Small Nigerian businesses now have a practical route to managed, enterprise-style phone systems after Lagos-based PressOne converted early customer momentum into a subscription product. Founders Mayowa Okegbenle and Opeyemi Shokunbi designed the startup to fix how small firms handle calls, replacing chains of personal SIMs and missed or dropped connections with a centrally managed service.
The idea dates to 2019, when Okegbenle grew frustrated using his personal number for business. “I just couldn’t fathom the idea of using my personal line for your business,” he said. “I can’t see who is talking to customers, what they are saying. I can’t imagine it.” He built a bespoke call-handling stack from communications APIs, and found most entrepreneurs lacked the time or technical skill to replicate it. That gap became a market opportunity.
PressOne launched commercially in 2021 and had notable uptake by 2022, but the founders discovered that acquiring users was only the start. Retaining customers, making recurring billing work and smoothing cash-flow proved harder in a market where many businesses are not accustomed to subscription payments and where quality depends on external carriers. “When you call a bank, you hear, ‘Welcome to the name of the bank. Press one for this, press two for that,’” Okegbenle said in an interview on Tuesday, September 8. “Why can’t everyone have that? Why is that reserved for banks and big companies?”
Technically, PressOne packages the pieces of cloud telephony into a managed service that maps onto familiar local mobile numbers. Customers can choose a number, configure interactive voice responses, add staff and track interactions from a central dashboard. Okegbenle argues the company effectively created demand by showing entrepreneurs the value of those tools. “Our customers are typically non-consumers of that service,” he said. “What we came to do in the market was, we actually created that market by introducing entrepreneurs and business owners to this.”
Running the product means operating across PBXs, the public switched telephone network, interconnection deals, numbering allocations and regulatory constraints. Operators expect controls because unregulated PBX use can enable caller-ID spoofing and call masking, which affects both cost and trust. That telecom matrix will influence PressOne’s margins and the reliability customers experience.
For PressOne the strategic pivot is clear: convert trials and early adoption into predictable, recurring revenue while managing partner relationships and the regulatory and technical complexity of Nigeria’s telecoms. How well the company executes on retention, billing and carrier management will determine whether fast sign-ups translate into a durable business.
