Suregifts pioneers gift vouchers for Nigerian firms

Nigerian firm suregifts has pioneered gift vouchers for corporate organisations and employers of labour.

Founded by Adeoye Ojo, Babafemi Lawal, and Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi, Suregifts launched January 2014 to enable individual and corporate clients purchase gift vouchers from leading retailers such as Samsung, SPAR/Park ‘n’ Shop, Jumia etc.

“We noticed that professionals and business people want to reward colleagues and clients but do not know what to get them,” says Olaoluwa. The discovery that one of the biggest headaches to organisations is what to procure, how to procure and the most effective logistics solutions to employ has given them a push in the right direction.

The HR departments of many organisations get regular complaints of employee rewards. A reward that does not hold any importance to the receiver cannot be really appreciated.

The concept of gift cards from Suregifts Nigeria has now taken the strain off HR and Procurement managers, as they are now relieved of the worries, tensions and stress that come from rewarding employees. Suregifts offers an easy to use platform for organizations where they can purchase gift cards for as many employees as they want; each gift card is tied to a monetary value which employees can redeems at over 50 top retailers of their choice nationwide.  They also run anonline consultancy service that helps prospective customers and human resource managers’ figure out appropriate gifts or rewards for corporate clients. This solution has been embraced by many organizations in Nigeria as it is cost effective and easy to use.

Charles Ojakaro, a human resource person at a leading oil company, says: “rather than dealing with the trouble of transporting tonnes of rice to staff members during the December festive season, we just handed them giftcards which they shopped online with for whatever they desired, and was delivered to their homes.”  It has also been proven to have put smiles on the faces of employees and their families nationwide.

A Port Harcourt-based employee of a leading pan-African logistics company who pleaded anonymity, had racked up N76, 000 in rewards for an impressive performance last year. He travelled to Lagos for the end of year party to pick up his supposed cash bonus but was surprisingly handed a gift card of equal value.“My wife was glad the remuneration was cashless and that meant I couldn’t squander it on frivolities,” the 30-year-old says. “We had to buy groceries and a Smartphone with it.”

Suregifts has powered employee rewards for over 50 organizations including Oando, FBN Capital, Wema Bank, KPMG, DHL, Black House Media and Dangote Sugar. Just recently a new Suregifts website was launched to adequately cater to the needs of its ever growing users and to add a more personal feel to the gifting process. The new website incorporates some more innovative ideas to the concept to make it a fun one. New innovations include instant SMS delivery of gift cards, options for gifters to choose their own design and print at home, video recording to be sent alongside gift cards and also a gift registers for intending couples.

The core purpose of Suregifts Nigeria, according to its promoters, is to make the art of gifting simpler and richer for everyone.

Meanwhile following a widespread global adoption, Lagos-based ,Suregifts, has begun moves to expand to South Africa and Ghana – two countries where it has noticed significant user base.

Since launch, it has received orders from 17 countries across 4 continents, done hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales and powered employee/customer rewards for over 50 local and international companies like McKinsey & Company, KPMG, DHL, UBA, Oando, FBN Capital, Jobberman, HP, Dangote Sugar and Wema Bank etc.

“We have been able to change the orientation of many executives and HR professionals to see the multiple advantages of using gift cards for employee and customer rewards; we have consequently seen tremendous growth in adoption.”, says Suregifts Co-founder, Adeoye Ojo.