Interview with Chief Product Officer of Creative5

 

Hello Mr.Leo,

These are the details we spoke about early this afternoon

1.      Let’s meet you

My name is Chaste Christopher Inegbedion and I am privileged to be the Chief Product Officer of Creative5 in Nigeria with a team of 5 people. I believe in working in a collaborative environment to make remarkable things happen for a better society. My mission is to positively affect 1% of the current and next generation of young people by being a catalyst of positive change through empowerment and connection between ideas, people and organization.  A World at School Global Youth Ambassador, Universal Peace Federation Young Ambassador of Peace and Rotary Youth Leadership Award Recipient with professional membership in the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, International Youth Council and Junior Chambers International.

The occurrence of "The Why" that drives our behaviors profoundly changed my life and gave me a focus that I have never had before and set me on a career path I have never imagined. The discovery of where Trust and co-operation comes from, this idea of service and sacrifice as a sort of biological and anthropological concept.

2.      Tell us about (your Company/Product) and what your business does.

Creative5 is a Social Enterprise Think Tank company that aims to be the main destination for corporate social responsibility products in the continent of Africa. The Company’s mission is to ensure positive social reform in Nigeria and the rest of the continent by serving as a link between social-minded companies and individuals and the rest of the population. In the same light, the company chooses to engage in projects that provide positive social impact and are in line with the United Nations’ Millennium developmental goals (MDG).

Social Good Products

OUR FIVE INNOVATIONS

·         GIVING GARAGE

·         EDUCATEGIRLSNG  (#GirlsWithTheOrangeBook)

·         CHARITY LOUNGE

·         ALAFIA AFRIKA

·         SocialstartupNG (SocialStartUpSaturday #S6StartUp)

With established business models under threat, and unexpected competitors emerging, you need strategic thinking free of limit, Creative5 experienced teams bring creative strategies and insights that will inspire unprecedented results.

3.      When did Creative5 Started, How did you come up with the idea of Social Start Up Saturday?

Creative 5 has been in existence since 2005 at the Age of 20. However, the product Social StartUpNG started in 2014 while having a discussion with the Founder of BudgIT about scaling the innovations of the Creative5, BudgIT has been a strong supporter of our brand, we noticed a gap in the media that targets and told the stories of Startups, so we wanted to create media platforms that will do that. There was so much negativity about Founders of Start Up Companies still having side jobs and not staying committed in pursuing their enterprise, and there were other founders doing impressive things, so we came up with ‘SocialstartupNG’ to report the stories of the Founders through Social Start Up Saturday, we saw an opportunity to take advantage of this gap, and fill it, and tell a new story for the startup companies, with the hashtag #S6startUp basically was a way to change the narrative.

4.      Tell us more about the Product SocialstartupNG?

According to Eric Ries, "A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty". Due to these conditions I came up with the idea of starting an online market place that promotes continuous learning for the start-up community.

The SocialstartupNG initiative is a global community of leaders who finds business opportunities in societal challenges. The initiative connect practioners in search of the most effective ways on starting-out or implementing an idea. Operated by Creative5 with support from partners, the initiative shapes this emerging field through peer to peer exchange, marketing intelligence, strategy & implementation support and shared enterprise advocacy.

5.      Who is your target market and Solution?

The target market is Start Up Companies. The impact model of SocialStartUpNG is for businesses, agencies and brand looking for seamless and time efficient ways to place advert or directly connect with those in the SMEs Space or positive impact on the Small Businesses. The experiences we provide is the increasing confidence on the solution showcase in online platform.

Our Solution

An Online SME-Market Place that maintains an inventory of start-up companies and leverages analytics, mobile & web technology. We connect agencies, brands, business and most especially start-up providers to available, low cost and result-oriented market place opportunities.

6.      Why should people/your target audience use this kind of product/service?

SocialStartUpNG provides integrated development experience comprised of Leadership opportunities, Audience Data, Visibility Metrics, Product Placement Traffic, Media Buyers, target audience cost effective process and start up capturing.

7.      How have you financed your product?

SocialStartUpNG is financed through corporate partnerships, advertisement, operations and grants.

8.      What five key things have you learned since starting this functional prototype?

·  Everything one does,  Start-Up Founders lives are affected

·  100% of everyone (employees, partners, clients, target market) we do business with are Start Up Companies or those that they directly or indirectly deal with them.

·  It does not really matter the marketing strategies. If we don’t  understand how their journey began, we don't understand business

·  The main goal is to attract people that believe what you believe and not necessarily the entire target market because majority of the target market would not try the product out until some set of people have tried it out. This set of people are those who believe what you believe (early adopters)

·  We have worked with a good number of startup companies & respondents in various capacities as principal vendors or sub-contractors.

9.      What Five things do start-up entrepreneurs need to know?

·         When Everyone’s included, anything is possible, it all adds up to help meet the financial challenges people face today and tomorrow

·         Don’t Think Outside the Box… There is no Box

·         “Owe no Man anything, but to Love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” Romans 13.8

·         Collaboration is stronger than competition

·         Be Ready to Sell Ice to Eskimos ( Tougher People stay longer in Business)

10.     How is the product performing and what is the short term plan for this product?

·         Jack knows all Trades, but we’ve mastered the art of two Social Media + Social Good

·         We are Flexible, Selfie-Street Smart, and look for the Legit way to get you noticed

·         6,000,000 Page Views and 66,000 Unique Visitors} these pages would be an extension of our brand equity & partners.

·         #S6Startup trends weekly on Twitter with over 7Million Impressions

·         140 Letters Rich Tweet Conversation with over 200 Million on Twitter

·         At least 60 different Electronic, print and online interviews will be conducted

·         We have reached Ghana, Morocco, South Africa, Kenya, New York, Palo-Alto and hope to extend our impact to other countries.

·         Searchable Young Global Start-Up Founders Inventory and IN-APP Rewards.

·         Increase Participation on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Podcast and via SMS.

·         The Business of Social Good on the Cloud