Spleet Africa: Our Chance at Fixing Slums.

I randomly think about how good life was in Nigerian during the 80s and 70s. We had residential areas in places like FESTAC. My father had an apartment in the 90s that was so big that Lagos landlords would turn that flat into 3 flats. The Nigerian city Lagos has become quite inhabitable and it’s not getting any better with more than 500,000 migrating into Lagos every year.

The saddest thing about the underdevelopment in Nigeria’s largest urban area is that Lagos is Nigeria’s most productive city. In fact, it is for that very reason that Nigerians move into Lagos by the troves (not me though, I want to move out!).

Lagos is one of Africa’s major city but it is an eye saw. A trip to Accra made me realize the reality more. Lagos has to be Nigeria’s urban centre but the place is actually a hell hole with decaying properties and infrastructure. One of the reasons why Lagos is the way it is that the government is still being depended upon for private residence and the government being the corrupt gees that they are are not willing to maintain the infrastructure that already exists.

This is where Spleet and products like that come into play.

What’s Spleet?

First off, what is a slum?

According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHS) a slum is:

“a wide range of low-income settlements and/or poor human living conditions, which include the vast informal settlements that are quickly becoming the most visual expression of urban poverty.”

Spleet in my own opinion is one of the ways we can take a shot at rural-urban migration and reduce slums. But according to tech media, Spleet is a prop-tech startup that started in Nigeria seeking to offer Africans access to premium and structured housing. They deal with getting you a great place to call home without the issue of furnishing the place and paying for other amenities like power, cleaning, etc. It’s an all in one package and it’s premium.

For a long time in Nigeria, housing has been the responsibility of the government and like so many other things, the government has failed at enabling and expanding housing infrastructure in Nigeria more specifically in Lagos which is Nigeria’s Urban Center. It is rumoured that over 24 million people live in Lagos and one of the most fascinating things about Lagos is that it is the state with the smallest landmass in all of Nigeria.

Lagos makes up about 0.1% of the total land mass in Nigeria, but more than 10% of the population live there.

Even though Lagos is small and tight, people flood the states looking for greener pastures. It’s the low budget version of the US for Nigerians looking to migrate for opportunities.

Lagos is also Nigeria’s most productive state considering all the commercial activities that happen in the state. In the tech ecosystem, our own version of Silicon Valley is in Yaba (Imagine Yaba market being part of a tech valley).

Anyways, all I am trying to say is that Lagos is a big deal even though it’s literally a small fry. One of the biggest problems the state faces is housing.

According to BBC, we have 17miillion units of housing deficit. The most ironic thing about living in Lagos is that there are empty houses but they are not affordable and are not occupied. Another problem in Lagos is that the housing and residential areas that were initially developed by the government are actually decaying and turning into slums.

How Does Spleet Come Into The Picture?

With Spleet, we can reduce the rate at which we have slums and actually get people out of Lagos especially the part of the population that predominantly works from home. But what if, that is the key to getting great homes for everyone that needs a residence.

Spleet does 2 things:

1. Connect renters to ready apartments.
2. Help renters with a flexible payment plan for their rent.

Those things with the right partnerships and support can actually solve a lot of Nigeria’s problems. When these 2 solutions are combined, you have a great strategy that solves the problem of housing deficits and housing financing. The only problem that might come up is actually execution and it deals with how extensive and impactful the solution is going to be if a single private tech firm is expected to handle that workload without some form of support from the government.

The Future:

With a product like Spleet, we have a blueprint on how private firms can move the need for residents and more habitable cities to spring up. Spleet at their own pace is doing wonders but in order to accommodate them, why don’t we have the government support these companies by adjusting the laws to accommodate housing financing and enable Spleet with financial and legal support to develop new residential areas in key states that suffer the brunt of brain drain and economic lukewarmness due to immigration.

It’s a longshot and more of a dream but as a product person, I’d work towards:

1. Building communications with government programs like OPIC, Federal Housing Authority, etc,
2. Reach out to hospitable government executives executing urban development policies.
3. Target states and regions that are focused on tourism and need a marketing partner for their developed residence.
4. Partner up with mortgage firms to enable more persons to seek more flexible payment plans charging a commission on transactions.
5. Target companies and expatriates and offer them bottom line pricing (cheaper than hotels and Airbnb) for residential spaces especially with remote work becoming popular.

To Conclude:

The subject matter of this article is partnerships, more specifically public-private partnerships that actually do something and not the nonsense that happened in the Nigerian power industry.

I believe Spleet and the entire Property Tech industry with the willingness of public offices in that sector would reduce the slums that eat away our cities and our reputation. With these partnerships, a thriving workforce would thrive even more because they can afford a space to lay on. Tourists and foreign investors can come to Nigeria with no fear of discomfort in an overpriced hotel.

Anyways, if you are looking to get a new apartment without the stress of paying for 2 years in advance. Please check out Spleet