I recently did an email interview with the co-founder of NaijaLingo, Adim Ofunne who shares with us his vision and passion for Internet startups. Naija Lingo is a free online dictionary for people who want definitions to Nigerian words or slangs, names and phrases, and pidgin english, etc created by the people who know them.

Q: Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests?

Adim: My name is Adim Ofunne, I am currently a final year software engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York and I am interested in too many things but in the context of this interview I am fascinated by web/Internet companies and I follow their progress as well as the founders very closely.

Q: What is the name of your blog/start-up/company?

Adim: Naija Lingo (http://naijalingo.com)

Q: Please tell us about your blog/start-up/company?

Adim: Naija Lingo is an open Pidgin English dictionary that is created by us the Naija Lingo Team and you (all those who are interested in adding words).

This started off as just a project for the co founder (Obilo Nwokogba) and I. We found Nigerian Pidgin English fascinating and was frustrated about the idea that there were no sites that were actively accumulating Nigerian Pidgin English words and since we had previously created more complex sites like the no longer existing Nigerian social network - igbadun - we thought cooking this up will be a breeze so we just did it.

Q: What is unique about your blog/startup/company?

Adim: There have been one or two sites out there that have a compilation of Nigerian Pidgin English but none have really taken the task as seriously as we do. We know that Nigerian Pidgin English is continuously evolving and no one man or group of people hold all the words to this language. It is a community created language and should be documented as so. We have added and continue to add social networking features to the site to make the whole idea of aggregating and learning Nigerian Pidgin English more fun and more personal.

Q: How many people are currently using your website services (e.g. feed readers, visitors)?

Adim: It is hard to say… although we currently have 124 lexibutors (people who actively ad words to the site) we get thousands of visitors a week referencing or learning new words on the site.

Q: What kind of marketing and/or advertising strategy do you use for your website?

Adim: Besides doing interviews, selling t-shirts or occasionally appearing on sturvs we have not really had time to market or promote the site, so this site is a testimony of the power of word of mouth.

Q: What are the main web technologies/tools you use to monitor the performance of your website?

Adim: The site is mainly created using PHP and MySql from ground up. Obilo Nwokogba and I did all the programming for the site. We use tools like Google Analytics and Statcounter to monitor our traffic, where they come from and what pages they are looking at, and we have some home grown tools we created ourselves for managing the site behind the scenes.

Q: What is the monetizing/revenue model for your website?

Adim: Selling t-shirts and Google adsense.

Q: Which websites are the main competitors in your market segment/sector?

Adim: Hmmm… I’ll say Baba Willy’s dictionary on the Ngex site, but baba Willy is a friend of Naija Lingo and has offered us great advice as well as most of the content on his site so, I think it is fair to say we are a monopoly here.

Q: What challenges do you currently face as a web entrepreneur?

Adim: Obilo and I have worked on a wide range of sites and a lot of the challenges vary but the ones that always seem to come up are problems in areas such as:

Marketing: Making your site stand out from the pack
Funding: Getting enough money to make the idea you dreamed about a reality
Expansion: This has been the biggest problem, finding more skilled hands to help in our projects as the tasks and complexities increase.

Q: What do you think of new startups and innovation coming out of Nigeria today?

Adim: Mind blowing! I have seen things and talked to people that just blow my mind away and I think the Nigerian economy is going to blow just as China and India recently did, it is just a matter of time.

Q: What new Nigerian startups, in your opinion, should be watched?

Adim: Sturvs. I like what they are doing, I have some thoughts for them if they are willing to listen.

Q: Do you have any thoughts on our Universities and their curriculum in terms of promoting and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation amongst students?

Adim: My education in Nigeria ended in Secondary school so I am not in a position to give you any deep insights on what should be changed, but from my interaction with university students when I am back home, I feel the provision of high tech facilities should be a top priority. The students know the theory but have no experience in applying what they have done, which will allow them to test things and think outside the box.

Q: What do you think the Government (both Federal and State) should do to improve the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria?

Adim: Create funding programs

Q: Do you have any advice for people who want to launch new startups?

Adim: If it is an Internet startup, dream big, believe in no boundaries because these days the answers to your questions are only a google search away.

Q: Do you have any business advisor/mentor?

Adim: Not officially but when I am stuck on something I ask my Father, he is the best businessman I know.

If you would like an interview with StartupsNigeria, please visit the Interviews page.