By Justina Okechukwu
The journey from a satisfied business client to a loyal personal customer can be short. For the Nigerian company Branda, a one-stop branding solutions provider, that journey has now inspired a new business line. At Moonshot by TechCabal on Wednesday, Oct. 15, the company announced the launch of ‘Studio by Branda’, a formal expansion from designing corporate workspaces to crafting bespoke residential and hospitality interiors, a move driven by demand from its existing corporate clients.
This demand aligns with a growing trend in Nigeria’s real estate and hospitality sectors, as the market for boutique hotels, high-end restaurants, and aesthetically curated Airbnbs increasingly seeks professional design services to create spaces that offer unique experiences. This “experience economy” is no longer limited to commercial venues; it now extends to private residences as homeowners invest more in personalising their living spaces.
“The expansion was a natural evolution,” Olawale Ismail, Founder and CEO of Branda, explained. After his team transformed their corporate offices, clients began asking for the same creative vision for their other properties. “Our customers would be like, ‘I also have a hotel I want to revamp… I have a restaurant… Can Branda also do this?’”
The core mission, according to Ismail, is to create spaces that are more than just functional. “We believe spaces should not just exist, they should speak the identity of whatever is involved or whatever purpose it’s for. And this is what Studio by Branda is here to do.”
However, Ismail noted that a primary challenge in design projects is managing last-minute changes from clients, which can derail a project’s scope.
“Oftentimes… [when it’s] coming to life, you’re like, ‘I don’t think I want that thing anymore,’” Ismail explained. “To customers, it might look like, ‘I’m just going to change the colour,’ but there is a lot of work that is done in the background that’s affected.” To mitigate this, Branda has built a “provisional sum” into its contracts, which is a fund that covers unforeseen changes and is refunded if the project proceeds as planned.
Looking ahead, Branda is aiming for global expansion. The company has already provided digital services, like web development, to clients in Canada but faces the challenge of executing physical projects overseas.
Ismail is confident that by building a reputation for results, international clients will eventually trust the company to execute their projects, regardless of the distance. “We are looking to deliver as much trust into more businesses… in such a way that we can be a household name in other countries,” he concluded.
