The founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) Plc, Mr. Austin Okere noted that the
Company’s subscription business has begun to yield fruits. This statement was
made by the CWG boss during his speech at the 10th Annual General
Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos on the 25th of June, 2015.
Addressing participants, the company’s Acting
Chairman, Mr. Abiodun Fawunmi, said that “CWG Plc made significant progress in
her key business objective for 2014 which was to scale out the subscription business
in order to be the No 1 technology platform provider in Africa by 2015, a
business model that would provide predictability, as well as ensure annuity
revenues.”
The Company re-iterated her commitment to continue
her focus in developing new lines of businesses, under the CWG2.0 model, which
are better positioned to withstand macroeconomic shocks, especially those
relating to foreign exchange movements. The new products include the flagship CWG-SMERP,
the cloud based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product for SMEs, the
award-winning Openshopen.ng, her ecommerce technology platform and CWG-SES
Teleport Services. Being Intellectual Property locally developed, implemented
and supported by CWG, the business growth and profitability are immune from the
shocks of foreign exchange fluctuation.
On the Company’s financial
scorecard, the Acting Chairman noted that her gross margin percentage grew by
5% to 20% (2013: 19%) while the financing costs and general operating costs
declined by 43% and 15% respectively to N199.8m and N2.7bn (2013: Financing
cost N348.7m, OPEX N3.2bn) showing better efficiency of our operations. The
Company also finished with an improved cash position of over N1.5bn at the year
end. Shareholders at the event were informed of the payment of the 2kobo
dividends per unit share, to be made within 24 hours.
According to Mr. Okere, the CWG
subscription business model was conceived five years ago as the Company needed
to re-invent and transit herself to become a company that could predictably
grow revenue and profit. From a small startup some 23years ago with seed capital
of barely N160,000, CWG has grown to become one of Africa’s largest system
integrators with revenues of more than $100m, 650 staff and operations across
Nigeria and three other African countries, CWG had always been at the forefront
of innovative information technology solutions that enables growth.
Mr. Okere noted that the
opportunities that CWG has successfully pursued under her subscription business
include providing a cloud solution for micro finance institutions in
partnership with MTN (a solution dubbed MTN XaaS), building a cloud based
solution for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to manage their
businesses, partnering with openshopen.com to build an ecommerce platform for
increased visibility and sales. CWG’s investment in building technology that
addresses power theft, which is a major concern of most Power Distribution
Companies, has gained significant traction with the first commercial order, and
four other proof of concepts completing and progressing into commercial sales. The
Company has also partnered with SES Astra to operate a digital satellite
television teleport service.
He noted that being certified by
the CBN as a payment terminal service provider (PTSP) will enable the company
to deepen her offering in the Point of Sale and Payment systems. Recognizing
the need for automation and effective management of internally generated
revenue, CWG has recently launched technology solutions that help State Governments
to increase their internally generated revenue in the area of third party
Insurance management system.
“Not unexpectedly, this has been
a slow and difficult journey into innovative and uncharted territory that is
beginning to show green shoots in sales, that will be consolidated in the second
half of 2015. For instance, adapting the FinEdge technology platform to power
the backend of the Diamond Yello Account product, has generated platform
subscriber base exceeding expectation to 4 million in less than a year after
launch, and with potential to grow to 10 million by the end of 2015. Also, the
first order for the power theft detection and prevention system has been
secured with one of the electricity distributors opening the way for a foray
into a market with estimated potential in excess of $200m within the next two
years” Mr. Okere declared.
He further highlighted that the
Company’s SMERP business management platform has been extended to various
verticals including medical, retail and manufacturing and is fast winning deals,
including one with a major retail chain about to build out more than twenty
outlets in Nigeria within the next two years. The CWG-SES teleport infrastructure
has also begun re-broadcasting digital television signals for more than 8
broadcasters.
“CWG’s Mobile Financial Services
partnership with CIT Vericash is set to power the mobile financial services of
one of the largest banks in Nigeria with plans for full scale Africa-wide
deployment in the coming months. Most significantly, CWG and her consortium
partners have started their first phase of the deployment of a unique third
party insurance management system for one of the largest states in Nigeria.
This system is projected to help the state generate significant revenue while
ensuring that the public gets benefit for their mandatory third party insurance
on their vehicles” Mr. Okere continued.
“While not yet Africa’s number one
Technology Platform Provider, the increasing pace of roll out of platform
solutions and growth in subscriber numbers are clear pointers of reaching that
ambitious goal sooner than later” he concluded.
The event also witnessed the
election of Mr. Kunle Ayodeji as an Executive member of the Board in charge of Finance
and Operations. Mr. Ayodeji is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of
experience in the fields of banking, financial consulting and private equity.
He has held Executive positions in numerous organizations including KPMG and
Abraaj Capital. In the same vein, three other shareholders were also elected as
members of the audit committee, while Ernst and Young was reappointed the
company’s auditor for another year.
The AGM was well attended by the
esteemed shareholders, the media, the Company’s Acting Chairman, Mr. Abiodun
Fawunmi; Executive Directors: Chief
Executive Officer, Mr. Austin Okere; Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Phillip
Obioha; Chief Technology Officer, Mr. James Agada; Executive Director, Finance
and Operations, Mr. Kunle Ayodeji; Non-Executive Director, Mr. Emmanuel
Ijewere; Company Secretary, Barrister Okey Ejibe, and other stakeholders.
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