I live and work in oil-rich city of Port Harcourt in the southern region of Nigeria. It is one of the biggest cities in Nigeria but due to the poor road network, the traffic situation is legendary. There is also no central location for certain business or services. As a result, it is a well-known fact that businesses outside the oil industry do not thrive here.
Whether people need to buy something, take their kids out or find places for leisure, it is frustrating having to drive round to look for it. With the advent of online shopping in Nigeria, I, as well as most people I know practically do all our shopping from all over the world. Sadly, most if not all of the things we buy online are from other cities in Nigeria which has made it increasingly difficult for businesses in Port Harcourt to thrive. I observed that even though local businesses offer similar services it was difficult to find them because they were not listed on the map, and even where they were, nobody had reviewed them making it difficult for people to be interested or to trust them.
As a sales person, I move around town a lot in the course of my job and as a result I am a repository for my friends whenever they need to find something quickly so much so that a friend of mine once jokingly called me the “Human Google”. Although we laughed about this, it made me find out about and eventually join the Local guide program.
I love to share about the local businesses in my area, I love to add them to the map. Most importantly I like to write very detailed reviews about them paying special attention to how accessible they are. I try to provide as many details of my experience as is possible. If someone must navigate to get to a place, then they ought to know what they will get when they get there and how they will get there. In my opinion, it is not enough to say a place is 5 star or 1 star if you don’t tell people why. Very detailed reviews do not only help people who are visiting for the first time, they also help the businesses know what they are doing right or wrong.
So when I lie down on my bed at night, penning reviews of the places I visited, I feel like I am helping people to discover Port Harcourt, one day at a time. Getting feedback from users or business owners on how my contribution is helping their business makes it all worthwhile.
