Call it convenience or call it survival, but Lagos runs on “I know someone.” The problem is, that system breaks more often than we admit.
13th April 2026
There’s something I’ve been noticing in Lagos recently.
And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
For almost anything you need to get done, people default to a person, not a company.
You want to do landscaping, you’ll probably just stop somewhere, find someone who has plants, and figure it out with them.
An estate wants to pave their roads, they’ll find a guy who says he has done it before and has a few pictures on his phone.
Something breaks in your house, you call Fatai.
Not a business. Not a service. Just… Fatai.
I used to think it was just about price.
But I don’t think that’s entirely true.
Because even when people can afford something more structured, they still don’t go looking for it.
They go for what’s easy:
someone nearby
someone recommended by one person
someone they can call directly
someone they can negotiate with
It’s just simpler.
I had a mold problem in my house recently.
My first instinct was the usual. I asked around.
“Does anyone know someone that does mold treatment?”
Luckily, a friend recommended an actual company. I think they’re called Rektoil or something close.
And the experience was… different.
They showed up in uniform.
Pricing was clear from the start.
Communication was structured. WhatsApp and email.
We booked an actual appointment.
They did the job properly and even shared recommendations after.
Nothing dramatic. Just… everything working the way it should.
And it hit me.
We’ve gotten so used to figuring things out with “one guy” that when you experience something structured, it almost feels unusual.
And then it happened again
This same thing played out in a different way with cleaning. For a while, my friends and I used the same cleaner. Just one guy.
He was actually really good. Showed up on time, did the job well. No complaints.
Then one day, he just… disappeared. Calls didn’t go through. Messages weren’t delivered. Nothing.
And that was it.
No backup. No support. No way to reach “the service” because there was no service. Just a person.
So we switched. We found a cleaning service called Shaare and started using them periodically.
And again, the experience felt different. You could book properly, there was structure and some level of accountability.
They even had insurance. If anything goes missing or gets damaged up to a certain value, you’re covered.
It just gives you a different kind of confidence.
What clicked for me
Both experiences made the same thing clear. It’s not that “one guy” doesn’t work. Sometimes, it works really well but the moment something breaks in that system, you realize there was never a system to begin with.
And to be honest, nothing beats a professional.
Not in theory. In practice. Because the difference is simple.
If something goes wrong with a company, you know where to go.
If something goes wrong with Fatai… you start calling his number and hoping he picks up.
But I also get why this keeps happening.
Dealing with companies here can be stressful in its own way.
Slow responses.
Unclear pricing.
Processes that feel heavier than they need to be.
So people just skip all that and go straight to the person that can “just do it”.
So now you have this weird middle ground in Lagos.
Where for a lot of important things, we’re relying on informal setups to solve real problems.
And it works… until it doesn’t.
You fix something today, and you’re fixing it again in a few months.
You build something, and it starts breaking earlier than it should.
But because it’s familiar, we keep going back to it.
I don’t think this means there aren’t good professionals.
There are.
I just think we've stopped expecting them to.
Fatai isn't winning because he's better. He's winning because we've stopped expecting better.
Why Everyone is Hiring Fatai
Call it convenience or call it survival, but Lagos runs on “I know someone.” The problem is, that system breaks more often than we admit.
13th April 2026
There’s something I’ve been noticing in Lagos recently.
And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
For almost anything you need to get done, people default to a person, not a company.
You want to do landscaping, you’ll probably just stop somewhere, find someone who has plants, and figure it out with them.
An estate wants to pave their roads, they’ll find a guy who says he has done it before and has a few pictures on his phone.
Something breaks in your house, you call Fatai.
Not a business. Not a service. Just… Fatai.
I used to think it was just about price.
But I don’t think that’s entirely true.
Because even when people can afford something more structured, they still don’t go looking for it.
They go for what’s easy:
It’s just simpler.
I had a mold problem in my house recently.
My first instinct was the usual. I asked around.
“Does anyone know someone that does mold treatment?”
Luckily, a friend recommended an actual company. I think they’re called Rektoil or something close.
And the experience was… different.
They showed up in uniform.
Pricing was clear from the start.
Communication was structured. WhatsApp and email.
We booked an actual appointment.
They did the job properly and even shared recommendations after.
Nothing dramatic. Just… everything working the way it should.
And it hit me.
We’ve gotten so used to figuring things out with “one guy” that when you experience something structured, it almost feels unusual.
And then it happened again
This same thing played out in a different way with cleaning. For a while, my friends and I used the same cleaner. Just one guy.
He was actually really good. Showed up on time, did the job well. No complaints.
Then one day, he just… disappeared. Calls didn’t go through. Messages weren’t delivered. Nothing.
And that was it.
No backup. No support. No way to reach “the service” because there was no service. Just a person.
So we switched. We found a cleaning service called Shaare and started using them periodically.
And again, the experience felt different. You could book properly, there was structure and some level of accountability.
They even had insurance. If anything goes missing or gets damaged up to a certain value, you’re covered.
It just gives you a different kind of confidence.
What clicked for me
Both experiences made the same thing clear. It’s not that “one guy” doesn’t work. Sometimes, it works really well but the moment something breaks in that system, you realize there was never a system to begin with.
And to be honest, nothing beats a professional.
Not in theory. In practice. Because the difference is simple.
If something goes wrong with a company, you know where to go.
If something goes wrong with Fatai… you start calling his number and hoping he picks up.
But I also get why this keeps happening.
Dealing with companies here can be stressful in its own way.
Slow responses.
Unclear pricing.
Processes that feel heavier than they need to be.
So people just skip all that and go straight to the person that can “just do it”.
So now you have this weird middle ground in Lagos.
Where for a lot of important things, we’re relying on informal setups to solve real problems.
And it works… until it doesn’t.
You fix something today, and you’re fixing it again in a few months.
You build something, and it starts breaking earlier than it should.
But because it’s familiar, we keep going back to it.
I don’t think this means there aren’t good professionals.
There are.
I just think we've stopped expecting them to.
Fatai isn't winning because he's better. He's winning because we've stopped expecting better.