By Jonah Nwokpoku

Nigeria’s online gifting platform, Suregifts.com.ng has introduced an online solution that leverages technology to drive and improve the process of employee and customer rewards. Suregifts offers a platform for organizations to purchase gift cards for as many employees as they want with each gift card tied to a monetary value which employees can redeem at over 50 top retailers of their choice nationwide.

Speaking on what motivated the solution, the founders, Olaoluwa Samuel-Biyi, Babafemi Lawal and Adeoye Ojo said they understood the role of gifting in corporate culture and how it helps to drive employee motivation.

They said: “The average employee in the Nigerian workforce looks to his rewards as a big part of his motivation towards work; this therefore has made the importance of a rightly motivated employee a major one to every organization. This is the reason why many corporate organizations and employers of labour want to get it right always. We noticed that professionals and business people wanted to reward colleagues and clients but did not know what to get them.”

According to them, “The discovery that one of the biggest headaches to organizations is what to procure, how to procure and the most effective logistics solutions to employ has given us a push in the right direction to introduce this solution. The Human Resources, HR departments of many organizations get regular complaints of employee rewards not done right and the reasons are not farfetched. A reward that does not hold any importance to the receiver cannot really be appreciated as one.”

They argued that 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 comes from rewarding employees.

The trio who also run an online consultancy service that helps prospective customers and human resource managers figure out appropriate gifts or rewards for corporate clients, noted that since the introduction of the platform, the solution has been embraced by many organizations in Nigeria, mostly driven by its cost effectiveness and flexibility of use.

Charles Ojakaro, a human resource person at an oil company, commenting on how his organization has benefited from the solution said: “Rather than deal with the trouble of transporting tonnes of rice to staff members during the Christmas festive season, we just handed them gift cards which they shopped online with for whatever they desired, and was delivered to their homes.”

Also speaking, a Port Harcourt-based employee of a pan-African logistics company who pleaded anonymity narrated how he had racked up N76,000 in rewards for an impressive performance in 2014 but when he travelled to Lagos for the end of year party to pick up his supposed cash bonus he was instead 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,” he said. “We had to buy groceries and a smartphone with it.”

In recent times, Suregifts has powered employee rewards for over 50 organizations including Oando, FBN Capital, Wema Bank, KPMG, DHL, Black House Media and Dangote Sugar.

Suregifts also launched a revamped website recently 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 also incorporates some more innovative ideas to the concept of gifting like 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 gift registry for intending couples.