E-Motion Advertising, together with White Wall Web, has launched Gyst.com, Nigeria’s first local business directory. Gyst aims to provide small- to medium-sized business owners with cost-effective online advertising.
Stemming from a need to create a comprehensive database of local businesses, a team armed with smart phones took to the streets of Lagos photographing and capturing information for as many businesses as they could. This information was then fed into the highly scalable Gyst technology platform and verified with the business owner before displaying on the Gyst website in both text format and on a Google map. Users can search for businesses by a wide variety of criteria, including specific products, type of service or business name. Gyst has also integrated social elements, allowing users to submit reviews of businesses and share listings with their friends via Facebook.
Business owners have the option to easily register their business for free via the web, or claim their business if it is already listed. Gyst allows business owners to manage and update all their business information themselves, helping consumers to source providers of products and services online, while also helping providers improve their marketing efforts.
“Gyst will put powerful local information at the fingertips of Nigerians” commented Sim Shagaya, Managing Director of the diversified media company E-Motion Advertising and owner of Gyst. “We have already gathered a broad set of listings for Lagos and will soon reach into other cities across Nigeria to create a local search directory of unprecedented breadth and depth. We are making this information accessible via mobile, web and human assisted voice channels. The mobile web is proving enormously popular in Nigeria. I expect that in the medium term it will become an indispensable part of the lives of Nigerians and Africans, and Gyst will play a critical role in making this happen.”
The Gyst business directory was written in Ruby on Rails, a rapid and highly extendable development framework favoured by many start-ups. It allowed for the system to move from a prototype to production-ready in a very short space of time. The application was developed in small increments using an Agile approach and thereby allowed the client to give rapid feedback throughout the development process. Google Maps was used to integrate geo-location data from the Blackberry phones and the Facebook APIs were used to provide the social media interaction. Together, all of these elements deliver a powerful combination of functionality that greatly enhances the user experience. As the majority of Nigerians use mobile devices for Internet access, it was critical to ensure that the service would be accessible via both desktop browsers as well as via mobile devices.
The company’s reputation is growing exponentially, with 70% of their users returning to their site on a regular basis. Currently Gyst has comprehensive coverage in Lagos only, but will soon expand their services to other major cities in Nigeria.
By Angela Meadon
