By Rita Chioma

Lagosmatchmaker’s in-house dating coach, Didi Edet is the first United States Certified and award winning dating coach in Nigeria. She has been matchmaking for over 7 years but got her certification from the United states in 2015.

She has her first degree in Economics from the prestigious Howard University in Washington, DC and her masters in international strategy from the same University famous Prince Williams attended, University of St-andrews, Scotland.

The platform Lagosmatchmaker was created as a need for privacy in this dating age. It is a privacy focused matchmaking platform for singles above 25 years to meet like minded individuals. It has now been extended to every location around the world.

In this interview with Vanguard News, Didi Edet shares some dating tips for those stuck at home due to Covid-19 pandemic, more insight on Lagosmatchmaker and of course the privacy of her clients.

What are the type of clients you have on the platform?

We have a huge variety of clients from the never married,  divorced,  single parents,  those that lost their spouse and more.

In terms of reasons,  we do have extremely busy clients that don’t have the time for a social life.  We also have clients who just want the additional help with their dating life. We are the people you outsource your dating life too.

The minimum age on the platform is 25yrs. We have currently had an increase in the number of older clients that have signed up.  We have a lot of females ages 40 to 55 and males ages 45 to 65. We aim to help everyone find that happiness that comes with companionship.

What is dating in quarantine about?

It’s an extension of lagosmatchmaker that focuses on helping individuals have an actual dating experience without physically meeting up. It’s like a blind date and a speed date wrapped up in a bow. It has already connected so many individuals and you can watch a short clip of their dates on @lmmmixer.ng or a longer version on our YouTube channel.

What type of clients participate in the dating in quarantine?

Any individuals, single and trying to find love can participate. Unlike @lagosmatchmaker that is very focused on privacy,  @lmmmixer.ng Is more visible.

How did you start with lagosmatchmaker?

The platform was created to match single individuals above 25years but with a huge focus on privacy. I did take a couple of courses in a bid to get certified to be more knowledgeable in this area of expertise.

What is the difference between online dating and using a matchmaking platform?

A matchmaking platform comes with support that an online service might not be able to provide. The platform works manually too so you do get to communicate with actual humans that can give you their perspective on things and not an automated service.

What expectations do your clients have with meeting other single individuals?

They do expect the best. Some expectation are reasonable and some are so out there which is what we call the search for the unicorn. With the new age and availability of options,  people don’t put it as much effort to get to know a person and at the slightest view of imperfection, the person wants to move on to the next single individual. The process involves us being transparent and clear on giving dating advice to the clients.

Why did you go into matchmaking?

Lagosmatchmaker is a privacy focused matchmaking platform for like minded individuals and was birthed out of the need for privacy in certain aspects of our lives like dating. A lot of my friends I spoke to wanted to be able to search for a date without leading with who they are.

What are some of the challenges you have encountered with a new line of business in Nigeria?

I have encountered a lot of challenges. The fact that matchmaking is fairly new to Nigeria in the business sector means there is no blue print or previous marketing plan to follow.

This was a major challenge to learn how to market and educate the mass about what we do and the process.  We are privacy focused so we have to explain to clients that we don’t have pictures posted of individuals. Things are done manually which doesn’t make the process as efficient but it leads to better results and we are highly focused on the results.

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Another major challenge was getting good staff. That took about a year to find the perfect people that understand the job, get them a little bit of training and it’s been a blessing to have people who genuinely care about the clients like I do.

Another challenge is explaining to people what we do.  Some people think we give relationship advice which is not what we do.  We focus on the dating aspect of life because this is an area I have been certified in and also as a single individual dating, things in this aspect are fresher to my understanding. We  are linking individuals together and that’s basically it.

Why are you manual in your process instead of automated like everyone else?

Being automated like everyone would definitely be less work for us. I would not even need as much staff in an automated service but we found out after moving from automated back to manual that our results were higher. It’s just different when you can communicate with a person that talks you through the process and tries to understand the difference between what you want and what you need.

The manual process allows to be like a friend to you introducing you to our other friends and rooting for it to work out.

Can clients see the pictures of people before they meet them?

Our platform is privacy focused so this means privacy is our highest priority.  We don’t circulate or post pictures of members. However,  we can exchange pictures of members with the permission of that party. We have had a lot of successful matches with this formula so we know it’s something that works for us.

What advice would you give to singles out there?

I feel everything you want in life can be achieved if we put effort in it.  If you want a job,  you get qualifications  and make the effort to apply for it.  I feel effort should be applied to dating too as opposed to sitting and hoping for things to magically fall in place,  I feel if you want love,  put the effort to search for it.  We are here to make that an easy process.

Can you tell us more about yourself?

I am Certified Dating Coach with Lagosmatchmaker. We focus on connecting singles above 25 years and letting them enjoy the dating process. We do not divulge into the relationship aspect which is a bit more broad. We focus on meeting an individual,  having a first and second date.

Vanguard