#telecommunication #NnamdiEzeigbo #story #africa #technology
"So #Tecno was the #child of #Slot ?
Yes. In fact, we #registered it as a #subsidiary of Slot"
He started from the scratch with no job for two years. But unknown to Nnamdi Ezeigbo, the Founder and Chairman of Slot Group, the nation’s number one phones and accessories outfit, fate had other plans. Equipped with degrees in Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering, he got tired of roaming the streets and decided to take his destiny in his own hand. After a six-month ‘apprenticeship’ with a friend, he started a small business with his younger brother as the only employee. For Nnamdi, the coming of GSM was a turning point. From computers, he diversified to phone accessories. Today, with over 700 employees, he runs the Tecno and Infinix phone brands. Ezeigbo shares his life’s journey to the top with Samuel Ajayi, recalling years of struggle,as he turns 50 in August
Most people in your business and financial pedigree are on the island. So why have you or do I say didn’t you join your fellow millionaires on the island?
My business head office is in Ikeja. Though most of my friends stay on the island but I want to be close to my business headquarters. Convenience and the stress of navigating the Third Mainland Bridge everyday make it more sensible to stay on mainland. Besides, the cost of getting an office on the island is killing. Maybe in the future we might go there but I am quite comfortable here, close to the office.
You are an engineer. What is your area of specialisation? Mechanical, chemical or electrical?
I think I cut across. I have two degrees. I have one in electronics and also another one in computer electronics and I also have master degree in information technology. My MBA was done here but presently doing my entrepreneurship programme in Harvard.
Have you always been fascinated by gadgets like phones, accessories and so on during those formative years?
I have flair for computers. In the 90s, there was nothing like mobile phones but computers. However, when I went to school, there was nothing like computer engineering then until I finished my HND and I had to go back to Lagos State University to do my degree in electronics and computer engineering. This equipped me with the training I needed but I did not start with that formal education. I still went to spend six months with a friend of mine who had a computer engineering outfit and it was those six months that gave me the necessary training and expertise for me to start as a computer engineer.
Did you go for that internship to start a business afterwords?
I didn’t start my computer engineering vocation to start a business. My venture into business was a child of necessity because I could not find a job for two years. That was why I actually joined my friend who was running his computer engineering outfit then. I could not find a white collar job and I needed to do something to keep myself busy. That was why I joined my friend and found myself in this place now. In order to do business, I needed the right computers and there was no way I could have started on my own. And let me also say I could not have gone into fashion or any other thing. When I started, businesses were just interested in making money and I did not expect entrepreneurs to be so crazy about money but more concerned about creating values. This changed the game for me and I said I was going to be involved and make something different. You won’t believe this but when I started, I would fix computers for people and won’t ask them for money and it was customer that would be asking to pay?
So it was not about money but the excitement that I could even fix computers. And that was what kept me going. It was not even about the money I was making. And I saw so many people coming to my office to fix their computers.
You started when computers were not yet a fad among users. Owning a laptop or even a desktop was a status symbol then…
(Cuts in) Yes. People even had to be comfortable to be able to buy a computer. That was the case then. However, we had a reasonable number of people and organisations that owned computers then because it was basically a way of having efficiency in your operations. I remember fixing computers for Daily Times, University of Lagos and Standard Chartered Bank. Those were using computers but were using very outdated computers… They were just carrying computers when there were already the likes of 4ACs, 3ACs and when Pentium and other fast computers were already in the market then. But we started having more people becoming more passionate about computers. It was a good business. We started with computer engineering and gradually, we dabbled into sales of computers and with the advent of GSM in 2001, we diversified into GSM and mobile phones.
