The celebrated Africa’s biggest
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) distributors, Technology
Distributions (TD) Limited, has flaunted the Nigeria’s booming ICT sectorial
potentials, reports ITRealms.
This was showcased at the hosting
of a high-powered team of executives from the headquarters of global digital
giants, Google in Lagos.
The event which held on Tuesday
July 25th also witnessed the unveiling of TD’s new Ikeja office, strategically
located at 26 Kodesoh Street, a few metres from the popular, Ikeja
Under-Bridge.
ITRealms also reports that the event attended
by the Chairman, Zinox Group, Dr. Leo-Stan Ekeh in the company of Senior
Executive Management and staff of TD including the Managing Director of TD
Mobile, Mrs. Gozy Ijogun who played a major role in liaising with the Google
International team for the visit; Managing Director, Sales/Marketing, Mrs.
Chioma Chimere; Managing Director, Operations, Mrs. Shade Oyebode and Managing
Director, Special Projects, Mr. Stanley Okpalaeke among others.
Also in attendance were a number
of key partners such as President, Computer and Allied Products Dealers
Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), Mr. Adeniyi Ojikutu; MD/CEO, DreamWorks
Nigeria Ltd., Mr. Chuks Aylor; Sales Manager, SLOT Systems Ltd., Mr. Jonathan
Uzomba; CEO, Yudala Ltd., Mr. Wole Ogundare; Founder/Vice President, Yudala
Ltd., Prince Nnamdi Ekeh; representatives of Transsion Holdings, Mr. Chuks and
Mr. Adams as well as MD, Edge Baseline Solutions Ltd., Mr. Onyinye Ejide, among
others.
From TD’s office, the Google team
were conducted on an immersion tour of the sprawling Computer Village –
Nigeria’s ICT hub and arguably the biggest technology market on the continent.
The tour of Computer Village provided
a useful opportunity for the team to feel the pulse and garner a first-hand
experience of the daily hustle, sheer scale and volume of transactions, immense
opportunities and potential that abound in the Otigba market super-structure
which represents a fitting microcosm of Nigeria’s growing ICT sector.
In his address, Ekeh shared insights from his over three-decades of serial digital entrepreneurship in Nigeria, urging the visiting team to see the numerous opportunities that abound from structured
investments in the Nigerian ICT sector.
“Technically, I pioneered IT in
the country about 30 years ago. I brought the likes of HP which currently owns
about 60% share of the market to Nigeria. Same for the likes of Compaq, Apple,
Lenovo and Microsoft among others. Nigeria is not as bad as it’s talked about
globally. We are very hospitable people. We appreciate foreigners. We want them
to come in here to do business and the Government protects you; even the
corporate bodies and individuals protect you.
“When you have a country like
Nigeria with a lot of resources and human capital that is largely untapped, the
potential is huge. For instance, Google can invest a little bit on human
capital, say in three universities in diverse regions in Nigeria and create an
incubation hub to train human capital or what I call finishing school.
“The guys have the basic but they
need to see the global big picture to learn coding and other associated skills.
It doesn’t cost a whole lot. People like us have been doing it over the years
to bring up most of the people you’ve seen here.”
While welcoming the Google team
to Nigeria, Ekeh disclosed that TD Africa pioneered ICT distribution in Nigeria
with a vision to becoming the biggest players on the African continent – a
dream which saw the company make about $45m within its first year of operations
based on personal guarantee and integrity. He also cited the examples of other
partners such as SLOT Systems and Transsion Holdings, best known for its
leading mobile brands including TECNO, itel and Infinix who have prospered from
their ambitious tech investments in Nigeria.
Ekeh’s submission was echoed by
the partners in attendance, most of whom took the opportunity to share details
of their respective organization’s growth trajectory in the Nigerian ICT
sector.
President of EMEA Business &
Operations for Google, Mathew John Brittin, disclosed that the company is
firmly committed to deepening its footprints in Nigeria.
“We have been in Nigeria for
seven years with a small team of experts, all Nigerians who are passionate
about making Nigeria making the most of the digital world. We share the view
about the numerous opportunities in Nigeria for Nigerians.
“Three things are top of mind for
us: the first is access so we have been part of the explosive growth of TECNO,
Infinix and others with Android. This is something we are very proud of. I own
some of these devices and I can see that they are very great devices so we
appreciate them. How we can help with the explosion of access to make the
internet a certain reality for everyone is a key thing that we are focused on
here and that includes making our products and services work better on lower
cost connections.
“Second is the computing
revolution with smarter tools that work for everybody. If you can’t read and
can’t spell, that’s our problem. We want you to be able to talk to us and we’ll
give you an answer in your language. We are really working hard on making the
next generation of tools better for everyone and also helping local developers
do the same. We’ve funded some universities with free apps and we are trying to
do more around developing a launch pad programme here to help local developers
build local apps that can power the next generation of entrepreneurs and
successful businesses here.
“The third thing and which is
really important to us is education. We have piloted over the last year, here
in Nigeria, programmes on basic digital skills for everyone: individuals, SMBs,
developers and we set out with an aim to train 400,000 in a year. We’ve trained
600,000 with some government support and encouragement and we are looking at
what we can do to take that further into the future. We look forward to the
next chapter of our partnership with all of you,” he said.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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Pix 1: Google's Mathew John Brittin with MD TD Mobile Mrs Gozy Ijogun
Pix 2: Google's Mathew John Brittin with Leo-Stan Ekeh of Zinox Group in Lagos
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