As the world continues to evolve and human problems take different dimensions, great initiatives are being developed to tackle these problems, leading to unique solutions and game-changing opportunities for consumers to explore. Being mindful of the interests of young people, particularly students of Nigerian institutions, Segam Mobile Services (SMS) is innovating simple ways to meet their financial, educational, logistics and nutritional needs.
One of the new solutions offered by SMS is the Mobile POS system that is only available across Nigerian campuses. With the Mobile POS, bicycle-riding agents move around to meet customers– who could be either staff or students of the institution–wherever they are on campus, to help them facilitate monetary transactions at discounted rates.
Another unit of this evolving brand is SMS Products, which sells at affordable costs as small packs of affordable, easy-to-prepare food items such as bean flour, pap flour and yam flour and puff-puff mix. Simulating the concept of fast food, this unit aims to meet the simple nutritional needs of students and other interested young people who may consider the food items a stopgap meal. As a means of academic intervention, SMS Education is also providing optimal tutorial services and resources that are relevant to students of all disciplines in different institutions nationwide.
Operating as an ecosystem, which is a network of interconnected services, SMS also taps digital opportunities to appeal to its customers, most of whom are millennials and Gen-Zs. This is evident in the long-term vision of the initiative to make available coupons and own a digital currency—SEG— both often substituting for fiat currency, by which transactions can take place within the ecosystem. In addition, SMS intends to create a market system, dubbed the P2P Market, which serves as a digital, barrier-free point of contact between buyers and sellers. SMS P2P Market allows trustworthy and verifiable sellers to place their wares and services on a section of the company’s website for potential customers to access.
CEO of SMS, Avosegamu Sewedo, explains that “SMS is an ecosystem because it comprises seven units which are Mobile POS, SMS Products, SMS Dispatch, SMS Education, SMS Coupon, SMS P2P Market and SEG that is our digital universal token. Our dispatch is of three kinds, one which operates within campuses, the second operating within a state and the third will be a lot minivans involved in inter-state travels”
Aware of its status as a game-changer, SMS aims to stay ahead of competitors through its adoption of digital technology and unique positioning. According to the CEO, “what is so unique about the POS is the fact that you don’t have to stress yourself as our agents meet customers at safe, convenient spots on campus. The prices we offer are quite lower than what our competitors charge. In the long run. We are working on our coupons with which you can get our services, buy products and do other transactions in our space without paying money. We are confident of transforming users’ (students and non-students) engagements into coupons that are valuble. We have a team of tech experts who are working on the latest version of our website that offers a user-friendly interface. Users can create accounts and keep track of activities through their dashboards on our platform”.
Recently, SMS gifted its loyal customers on LASU campus packages of SMS Products in appreciation of their patronage and commitment to the growth of the initiative. It was an exciting affair for the beneficiaries, including both students and staff, as they expressed gratitude and pledged continued loyalty to the brand.
While some of its services are yet to become fully operational, SMS already looks promising as it is powered by a team of brilliant minds with different departments, all of whom are young people working assiduously to make students’ lives easier.