Q1. Can you tell us a little bit about Reposebay and its vision?
Reposebay, a human resource firm, consolidates essential HR services for businesses. What exactly do these services entail? They encompass human resource software, consulting, and career development. Reposebay emerged from the ambition to streamline HR management for African businesses. Our solution caters to business-to-business needs through technology and consulting services. Additionally, we assist individual clients—career-oriented individuals seeking our expertise. Our 3 distinct brands are Repsoebay Consulting, RBetach Technology for Businesses, and Ready Job Seeker Career Services.
Q2 What are the core values and principles of Reposebay's cultureAs the CEO and leader of Reposebay, our distinct core values are professionalism, an ownership mentality, dedication to service, and an unwavering pursuit of excellence. Why did we select these values? Because in the realm of human resources, whether as consultants or employees within organizations, our foundation is service-oriented. As consultants, we serve individuals within companies, cater to HR managers' needs through our technology, and address the aspirations of career-minded individuals via our development services. This is all executed with a professional approach and a sense of ownership, taking charge of the entire process. Excellence remains our guiding principle, recognizing the crowded HR industry landscape. Amidst numerous competitors, our focus persists on embodying excellence, embracing an ownership mentality, prioritizing service, and consistently upholding professionalism.
Q3. Walk us through some of the greatest wins and achievements since the inception of the company to date.
The greatest wins that we’ve had in Reposebay is the fact that we moved from being just a Human Resource Consulting company to owning a software company and also to career development and career services. How did we discover this other part of us? We have been consultants since 2017 and we realized that we were doing mostly recruitment but every time we did recruitment, we got asked by employers, “Oh, please can you just manage my employees as well”, so we listened to our customers and we started to infuse HR Consulting into what we did and again we went a step further, also listening to our clients, we needed a software that was created by HR Professionals and that would make the lives of HR Professionals easier, so that’s why we created that software. I think for us that is our major win, Reposebay going from one company to having three distinct companies and three distinct offerings which are: Reposebay Consulting, R.Betach which is the technology arm of Reposebay and Ready Job Seekers which is our Career development arm. I think we have done well by making these changes to our business model. However, some notable achievement would be raising funds from our Angel Investors. This year, we were able to raise $150,000 from an Angel Investor, this year also, we won a grant from Orange Corners Nigeria, up to $15,000 in grants, we also were able to win grants from Flourish Africa, 360 Woman and being top 20 for the Access bank Womenpreneur was also a distinct achievement for us this year alone and we are very proud of how far we’ve come and all that we have done in this short while.
Q4. What are some of the challenges Reposebay has faced as a startup, and how have you overcome them?
We have faced a couple of challenges as a company, the challenges that we faced this year were significant because they had a lot to do with growth. Imagine going from a 7-man team to about 20 + overnight in a new year and trying to infuse your culture into the new employees. Having a combination of a tech team, product team and consulting team has been very interesting for me as a leader and a huge learning curve. Challenges that come with growth, we lost some employees, we lost some clients along the way, and we made some mistakes but I’m all altogether proud of the stability and where we are enjoying right now, also the ability to still put the team together to achieve some of our goals in the midst of all of these. As a woman in business, and as a Woman leader, with my co-founder being also female, we are proud of the work we are doing, we know that we are inspiring younger women and upcoming entrepreneurs. We keep learning and we want to be great leaders. Although sometimes we lose ourselves while trying to find the balance, however, I’m happy, I’m glad that we have gotten a hang of the growth. We keep an open mind and keep learning on our way to excellence. In summary, our major challenges were basically around growth this season.
Q5. What are some of the unique aspects of Reposebay that differentiate it from the competition?
What distinguishes us the most at Reposebay is that we were first consultants before we built the software so we understand the market, we understand the challenges that HR Managers and business owners face. We are not just your regular business people, regular consultants, regular developers, or someone trying to sell Tech, we understand all the problems that come with Tech and we understand what we can do things differently. We understand the market, we understand the startups, and small-medium business market and we can position ourselves to offer personalised services for these businesses
Q6. Can you share some examples of positive customer feedback you've received?
We have had some positive feedback from customers who either used our consulting services, and career services or have used our HR software. At the core of all the positive feedback we have gotten has always been my people. My team, we are so dedicated, the consultants, the software engineers, the career coaches and the professionals are dedicated to bringing their best to the table which has been the core of the positive feedback we have gotten. I was exceptionally excited when a customer went out of their way to make a video just to show appreciation to us, customers have sent in written feedback to say thank you to specific people on our team in consulting, calling their names and specifically thanking them. For the software part, we’ve had customers who were mind-blown by the fact that it was very easy to use and they could tell that it wasn’t just software, it was software done by HR Professionals. I can remember specifically a big Pharmaceutical company, Greenlife Pharmaceuticals telling us that he could tell that the software was done by professionals, so that has encouraged us. Also, the people who have gotten jobs from the resume we helped create, take their time to write to us after they have been employed because we helped work on their resumes, it has been so rewarding, hearing all of this positive feedback. It has given me joy, a sense of purpose and a sense of duty and responsibility to my customers and I know that I would still with my team continue to do more and innovate when it comes to serving our customers.
Q7. What are your biggest learnings and takeaways from your entrepreneurial journey?
My biggest lesson and takeaway from my entrepreneurial journey would be that leadership is all about influence. I have learnt that your people watch you, your people see how dedicated you are and that also gives them that sense of responsibility. The most important thing is to lead from the front and have a person-first approach towards your team. Treat your team the way they want to be treated, see them the way they want to be seen, study people, observe people, and don’t just give out blanket compensations. Try to make it more personalized if possible. I know when the team grows some more, it might be harder for me to have that personal touch but I would try as much as possible, when I’m present with the team to be very present in mind and observe them to try to know them and get to know them very well. So that has been a very important part of my entrepreneurial journey, observing the team, having a person-first approach towards leadership and trying to lead from the front so that I can be a very good influence on my team.
Q8. We cannot deny the effect of AI in all aspects of life, especially in the field of HR. What is reposebay doing to complement these trends?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a permanent part of our lives as we know it when it comes to technology; I firmly believe in its enduring presence. We've embarked on extensive research and development in generative AI, particularly focusing on Onboarding, Employee Experience, and Employment Branding. Our current utilization of AI in these domains marks the beginning, and we're actively exploring further avenues for its application, continually setting new targets for leveraging this technology.
Q9. What are some of the biggest expected opportunities and changes for HR in Nigeria in the coming years? How is Reposebay positioned to capitalize on opportunities and change?
Well, some of the changes in the HR space in Nigeria would include a lot more technology and technology solutions and I believe that it would be around how benefits and compensation are disbursed amongst employees, also some challenges around how some multi-nationals are leaving Nigeria, this will birth more entrepreneurs as well, more people would look towards entrepreneurship and finding self-employment opportunities. At Reposebay we keep empowering people through Ready Job Seeker to position themselves for opportunities, we would keep empowering businesses through our human resource consulting to ensure that these businesses stand the test of time and remain sustainable and of course, with technology, we would keep empowering HR managers to carry out administrative tasks seamlessly and to carry out administrative task with more purpose in mind cause I believe that human resource administration and shared services will impact strategy as well so that is why we have created the R.Betach software to look for ways to make administrative task more intentional for HR managers and more data-driven for HR managers so that strategy can be better impacted.
