Talent scarcity and high turnover are among the biggest challenges Startups face. So engaging and retaining employees from day one should be a priority. A strong employee onboarding process can help you accomplish that, while also helping new hires ramp up faster, so they can be productive sooner.

Research by Brandon Hall Group found that businesses with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%. In addition, since the pandemic, startups globally have abandoned their offices and are now embracing the remote or hybrid work model. However, startups need to find a way to ensure employees maintain the Connection among themselves and with the company.

Beyond the internal connections, startups who are able to connect with their audiences both socially and emotionally will stay top of mind. 

WiiCreate is a merch platform that is helping businesses bridge that gap. The startup, which was founded by Oreoluwa Shonibare and Donald Onwochie in 2019 enables startups to connect deeply with employees, clients, and ecosystem stakeholders.

“We want to help build connections socially and emotionally for businesses with their target audience. Our merch should elicit positive emotions from the recipients about our clients,” Oreoluwa Shonibare, WiiCreate’s co-founder and CEO, told Bendada.com. 

WiiCreate officially started by launching a MerchBox in 2020. The Merch Box which featured t-shirts, drinkware, notebooks, pens, bags, and tech accessories among other merchandise helped companies to express their brand identity, influence, style, and culture.

Branded merchandise is any item that has a company’s logo or other elements of the company’s brand identity. Over the years, the platform has been at the centre of creating memorable merchandise for startups to distribute to employees, clients, stakeholders, and as gifts at tech events and conferences. 

For companies looking for an effective way to reach more people, using branded merchandise is an effective way to reach more people and get your audience excited about your products.

One way to use merch is sharing it with your employees, especially for onboarding new hires. This helps them connect to the new brand image and makes them proud ambassadors of your brand. 

You can also use merch to announce rebranding to your existing customers, clients and partners. This can be done by sending premium merch items that conspicuously reveal the new rebranding.

Merch can additionally be an amazing way to reward your loyal customers and engineer word-of-mouth marketing. When people use a company’s branded merch, it’s easier for them to talk about that company because branded merch is a natural conversation starter. For instance, when someone sees you wearing a branded wristband or t-shirt, they can ask if that’s where you work or what the company does.

"With WiiCreate,” Shonibare reiterated. “We want our clients to leave a lasting impression

on the minds of their customers. Our focus is on the connections and use case the recipients get from using the merch. Once they use or see these merchandise, the recipients should think positively about the company."

Currently, WiiCreate has over 200 unique products that cut across various categories like apparel, drinkware, notebooks, bags, tech accessories and promotional giveaways.

The platform has also worked with startups like Moniepoint, Flutterwave, OctaFX, Kuda, Paystack, Piggyvest, and Cowrywise. Since relaunching in 2020, WiiCreate has sold over 200,000 products to over 450 startups across Africa. However, Shonibare said that we are looking to grow further across Africa and beyond.

“Inspite of the growth we’ve recorded so far, we want to expand and serve more African countries. Our goal at WiiCreate is to be the one-stop merch platform for high-growth companies. We want to be top of mind when startups think about building a social and emotional connection with their audience through gifts.”

Introducing the Create Conference

Top companies across the globe understand the place of relationships as the bedrock of business and life. With the right connections, it's easier to bring visions to life. Therefore, learning how to build social and emotional connections with your community gives your business an edge. 

To help your business achieve this, WiiCreate is organising its first-ever virtual conference tagged - The Create Conference. The virtual conference will be held on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, between 4:00 PM and 4:30 pm WAT.

At the event, participants can expect thought-provoking discussions will discover the power of community and learn tools to build stronger connections with those who matter to them.

The event is free, so all you need as a participant is to register and tune in online.