About these terms
These terms are an agreement between you and MANDE ("MANDE", "we", "us"). They apply when you visit the MANDE website, create a maker account, take on furniture jobs, book time on the furniture machines at our Lagos factory, or join our community channels.
By using our website, creating an account or making a booking, you agree to these terms and to the policies they refer to: the Jobs and quality policy, Payment policy, Subscription and cancellation policy, Machine booking policy, Community guidelines, our Privacy policy and our Cookie policy. Where a policy is more specific than these terms, the policy applies to that subject.
If you don't agree to these terms, please don't use MANDE.
What MANDE does
MANDE is a platform for Nigeria's furniture makers and woodworkers. We bring real furniture jobs from brands and businesses, give every job a project lead from our team, pay makers in stages as their work is approved, open the furniture machines at our Lagos factory to every maker, and help makers who are ready to grow through the MANDE Accelerator Program.
Jobs on MANDE are created and managed by the MANDE team. You take the job on with us, your project lead is your point of contact, and we deal with the customer.
You work for yourself
You take on jobs as an independent business. Nothing in these terms makes you an employee, agent or partner of MANDE, and you cannot make commitments on our behalf.
You decide how to run your workshop, and you are responsible for your own team, tools, insurance, permits and taxes, and for paying anyone who works with you.
Who can use MANDE
You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding agreement. Maker accounts are for furniture makers and workshops in Nigeria, paid in naira to a Nigerian bank account.
If you use MANDE for a business, you confirm that you are allowed to accept these terms for it.
We may pause new sign-ups at any time.
Using our website
Anyone can browse our website. We work to keep it accurate, but information such as open jobs, plan prices, offers and machine availability can change at any time, and an open job may close before you apply. What's shown when you pay or accept is what applies.
When using our website and dashboard, you must not:
- copy, scrape or harvest content or data from it, by hand or with bots or other automated tools
- copy, change, frame or reverse-engineer any part of MANDE, or build a competing service from it
- upload anything that contains viruses or harmful code, or try to break, overload or get around its security
- access accounts, files or information that are not yours
- use MANDE for anything illegal, fraudulent or harmful
Your account
Keep your login details safe. You are responsible for everything done on your account, so turn on two-step verification (an email code or an authenticator app) in Settings for extra protection. Tell us straight away if you think someone else has used your account.
The details you give us must be true, complete and kept up to date: your name, phone number, date of birth, company details and NIN.
One account per person. You may not share, sell or transfer your account.
Identity checks
Before your account is verified, we check your NIN, with your name and date of birth, against the national records through our verification partner, and our team reviews the photo of your NIN card. On the Workshop and Studio plans we also check your company tax number and business licence number. See our Privacy policy for how this information is handled.
Some features, such as withdrawing money from your wallet, are only available once your NIN is verified. We may refuse or remove verification if the details or documents are not genuine.
Plans
You need an active plan to take on jobs. Plans differ in how many jobs you can run at once, the discount you get on machine time and whether you have a dedicated officer. How plans are billed, renewed, changed and cancelled is set out in the Subscription and cancellation policy.
Taking on jobs
When you accept a job, you agree to build it to its drawings and description, to the quality we review against, and by its due date, following the stage-by-stage process in the Jobs and quality policy. That policy also covers rejections, the on-time bonus, extensions and cancelling a job.
Drawings, designs and specifications you receive for a job belong to the customer or to MANDE. Use them only for that job, keep them confidential, and do not make or sell copies of the piece.
Getting paid
Job payments are made in naira to your MANDE wallet as each stage of a job is approved, and you can withdraw your balance to your bank account. Charges for rejected work, and money paid for a job you cancel, are taken from your wallet. The details are in the Payment policy.
Machine bookings
Anyone can book time on the furniture machines at our Lagos factory, with or without a MANDE account. Bookings, payment, refunds and the rules at the factory are covered by the Machine booking policy.
Offers, coupons and promotions
From time to time we run offers and give out coupons. Unless we say otherwise:
- each coupon can be used only as many times, and by as many people, as stated when it is given out, and use is counted by email address
- coupons and offers cannot be combined with each other or with member discounts: you get whichever saves you more
- a coupon applies to a first plan payment, an upgrade or a machine booking, as stated, and never to plan renewals
- coupons have no cash value, and cannot be exchanged, sold or transferred
We may end an offer or withdraw a coupon at any time, and cancel any discount obtained through misuse.
Points, ranks and ratings
Every maker has points and a rank. You gain points for work that is approved, signed off and well rated, and lose points when work is sent back or rejected, when you receive a low rating, or when your account is flagged or suspended. Your rank depends on your points, the number of jobs you have completed and your average rating, so it can go down as well as up.
Project leads rate your work, and you rate your project lead after each job. Ratings must be honest and based on the job. We may remove ratings or reviews that break our Community guidelines.
We may change how points are awarded. Points and ranks have no cash value.
