Teledom IT Mart is one-stop shop – Ekuwem

Teledom Group International has announced the opening of its Information Technology (IT) Mart in Lagos, to act as one stop-shop to cater for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry.

Executive Vice Chairman of the group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, disclosed this during a media launch last weekend and said that IT Mart is one of the sister companies of Teledom Group.

IT Mart, he said, was established to be a replica of what he described as PC-World at Heathrow Airport Terminal Four as one drives into the city of London.

“That is, what IT Mart is like,” he declared, adding the subsidiary is collaborating with other IT super markets in Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United States (US).

He explained that the concept of IT Marts is straightforward as all the telecoms operators are rolling out their networks, all the ICT companies are also expanding, wondering what happens to their needs to maintain growth of the industry that has been divided into three parts.

“What of the maintenance, what of the technical support, what of the replacement of hardware parts, what of the tools to address that need,” he asked, stressing that IT Mart is here to provide a one-stop ICT or InfoTech super store for the provisioning of the maintenance and upgrade needs of the industry. That is one part of IT Mart,” Ekuwem said.

Accompanied by the Manager, IT Mart, Mrs. Eno Ekuwem and Deputy General Manager, Teledom Group, Mr. Abia Esua, Dr. Ekuwem added that the second part of IT Mart would be to stock latest in the ICT revolution worldwide few days after they have been launched in other countries.

He pointed out that hitherto, in this part of the world ICT tools are available to the market between three and four years later, which make such products obsolete as soon as they arrive.

“We should not succumb to the idea of waiting for three to four years after a product has been launched in the United States (US), Europe, North America, Asia, China, Singapore and so on before they arrive Nigeria,” he said.

In addition, he said, IT Mart is going to shorten the time interval between research and development (R&D), through early procurement by being in touch and updated with the manufacturers.

“It is a very serious matter. We want to shorten the time of migration from when products leave as prototypes or as test products or at the point of entering into the market in Asia, in Europe, North America and when those same products arrive Nigeria. We want to reduce the tendency for our fellow countrymen and women who travel out of the country to be put up with any piece of technology,” Dr. Ekuwem said.

He explained that IT Mart would be available for procurement products of the Nigerian software industry, their demos and their prototype as they are made available by the member associations in the industry.

“Samples of pieces of hardware from Omatek, Zinox, Brian and Beta computers would be made available at IT Mart,” he asserted, adding that the subsidiary would partner with all known local ICT manufacturers.

On the third aspect of IT Mart, he said, it is founded to contribute to the national content development, emphasizing that the latest things about IT Mart are the books.

“The books on IT would help Nigerians to build their productivity. We have IT book section and most of the relevant IT books would be available in IT Mart, as a one-stop super store, not only for software or hardware,” he said.

He noted that the books would allow Nigerians to update themselves on trend in the industry. And as the ICT industry grows, he said, peripherals, accessories, connectors, cables and tools that are necessary for maintenance would be made accessible at IT Mart.


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