Welcome to Rate Naija

When I first relocated home, a friend and I had started a blog detailing riotous stories of the BEEG MOVE home. A key feature of that blog was the “Rate Najia” series. Our premise for starting the series? Well, E and I were  deathly terrified of selling out, you know, becoming those returnees who begin to respond to every act of mediocrity (that, sadly, seems to have become the norm with most Nigerian products and services) with the standard, infuriating response, “Well, it’s Naija…” to which I almost always couldn’t help responding to with a forceful “SO WHAT?”

We decided then that we didn’t want to be part of those people who rant and rant and rant about everything  and do NOTHING either so in the interest of that, we launched the RATE NAIJA series where we tried to constructively critique any Nigerian-owned/based product and/or service based on our experiences with said product/service. We wanted to fight back against mediocrity in our own small way and hold businesses to accountability as should be typically.

Unfortunately, time and life kind of got in the way so we became quite lax in updating that blog. However, it was always something I wanted to re-launch when I got the chance (I am an avid fan of Yelp, Foodler, Amazon and pretty much any decent review / rating system so this is actually fun for me) which is why I have now created a new, dedicated site for Rate Naija. So yay, cue applause, I haven’t sold out yet!



Rate Naija, to put it simply, is an online rating blog for any Nigerian product /service / business that I (or someone I know) has had an experience with, positive or negative. Now, I’m not here to bash anyone but I won’t hesitate to be cuttingly critical if need calls for it. After all, if your business is up to par, you should have nothing to be scared of, no? *evil smile*

Also, ’cause I sometimes have a hard time finding certain services / products, I will also be hosting what I call the “Where Can I…?” series where I’ll update on where folks can find this or that, say a good steak or a fab manicure or even something as innocuous as a belly ring!

Now if you’d like to join the fun and rate any experience (positive or negative) you have with any Nigerian-based/owned business, please feel free to send an e-mail to larabrowninc@gmail.com. Ideally, it should be a constructive critique (key word – constructive, ha!) including details of the place, the pros, cons, and suggested areas for improvement, if any.

Couple of notes – First, I’ll be starting off by uploading some of the previous Rate Naija entries I’ve done in the past. Additionally, I’ll probably be dealing mostly with businesses here in Lagos (although again, I’m open to contributions from readers in other states) but plan to eventually expand to have a national coverage if it turns out to be a hit, so help us God.  Finally, I’ll be taking quite the personalized and casual approach to things so don’t be surprised by the personal antidotes I might drop here and there, or be distracted by the seeming lack of order.

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem seems so apt right now. RATE NAIJA!

L.