The Nigerian construction industry is worth billions, but remains plagued by substandard materials. According to a report by the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), over 271 buildings collapsed in Nigeria between 2012 and 2022, with poor-quality materials and a lack of proper regulation being major causes. This is the gap that Ejide Akinbiyi is trying to address with her company, MaterialsPro.
With Nigeria’s urban population projected to reach about 375 million by 2050, the demand for safe, reliable, high-quality buildings will only increase. Many home builders and contractors question how to obtain building materials without compromising time or quality.
As co-founder and CEO of MaterialsPro, Ejide Akinbiyi believes there’s a way to fix this. Her company is tackling the irregularities in the construction industry by connecting buyers with vetted suppliers, thus eliminating the risks of counterfeit products, procurement hassles and delayed deliveries. In just two years, MaterialsPro has built a network of over 50 partners, delivering more than 50,000 tons of materials to project sites. They are transforming materials procurement for countless builders and contractors, giving them a more reliable way to source materials.
“Our aim has been to ensure our clients can continue to embark on building projects while thinking relatively little about the hassle associated with the procurement of building materials.” — Ejide Akinbiyi, co-founder and CEO of MaterialsPro.
In a recent interview with The Benchmark, Ejide Akinbiyi shares how and why she ventured into the construction industry and her dynamic entrepreneurial journey.
What led you to start MaterialsPro? What was the ‘aha’ moment that sparked the idea?
Before co-founding the business, I worked in various sectors, including banking, marketing, e-commerce, and the construction industry.
What drives me is ensuring we spread our impact and that contractors and homeowners can deliver projects on time. I also want homeowners to actualise their dream of owning their own homes.
The inspiration came from a personal pain point. I was at a point in life where I felt my family needed a house. I was fortunate to manage the project for my family then and experienced the struggles firsthand. Alongside a building contractor, we saw the fragmentation that occurs in the building materials industry. We were given the quantity needed for various materials and prices when we started the project. We wanted to start about two months later, but by then the prices had changed. When we were ready, and wanted to go ahead, I realised the building materials wouldn’t get to the project site when the contractors needed them.
Most of the time, you will meet the contractor on site, dragging multiple vendors to get materials to the site. While the guy is doing this, he is also looking for logistics. Along the line, we found out that although we had paid the money for workers to come to the site to work, they did nothing when they arrived at the site because materials were either not on site or not enough. Despite all these, the workers still collected money per day, whether they worked or not. It was very strenuous and we spent above our budget. Asides that, the materials were not even delivered when needed.
This was the ‘aha’ moment for me.
I come from a procurement background. I have worked with Jumia and managed corporations. I have also managed B2B clients and vendors. So, I knew this could be done better. I started asking questions on how we could do basic things like locking prices to ensure they don’t change. I asked how we could sign a contract to ensure the materials get to the site on time when needed. People were surprised at those questions because it was strange to find one with such high expectations in the construction industry. Then it dawned on me that so many things have not been put in place in that industry, and probably they need an operator to bring this together. I discussed this idea with my co-founder; the rest, they say, is history.
Tell us about your experience with buying building materials before starting the business. Were there any frustrations that made you consider creating a better buying experience?
Before the end of the project I mentioned earlier, we spoke to over 100 vendors, which was crazy, right? The building materials industry is not a place where you see all the materials you want in the same market. What that means is that where you are likely to get the sand is very different from where you’ll get your granite, which is stone. It’s also different from where you get your iron rod. Each material is bought from different markets. So, you have to deal with talking to multiple vendors, and getting multiple invoices, – almost like you have opened a workspace at the site.
Another frustration is the logistics. You don’t know when that item will be delivered. You don’t know if those things will meet your exact specifications. Then the fourth one is the intermittent price. You cannot get all the materials you need for your project to the site at the same time. So it means you would have to get these materials in bits. Plus, the price that you bought these materials two weeks ago may not be the same price that you buy them in the next two weeks.
