruments as main elements on this resurgence.
How Kindlybook works
Dairo describes Kindlybook as a reserving instrument for appointment-based service suppliers — from magnificence companies, which make up most of its customers right this moment, to language tutors.
Customers can join free, set their availability, and share a reserving hyperlink with potential purchasers. Appointments sync robotically with calendars, and each events obtain SMS and e mail reminders upfront to minimise no-shows.
To substantiate a slot, prospects should pay a charge — both the total quantity or a deposit set by the enterprise. Kindlybook generates income by charging a 6% service charge on every cost, however plans to scale back this price sooner or later.
“These are time-based companies. For those who inform me you’re coming by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, I’ll reserve that point for you. For those who don’t present up, I might lose the cash I ought to have made throughout that point. We assist the companies acquire their cash upfront to make sure that purchasers are extra invested in that appointment.”
Past bookings
Whereas appointment reservation stays the core providing, Dairo emphasises that the startup’s imaginative and prescient goes far past simply bookings. Along with managing appointments, the platform gives a collection of selling instruments, together with a customisable internet web page that permits companies to advertise their providers and an analytics dashboard to trace efficiency.
The corporate can also be growing premium options that shall be provided via a subscription mannequin. Notably, Dairo reveals that they’re exploring methods to combine synthetic intelligence, together with a digital guide that may independently analyse enterprise information and recommend operational enhancements.
Though the rapid focus is on increasing its present consumer base, the long-term aim is to empower companies with instruments that not solely streamline operations but additionally drive income development and long-term sustainability.
Navigating competitors
The appointment reserving market in Nigeria stays largely untapped. In line with Dairo, its main competitors isn’t one other tech firm however the handbook methods many companies nonetheless depend on.
Nevertheless, worldwide platforms like Fresha are gaining traction regionally, regardless of missing a bodily presence within the nation. One other competitor is Splice, launched by Layo Ogunbanwo, a former VP at PiggyVest.
Nonetheless, Dairo argues that neither rival gives the total suite of providers his platform gives, together with built-in advertising and marketing instruments and cost processing. He additionally factors to restricted buyer help from world gamers like Fresha, owing to their absence on the bottom.
The most important hurdle to date, he says, has been constructing belief, significantly round funds.
“We started by working with the processor’s commonplace settlement timeline. However we shortly realised that most of the companies we serve rely closely on their day by day money circulation. To unravel this, we launched a float system that permits us to advance payouts and guarantee they obtain funds a lot quicker, usually inside six hours.”
What’s subsequent?
Whereas it’s nonetheless early days, Dairo stays optimistic about Kindlybook’s long-term prospects. He notes a big shift in enterprise attitudes because the platform’s preliminary launch, with extra entrepreneurs now open to adopting expertise of their day by day operations.
A key promoting level, he says, is the platform’s simplicity, claiming that 99% of present customers had been in a position to arrange their accounts with out direct help from the crew. Kindlybook has additionally begun attracting curiosity from potential traders, signalling rising confidence in its mannequin.
Trying forward, Dairo says his aim is for Kindlybook to grow to be the default appointment reserving resolution throughout Africa throughout the subsequent 5 years.
