virtual reality

Here is a mistake a lot of hopeful founders make calmly, without telling anyone. They see a flashy Virtual Reality demo, feel the thrill of it, and immediately start planning a business around the headset itself, as if owning the shiny equipment is the same thing as having a business model. Then they spend money importing the gadget before they have found one paying customer who actually needs the experience.

Virtual Reality, VR for short, is technology that puts a screen and sound right in front of your eyes and ears so convincingly that your brain believes you are somewhere else. Put on the headset and you might be standing in a virtual classroom in Lagos, walking through a house in London that has not even been built yet, or trying on clothes in a shop without leaving your bedroom.

For entrepreneurs, the real money is rarely in selling the headset. It is in what you build for it. A Nigerian builder could use VR to walk a client in Diaspora through a proposed duplex in Lekki before one block is laid, saving both of them flights and arguments. A driving school in Abuja could let learners practise busy junctions in VR before they ever touch a real steering wheel, cutting down on damaged bumpers and frayed nerves.

In the United Kingdom, estate agents already use VR tours so a buyer in Manchester can view a flat in London on a Tuesday evening without booking a single train ticket. That is the pattern worth copying, solving a real, expensive, everyday problem with an experience that saves people time or money or fear.

The lesson for anyone dreaming of a VR business is simple. Do not fall in love with the headset. Fall in love with the problem it solves for a specific paying customer, then build the smallest possible version of that solution before you spend a single naira on fancy hardware.