We sat with Edgar Odey, the founder of Darsh and Yabatech Delivery. A brand committed to building & scaling local food delivery brands on college campuses. Serving meals to students and staff of various institutions.
Yabatech Delivery has successfully delivered 1000+ dishes of food & crossed ₦2.5M in gross merchandise volume. They keep doing this every day.
Edgar shared how the journey from hunger-driven frustration to the realization of Yabatech Delivery. Together, they’re transforming the way we dine on campus — one order at a time.
Tell me a bit about yourself
Edgar is still a student. I am a business person. I love business and I am the CEO of Yabatech Delivery. We focus on college students across different institutions. We are alive in the Yaba college of technology and are already expanding towards the University of Lagos, which is a neighbouring institution to us here at Yabatech. So that’s basically what I do.
Can you share with us how your entrepreneurial journey started?
It all started during COVID, we moved out of Lagos to Ogun State. There in Ogun state, I was less busy. I didn’t have anything to do and carried my books. My dad had tons of books and there’s a particular book, “Awakening the Entrepreneur Within”.
That book really changed my perspective about life. So if you can search for that book, maybe you can find it, soft copy. I think I read it around three times or so. I read it and read it and I was like, wow so this is, there is life more than life. So before then my parents were like go to school, study, and get a job. That time I wanted to be an engineer. I actually studied mechanical engineering in a federal science and technical college around Lagos close to Yabatech.
I was actually planning after my SSCE that I’m going to study mechanical engineering. Fortunately for me, after reading that book my perspective changed. I started thinking about other things. How can I eventually do other things apart from engineering? What else can I do? I started thinking, started calculating.
When I read the book it actually dissects how you can start a business from where you are. And from that time, I started thinking on what to do with my mechanical engineering skill. So I was really thinking instead of me becoming an employee, why can’t I create my own organization and employ people to start doing this drilling and working on these machines.
I started thinking about creative measures of how to create an organization to sell those machines. And I was like, I’m going to bring machines from the US down to Nigeria. I was just thinking what can I do? I wrote down a lot of things. So that’s how it started.
Because I read one book, I decided to go back and read. I started reading this book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki”. I read that book and something from that book really hit my mind, I saw a part that mentioned Jeff Bezos on the internet. So that was the first time I heard about the internet and these businesses that you can build on the internet. I said to myself, how can I build on the internet?
That’s when technology now came into my perspective. I started reading more. From then I started reading Jeff Bezos and started learning different things about e-commerce. Technically my first business was an ecommerce business. I started a business called edgar.com.ng. And that name makes me laugh till this day.
One of the reasons why I chose that name was because it was short. And when I look at Jumia, Konga, these names are short. And how can I get a short name like that to work with? So if you search edgar.com.ng or edgar Nigeria online you see it, Because I created the website, developed the website. and built everything. You now e-commerce is a two-sided marketplace e-commerce, the sellers, and the buyers
I actually scaled the buyers because I was focused on them, trying to find the solution for them. My friends who at that time were selling things on WhatsApp, I designed the website for them. They were already selling on the platform. So I was quite surprised. But when I got the buyers, I couldn’t scale that because it was quite technical for me. I didn’t have team members.
That time I started learning how to build a business. And that was what was on my mind. I was building a business. I built a business but scaling it was the problem. So I started learning about advertisements, Facebook ads, Google ads. Before I knew it, I stumbled on different ideas I could work on.
When I got admission, I got to know about Jumia food and Konga food. I’ve been working on their e-commerce part. I didn’t notice their food delivery part. When I stumbled on it I saw the reviews and it was so bad. I think I tweeted it at that time and I was like these people really have bad reviews, how can I develop on it? How can I make it better for consumers? That was how the whole thing started.
In 2021, I started thinking, what can I do about these food delivery stuff? I came up with Darsh. So Darsh was the food delivery component. I started thinking, how can I build Darsh to solve problems for these consumers? Because there is no cap on the timeframe that these delivery platforms have. So I started thinking, how can I make it to 10 minutes of food and grocery delivery?
