Nigerian startup Fixr is connecting businesses and individuals with verified technicians, but going beyond simple matchmaking by building integrated systems that give it greater control over service quality and user experience.
Founded in 2023, Fixr is building an infrastructure that makes it easy for anyone to provide and access engineering services, across seven categories – HVAC, renewable energy, electrical and fittings, electronics, fibre and communication, CCTV and surveillance, and smart home and automations.
Through a mobile application and WhatsApp bot, users can request and coordinate with technicians whenever they need to. Technicians earn through commissions and salaries, have an avenue to build a portfolio of work, and work flexibly since they are not constrained to a specific location.
It also builds integrated systems that give it greater control over service quality and user experience.
“For instance, we operate a parts marketplace that ensures technicians can quickly access verified components for repairs, improving predictability and quality assurance,” CEO Ikechi Adolphus said.
Engineering services look simple and straightforward, but have lots of other issues, he said.
“A skill gap in Nigeria and sourcing materials makes it hard to provide the service efficiently. That’s the gap we spotted. Some of our competitors include Wrkman and LaborHack. However, the industry is largely driven by the informal sector and the goal for Fixr is to standardise as much as we can while scaling access,” said Adolphus.
“Our goal is that someone who just moved into a new apartment does not need to depend on recommendations from their personal networks before they can access highly capable technicians to fix engineering problems.:
Currently bootstrapped, Fixr’s immediate uptake has been strong.
“More than 10,000 businesses and individuals have hired technicians through Fixr since we launched. Driven by the need for more stable power access, our solar category has grown tremendously,” Adolphus said.
“Last year, we disbursed over NGN5 billion (US$3.6 million) in solar financing through our finance partners. We also have lots of customers on annual maintenance contracts where we have businesses on retainer.”
Fixr currently operates in Nigeria, with physical offices in six states.
“In Ghana and Kenya, the goal is to use push operations and automate as we grow to scale operations,” Adolphus said.
Fixr is profitable, having pushed to be so from “day 0”.
“We make money through markups on services rendered, fixed rate contracts and service fees for every service rendered,” Adolphus said.
Fixr has experienced lots of issues, primarily with technician competence.
“We now train technicians in-house for this purpose while partnerships with technical institutions in Nigeria help us fill the gap. We’ve also had to deal with not having enough technicians for the requests that come through while the availability of original materials has been a recurring issue,” said Adolphus.
“Consequently, we’ve launched our in-house solution — Plug24 — to provide materials allowing us guarantee quality and speed. Where we can, we build solutions in house to fix some of these issues, but we frequently partner with other businesses where there is alignment.”
