an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality . discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page . november 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message vconnect type private company founded 2010 headquarters marina lagos nigeria area served nigeria industry local search and discovery . business ratings reviews and marketplace . website vconnect.com alexa rank 9 668 february 2016 update 1 available in english launched 8 march 2011 ; 5 years ago 2011 03 08 vconnect vconnect global services ltd is a lagos based discovery and engagement platform . 2 the platform helps local business access their markets and also helps customers find local businesses online . vconnect.com was founded by core members of tolaram group in 2010 . deepankar rustagi performs in the capacity of general manager of the company . vconnect s vision is to be the leading business discovery and engagement platform in africa . 3 contents 1 history 2 offices 3 brand evolution 4 marketplace 5 social discovery and engagement platform 5.1 business lists 5.2 reviews and ratings 5.3 activity feed 6 mobile applications 7 awards and achievements 8 references history edit in 2010 after his inability to find nigerian local businesses online deepankar began to assemble a team that would help collect local smes information that can be accessed via a google esque local search engine . 4 he along with his co founder anand chander mohan launched vconnect.com on 8 march 2011 . 5 vconnect is a part of tolaram group which is headquartered in singapore . when the company started out it spent 1 million 6 on business data gathering and optimization . in 2011 vconnect introduced smsconnect . with the functionality users were able to send a fixed number of free smses per day on any local gsm network . 7 by 2013 vconnect listed 700 000 local businesses and in the same year forbes recognized vconnect as one of the hottest tech startups in africa . 8 at the end of 2015 vconnect had 1.2 million businesses listed with a large percentage of its search queries coming from lagos port harcourt and abuja . it s why the three present businesses on its homepage are abuja port harcourt and abuja . 9 offices edit vconnect presently employs 55 people in its nigerian office and 30 in its indian office . its lagos office oversees the company s business development operations while the indian office houses the company s backend software development and digital marketing teams . 10 brand evolution edit in april 2015 vconnect began to rethink its brand outlook . by the end of q1 2015 vconnect had changed its logo and tagline . the logo changed from a stylized vconnect in green colors to with a curved arrow cutting across it into a simpler stylized vconnect in sans serif rendered in orange color . 11 according to the company s official blog the goal of rebranding was so that the company will be seen as being open nimble and forward thinking . 12 the company s tagline also changed from information whenever wherever to find buy sell . marketplace edit by q2 2015 vconnect had gone a step further in its new brand outlook . the company introduced a marketplace as an extension of its initial business directory . the upgrade allowed businesses listed on the platform to also sell their products directly to users . the platform became what deepankar the general manager of the company referred to as a managed marketplace . 13 the vconnect website changed from its google esque one with the lone search bar into a grid or products on sale . according to techcabal a local tech news and analysis website the company was the largest marketplace in nigeria with more than 1.2 million merchants listed . 14 social discovery and engagement platform edit in q2 2016 the company began to revisit its business strategy and redesigned its website again . 15 the new website launched on july 27 2016 . this time the search bar returned in the middle of the homepage alongside new components lists ratings and reviews that the company planned to use to generate genuine interactions between users and businesses . the company s thesis was that as users needs have evolved there s value to be gleaned by helping people make transactional decisions based on complete information reviews ratings and lists available on the main site . the company retained its marketplace but toned it down by giving it less real estate on its homepage . 16 business lists edit one of the new components that came with the 2016 redesign was business lists which is a curation tool that vconnect introduced to help users keep track of businesses that fulfill a certain kind of a need for them . 17 reviews and ratings edit as part of the redesign the company made it easier for people to review businesses by suggesting businesses they could review based on their interactions on the website . the company also changed how reviews appeared on the website . whereas the company s qa team used to vet every review in the new design the company left reviews to appear immediately on the website while the community regulates itself . activity feed edit vconnect also introduced an activity feed which is a real time stream of activities being carried out on vconnect . when a user is logged in they see activities in their network otherwise they see general activities on the network . mobile applications edit vconnect launched mobile applications 18 for android blackberry & ios platform in 2013 . it allows users to find local businesses on the go and uses gps to track their location to find nearest businesses . users can locate businesses using maps and navigate there via get direction feature . one can find best businesses in town based on users ratings and reviews mark them as their favorite and get latest feeds . this app allows users to get a quotation from different suppliers using get suppliers feature . awards and achievements edit vconnect was awarded the 2011 rima foundation award as personalised information product of the year . 19 in 2011 vconnect was the fastest growing web portal in nigeria according to alexa . 20 vconnect was awarded the best resources website of 2012 by the nigerian events awards 21 vconnect won the best mobile information product recognition award by rima foundation 2013 22 references edit vconnect.com site info . alexa . retrieved 2016 02 23 . after pivoting to e commerce last year vconnect has brought back business listings . techcabal.com . retrieved 2016 07 27 . about . vconnect.com . retrieved 2016 08 02 . little giants deepankar rustagi at tedxlagos . youtube.com . retrieved 2016 08 02 . vconnect launches nigeria s local search engine . vanguard nigeria . retrieved 2016 08 02 . we have spent over n157million to optimize data vconnect co founder . sun news online . 9 april 2013 . retrieved 9 april 2013 . vconnect offers users free sms . the guardian . 13 july 2011 . retrieved 27 september 2012 . dead link vconnect.com is one of africa s hottest tech startups . forbes . 2 august 2016 . retrieved 2 august 2016 . dead link 1 local search engine find businesses products services in lagos . vconnect . 2 august 2016 . retrieved 2 august 2016 . about . vconnect.com . retrieved 2016 08 02 . vconnect has a new logo . blog.vconnect.com . retrieved 2016 08 02 . vconnect has a new logo . blog.vconnect.com . retrieved 2016 08 02 . the ceo watch deepankar rustagi vconnect . vanguard tv . retrieved 2016 08 02 . while you weren t looking vconnect became the largest e commerce marketplace in nigeria . techcabal.com . retrieved 2016 08 02 . after pivoting to e commerce last year vconnect has brought back business listings . techcabal.com . retrieved 2016 08 02 . vconnect rolls out upgrades for enhanced sme sales and seamless customer experience . businessday newspaper . retrieved 2016 08 02 . discoverwithvconnect what is a business list . vconnect blog . retrieved 2016 08 02 . your phone as shopping mall with mobile app . vanguard . 10 may 2013 . retrieved 10 may 2013 . vconnect wins personalized information product award . the guardian . 7 december 2011 . retrieved 18 september 2012 . dead link vconnect emerges nigeria s fastest growing web portal . nigerian bulletin . 1 september 2011 . retrieved 18 september 2012 . dead link nigerian event awards . naijalife . retrieved 11 january 2014 . vconnect wins mobile information product recognition at rima awards . humanipo . retrieved 11 january 2014 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title vconnect & oldid 733178588 categories companies of nigeriainternet search enginesnigerian brandscompanies based in lagoscompanies established in 2010hidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead 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