The journey to becoming a Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Concierge began as a hobby for Damilola Bello in 2018. Initially, she simply patronised small business vendors on Twitter and left reviews on her account about her orders and shopping experiences with these online stores, but things changed really quick when she added a tweak.
Because of her large social media presence, she took it a step further by retweeting various online store sale posts to help them gain more sales and visibility.
This action led to her organising a monthly online market sale, with over 200 online stores participating.
Since then, her brand has grown from just retweeting to getting these small businesses linked to Flutterwave and launching the Pages by Dami brand. This brand has offered a support system designed to help over 20,000 MSMEs navigate the challenges of running a business, especially online so they can become more effective and efficient.
It also provides advice on business strategy, facilitates access to funding, offers marketing support, and connects businesses with relevant resources and networks.
Her passion for growing small businesses led her to get her MBA degree in Operations and Entrepreneurship Management.
While speaking with Ikeja Record’s Omon Okhuevbie, Dammy B, as she is popularly known, shared what motivated her to focus on helping small businesses, how she ensures the reliability and credibility of the vendors she recommends, her new business enterprise, and her future plans for MSMEs in Lagos and beyond.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Omon Okhuevbie: Can you tell us about your background and how you started helping people find reliable vendors online?
Damilola Bello: I hold a Bsc in Real Estate Management. I have an MBA in Operations and Entrepreneurship Management. I have dabbled into a couple of things and have gone to fashion school, make-up school and I am also a Data Analyst.
I started helping people find reliable vendors through Twitter when I became a shopaholic. I used to buy a lot of stuff from the vendors who used to complain that nobody was patronising them or giving them visibility. So, I would buy and give my reviews . That’s where it blew up from.
OO: What motivated you to focus on growing online businesses especially in Lagos?
DB: With businesses in Lagos, it was deliberate because I used to live in Abuja. I just moved to Lagos not so long ago. It’s just that the businesses that rallied around me were mostly in Lagos, and Lagos is a central hub for businesses in Nigeria. So I’m still hoping in the future to pull in other businesses from other states.
I see this as God’s purpose for me. So it is not a hard thing. It is something I enjoy doing. As long as you’re a small business and you come to me to say that you need my support, I will give it to you very willingly.
OO: Growing and helping over 2000 businesses is an impressive feat. What strategies did you employ to achieve this scale?
DB: It didn’t start as something that I was certain about in the first instance or something that I planned to do. I learned on the job. For example, three years ago, I didn’t have a WhatsApp community for these vendors. It was just a general audience that would send an email. I realised that there was a need to put them in one place so that they can interact. That’s basically the strategy.
Another strategy is to understand what it means to walk in the shoes of these businesses. I try to broker partnerships and any avenue or opportunity I know that can help them, I offer such support. I negotiate and give them good deals. Sometimes these things are even free because I don’t charge anybody within my community.
OO: How do you measure the success and impact of the businesses you have helped grow?
DB: I’ve not done a measurement. I’m not sure I even want to do something like a measurement or a track or whatever, but I can say that, by the numbers, the more they keep coming, it means that they are seeing and hearing of the things that I have been doing. I started the community in March, and there are 2,000 sets today. There are so many more outside who haven’t joined the in-community yet.
OO: What are some of the biggest challenges you faced while building your network of reliable vendors?
DB: The biggest challenge is negative reviews. Sometimes I have a problem with the things some of my community members do and nobody takes kindly to negative feedback. I’ve learned to be more patient, and understand the way I communicate back to them.
I’ve had to kick some out of the community because of the kind of behaviour that they exhibit. It is the people behind these businesses. There are others who think that when I talk, I just want to bring down their businesses. So this has just helped me streamline how I give them feedback.
Another aspect that has been very challenging is referrals. Mediation is another issue. There is a trust pipeline I have built and the people, both the vendors and the people I have referred to, are patient with me to be able to solve any issues that have happened.
OO: I know you just established a new business here in Lagos. What made you decide to go into the entrepreneurship aspect, not just growth for other businesses?
DB: There are two reasons why I decided to go into entrepreneurship for myself. One of them is the fact that I want to show the businesses in my community that they can do it too, regardless of the challenges.
If I tell them this is what they are supposed to do, I should be leading by example. Another thing is that I care about what happens to people who buy things online. I am an avid shopper myself. I can see how the rising costs make shopping such a hectic experience. So, I decided to try and solve an issue that I see and that’s where I am starting from.
OO: How do you ensure the reliability and credibility of the vendors you recommend?
DB: First, I always buy products from them. I also have a vetting process. Pages by Dami has a vetting process. There’s a Service Level Agreement (SLA) you sign and we have a Know Your Customer (KYC) protocol as well. That’s basically it. It is a five-factor authentication system.
OO: What trends have you noticed in the types of businesses that are thriving in Lagos that can be replicated in other states, and even globally?
DB: Businesses have to go social. Being able to engage their audience with content that pulls them in is key. It is a major step because e-commerce is going social. E-commerce is an online business, but it’s mostly social. Everyone is just pulling and staying on social media platforms.
So you have to start to build your social currency as well as the quality of your product and all those other things. It is just mostly in the social aspect of engaging customers that can be replicated and it is even right now being replicated everywhere.
OO: What has been the most rewarding part of your journey in helping businesses grow?
DB: The rewarding part of my journey is when one small business comes and says, Dammy thank you so much for everything that you have done for my business. Sometimes I meet them randomly at the supermarket or at the hospital. You can see that they just want to talk to me and say thank you. That is the most rewarding part. There is also the aspect of knowing that every day I am taking a step towards fulfilling God’s purpose for me.
OO: How do you stay updated with the latest trends and developments in the business and tech world?
DB: I get those from general news outlets. There is Twitter; there are also other platforms. I go out of my way to read stuff. I belong to different communities. I get a lot of newsletters. I am aware of the stuff that goes on. I am also a small business partner with Flutterwave.
OO: What are your future plans for expanding your services or growing more businesses?
DB: I am trying to do a lot of things. I want to get a Pages by Dammy institution for MSMEs, as well as a union, or an association – any one of them. I just want to support businesses in different states in Nigeria. I don’t mind partnering with the government to do that.
OO: What advice would you give to someone looking to start a business in Lagos today?
DB: They need to come with a very prepared mindset. There is no one sure way when it comes to starting a business in Lagos.