Taking the pain out of printing business cards in Nigeria has become the mission of a local ‘web-to-print’ startup called Printivo.com, which launched operations last week.

Printivo.com is an e-commerce website that helps deliver printed materials such as business cards and letterheads to customers.

Visitors to the website select their desired printing product and then either choose an existing design template that can be customised or upload their own designs.

Customers can also choose the quantity and finishing options, while Printivo.com says it offers free delivery to all areas within Lagos.

Lagos, though, has a three day delivery promise while for other cities it is five days.

Oluyomi Ojo, who is the ‘chief idea officer’ of Printivo.com, along with other co-founders launched the startup because of struggles that small Nigerian businesses have in terms of buying printed materials.

“Printing sucks for Nigerians, we launched to make it suck less,” Ojo told ITWeb Africa.

Ojo explained that challenges the printing industry face in Nigeria include that it's difficult for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals to print short runs or small print projects.

Other challenges include high printing costs, the need to secure a graphic designer and navigating through Lagos traffic to get to print shops, Ojo told ITWeb Africa.

“The startup was totally bootstrapped and launched with our own funds, we believe if we can build a product people will use, we will raise revenue.

“Sales are gradually coming in, we believe it will increase as we are receiving lots of hits and page view. Inquiries are also coming in numbers,” Ojo told ITWeb Africa.