Vmail.ng Is A Nigerian Email Service Provider Startup, How Far Can It Go?

In about nine days Vmail.ng, a Nigerian email provider will officially go live, at least if we are to believe the information available when you access the email online platform.

This is a very ambitious project, and a lot of persons have asked some questions that the developers at Vent Media, owner of Vmail.ng would have thought about.

What is Vmail.ng coming to change? How will the company drive this service to Nigerians who naturally hate trying new things and how can they be sure the guys at Vent Media won’t be reading their personal mails if they eventually sign up? This is a security and privacy issue that has rocked many big startups that collect data from people globally, and it is likely to have similar effect on Vmail.ng

In this article, I will try to analyze all of these questions, then we will sit back and see how far Vmail.ng can go in Nigeria, in terms of penetration.

Is Vent Media Wasting Time With Vmail.ng?

In November 2012, Gmail officially overtook Yahoomail as the biggest email provider in the world. Notice that before then, it was almost impossible to think that Gmail had a chance against the mighty Yahoomail.

Yahoo simply became too comfortable with success, while Google was carrying out research to determine what users want. Once the company got the idea, they started implementing it while Yahoo was still asleep.

Eventually Yahoomail was toppled and Gmail’s authority was further solidified when it quietly acquired Android in 2005, developed the software and released it in 2008, forcing every user of the operating system to first sign up with a Gmail account.

So, Google was like, if you want to use my Android, you must first use my Gmail. Ouch…

The question you would be asking now is, what does Vmail.ng has to offer? We will find out soon enough. Let’s read on.

Why Should I Use Vmail.ng Rather Than Gmail or Ymail?

Nweze Emeka, CEO of Vent Media said in one statement that Vmail.ng will work like every other email providers, they will have a free plan and premium plan for users who want extra disk space and features.

I also know that the company has been planing a kind of partnership with leading telecom companies in Nigeria.

The plan is to offer users of Vmail.ng a subsidize rate when accessing the site, and maybe in future it could be free entirely.

So, why would you rather use Vmail.ng? Firstly, Vmail.ng is a Nigeria email provider owned by two Nigerians. It is high time we come back home, I know this can be difficult for certain people, especially for guys who have used a Nigerian hosting service at one point in their life.

Some of these so-called Nigerian hosting companies have forced certain people out of business, while others simply disappear from the internet. You can imagine the frustration. I remember one of my hosting issues that prompted my Arvixe Webhost Review, I heard the company is dead or has been bought over.

Alright, back to the subject, I have not used Vmail.ng and I am not sure if there is any kind of beta testing available, but the project really looks promising and once it is launched, we will find out if the service has an answer to a lot of things.

Challenges: Vmail.ng

Like I said earlier, Vmail.ng is launching in a country where people try everything to remain with old ideas.

Migrating to a new platform, means you have to learn, learn how it works and how it operates. Sadly, most Nigerians do not like to learn new things. It may sound cra*y, but that is a statement of fact.

The guys at Vent Media will need to have a huge marketing budget, that is the first step.

I am also not sure about the company’s funding source but it was reported by a gossip blogger that Vmail.ng was sold altogether before launch.

Findings have however showed the information to be false. There is no proof at the time to show that Vent Media has any kind of mega super deca funding, I expect that to change in the future as investors get a clearer picture of how it is going to operate. This is a Nigerian syndrome, they don’t normally like taking risk.

What you can do now, is to support Vmail.ng by becoming the first set of users to make use of the service. The success of Vmail.ng will depend greatly on early adopters of the system. If they say it is genuinely good, and not try to give Nweze Emeka false hope who has become a household name within the Nigeria cyberspace, things will gradually take shape.

How Far Can Vmail.ng Go?

There are a lot of factors that will determine the success or failure of Vmail.ng. Some I have already discussed but we can’t fail to undermine the importance of the company’s infrastructure.

What are the plans for expansion? What if 500,000 people suddenly registers with the service? Do they have already-made plan to absorb such numbers?

Okay, let us assume they have a solution. But will Nweze Emeka not be reading my mails? What if Vmail.ng is hacked? Will my emails be safe?

There are so many questions but the point is this, the service will only get better with feedback from its users. The company will go far if they pay attention to feedback from users and try to implement the most important things while keeping a tab on the non-important things.

To answer this question specifically would be impossible. The only thing we can do now is watch how things goes after the official launch. Until then, I’d keep my fingers crossed.

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