My mind was like, we can do this. I was quite optimistic. I got people to build the app for me. We’re already working on the app, the design. I learned UI, UX design. That’s really how it started. The food delivery component started. I jumped on food delivery. So we didn’t launch on time. That was one red flag. We were working from different time zones, different people from all over Nigeria, we’re not in sync. So that’s one issue I had, and I really learned a lot from that.
So whenever I’m building any product or working with anything, I tell them we have to launch fast. It’s something I’ve learned and I’m putting it into other products I’m building in the future. When I got admission to Yabatech, to study a two-year course, electrical engineering. I was staying off campus.
When I get to school, then I have to go and queue up at the restaurant to get food. Because I had the idea of this food delivery so I started to think how can I implement that into where I am? I went to meet the owner of the first restaurant. I was like, madam, can you do delivery for me and she accepted.
More than one hour, I didn’t get my food and I was like this is really bad. I started thinking about other ways I can develop the platform. And I started talking to my course mates and people around me to know if they are facing the same problem. I met one guy who became my co-founder.
He was my coursemate and he really loved the idea. In August, the platform was launched. People started using it, and my coursemate started ordering instantly. That’s actually a way to grow a product, from people who are around you. Every day they started using the platform. They didn’t know how to solve the problem themselves. So as a business-minded person, I started thinking, how can I just develop this and find a solution for them? Today, people use Yabatech Delivery almost every day.
What’s the difference between Darsh and Yabatech Delivery?
Darsh is the main organization. Yabatech Delivery restrict us to a particular location or college jurisdiction. So with Darsh, our aim is to scale across different locations, not just Yabatech. Now we have Yabatech, University of Lagos, those environments, and outside Lagos, we can scale Darsh across multiple locations.
What are the challenges that you have faced building Yabatech Delivery and how have you been able to overcome them?
I started with my own money. I put a lot of money into the business because I just wanted to see it grow. Did some marketing to make the thing grow.
One of the main challenges we faced is the logistics aspect because that’s the main problem. Finding customers is another aspect. The restaurants are already down there. The students are already down there. But the delivery guys to pick it up from point A to point B was the main issue for us for a long time.
Though we’re already overcoming it now. We’re already solving the problem now. Because we’ve already started outsourcing the people from across different locations to be able to do delivery. Because people are already seeing the opportunity there.
We are now going out to meet them. I mean the delivery riders who are seated in front of restaurants waiting for orders. Now we’ve gone to meet them to come and work for us. They work for us and instead of them just sitting there in the particular position, they also make money on the side. So we’ve already overcome that by hiring these riders from different locations.
How did you manage to get partnerships with top campus restaurants that you are working with? How were you able to establish that partnership?
These restaurants need more customers. So if you can provide them more customers, why won’t they accept? They are located in a particular location. Most customers don’t know they exist there. But if you can provide a solution for them to get more customers, so they are going to accept because they want to see their products.
Just imagine I own a restaurant, and then I cook food for the day. And if I don’t get customers, this food is going to go bad. I have to warm it for the next day, which is not nice. And someone offer to provide me with a thousand customers. Why would I sign up with it no matter the price? Why won’t I take your deal?
One thing we have been doing is to walk up to the restaurants and tell them this is what we do. And again the name really helped us whenever they hear the name they will be like it’s for Yabatech. When I started, I didn’t know that it was going to be a leverage for us, but it really helped us. It actually helped us to scale to where we are today.
What strategies did you use to attract and retain your first 200 users?
One of the main ways we’ve been able to keep our customers is through constant advertisements. We are primarily focused on a college campus. The student is in class. He doesn’t want to leave class and he doesn’t want to leave his hostel. Because of one thing or the other. If you can provide a solution for them, why won’t they take it?
They just need to use their phone, place the order and get to them in their classes or in their hostels. So that’s how it works. Most of our customers, the price is not an issue for them. So it is a good deal for them. If you are providing solutions to people, everybody is not your customer.
But the percentage of people or students who are going to be your customers, they are going to continue serving you. We have customers who order from us every day. Every day they text and be like, oh, I want to order food, please. If you provide a solution for them, why won’t they take your deal?
Let’s talk about the one plot of land that was awarded to you last year. So how did you feel to be awarded a plot of land and be recognized as the innovative solution of the year in Yabatech?
