Runo Dating Platform Set to Launch in Lagos for Widows, Divorcees and Single Parents

Runo, a dating and relationship platform created for widows, widowers, divorcees and single parents, is scheduled to launch on October 9, beginning in Lagos.

Founded by corporate finance analyst Tega Ogaga, the platform is intended for adults aged 28 to 65 who are seeking relationships after bereavement, divorce or single parenthood. Its design places emphasis on privacy, mutual consent and user trust.

A response to online harassment

Ogaga said he decided to build Runo after seeing online comments directed at a single mother of three who had said she was ready to begin again and find a partner. One unidentified commenter wrote: “Why should I become their father? Why did their father run?”

“What I saw there, some of them were just horrible,” Ogaga said of the comments.

The experience helped shape Runo’s focus on people who may approach relationships cautiously after difficult personal experiences. Mercy, a 33-year-old mother living in Lagos, described the challenges of rebuilding her life after her husband died and left her with two young children.

“It can be very lonely,” Mercy said. She also expressed concern about predatory behaviour in loosely regulated online spaces, saying, “A lot of people are looking for good partners and friends, but they are scared of meeting the wrong people.”

Privacy and matching controls

Runo users will be able to create profiles that include details such as age, marital history, occupation, religion, family structure and children. The platform also includes age and preference boundaries to help users identify compatible matches.

Messaging will require a mutual match. Users will not be able to contact one another unless both parties have explicitly liked each other’s profiles.

Other features include anonymous browsing, optional identity verification using government-issued identification, photo privacy controls and a reporting system for suspicious accounts. Ogaga said trust was central to the product’s development.

“The most important feature I want to build into Runo because of our demographic is that feature called trust,” he said.

Runo will operate under a freemium model. It will offer free basic access alongside a Premium subscription priced at ₦7,500 per month and a VIP tier costing ₦75,000 annually. Its digital currency, RUNC, can be used for in-app audio and video calls as well as virtual gifts.

Community-based recruitment

The company is seeking early users through churches, imams, grief counsellors, divorce lawyers, community support groups and WhatsApp groups. Ogaga said the platform wants to build confidence among its target users before pursuing a large social media campaign.

“We want to get these people’s trust first before we start doing a massive social media campaign,” he said.

Runo’s waitlist reportedly collected more than 200 sign-ups within ten days without paid advertising. The company plans to address cultural opposition to widow remarriage through public education, open dialogue and storytelling.

The platform’s approach comes amid research on social barriers affecting women’s relationships in Nigeria. A 2024 study involving 24 young unmarried mothers and 10 community informants in Ife-East examined the effects of social stigma. A separate 2017 study cited in the source found that divorced women in Lagos and Abuja faced harsher condemnation and greater barriers to remarriage than divorced men.

Expansion plans

Ogaga spent nine months preparing Runo for the market, including six months establishing the company’s institutional framework and three months developing the software. The operational blueprint spans six volumes and 500 pages, according to the supplied account.

Runo aims to reach 50,000 users in Nigeria during its first year and has identified Nairobi, Johannesburg and Kigali as potential regional hubs for later expansion. The company has not yet sought senior investors, with Ogaga saying he wants to establish product-market fit and generate operational revenue before pursuing venture backing.

“Our demographic are people who want an opportunity to start again,” Ogaga said. He described his longer-term ambition as building “a social institution” and said success would be measured by the number of users who leave the platform after finding the relationships they want.