Nigeria’s first general auction house to commence operations

The current economic recession in Nigeria can be a blessing in disguise to merchants and businessmen, as they can buy property and do other investments at half the market price from an auction house. This is the view of Akinbola Akingboye, a young Nigerian who will launch an auction house, 3A Auction, tomorrow in Lagos.

Akinbola, in an interview with The Guardian, said auction actually works better when there is a financial challenge in a country. According to him, “when there was a downturn and economic challenge in the (United Kingdom) and the (United States), people were buying things at half the market price because most people could not afford to keep up their mortgage, those who had properties had to sell at ridiculous prices,” stressing that this is the best time to establish an auction house in Nigeria.

He said his outfit categorises its auctions into three. The first is properties, the second is vehicles and the third is general items, which do not fall within the first two categories. These could be vessels, machinery, truck heads and so on.

3A Auctions will officially launch its operations tomorrow at Oriental Hotel and Towers, Victoria Island, Lagos by 6pm.

“The platform we offer creates a partnership between both ends by helping to sell their assets at a faster rate rather than the option of them lying fallow, depleting much needed funds,” Akingboye stated.

He noted that an auction house is different from other online marketing platforms as it helps buyers and sellers maximise their profits in an open bid where there are more buyers, adding that “if the item has value, the bidding becomes more interesting, as people will pay whatever they can to get that product.”

Recounting his experience living in the U.S. and U.K, the young entrepreneur said: “growing up there, I realised that there were so many opportunities that people had access to what we don’t have in Nigeria. What I mean by that is that people can easily buy things over there through auction or even place items for auction. I relocated to Nigeria in 2010, in 2014, I realised that there was a gap in the market which can benefit the buyer and the seller. At that moment I started looking into auction in Nigeria, and noticed I couldn’t find any auction house that services that market. That was how I got the idea to do this, to provide the avenue for people in this country as well.”