Well, I didn’t see that coming. It was organized by my department. So it was called “Engineering Meet Pack”. Now it’s an event, the 2.2 is going to happen this year. So it actually happened in November. I think November 11th, if the date is correct.
The way it happened was that the president of my department used our service. Just like what we are talking about, if you solve a problem for somebody, why won’t they recognize you? He used our platform multiple times every day to order food. So why won’t they give you the award as the best innovator? I’m solving a problem for you, so why won’t you give me the award? That’s how it just happened.
What are you going to use the land for?
Well, we’ve not actually thought about that. We’ve not gone in that direction. This land can appreciate in the coming years, let’s say five years. But in the short term, we are not looking to build anything or sell it.
Can you talk about when things didn’t go as planned with Yabatech Delivery and how did you handle the situation?
Recently, something like that happened. One bad trait of mine is I overthink. I overthink a problem in front of me. And that really brings out solutions. Whenever there’s a problem in front of me, I tend to think and think about it. I could use more than half of my day, let me say 20 hours of my day thinking about a problem in front of me. And I’ve noticed that a solution comes forth from there.
Recently we had issues of growing our customer base because as you know this is a college institution. Every year a new set of students are going out, a new set of students are coming in. I started thinking, how can we reach these students? I actually started asking a lot of people what to do, that’s one thing I’ve learnt from my mom in particular. My mom is somebody that always asks questions from everybody by her side. And I started asking everybody, what can I do? I think I tried posting to group chat and people gave me ideas.
I have noticed that if I don’t keep quiet, I will find a solution to my problem. If I keep quiet, that problem dies with me. So I start asking people who start telling me different ideas. But one thing stuck with me. There is an orientation that always occurs every year when new students enter college. We started sponsoring orientation. That’s one thing we’ve done recently.
Through those events we started getting new customers. This problem of getting new customers made us think about how to solve it. We go to departments and offer to sponsor their events, different competitions and people have taken part in it.
We want to do with Yabatech Delivery the same thing they did with MTN. When you see their logo you instantly know what they do. That’s what we are trying to do now. When you hear Yabatech Delivery, see the logo somewhere, it comes to your mind that Yabatech Delivery does this.
What role does technology play in the operation of Yabatech Delivery and how do you plan to leverage it for the future growth of your brand?
Technology is at the forefront of everything we do. Now we have a website, customers go there. They place their order and it lands to us and we take over with our delivery partners and our delivery guys to attend to the order.
So without technology, that wouldn’t be possible. Without technology, I think we wouldn’t even be able to solve this problem of food delivery because we had a customer sometimes. If you check the reviews on Yabatech website. We had a customer recently who searched for us online. She just searched for food delivery in Yabatech. We popped up first.
Read Also: How Dr. Adekemi Adeniyan is Breaking Barriers to Oral Healthcare Access in Nigeria
Technology is at the forefront of what we do. So that’s just one of many customers we’ve gotten that way. SEO has really helped us. We have some customers from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, who stay around Yabatech, who order food from our platform. Technology has really helped us to get where we are today. And it is something we look forward to always to get our future growth.
Let’s talk about the negative effect of inflation in Nigeria. So how is Yabatech Delivery navigating the effect of inflation in the country?
Inflation is a huge problem for any country. So it’s something that has been rising in Nigeria now. I don’t know the current rate of inflation, but something that has been affecting Nigeria. And it will keep affecting Nigeria, let’s just tell ourselves the truth.
In the short term, I don’t see inflation reducing. It might go down, but it will come up because of the different tax measures that the country is putting in place. Recently we increased our delivery prices. And when you increase your delivery prices, some customers will churn. That one is true. Customers who are looking for a platform also come to your platform.
One thing I’ve learned is that your prices can push somebody away and also bring somebody to you. If your price is too low, it pushes some people away and it brings people to you. So if you want high end customers, increase your price, and they will come to you. They feel, oh, this is quite at my own level. If your price is too low, those customers that want low prices will also come to you. You just have to look for a way to balance the equation in this center.
You’ll be able to get more of this and more of this. You know that the equation is balanced. So inflation is a real problem. It’s affecting different delivery platforms now. So it’s something that really affects the whole country. And our restaurants also increased their prices. That alone turned a lot of customers down. So there are different things that inflation has affected in the country but we keep pushing it.