The MANDE Accelerator Program
The MANDE Accelerator Program helps qualifying makers prepare for and apply for loans of up to ₦10 million to grow their workshops. A high rank makes it easier to qualify, but no rank, plan or history on MANDE guarantees a loan.
Any loan is made under its own written agreement, which sets out the amount, the cost and how it is repaid. That agreement, not these terms, governs the loan.
What you upload
You keep ownership of the photos, notes and documents you upload. You allow MANDE to store and use them to run the platform: to review your work, to keep the customer updated, to settle disputes and to keep records.
We may also show photos of finished work, your company name and a customer's review of your work on our website, social channels and adverts to promote MANDE. If you would rather not be featured, tell us and we will stop.
Only upload content you have the right to share, and only photos of the actual piece you are building.
MANDE's content and brand
The MANDE name and logo, our website, dashboard and software, and the content we create (text, photos, videos, designs and guides) belong to MANDE or the people who license them to us. We give you a personal, non-transferable right to use them only to use MANDE as these terms allow.
You may not use our name, logo or content in your own marketing, or suggest that MANDE endorses you, without our written permission. You may say that you have completed jobs through MANDE, as long as it's true.
Feedback
We welcome ideas and suggestions about MANDE. If you send us any, we may use them freely, without owing you anything for them.
How you must behave
Follow our Community guidelines. In particular, you must not:
- give false information, use someone else's identity or documents, or upload photos that are not of your own work on the job
- try to get paid for work that was not done, or misuse coupons, offers or payments
- harass, threaten or abuse project leads, MANDE staff, customers or other makers
- try to break, overload or get around the security of the platform, or access accounts or information that are not yours
Messages from MANDE
By creating an account or making a booking, you agree that we can send you messages about your account, jobs, payments, bookings and security by email and in your dashboard. These are part of how MANDE works.
We only send marketing messages, such as news, tips, offers and new features, if you have agreed to receive them. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any marketing email or by contacting us. See our Privacy policy for more.
Communicating electronically
You agree that we can give you notices and agreements electronically, by email to the address on your account, in your dashboard or on our website, and that these count as being "in writing". Ticking a box or clicking to accept on MANDE counts as your signature.
Other services we work with
MANDE relies on other companies for some services, such as payments, identity checks and our community channels on WhatsApp and social media. When you use those services, their own terms and privacy policies also apply. Our website may link to other websites, which we do not control and are not responsible for.
Flags, suspensions and closing accounts
If you break these terms or our policies, we may flag your account (you can then hold only one job at a time) or suspend it (everything is paused: no new jobs, applications, proof or withdrawals). We always give a reason. You can appeal from your dashboard, with up to 5 supporting files, and our team will review it.
We may close an account for serious or repeated breaches, fraud, or where the law requires it. When an account is closed, you are signed out everywhere, waiting applications are withdrawn, jobs in progress pass to the other maker on the job or back to MANDE, and your plan ends without a refund. A withdrawal already on its way is allowed to finish.
If money is left in your wallet when your account is closed, contact us and we will pay what you are owed to your verified bank account, after taking anything you owe MANDE.
You can ask us to close your account at any time by emailing hello@mande.com.ng.
Availability and changes to MANDE
We work hard to keep MANDE running, but it may sometimes be unavailable, for example during maintenance or because of a problem with one of our partners. We may add, change or remove features over time.
Our responsibility to you
As far as the law allows, MANDE is provided "as is". We are not responsible for indirect losses, such as lost profits, lost business or lost opportunities.
Our total responsibility to you for any claim is limited to the amount you paid MANDE in the 12 months before the claim arose. Nothing in these terms limits responsibility that cannot be limited by law, such as for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
You are responsible for safety in your own workshop, and for the materials and equipment you use.
Your responsibility to us
You agree to cover any loss, damage or cost (including reasonable legal costs) that MANDE suffers because you broke these terms or the law, acted fraudulently, or because of materials, work or content you provided.
Events outside our control
We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as power or network outages, failures at our partners or banks, strikes, floods, fire, public health emergencies or government action. If one happens, we'll let you know and do what we reasonably can to limit the effect.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as MANDE changes. When we make a significant change, we will let you know by email or in your dashboard before it takes effect. If you keep using MANDE after that, the new terms apply. The date at the top shows when they last changed.
Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
If you have a complaint, please contact us first: most problems can be sorted out quickly. If we cannot resolve it together within 30 days, either of us may take it to the courts of Lagos State, Nigeria.
General
- These terms, with the policies they refer to, are the whole agreement between you and MANDE about using MANDE.
- If a court finds part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies.
- If we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
- You may not transfer your rights or duties under these terms to anyone else. We may transfer ours, for example if MANDE is reorganised or sold, and we will tell you if we do.
- Parts of these terms that are meant to continue after your account is closed, such as payments owed, confidentiality, our responsibility and yours, and governing law, continue to apply.
Contact us
Email us at hello@mande.com.ng or use the contact form. We're available Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm (WAT), and usually reply within one working day.