After studying in Italy, working with firms in Ghana, and freelancing in Nigeria, Tomi Bambgelu started her own design company, Spazio Ideale.

Spazio Ideale, “Ideal Space” in Italian, is an interior design firm inspired by Tomi’s experience on Italian grounds.

Having worked with brands such as Sheraton, Kuda, Paystack, Sterling Bank, Techpoint, and Lazerpay, Spazio Ideale expanded its capacity to partner with international brands.

What makes Tomi’s story even more unique is that she didn’t study a design-related course at the university.

Grit is the word that best describes Tomi’s story

Even though Tomi always wanted to be a designer, she had to study computer science at the university.

But that didn’t stop her. After graduating from the university, Tomi enrolled in a design school in Italy.

She also worked with an interior design company in Ghana before she decided to move back to Nigeria.

While Tomi worked in corporate jobs with her computer science degree, she freelanced with designers i1n Lagos until she got her first client.

That project gave her the courage and confidence to launch her company, Spazio Ideale, in 2016.

Having worked on many projects, Tomi Bambgelu describes her best projects by Spazio Ideale so far.

“Every design project is unique. But as a design company, any project that gives us creative freedom while meeting clients’ requirements, functionality, and aesthetics is a favorite.”

Although Spazio Ideale started in Nigeria, its work started attracting international clients. However, this growth meant trouble with receiving international payments.

Navigating cross-border payments

Surely, all businesses face challenges, but as a locally-registered company working with international clients, the terrain is more challenging.

For example, in 2021, Tomi’s team secured a design project in South Africa. However, the project was delayed for months because of cross-border payment issues.

The same thing happened when the company’s operations moved to Dubai. However, one day, during a brainstorming session with her team, they discovered the crypto stablecoins option.

Stablecoins, are a form of cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset. Stablecoins, unlike bitcoin and Ethereum, are not exposed to typical crypto volatility.

An example is Tether USD (USDT), which has the same value as the US dollar.

Spazio’s choice to receive payments in stablecoins made all the difference. With Lazerpay, Spazio escaped the banking hassles of accepting international payments and building a global business.

By gaining access to a stress-free payment method – Spazio Ideale started executing projects without delay.

With payments solved, Spazio could now scale and diversify its offerings, a goal it achieved by expanding into the hospitality industry.

Spazio Excellence in the Hospitality Space

Tomi started working with hospitality brands to design spaces that communicated luxury and comfort.

Following an excellent delivery of a previous project, Mace management services contracted Spazio to implement their design of Four Points by Sheraton located in Lagos, Nigeria.

Tomi and her team renovated the lounge, coffee bar, lobby, and reception. They also created a flexible meeting room in the coffee lounge area.

Even though it was challenging to renovate the space without disrupting the hotel operations, they did an excellent job bringing the design to life.

Advice to Entrepreneurs

“Year three is pivotal. You’re either going to quit or scale through as a business, so be extra sensitive to issues and find ways to solve them innovatively,” Tomi said.

She also advised young entrepreneurs to:

-Understand their ‘why’ and teach it to every team member. Once they all understand the brand’s vision, they won’t give up easily.

-Have a customer journey map. With that, teams can track their journey to see what they can do better.

Conclusion

For African businesses to compete globally, payment problems need to be solved. Thankfully, companies can now break cross-border barriers with Lazerpay.

Developing a crypto payment platform requires time and effort but using a payment link API cuts out that time and effort.

To start, create a free account or integrate the crypto payment API into your online checkout.

Click the image below to start accepting international payments without stress now.