As a Kid I Desired to Be a Big Man

what customers were looking for. Tecno also wanted to appeal to the premium and high-end customers. And it worked; especially when those premium buyers could not afford those expensive phones again. Presently, our flagship product is the Phantom 5. It is our flagship product. The Camon 9, just launched will carry 4G network rating and 4G is the new way to go and very soon, we will be experiencing that. Let me say, competition has been quite helpful and it has helped to reduce prices and produce more functionalities.

In 10 years, where do you want Slot to be?

I want it to be the number one indigenous company and we want be the number one in terms of phone accessories in the whole of Africa.

Are you likely to go into manufacturing of phone accessories?

Oh yes. It should be the way to go as we believe in backward integration. Luckily enough, our leaders are talking about local content so it is not a bad idea to look at manufacturing in future but power supply has to improve. If we don’t get that right, our profit and loss will always be showing negative.

As a family man, how much of family time has running Slot taken away from you?

I believe three things matter so much: time, energy and money. And I believe business requires these three things. Energy is important and thank God, I still believe I have it. Money? If I don’t have enough, I believe I can leverage. But time is what every entrepreneur will have to deal with. One thing that has worked for me is that my wife is an executive director of the company. So we work at home, and we work in the office. So it is easy for us to integrate home and office and most of the business meetings I go, I travel with her. For the kids, I try. But the part of it I haven’t been able to do much is that aspect of checking their homeworks. Before, I used to do that and checked their assignments but now I have to get a lesson teacher. I also ensure that I don’t miss any school activities like Open Day. I make sure I attend such.

As you were growing up, did you have anyone you looked up to?

Yes. When I was growing up, my father used to work in a company called PAMOL. It was a subsidiary of Unilever. When I was growing up, I used to admire my father’s boss. Interestingly, his kids were my classmates in school. Even though they were more materially comfortable than us, I made sure they did not beat me in any of the major subjects like Mathematics and English and the sciences. I admired their father because I saw him as a rich man. So I was always wondering if there was anything he lacked; big cars and he lived in a big house. So I was always seeing myself becoming a manager; not really having my own company but becoming a CEO. So there was nothing that suggested to me that I was going to run my own company but the fact that I took a leap of faith 17 years ago. Besides, I had no idea of what business was but I just felt I got to do something instead of just wasting away. And gradually, the vision became clearer and that was it. I just then felt it was what I could do to become somebody in life. I grew up in Sapele and schooled there. I only came to Lagos for my degree.

Can you recollect those things you used to do as a child?

Playing football was major fun. Every day, after school, we had to play soccer because we always wanted to be in the school team. I was playing number 10 and my younger brother was the goalkeeper.

And, of course, parents believe after school, you do your assignment and do house chores and then prepare for the second day. You had to convince them you had done your assignment but you would still always come home to take some whipping.

As your 50th birthday approaches, what will you be celebrating?

I will be 50 by August 4 and will be celebrating God’s mercy, His faithfulness, good health and grace. I will also celebrate the fact that I have been comfortable. I have been able to help people and help them grow. I have been able to make people happy and this gives me joy. The fact that so many people can text me and say, ‘brother, thank you. You paid my school fees’. Or that ‘I graduated because of your scholarship.’ This makes me happy and that happiness comes from the fact that I have been able to touch lives. It will be low key; just a gathering to praise God.

What of Slot’s Skill Acquisition Centre?

It gets to a stage when you say I have acquired so much and what can I give back to the society and the community? And that was what gave birth to the two foundations that I have. One is in the memory of my father because he believed so much in education. His name was Anthony Chubuike Ezeigbo. It is for undergraduate students. We have about 25 students enjoying that right now. You go to school and your internship or youth service can be done with us. The other one, the Slot Foundation, came on the need to impact on the youths. Helping them to be employable and develop those skills and become CEOs and entrepreneurs as well. The Slot Academy also came as result of this. To acquire the training, you need about N150,000 but this is being subsidised by the Slot Foundation.

The Slot Foundation came about because I was in a conversation with some youths a couple of years back. In the course of the conversation, I asked them to give me five names of people that inspired them. I was shocked that they mentioned names of a musician, an actor, footballer and a politician. I asked for another five and when they named another musician. I then asked them, who would produce the goods and services? The musician is just making people happy and making money for himself. That is not what the society needs. There and then, I felt I needed to do something. We can train you in three months and you become a phone engineer and if you like, we absorb you and for those who want to run on their own, they will be allowed. Every year, we will train 1000 young people in this area.