So if you don’t live in Lagos, Nigeria, “Computer Village” might be a strange name to you. It’s a very middle-scale market where you can find anything tech (both original and fake), for less than regular prices. You can also get your gadgets fixed, buy parts, trade in your gadgets, in short, it’s a big tech hub, with limitless possibilities.
After my first experience with the computer village boys, I never had to go to the big stores to get any gadgets… till the invent of the e-commerce bulls. These boys have everything. Literally, EVERYTHING! I remember looking for a specific HDMI/VGA converter, emphasis on specific. Scoured town for this thing, till I decided to call up my Computer village connect, who found it and had it delivered same day. These guys are were the real heroes.
Moving to Ghana, I knew I needed an exact replica, for my never-ending gadget needs. Did a couple of asking around, everyone seemed to recommend the same place; Circle! I thought it had the same niche name that Computer Village did. Paid a trip down there and I found love…in a very busy place.
Circle has the same setup as Computer village with less variety. It portrayed an emerging community of tech traders who were going about their business with little or no idea of their importance to society. These communities are needed for the rapid growth of a Nation’s’ tech presence in terms of consumer technology. The more the requests and purchases of these products from the OEM’S by the middle men such as the folks at circle, the more products are allocated with each release and the faster they are released to the local community.
Nigeria is currently enjoying this perk. A newly released phone gets to Computer village en’ masse within the same week. These middle men drive the economy in that regard. Without bias, I do agree that there needs to be a structure to regulate their dealings and mitigate the fraudulent activities going on within these local tech markets. They need as much government support as they need customer support. But their potential and efficiency can’t be matched.
With the invent of the e-commerce bulls, one might say there’s been reduced patronage but ironically, there’s been an increase in their market audience. These smart traders have brought the community of gadget trading closer to the people. They’ve signed up to the Tonaton’s and Olx’s, displaying their deals and trades. This has opened them to a whole new set of customers. They’ve learnt to adapt to the ever changing ways of purchasing gadgets.
Without reservation, “Circle” is a huge community with potential, and they’re not only serving their purpose of variety, they’re also driving an angle of the economy only they could.
With the right support, they can create their own little Silicon Valley.
Only with the right support.
