Tru Spot! the social music platform designed to support Nigerian artists, fans, local music and the entertainment world at large will soon launch its blog called idolike. The launch date is set for 1st October 2008.

Update: Idolike was co-founded by Ikenna “IKE” Orizu and Dolamu Adeyemi-Bajo.

idolike.net will be featuring celebrity news, events, star galleries, fashion news, shopping gists, tv/movies and music from Nigeria. Users can also play games and have fun in a different world of web entertainment. The site promises to be “so irresistible”!

Below is a screenshot of idolike.net

Tru Spot! connects users who share similar tastes, bring the artists they love closer to them via interviews, chat sessions and more. The site also provides live and custom radio streams, music ringtones for your mobile phones, wallpapers and lots more.

After the success of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, it seems that Nigeria will soon have its own free online dictionary at naijapedia.com

Recently, I wrote a post about 10 web startups worth exploring in Nigeria, and recommended that Nigeria should have its own Wikipedia-style startup. Little did I know that two entrepreneurial Nigerians named Adeyinka Odebade and Yomi Okanlawon were involved with developing an application that will serve as an information hub on anything about Nigeria using the Open Source Initiative by Google.

Read more »

Imagine what it would be like fusing western and african cultures through fashion! That’s exactly what Ladybrille (brilliant lady) is committed to achieving in order to develop Africa’s fashion industry.

Through its blogazine, Ladybrille delivers fashion-focused coverage of Africa’s fashion, music and movie industries, via leading designers and trends, events and award shows and much more.

Ladybrille is a site for the African woman in the West, educated and globally conscious of fashion trends and styles,  but craves fashion designs, products and entertainment that captures her 24/7 lifestyle of being both African and Western.

Ladybrille is also for the Western woman who is a style assimilator, wants to cultivate her passion for fashion, and wants to keep abreast of Africa’s young, urban yet contemporary and explosive fashion industry.

The site is owned and edited by Uduak Oduok, an Attorney, Model, Journalist and Fashion Business Owner.

If you have a startup idea but don’t know how to develop a business plan, perhaps this article would provide some help in planning your online business startup before launch.

1. Research

You need to understand the various sections required in a business plan, the purpose of the various sections, as well as the objectives of the plan.

2. Decide

As important as the ‘idea’ of your business startup is important, so also the operational and logistical requirements. Before writing your business plan, decide whether you will operate as the sole-owner, partnership or limited company. Before you decide, you can get the help of a local accountant or business consultant.  Equally, issues such as VAT obligations, trade marks, employment contracts, etc should be understood and covered.

3. Define

Before developing a business plan, clearly define the benefits of your startup to consumers, users, clients, etc. Define your business model, solution strategy, marketing strategy and market competition.

Read more »

Last week, I posted a list of 10 business blogging ideas that could be successful in Nigeria. Today, I am publising another 10 business blog ideas that could make you money.

11. Movies Review Blog - Reviewing Nigerian movies could make you money. The Nigerian movie industry popularly known as Nollywood has grown to become the third most lucrative movie industry in the world after America’s Hollywood and India’s Bollywood. You could write reviews on movies, analyse them and rate them and can get lots of opinions from Nigerian movie lovers.

12. Photography Blog - I experimented on this niche blog early this year while taking lessons from Digital Photography Blog written by Darren Rowse (the problogger), and my focus was on image blogging (i.e blogging about pictures and giving my opinions about them). I was doing this as a hobby, but later had to focus my energies on StartupsNigeria.

So a blog that reviews nice sites and places, photos of nature, animals, etc in Nigeria could get attention from people who are interested in visiting Nigeria. You could also share tips, advice and ideas about photography, as well as photography equipments such as cameras, camcorders, etc

Read more »