What other services do you people offer that’s helping to increase the revenue and equally strengthen your market position?
One of the areas we are looking into is grocery delivery. Some of the supermarkets around the area where we operate. They want to tap into the network of consumers we have to do deliveries. So we are in talks with them to be able to them on board them onto our platform so that they can also do deliveries. It’s a way of generating revenue for people to also offer those services to different consumers.
With grocery, we are not just talking into the college institution alone. Groceries can be sold to different areas, not just students. The different locations around Yabatech. We are also looking into package delivery. Some time ago, one of our customers wanted to deliver a package.
These students sell clothes and different things that are paired, different things. One of them asked us, can I give you a delivery guy to help me deliver this package? So that’s one thing we’re also looking into, package delivery. To be able to deliver packages from point A to point B for our consumers. So those are the two aspects we’re looking into for our future growth.
During holidays and strikes, what happens to Yabatech Delivery?
Because of that issue, that’s why we are looking to branch out of the college institution area. Because whenever we pitch investors, they ask the same question. So, how are you doing about the strike and things like that?
That’s one thing we’ve been looking into, we want to branch out of the college space. So it doesn’t restrict our market offering because revenue has to grow. Imagine a school goes on lockdown for months and your revenue will be shut for those months. It doesn’t make sense when you’re pitching investors.
That’s one thing we are actually looking out to do, to be able to branch out of the college institution. That’s why we’re looking into groceries and package delivery. We are actually facing a larger market audience. You can serve more customers, you can get more users that way.
As you know, Yabatech is a polytechnic not mainly a university. I don’t think some of all these strikes affect them. It affects them once in a while. Like this protest affected them. The school was shut down and it actually affected our market. So that’s one thing I am looking into to be able to branch out of the college space. Because that really restricts our market offering and our market segment.
How do you balance the demand of running your business with academics?
Well, I am more of a business focus. Most of my lecturers know what I do. So they actually help me. And more often, I can easily reach out to my coursemates, they are my customers. Most of my coursemates are my customers. So they know what I do know how serious it can be. Most times I don’t need to leave my class except if the volume of order is much. I have to leave my class to attend one or two and help the riders.
But in a situation where I don’t have to leave my class, I just remain in my class. So that’s one thing I’m also trying to do. I’m getting different people on board to attend to the customers. So I can attend to other things and not always be the one answering the customers, attending to the customers, arranging the delivery riders, delivery partners, getting different people on board to be able to make that a straightforward tool.
That’s one reason we are building an app, very soon it will be live. We’re going to launch our app. That will help us scale faster with the app. For now, we are using our website and WhatsApp. But in the future, when the app is live, this will really kick start our growth to be able to push out to other institutions.
Read Also: How Claire Holden and Taryn Marcus are Helping African Organizations to Thrive
What are your plans for expanding Yabatech Delivery?
We are not restricted to Lagos state. That’s why we are actually developing our app. With the app, we will be able to branch across different states. So we’ll be able to manage the flow and system of everything.
Once the app is live, we know that we can kickstart our growth outside Lagos and outside Nigeria possibly. One of the constraints we are having now is our app. Once it goes live, we can actually scale the growth and the user base from where we are currently.
What advice would you give to students who are planning or who want to start their business?
One advice I’ve been giving to people lately is to just start. I’ve just been telling people to start. There’s a guy who wants to start a cleaning business. We had some time to talk and he was telling me, he wants to do one or two things. He wants to do a website. Your business doesn’t need the website to start. Your business doesn’t need some of all these technicalities.
People want to see something in motion. Once you get something in motion, people will jump on board. If you don’t start, nobody wants to join you. They’ll be like, oh, this business is not going to scale. So just start something. Put something in place and people will jump on board.
Find out more about Edgar Odey
Click to read part two of this interview with Edgar Odey.
Watch the interview here.
Leave a comment below and follow us on social media for more tips and updates:
- Facebook: Today Africa
- Instagram: Today Africa
- Twitter: Today Africa
- LinkedIn: Today Africa
- YouTube: Today Africa Studio
