Nigeria’s fragmented artisan economy is getting another digital marketplace as Squegy launches a platform designed to connect customers with plumbers, electricians, carpenters, cleaners, painters, technicians and other skilled service providers.
The platform is targeting a familiar problem for Nigerian households and businesses: finding a reliable artisan often depends on personal referrals, WhatsApp groups, neighbourhood recommendations or contacts saved on someone’s phone.
Squegy wants to move that process into a more structured digital environment where customers can discover artisans, review their previous work and manage transactions, while service providers get a platform to showcase their skills and reach customers outside their existing networks.
The company was founded by Samuel Boma Amakiri, whose experience trying to find reliable service providers after moving into a new apartment helped shape the idea behind the platform.
Turning artisan discovery into a marketplace
The core proposition behind Squegy is relatively simple: bring a traditionally offline service economy into a digital marketplace.
Customers can use the platform to find professionals across different service categories, while artisans can create a digital presence around their work.
That changes the traditional referral model in which an artisan’s access to customers can depend heavily on who already knows them.
For example, an experienced carpenter may have completed dozens of projects but have few ways to demonstrate that experience to someone looking for a carpenter for the first time.
Squegy allows artisans to showcase their work digitally, including before and after records of completed jobs.
This means completed projects can serve as part of an artisan’s portfolio and potentially become a reference point for future customers.
The model effectively introduces a digital reputation layer to a sector that has historically relied heavily on word of mouth.
Payments become part of the marketplace
Squegy is also addressing another point of friction in artisan transactions: payment.
When customers hire unfamiliar service providers, paying upfront can create uncertainty. Artisans, meanwhile, can face the opposite problem of completing a job without certainty around when payment will be received.
The platform incorporates an escrow based payment system designed to hold funds during the service process and release them according to agreed transaction terms.
For customers, the structure is intended to provide an additional layer around payments. For artisans, it creates a clearer process for receiving payment for completed work.
This makes the platform more than a directory of service providers. The company is attempting to build the transaction layer around the relationship between customers and artisans as well.
A digital channel for artisans to find customers
The opportunity Squegy is pursuing extends beyond helping Nigerians find someone to fix a leaking pipe or repair an electrical fault.
A large number of artisans depend on repeat business, referrals and personal networks to generate jobs. While those networks can provide a steady stream of customers, they can also limit how far an artisan’s services can reach.
A digital marketplace changes that dynamic by allowing artisans to become discoverable to people actively searching for their services.
Their profiles, portfolios and completed projects can potentially become a digital representation of their work.
For customers, this creates a wider pool of professionals to consider. For artisans, it provides another route to customer acquisition beyond existing relationships.
Trust sits at the centre of the model
Trust is particularly important when digital platforms connect customers with people who may need access to their homes, offices or business premises.
A plumber, electrician, cleaner or technician may spend significant time inside a customer’s property. As a result, customers need more than just a phone number before deciding who to hire.
Squegy’s approach combines artisan profiles, examples of previous work and structured payments to provide more information around the hiring process.
The company is also effectively giving artisans an opportunity to build their reputation through their work on the platform.
That could become important as the marketplace grows. In an industry traditionally driven by personal recommendations, a digital record of previous work can provide another way for service providers to demonstrate their capabilities.
Building digital infrastructure around an offline economy
Squegy’s launch comes as digital platforms continue to change how Nigerians access everyday services.
Food, transportation, payments and accommodation have all developed digital channels that allow customers to discover and transact with service providers without relying entirely on personal networks.
Artisan services remain significantly more fragmented.
Someone looking for a painter may still ask friends for recommendations. A household that needs a plumber could search through old WhatsApp messages, while a business looking for a technician may depend on an existing contact.
Squegy is positioning its marketplace as an attempt to bring that fragmented discovery process into one digital environment.
The larger opportunity, therefore, is not simply connecting customers with individual artisans. It is creating digital infrastructure around an informal service economy that has historically operated largely offline.
The marketplace challenge ahead
For Squegy, building the platform is only one part of the challenge.
Marketplace businesses need activity on both sides. Customers need enough quality service providers to make the platform useful, while artisans need enough customers to make maintaining a presence on the platform worthwhile.
That makes trust, service quality and marketplace liquidity important factors as Squegy develops.
The company is entering a market where the need already exists. Nigerians regularly require electricians, plumbers, cleaners, painters, carpenters, technicians and other skilled professionals, while those professionals need reliable ways to access new customers.
Squegy’s proposition is to connect both sides through a digital marketplace built around discovery, portfolios, reputation and structured payments.
If that model gains traction, the familiar Nigerian question of “Do you know anybody?” could gradually have a digital alternative.
Instead of searching through contacts or asking a neighbour for a recommendation, customers could increasingly begin their search on a marketplace built specifically for finding the skilled professionals they need.
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