Last week, Google organised the first of its kind
CSR programme where over 10,000 business men and women were offered the
opportunity to host their own website for free, in this interview Country
Manager Google,Juliet Ehimuan revealed the rationale behind the initiative and
how break barriers to getting small businesses online.
Google
and Nigeria
Google is serious about Nigeria, and we want to get
more Nigerian users online by developing an accessible, relevant and
sustainable internet environment.
Nigerian Internet users make up 28.9 per cent or 44m
of the population according to WorldInternetStats and the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). This is
up from 6.7 per cent in 2008 a fourfold increase.
In fact a recent World Bank study based on analysis
of 120 countries found that a 10 per cent change in broadband adoption is
associated with a 1.38 per cent increase in GDP per capita growth in developing
countries
So what we are doing in Nigeria is to help reduce
access barriers facing potential internet users using the Google Universities
Access Programme is we hope will impact over 100,000 students at 6 Nigerian
universities, with more universities to follow.
We are also investing in infrastructure;
specifically we have given $500,000 to Nigeria ICT Forum to support efforts in
improving access to Internet infrastructure in tertiary education institutions
in Nigeria.
One other thing we have done also is to localised
Google products in Nigeria such as the Google Search, which is now in local
languages like Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba, also we have the Google Maps, Gmail
SMS, iGoogle, Google News, Baraza,
Google Trader.
We also provided info on the Nigerian elections through
our Nigerian Elections Portal.
We have been helping to strengthen an Internet
ecosystem in Nigeria and across Africa that is viable and sustainable in the
long-term.
The software development community in the country
have also benefitted from us as we are empowering the next generation of
developers in fact we've held multiple developer events and education where
over 3000 people were in attendance last
last year.
For instance, the G-Nigeria programme took place in
April 2011 for a second year running and was unprecedented in scale/numbers
over 1000 people.
And then in terms of education, Google is working
with universities to raise the level of curriculum, raising and encouraging
innovation and entrepreneurship. Currently, Google has 27 Nigerian students
from 8 universities who act as internet and Google ambassadors in their
communities in its ambassadors.
Small
businesses and barriers to getting online.
Many people feel that using the Internet as a
business channel is expensive, intimidating or difficult to understand. They
believe they have to pay an expert to create a site for them and depend on
experts to keep it updated, but we want to demonstrate that there are plenty of
free, easy-to-use tools available to companies of all sizes. We'll hopefully help
them get a foot on the digital ladder. And that is what we are doing through
the Get Nigerian Businesses Online web fair
The GNBO Web fair is a two-day event dedicated to
helping Nigerian businesses create their very own websites at www.GNBO.com.ng.
Web fair participants will be able to create their own customised websites with
support from trainers, in as little as 1 hour, at no charge. This is being done in partnership with MTN
Business and Ecobank.
Creating a website is great. But how does a small business owner manage it
especially since they won’t always have access to the Internet?
When you create your website, you have several
options for how to manage the site. For
example, you can have as many people setup as administrators, which means they
can go to the site and update information when you’re not available. Also, you can set your website up in a way
that customer enquiries are sent to you via SMS. So if someone is interested in your products
or services they can provide their information online, and you get it on your
mobile. Your website can of course also
be accessed on internet enabled mobile phones
Google’s
stake in this
We believe that the power of the internet will help
small businesses in Nigeria to thrive, by bringing more local information
online, and making that information more accessible and useful to Nigerians.
If you have read the McKinsey study, it states that
the internet enables economic opportunity and has already fostered significant
growth for economies around the world.
The Internet will create jobs and foster economic growth
in Nigeria SMBs has been identified as a key vehicle for growth in the
government’s ‘Vision 2020’, as well as by the new Ministry for Information,
Communications Technology.
GNBO is an initiative which will transform the
Nigerian SMB landscape and have a real impact on the economy by bringing
thousands of businesses online.
GNBO helps to remove the barriers that stop small
businesses from getting online such as lack of time, cost, and lack of knowledge
by making it quick, easy and free to set up a website.
Nigerian customers are already online, and they’re
looking for local businesses. So having a website means that customers can find
local businesses easily and quickly online. Having a website is as important
for a business today as having a phone, because customers are looking online
for local business information.
Evidence
of GNBO initiative impact
Absolutely!
Since we launched the program in September of 2011, we’ve seen more than
20,000 Nigerian businesses get online through Get Nigerian Businesses
Online. We have so many success stories,
some of which can be seen on the website www.gnbo.com.ng. We also have so many businesses that have
creatively used the platform to change the way they do business, for example,
we had a small business that sold rams go online. Customers could look at pictures of different
rams from the comfort of their living rooms and request that they be delivered
to them. This is benefit both for the
business and the customer. The internet
is helping businesses access a wider range of customers from more places at
cheaper cost.
In addition to the simple tool that uses Google
Business Sitebuilder to allow businesses to easily produce and populate a new
site, we will also automatically add their business to search listings for
Google Search & Google Maps.
We've developed a simple tool that uses Google
Business Sitebuilder to allow businesses to easily produce & populate a new
site.
We will automatically add their business to search
listings for Google Search & Google Maps. These tools are available at
www.gnbo.com.ng
We're looking to help any type of business get
online from scratch, and those that have a website that isn't really working
for them or has been neglected. Any
business from a barber's shop to an accounting firm who wants to reach a
broader base of customers even in their own neighbourhood, those are the
businesses we want to help.
For domains, if a user decides they want a totally
free site, then they can own a sub-domain under gnbo.com.ng (for example,
theshoeshoppe.gnbo.com.ng).
However, if a business wishes to establish its own
unique identity online, then the business can purchase a domain name (e.g.,
theshoeshoppe.com or the shoeshoppe.com.ng).
We have engaged a domain registrar, Upperlink, to support businesses
coming online who wish to purchase a .com.ng domain name. These cost N1500 per
domain per year and must be renewed annually.
The ability to purchase a .com domain will likely become available
shortly and the cost of .com domains varies.
The cost for the second year of owning your website
is really only the annual domain registration fee of N1500 (for .com.ng
domains). That is the only cost a
business will incur from getting online.
GNBO
success story
Any launch that helps small businesses get online
can only help web developers & agencies,because the more small businesses
there are online, the more small businesses will be looking for web developers
& agencies to give them advice on improving their web experience in the
short to medium term for example, optimising their site.
We have lot of examples but let me give one example
using a quote from what the COO of Zaris Fashion and Style Academy,a fashion
training institute in Allen avenue shared with us
And I quote
him: "The website has really enhanced Zaris Fashion and Style Academy’s
image to the outside world by presenting it is a stable, reliable and organized
brand. We also took advantage of the
Google Apps for businesses and immediately created email addresses with our
domain name further giving us more credibility on the Internet and ensuring
secure communications with our customers".
"We are commencing a new study session in May
and the requests and feedback has been overwhelming and we are looking forward
to registering well over 40 students in this session with the largest number of
enquiries emanating from our website.This represents a 500 per cent increase in
student number with relative income just after 6 months in business"
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