Within a short period, like two months or three months, you might have experienced increments two or three times. All of this is quite stressful, and will mess up your budget for that project (if you have one). This is why sometimes you find a lot of abandoned budgets. We were lucky to finish up our building project, but it’s not a process another person who wishes to own a home should go through, not to mention those who rely on this work to earn a living.
The construction industry isn’t always quick to embrace change. How do you convince builders and contractors to trust an online platform for something as crucial as their materials?
It’s true that the construction industry has been known to be very traditional, and the industry is still quite traditional. I won’t lie to you. People have been in the industry for a very long time, but adapting to new innovations has been really slow. It was a reality we were quick to adjust to. That is to solve the real problem for the target audience first before going online. So when we started, we met the contractors where they were before now, which is on their construction sites and in their offices. We helped the stakeholders learn about the benefits of having a more streamlined and organised procurement process by first meeting their immediate need, i.e by consistently delivering products to sites.
We just wanted to serve them from where they are, using WhatsApp, phone calls and the rest. And as we moved on, we’ve been able to transition a lot of them to the online platform. Essentially , I believe the biggest problem we are solving is that of access or lack thereof. It’s difficult to move from your convenient spot and go around just to get everything you need. I believe we all naturally gravitate towards a better experience where and when that is available.
It’s no different in the construction industry. It does take time to change from the old order but people eventually catch up.
So while we are able to build that trust by allowing them to do the transaction the best way they know and are used to, we then leverage that trust to move them to the online platform and say, “Hey, you can do this without even calling us or moving from where you are.”
What’s more is that we are with them every step of the way. When they have a challenge, rest assured they can call us. This has been the winning strategy for us – ensuring that these building contractors have access to us. But aside from any further questions they might have, they are able to do their transactions online.
Why should people trust MaterialsPro to source their building materials?
It starts with how much we’ve done and the people we have worked with in the industry. People trust us. Our customers now trust us because we’ve been able to deliver their materials to them at the right price, when they need them, and in the right quantity. No fuss! That’s number one.
The second is the people behind MaterialsPro. With a cumulative experience of over 25 years working across various industries and expertise including Supply Chain, Technology, B2B and Procurement, our energetic founding team is formed around competence for the major challenges we are solving for the construction industry. Together, we have the domain expertise to deliver on our promise.
Thirdly, we’ve been able to help them manage costs. One of the most important things for our customers is the fact that they are able to deliver the project on time and on budget. We realise they have clients they work with and have to make a meaningful and decent margin on their investments. We’ve consistently positioned ourselves to enable this to be possible for them every time without an exception.
The fourth thing for us is that we’ve ensured that they focus on their core. Their core is to build enduring edifices, ensuring their projects satisfy their clients. What we do is to help them avoid juggling multiple markets sourcing for materials to and fro. To this end, our customers trust us to deliver their materials to their site when they need them.
In terms of sales, client satisfaction, and successful projects, how has MaterialsPro made an impact in the past two years?
In the past two years, we’ve worked with various clients, including medium-sized construction firms and recognisable construction firms in the industry. We’ve delivered over 50,000 tons of materials to project sites. We currently have over 50 partners who are satisfied with the kind of work we do. We have partnered with major stakeholders, including the Nigerian Institute of Builders, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, and real estate stakeholders and companies. We have put our footprint down as the reliable procurement platform people trust. And we’ve not relented in our effort to continue to push the gospel and let even more people know why there are major challenges in the procurement of construction materials, including that of inflation and how we are helping to navigate them.
Our aim has generally been to ensure our clients can continue to embark on building projects while thinking relatively little about the hassle associated with procuring building materials. Here, too, we have seen noticeable progress.
Where do you hope to see MaterialsPro in the next few years?
In the next few years, I want MaterialsPro to become the go-to platform and a one-stop online store for construction materials.
Besides this, I want to see us become the first portal through which construction experts, builders, and homeowners alike turn to source not just their building materials but also technological tools to streamline their operations, logistical, and finance needs.
