Adeleye: Govts Must Create Conducive Environment for Entrepreneurs
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Optiweb Communications, Timothy Adeleye, was one of the 25 young Nigerian entrepreneurs who made the Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 list for 2018. In this interview, he spoke about issues in the ICT sector. Ugo Alio
Did your nomination as one of Forbes’ Africa’ 30 under 30 come to you as a surprise?
Honestly, it did not come to me as a surprise because at the pace at which my team and I are moving we already know that there is so much coming to us. However, whenever as a team or me as an individual gets any form of recognition, we remind one another of the goal by reaffirming that with every award or accolade, comes the need to do so much more. For instance, if you are named ‘the most innovative brand of the year,’ the onus is on you to prove that you earned that title. So now that we have been listed on Forbes, we are hereby obliged to prove that we are deserving of the recognition. And we are ready to take up the challenge.
But what does the award tell you?
It tells me that we are doing some right things and also that we still have more to do. That is the way I see it. At this level, I don’t see myself restricted to the African continent. I already see myself going out to compete on a global scale. I feel honoured about the recognition, but I refuse to rest on my oars. If I am not solving a problem for everybody in this room right now, I feel that I have not done enough and that I still have a lot to do.
What would you say has been key to the growth of your firm and your success?
I would say the people; the people with whom I work to develop solutions. The organisation is not about the team but about the team working together. I would say that is very key if you have a team that shares the vision, it is easy for you to work together and achieve set goals.
Did you have any help from the banks?
So far we have not received any support from any bank or any organisation in or outside Nigeria except our great clients that believe so much in our innovations. We have always been doing our business privately; no support from anywhere but thanks to Sterling Bank’s innovation team now showing great interest in our solutions.
In which areas do you think the ICT sector requires government’s support?
So many areas need government support in ICT. From training to providing infrastructure and finance. I believe these three areas are basically the areas we really wish government would get involved. We don’t have a lot of training opportunities for upcoming entrepreneurs. A lot of guys that are doing great stuff in Nigeria these days, a lot of them had to travel out of the country for training. If you go to a university in Nigeria, what kind of training will you get on ICT? We need to come up with great training facilities. We also need to come up with infrastructure. At this level as a nation, with our population, with the kind of challenges we have, I don’t see the reason internet should not be cheaper by at least 80 per cent compared to what we have now. I should be able to get free internet access when I am using public infrastructure. These are the things that will help innovation to thrive. People will have access to resources to test solutions. But now if you develop any solution, it is difficult for people to even take a risk to come and test what you have done because the person is considering things like, the N1,000 worth of data that he bought and how he will be able to spread it for like one month! So, government needs to get involved, providing infrastructure. There is also the issue of finance. If you go to banks in Nigeria and tell them that you have great solutions, nobody would want to actually give you money. I doubt if any bank in Nigeria has a portfolio for innovation.
They are likely to ask questions such as have you done a business for five years, do you have assets(collateral ) to give us? They cannot bank on solutions just like that. So, government needs to create portfolios. Take the Bank of Industry for example, I once looked up their portfolio and I could not find anything around my start-up; I doubt if they have anything that is tailored towards ICT innovations.
Which areas do you think upcoming Nigerian entrepreneurs in the ICT sector can make the most impact compared with their counterparts outside the country?
Personally, I have been pushing and I have been talking over a period of time, telling guys, especially the young start-up operators, that they should not come out and announce that they want to build the next Facebook ; the next Instagram. We have our own problems and challenges in Africa. If Africa is difficult for you, wake up early in the morning, check your neighbourhood, you will see a lot of challenges crying out for solutions. You can use ICT to solve any problem. For instance, we complain that we are losing our culture. Growing up some of us had the opportunity of seeing our local masquerades, but I am not sure my kids will have such an opportunity; they can always read about it in books. So why can’t you have applications to give them that same experience. The kind of video/computer games they produce these days, these are things that happen in Europe, America every day. They computerise them into a game and all of us get involved in the character. So, we can also come up and develop things around our own continent. We don’t have to be focusing on what is happening in America and the UK; we have a lot of challenges in Africa that are affecting us. These challenges show us that we have so much in terms of opportunity. Again, what has been happening over time, you see that guys from developed nations are developing solutions to solve our problems while we are cracking our heads to solve their problems. Why don’t we solve our problems instead of those guys coming from outside Africa to come and solve the problem. So, I think they (upcoming entrepreneurs) should put more focus around challenges that are affecting us as a continent.
Can you shed some light on your off shore operations?
We have operations in Kenya, we recently launched in Tanzania. For the first time we launched micro lending service in Tanzania. It was the first of its kind in that country. We offer a non-collateral loan service. Financial inclusion is a bit difficult in Tanzania and the only way start-ups get loans is by bringing collateral. You will be surprised to hear that people have to use their phones as collateral to get small loans. But we went into the market and let them know that they can get funds.
So, for us, it is about Africa. As an African, I want to come into different countries on the continent, see the problems and find solutions. So many times, I come up with great ideas, solutions and I call some of my friends and say look, there is great opportunity here. I cannot do everything. So, it has been about Africa for me, we have been able to start operations four countries in Africa. We are not yet there; I want to have operations in at least 20 African countries. I want to be in every part of Africa solving different problems.
What would you consider your key challenges so far?
I would say government. The government is trying but I think they need to create a platform through which they can listen to the grassroots. If you are sitting in Abuja, you have escorts and all of those things, trust me you may have good intentions, but you won’t know what we are going through at the bottom of the line, until you have opportunity to come down to our level. From experience, whenever I want to develop a solution, before launching out, I try to experience that challenge. So, the government needs to come in, understand our problem. Infrastructure is a major issue in Nigeria. Again, we need to support private organisations to give all sorts of opportunities to Nigerians. What happens now is that if there is a big project, the first thing that they do is to call in the Indian guys or the guys from Germany. But we have guys in Nigeria that can do those things as well, so we need acceptance from the multinationals here in Nigeria. But for us to achieve all of this the Government has to get involved. Thank God, the Ministry of Communications is doing some great things. But these things they are doing, are they actually getting to the right hands? That is a question I may not be able to answer right now. Again, start-ups that we have in Nigeria, how much support are we giving to them as government and even the banks? I have listened to a lot of young start-ups coming to discuss how to grow their business and they are looking for capital to do that. We do not have much venture capital in Nigeria. The reason why Facebook is Facebook is because of where Facebook started from. It is not because of the solution. We have solutions that we can actually come up with and if we have the kind of platform that they have over there, we will beat Facebook today. And I will bet that if they started Facebook here in Nigeria it will not become what it is today. So many things will kill it, from government policies, financing and even from the people around us. So, I think those are the challenges. But first things first, the government has the ultimate power, to change anything, government has to get involved and proffer solutions. Proffering solutions means that we have to use a consultative approach; going to the grassroots to talk to the people.