Autochek, the automotive technology company that aims to build solutions for the African market, has raised $3.4 million in a pre-seed funding round, co-led by TLcom Capital and 4DX with inclusion from Golden Palm Investments, Lateral Capital, Kepple Africa Ventures, MSA Capital, and a number of local angel/seed investors. The start-up will use the investment to grow its Nigeria and Ghana markets and will see further investment in technology and growing its teams. 

The start-up will use the investment to accelerate product development, grow its teams and grow its Nigeria and Ghana markets. Combining technology and data to power every process of the automotive transactional ecosystem, Autochek will transform the automotive buying and selling experience for African consumers, by creating a single marketplace for all automotive needs. This will include everything from sourcing and financing transactions to after sales support and warranties. 

Through the acquisition of Cheki Nigeria and Cheki Ghana, Autochek already has more than 20,000 unique vehicles listed on its platform, and more than 12,000 dealers and private sellers, as well as a range of corporate partners and customers. Leveraging its extensive on-the-ground network of dealers and an experienced leadership team, the new platform and mobile app has been designed to address the pain points of buying, selling and repairing cars in Africa such as access to finance (for both consumers and dealers), maintenance and insurance, and bring greater value to car dealerships by enabling and enhancing automotive commerce across the continent. Autochek will also facilitate cheaper and more effective transactions for dealers and corporate partners, leveraging its industry relationships to buy and sell vehicles on behalf of the customer for the best price and ensuring value for money.

Via the Autochek mobile app (Android app now available. iOS app coming soon), car owners and potential owners will have access to loans, auctions, trade-ins and maintenance. Automotive dealers will have access to real time car auctions, fleet management, marketing support and standardised reports on car conditions and market value, as well as inventory management, CRM for lead management and garage management systems for car workshops. Financial institutions like banks and fintechs will also have access to a credit management dashboard that will make it easier for them to access customers.  By focussing on the demands of both customers and dealers, Autochek is building an ecosystem of solutions specifically designed to deliver an unrivalled customer experience for the African automotive market.

Etop Ikpe, Founder and CEO of Autochek, said, “This early stage investment allows us to get started with the work of developing technology products and services that will transform automotive trade on the continent, whereby we significantly improve transactions and after care support for car owners, dealers and other stakeholders across the African automotive industry.

“Building on the solid work that the Cheki Nigeria and Ghana teams have done over the last ten years, we  are already dispersed across multiple locations and applying the technology built and developed by our Autochek auto-tech experts, we are well positioned to scale quickly, as demand for reliable and well priced cars on the continent grow. With this pre-seed round and our seasoned strategic investors on board, we are working to transform the automotive sector on the continent”

Africa is widely regarded as the final frontier for the global automotive industry, with high growth prospects over the next decade. Despite the impact of the COVID-19, car sales are expected to grow across the continent, with a corresponding rise in demand for support services. However, a range of existing challenges, including limited access to finance and an opaque and fragmented marketplace means car owners and dealers do not always enjoy the best experience.

I’m sure on LinkedIn you have regularly come across posts that invite you to ‘follow’ the post author.

You may also have something turn up in your messages with the heading ‘promoted’, or you may have noticed a section under your ‘My Network’ tab that lists ‘Recommended people for you’ each of which invite you to ‘follow’.

The question is… what credentials merit that you follow them?

That they are an eminent person in their profession – perhaps, or that they have a huge following already – maybe…  But LinkedIn is a community, and in any community, engaging with others should be a key component.

More importantly,  engagement is about listening as much as speaking. One of the things that should concern you about the human qualities of those you follow, should be their willingness to listen and participate outside the closed space of their own posts and articles.

It is easy to find out if members are sufficiently reciprocating, if they are ‘listening’ as much as ‘speaking’

Scroll down to the section in their profile called ‘Activity’ and in the right top corner of the section click ‘See All’. Scroll through their participation history as far as you have patience, and check how often they respond to or contribute to content that isn’t their own or that of a co-worker.

If you can’t find anything, then they are preaching but not listening. They are failing to engage on equal terms with their community.

What to do next ? Well if you don’t like their sense of self obsession, you can just decide to ‘unfollow’ them. Open their profile, at the top near their picture, move to the extreme right to find the ‘more’ button, click on it and select ‘unfollow’ from the drop down menu.

If they won’t listen to others, you don’t need to listen to them!

The BEST INFUENCERS are those open to being INFLUENCED by others for the BETTER.

Already in the Board but sharing here for those yet to get to the Board. This is our Tekedia Live schedule for this week. I begin it later today. Then Comfort Aruosa-Osemwegie ACSI,CFC of DealRoom Nigeria will follow tomorrow.  On Saturday, market makers and rainmakers duo of  Azeez Lawal of TrustBanc Capital and Babalola of Muster will lead one on Capital Market and Startup Fundraising.

Wed, 7pm | Scaling through Partnerships, MultiChoice/DStv BetKing Deal | Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Thurs, 12noon | Raising Capital for SMEs | Comfort Aruosa-Osemwegie, CEO DealRoom Nigeria

Sat, 7pm | Capital Market Operations & Startup Funding | Azeez Lawal, Trustbanc Capital & Ibraheem Babalola, Muster

Innovators co-learn at Tekedia Mini-MBA. Register for the next edition.

The quality of our programs at the Tekedia Institute is anchored on the excellence of our Faculty. I am happy that we have a new Faculty member. Ibraheem Babalola is a business leader who speaks on important market issues in CNBC, Channels TV, etc. Our entrepreneurship and investment tracks just got better. Mr. Babalola, welcome to Tekedia Institute.

You might have read that the Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, has left PDP for APC. I smile because many people are surprised.

The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has finally confirmed his defection to the ruling All Progressive Congress(APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He told journalists in Abakaliki on Tuesday that he had no regrets leaving the PDP.

The governor said he moved to the APC because of “injustice” meted out to the South-east by the PDP.

He said that he had no deal with the APC or any member of the party with regards to the zoning of the presidential position to the region.

He said: “I want to clear the air that I never sought (for) PDP presidential ticket and I will not. So whoever that said that I moved to APC because they refused to zone the ticket to me is being very mischievous.

I predicted this move and wrote thus in October 2018, shortly after the coronation of Buhari and Osinbajo:

By this time in 2022, APC will select Bola Tinubu as the presidential flagbearer of the party for Election 2023. Mr. Tinubu will select a retiring governor from the southeast as his running mate. The main goal is to quench any agitation that 2023 will be the turn for southeast.

The present governor of Ebonyi state will likely be his running mate. Engr David Umahi will win with PDP in 2019 but will decamp to APC shortly. His “friendship” comment on President Buhari was not a lapse.

Largely, the best time to decamp as a governor is during the second term as you may not have to face any regional election. Decamping will be very popular because in my model, I expect Buhari to win in 2019 if he continues to show physical energy as he has recently demonstrated.

We will wait for 2022 for the other parts of the prediction to come to pass. Engr Umahi will run for the presidency on the APC platform. He will lose. Then Tinubu will select him as his running mate. As I wrote in 2018, “Tinubu/Umahi will be formidable”. And from all indications, APC will move power to the southwest.

Ahead on 2023 – The Bola Tinubu and David Umahi Presidential Ticket