Workstations is a Nigerian startup building custom PCs for users like gamers, animators and video editors in Nigeria.
In 2015, Emmanuel Osho started repairing his friend’s devices in school. Being in a private school that didn’t allow students to leave whenever they wanted, he identified a market and soon, alongside some of his friends, started Tinc. In the beginning, Tinc just focused on providing IT support for students, and eventually other individuals and companies. In the six years since they started, the company has evolved from just providing IT support to building custom PCs for clients and customers.
Custom PCs are specially built for users who have specific needs that a general-purpose PC cannot meet. With custom PCs, users can select the different hardware that makes up their PC, optimising for the specifications or parts that matter more to them. For example, a data scientist might invest in more RAM storage, while an animator will focus more on the Graphic processing unit (GPU). Each PC usually costs nothing less than $1300 because of the specific parts.
According to a forecast study, The Africa Gaming Market size is estimated at USD 1.92 billion in 2023, and is expected to reach USD 3.33 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 11.62% during the forecast period (2023-2028). There’s clearly a demand for custom PCs, as gamers, animators, video editors, etc., need specific hardware and specially built computers to be able to create properly and in due time. Workstations.co (by Tinc) are keen on being one of the suppliers to meet that demand.
Called Workstations.co because the people who use high-end custom computers call them just that; the startup is constantly working to meet this demand. Typically, people who need custom PCs import them from abroad, which often costs more, takes more time and in the case of damaged or defective hardware, have them wait longer for replacements, which sometimes costs them money.
Osho told us in an interview, “For these professionals, getting a custom PC is often the difference between being able to undertake a project or not. Delays in getting custom PCs imply that many hours are lost in productivity as a slower system means longer waiting time.”
Workstations.co not only build these PCs, but also provide IT support in the form of repairs, updates and replacements. Building custom PCs requires in-depth technological knowledge of specifications, parts and even assemblage of these parts. This is the knowledge that Osho and his team have built over the years of identifying, importing and replacing hardware parts in devices they repaired. In the two years since, Osho and his team have built over 50 workstations for 25 customers across different professions in different locations like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Kogi.
According to Osho, there are many opportunities for growth for the startup. “There are a lot of opportunities, from working with more freelancers around the globe to working with global organisations in the core industries that we’re focused on to shipping these same Custom Built Workstations.co PC to other African countries.”
Even though the work is capital intensive, Osho says they’re currently bootstrapping as they make PCs that cost nothing less than $1300.
“Our goal from the onset with every [one] of our products was to get to product market fit before even involving investors. This is so [that] when funds come in, it’ll be used to accelerate growth. Right now, we are still bootstrapping, but we are open to having investment discussions.” Osho says. The startup is also working on a product that can automate their process, therefore saving time.
