This month on GatePass __ July 2021

We hope you’ve had an amazing week. This month, our newsletter features new app updates, tips for using the GatePass mobile app, communities updates and our latest Routes story.

We’re also introducing two new segments:
– The GatePass Story: in this segment we’ll breakdown the ideas behind our feature list and how we’re designing GatePass.
– The GatePass Fireside Chat:  Once every month, on Clubhouse, we invite industry professionals to discuss trends, challenges, opportunities, future plans and much more, in relation to real estate and proptech. In this segment we’ll share key insights from previous sessions.

Mobile app update
Great news! We recently made some updates to the GatePass mobile app and the reception from our users has been awesome. Below are two of our latest updates.
Staff Images
In addition to creating staff passes residents can now add images of their domestic staff to the app. This update is designed to help security personnel identify domestic staff before checking them in and out of the community.

Timed Passes
This update enables residents to set time limits on visitor passes. If a guest arrives after the time frame set by the resident, their pass expires and the security and resident will be notified automatically. As much as we encourage punctuality, using this feature is optional: if a resident choses not to set a time limit for a pass, the pass will automatically expire at 11:59pm on the day it was created.

Feature Review
We appreciate the feedback you have provided us so far and we look forward to hearing more from you. Here’s a sneak peek of a design we hope to implement soon.

The wellbeing of our users is important to us and based on feedback we received from residents about adding their emergency contacts to the app, we’ve redesigned the entire emergencies feature to accommodate this request and also serve users better.

The existing design has the panic buttons and SOS contacts on the home page, but with this redesign, all emergency-related segments of the app are now housed in the emergencies page, which can be found on the app’s bottom navigation bar.

How does this work?
– Tapping the emergencies button opens up the emergencies page which contains the panic buttons and a link to the emergency contacts page.
– Tapping emergency contacts opens the emergency contacts page which contains SOS contacts for emergency organizations, your emergency contacts, emergency contacts added by other members of your household (for shared accommodation) and the emergency contacts for members of your community who choose to make their emergency contacts visible to other members of the community.
– Residents can add up to 3 emergency contacts each and after creating an emergency contact residents can decide to make the contact visible to either their entire community or just the community’s management.Awesome right? We would like to get your thoughts on this update. Tell us what you think here. We appreciate the feedback.

Quick Tip
Today’s tip is on the complaints and service request feature.
When your community manager updates the status of a complaint to resident review, if the work done is satisfactory, mark the complaints as resolved – this helps keep your complaint list tidy and also allows the facility manager focus on other complaints that need attention.
Community Update
This month, we’re happy to welcome residents of Golf View Estate to GatePass! GatePass is now present in 10 communities and 409 homes, helping 533 residents across these communities to improve communication and administration.




Routes by GatePass
GatePass is mapping African stories one route at a time. This project sits at the intersection of life stories and mobility in African contexts. Through routes, we explore how African lives are shaped by mobility, migration, journeys and mode of transport; and how places take on the stories of the people who have visited or passed through them. 

Today’s Route features Ebun Omeiza, the Assistant Community Manager at Workstation. She moved to Lagos from Plateau State in 2016.

Read more on this here



GatePass Story
We’re launching a new series where, each week, we’ll take you behind the scenes on the GatePass app. Our most recent story is on the guest pass feature. Did you know that GatePass first launched as a visitor management app? (That was how we got our name!). We noticed that getting access to gated communities and estates meant really long waiting hours for guests and poor security for residents, and thought there had to be a better way.
Read more on this here

Fireside Chat
We’ve had some interesting conversations over the last few months and we would be depriving you of some insightful learnings by sharing details from just one fireside chat. Here are some of the topics we’ve discussed so far, along with quotes from some of the speakers in attendance.The Speakers From Our First Fireside Chat.

Topic: Hacking real estate investments as a young Nigerian

Question: Tips to avoid fraud.
– “To invest in property in Nigeria as a young millennial, the best way to have peace of mind is to get a certified and qualified real estate agent to help with all your needs.” – Ibukunoluwa Suleiman. Real Estate Broker, Akin Olawore & Co.

Question: Why is real estate an attractive investment?
– “Real estate provides unmatched capital appreciation opportunities. Land in Oniru was N800k per plot mid 2000’s. Today, a 1 bedroom apartment is N45m” – Wole Lawal. General Manager Operations, Seagle Properties.

Question: How are property technology startups improving access to real estate in Nigeria?
 “For passes created for visitors, we’ve noticed a higher proportion of female active users as the platform safeguards them from sexist behavior from security personnel and facility staff.” – Muyideen Dosumu. CEO, GatePass.

Topic: So you studied real estate, what’s next?

Question: Why does real estate appear unsexy and backward? 
– “Education is the first step to demystifying the jargon surrounding real estate.” – Haajara Iyal. Founder, The Housing Collective.

Question: It’s generally a traditional industry, where do you think the industry is headed?
– “There’s a shift to skills that are not typically taught in school.” – Nike Agbakosi. Consulting Lead, Jobberman.

Feature In
Here are updates from events we recently participated in.



Representative for West Africa at the BMW Foundation and MIT Solve Respond Accelerator focus group session on Digital Solutions to create circular and sustainable local economies.



Panelist on the API Africa Proptech Forum on Residential Technology watch full session here.



Moderating the panel at the Lagos Real Estate Fest on Technology in the Property and Facility Management Space.



Finalists for the West Africa Region at the Africa Proptech Forum.Before we go, we’d like to hear about your worst community experience. Share your stories with us here.

Have an amazing month!

best,
The GatePass team.

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