You don’t know you need it — until you’ve got it.
In Africa, the concept of smart living is rapidly transitioning from a luxury to an everyday norm, with innovative tools, from sleep masks to motion-sensor gadgets, streamlining tasks and adding a touch of enjoyment to daily life.
Within Africa’s shift towards smart living, Nigeria’s tech sector is seeing a significant surge in demand for smart home solutions. This is primarily driven by urban consumers prioritizing convenience, security, and energy efficiency. The financial outlook for this evolving sector is equally promising, with projections estimating the Nigerian Smart Home market to reach a substantial US$284.6m in 2025
Smart home products, tools that automate and simplify life at home, are now widely available and surprisingly affordable, thanks to online platforms like Temu. Whether for convenience, productivity, or peace of mind, these innovations have a way of turning the ordinary into something unexpectedly delightful.
Small devices, big upgrades
To truly understand how these devices are changing lives, meet Ndzalo Baloyi, a 24-year-old junior engineer from Rustenburg, who has embraced smart living.
Ndzalo found an automatic toilet flusher to be one of those things you don’t need until you start using it. In a video on his YouTube channel, Ndzalo describes the automatic toilet flusher as “perfect for germaphobes” as it allows you to flush simply by waving your hand over the device.
He waves his hands a lot these days — including at his automatic soap dispenser, which boasts a long battery life. “I’ve had it for two weeks and haven’t needed to charge it,” he shares.
While these may sound like “niche” conveniences, one product truly changed Ndzalo’s routine: a cordless vacuum cleaner. He describes the Moosoo cordless vacuum cleaner as both his favourite product and a “game changer”, explaining that he hates sweeping but with the cordless vac it is a simple, pick up, start, go. More than its designated function, smart home products should also bring a bit of joy to the everyday, as it does for Ndzalo. Demonstrating the vacuum’s attachment for hard-to-reach places, he says it “brings out the inner child in me.”
Function, form, fun
Smart products shouldn’t just work well — they should feel good to use. That balance of function and form is what Ndzalo found in lighting gadgets like an overhead monitor lightbar and a standing mood light.
The latter “adds nice mood lighting,” he says, with full control via smartphone — from brightness to motion speed and colour modes. These products serve a purpose, but they also shape the vibe of a space.
As Ndzalo puts it, smart gadgets are really about “things that make your life light up.”
His philosophy for choosing smart products? “Always consider how useful it is, then look at the price versus that value. It’s about products that make life easier and are aesthetically pleasing.”
Smart choices
The right smart home product is a deeply personal choice. While one household might value smart door locks, another could find more use in motion sensor under-cabinet lights. The smartest solution is always the product that brings genuine value in terms of efficiency, ergonomics, comfort, and ease of use.
“Shopping for smart home products on platforms like Temu is great value for money, which is important to me,” says Ndzalo.
This sentiment is echoed widely. According to a recent survey, 46% of South African respondents say they save more than half of their shopping budget by using Temu, with nearly 40% making purchases on the platform at least once a month.
Ultimately, smart home products are about much more than just automation; they’re about enhancing the quality of your everyday life, one innovative device at a time. Whether it’s the simple convenience of a hands-free dispenser or the transformative power of a cordless vacuum, they have a way of making you wonder how you ever lived without them. Thanks to online platforms, the door to this practical, playful, and increasingly personalised future of living is wide open.
