We love parties. A Lagos week not rounded-off by a wedding might as well not have been. But often, we don’t think of the work that goes into getting a venue for the parties.
I didn’t begin to think of this actively as well until I listened to OgaVenue pitch at the last DEMO Africa. The amount of time event organizers spend on finding a venue is just atrocious, sometimes up to a month.
OgaVenue is a venue listing and booking service that aims to cut back that time to less than 10 minutes.
Listings on the platform also note details about the venue including, price, availability, and utilities provided.
“More than 20,000 thousand events are held monthly in Nigeria with the total amount spent on these events in excess of $200 million,” says Airelobhegbe Andrew, OgaVenue CEO.”About 25% of the total cost of hosting the event is spent on venue rental”. This leaves the yearly spend on event venues at $600 million and it’s the market the startup is attempting to take on.
Currently, OgaVenue users can view over 1,500 venues across five states on the platform and have the option of booking directly via the platform. On the flip side, venue owners can also list on the platform. The service is free.
The startup has $7000 in funding to date and has its eyes set on listing venues from all 36 Nigerian states by year end 2015.
Photo Credit: Wedding Photography by Jon Day via Compfight cc
