The current wave of migration popularly known as ‘Japa’ syndrome has been identified as a contributing factor to the economy, especially declutter business in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer, Ojb_declutter, Usman Ojabanjo, disclosed this during an interview with journalists, where he spoke on the transition process of marketing from physical engagement to the use of digital platforms, especially, the social media and its importance in job and wealth creation in the country.
In his words: “In the past, people give out their property to friends and family members whenever they are travelling out of Nigeria, even when the sojourns often get sponsored with scare funds.
“But, today, with the era of social media and the advent of buying and selling online, people now sell their stuffs at ease to raise money to embark on their relocation project, and in the long run create wealth for the middleman online, whose platform is being used to dispose the household items and other property. This is otherwise known as declutter. This is usually the case of our customers.
“Declutter, in this model, has created job opportunities for unemployed graduates and has also given people the opportunity to sell off their household items in a convenient and fast way to get more cash.”
Speaking about his exodus into declutter business, he said, “knowing that I have a good experience in customer relations from my previous place of work and having all it takes to excel in the business after doing my analysis, I ventured into it to build people’s confidence level in online business and also to maximise returns in order to meet my needs.
“I have been doing this since August 2021 and I can tell you that sales are gotten from referral, promo and adverts in other to reach out to the general public.”
The Accounting graduate from the Lagos State University (LASU) hinted that his brand name, OJB has been “a popular name since my university days. The name was derived from my surname which is Ojabanjo. Knowing that OJB is popular, I decided to use it for the business.”
Addressing the challenges surrounding the business in line with the influx of people who are into it lately, he said: “The major challenge we are facing is Trust. There are lot of people outside there that has been scammed and are yet to recover from the experience. It’s always difficult for such people to patronise us because they believe everyone running an online business is a scammer.
He therefore described his refund policy mode of operation as one that “has given Ojb_declutter a edge over competitors, and as well flexible refund policy, which has also helped in building trust in our customers.”
