One of the shortcomings of the tech space in Nigeria and elsewhere that I still fail to understand is the enthusiasm to share positive news and extra efforts to prevent bad news from leaking to the press.
In my career as a tech journalist, I’ve had several run-ins with tech entrepreneurs including the big names who are unhappy when bad news about their company emerges. The cycle is quite familiar. It starts with affirmative denial, PR brushing and attack on the reporter/news outlet.
Before getting into the DealDey debacle, let me recap a good example of what I’m not happy about.
In March 2017, TechCity exclusively reported iDEA Hub’s decision to shut down operations. In response, the hub aggressively denied it was shutting down. Operations Manager Olaiwola Bolaji spoke to TechPoint and claimed they were not shutting down but only “moved to the Island” even though there was no official statement to that effect.
But going through Bolaji’s LinkedIn page, I found out he joined Google in June 2017 – less than 2 months after claiming iDEA Hub wasn’t shutting down. The hub’s CEO, Helen Anatogu, also left iDEA Hub soon afterwards.
Today, I discovered the hub’s domain name expired and anyone can get it now.
There was a slightly similar trend when Sim Shagaya left Konga, among other major undesired developments in Nigeria’s startup ecosystem. This was why I wasn’t surprised about the subtle way that Nigeria’s great deals platform, DealDey, seems to have quietly exited the country in December.
The website is empty and the last post on Twitter wasn’t a goodbye note.
TechPoint reported DealDey actually closed shop early December 2018 – the last time DealDey users saw any deals on the platform or any of its social media platforms.
It is not a wrong thing for a company to shut down, but doing it quietly and not resolving several complains by the customers as shown in the series of posts on social media by online shoppers that used the platform could be regarded as a major smear on the reputation of DealDey’s last publicly known owners, Silvertree Internet Holdings.
Ringier Africa in 2017 exited DealDey and handed over the company’s reins to Silvertree Internet Holdings.
Back then, DealDey CEO Kehinde Oriola said it was necessary for players in the ecosystem to adapt to the market.
He added that the biggest challenges they faced while running DealDey was “adapting the model for profitability while ensuring our customers continue to get great value – which we have now done.”
But the latest development indicated that the strategy did not work.
Furthermore, DealDey is no longer listed on Silvertree’s website as one of its portfolios, leaving several questions yet unanswered.
This story will be updated as new facts emerge.
A previous version of this story described Ringier Africa as the last publicly known owner of DealDey. This claim has been updated in the light of new evidence presented by Ringier Africa to TechCity.
