Smart Wash Signals The Coming of Modern Laundry In Lagos – Segun Taiwo

Chief Executive Officer, WASHAMACALLIT International, Mr. Segun Taiwo, speaks on his new business concept, SMART WASH – a laundry outfit presently thriving in Lagos and run with smart technology that is in tandem with government’s cashless policy.
He shared that the sub-sector has the tendency to create good jobs if investors find the right environment in the Nigerian polity to operate better.

Answer: My name is Segun Taiwo, the CEO WASHAMACALLIT International. It is a new laundry business that offers conducive service delivery to our numerous customers within Lagos metropolis.

Answer: well, Smart Wash is actually a new concept in the laundry business in Nigeria or Africa. l would say it is basically “smart-card washing system” whereby we have two interface machines working end to end and you end up using a smart-card to power up washing machines and dryers. That is just the summary.

Tell us more about this Smart Wash:
Smart Wash is electronic; when you slot a card to power the machines one does not need to come to the outfit with money or something for payment. Yes, exactly, our smart card concept is basically trying to encourage Nigerians to reduce the dependency on cash payment and transactions but of course the options are left for the customers. As we all know that the customer is king, so if you come into the laundry outfit with cash we still take that but the idea of Smart Wash is that everything we are dealing with is smart so we use smart card powered by smart machines and smart terminals to carry out the laundry operations.

Question: What is the totality of service delivery?
Answer: Currently, we do not have transportation means but we are in a  metropolitan area right there at  Aderonke Plaza located at 20 Olowu Street off Awolowo Way in Ikeja, Lagos.  We have so many big companies over there and what we do is to encourage customers to drop their materials in the morning on their way to the office and  pick them up when they are heading back home. We also do instant washing and pickups as well as self service for  willing customers. For huge amounts of laundry, we have a three-day binding contract where you drop your clothes say for instance on Tuesday and you pick them up on Friday.

Answer: Absolutely, it is basically for the busy Lagosians.

Question: Does it cut across the Lagos metropolis?
Answer: This is our first location here in Ikeja. For now we’re focusing on being a top player in the Ikeja market and nearby cities. Eventually, we will be looking forward to expand by next year and establish a second branch which is going to probably be around FESTAC town or maybe Victoria Island but for now the focus is Ikeja and neighbouring cities.

Answer: Yeah, a couple of surveys. I went to several laundry outfits around the Ikeja area, FESTAC town and Surulere; we found out that most laundry outfits that operated in those areas were still using the traditional way. There were a few who practiced self service laundry, most practiced drop off dry cleaning service. I also discovered a coin operated laundromat, but our Smart Wash concept which operates with the use of a smart card is innovative technology, that’s the uniqueness about our company. My vision is not just all about laundry, there so many other business ideas, so many projects the company is working on but they are still through the smart card technology. One  example will be car wash service.

Question: The prospects looking at some industry and looking at Nigeria market environment, do you think it has a very huge prospect?
Answer: I think it will, it’s just going to be a matter of time as Nigerian businesses or economy look complex. I believe it’s going to take time but it will get there. I saw at the airport that Nigerians can now pay for anything electronically and I also saw on the news that every Nigerian must have a national identity card. The thing that I noticed is Nigerians are lacking behind when it comes to delving into this system of payment and card technology. I have the vision to encourage other companies to follow suit and encourage cashless payment especially in the public sector. Eventually, this is going to cut down corruption – the major problem of this nation. If only the government would sign a memorandum for all public sector projects transactions to be cashless, what impact would that have? I think it is going to cut down corruption, that’s accountability and that’s the image we hope to stand for.

Question: I know you must have met some challenges which must have taken a toll on your investment. What are those things that are confronted you in this business ?
Answer: The main thing is electricity and transportation will be the second thing, for easy movement of people from place to place because actually we are going to have our own means of transportation to pick up and drop off. If there is no perfect means of getting from point A to point B, that will slow down on laundry delivery service. But the location where we are is relatively better on electricity plans but we also have standby generators that kick on when the light goes off.
I have been talking to some guys and we are looking forward to forming an alliance with a company that might end up picking up and dropping off clothes of clients from all over Lagos. The other is capital.

Answer: Six months ago. We started on the 1st of May, 2018 and it has been very challenging. We have done a few promotions, we are looking forward to doing a bigger one in few weeks. We have tried to reach out to people, we have shared flyers but I believe this is the way business is; this is the introductory stage. We are getting there, we have a few registered clients that come twice in a week and we are taking it slowly.

Answer: In few years from now, my plan is to have at least 3 to 4 attendants in one location. So in a few years from now we are looking forward to opening branches; next year I will say probably 12 to 15 people would be under the payroll of the company and perhaps when the sister companies spring up too many people will be employed.

Question: Thinking of Smart Wash which is a product of creative thinking, what is the advice for the Nigerian youth in terms of being creative and doing something positive for themselves and not waiting for government to do everything for them?
Answer: I always believed in few things. There are some guys I look up to. For instance, Gandhi had this saying “be the change you want to see in the world”. This means youths should not wait for government to do things for them: they should just do something. It is the same thing I believe; youths in Nigeria are very smart but they just need to be given chances to prove themselves and the government have to assist them by providing infrastructure, subsidies and whatever it takes for them to achieve their dreams in the society.