OLeads is an online tool that enables Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) easily create websites that will help them generate leads and promote their products and services. OLeads was launched in 2019 by Opera, the owners of OPay.
Per Wetterdal VP of Global Business Development at Opera at the launch of OLeads explained that, Nigeria was undergoing rapid digitization with an online population of over 110 million people which is estimated to grow to 188 million within the next four years.
He further explained that OLeads will provide millions of Nigeria businesses the opportunity to use this digital transformation to reach Opera’s massive customer base.
SMEDAN (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency Nigeria) reports that there are over 40 million SMEs in the country which shows that SMEs are essential in the Nigerian economy.
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Opera Limited immediately after the launch in 2019 explained the reason for the platform in an article. The article is quoted below;
“Opera launches OLeads in Nigeria to enable growth for more than 40 million small and medium size enterprises. The new online lead generation platform integrates seamlessly into Opera’s scalable advertising ecosystem in Nigeria.
Opera Limited, one of the world’s major browser developers and leader in AI-driven digital content, announced the launch of OLead, an online lead generation platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
OLeads offers a unique tool to maximise SMEs’ visibility and online presence, increasing awareness about their business, and helping ramp up sales”.
Today, SMEs are the backbone of the Nigerian economy. According to the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), there are more than 40 million SMEs in Nigeria.
However, one of their major challenges is leveraging the rapid digital transformation as a means to scale their business since their operations today are mainly offline.
In addition, half of the Nigerian population is already connected to the internet with further adoption expected. With the release of OLeads in Nigeria, Opera is making the next leap forward in its strategy to transform the digital advertising ecosystem in the country by removing barriers for local businesses to come online.
“Nigeria is undergoing a rapid digitalization with already more than 110 million people on boarded to the internet, and its estimated to grow to 188 million within the next four years,”
said Per Wetterdal, VP of Global Business Development at Opera.
“With OLeads, we are enabling millions of businesses to participate in this digital transformation, providing them a platform with user friendly tools and a fast and easy way to come online, reaching Opera’s massive user base.”
With OLeads, SMEs in Nigeria can easily create their first mobile websites and landing pages for their marketing campaigns. Oleads integrates seamlessly into the contextual advertising platform, Opera Ads, with direct access to Opera’s huge user base in Nigeria.
With the user-friendly interface of OLeads, any SME or business owner can create a mobile website from scratch in less than five minutes. The platform does not require any programming or design skills.
Once an SME registers on the OLeads website, they will be able to choose between a wide variety of website templates that they can personalize according to the needs and goals of their business.
By dragging and dropping text, images and call-to-action modules, the SME can have their business landing page up and running in minutes. The platform will also allow business owners to manage the data generated from their website.
More than 3,000 businesses already on board for OLeads. Since its soft launch in Nigeria in September 2019, OLeads has already onboarded more than 3,000 businesses to the platform in just one month. With this milestone, OLeads is gaining a strong position in the Nigerian advertising market as a trustworthy platform that has rapidly grown its user base in a short period of time.
“With the launch of OLeads, we are now helping more Nigerian businesses find their target audiences online,” said Wetterdal. “We have received very positive feedback from the SMEs we have onboarded during the soft launch of the platform, and we are excited to offer this service to millions of businesses in the country.”
Accelerating the digital transformation of Africa, Opera has significant ambitions for accelerating the digital transformation of the African region.
In the 2019 edition of the State of the Mobile Web, Opera reported a user baser of nearly 120 million African users out of its 350 million global user base.
This includes the use of the popular Opera Mini browser, Opera browser, and the standalone news application Opera News, which became the world’s most downloaded news app in the second quarter of 2019.
Opera has also set new growth plans in Africa by expanding its product portfolio beyond mobile applications and introducing new innovative online marketing platforms such as Opera Ads, OLeads and OList.
With this strategy, Opera plans to continue leading the digital shift in Africa and maximize the visibility of millions of African businesses online.
Companies who are interested in registering on OLeads can do so by visiting www.oleads.com or by sending an email to [email protected].
Not long after the launch of OLeads, Opera also announced the installation of new servers to improve browsing experience.
As part of it’s strategies to continue leading the digital transformation of Africa, Opera Limited officially announced the installation of it’s new local servers hosted within MDXi Lekki data centre in Lagos, Nigeria, which is also the largest leading data centre in West Africa.
With the installation of the new servers, Opera is improving the online experience of it’s user base in Nigeria. The servers increased the speed of online browsing, making the connection time four times faster than before when using mobile apps like the Opera Mini browser and Opera News.
The test results proved that the response time to Opera servers has tremendously improved, with a 4× improvement in the response time for the users with the fastest network conditions. due to this overall browsing experience has also improved.
