Flexify CyberAgric; Transforming Nigerian Farming with AI-Powered Solutions – Johnson

Flexify CyberAgric; Transforming Nigerian Farming with AI-Powered Solutions – Johnson

 

 
In an exclusive interview, we sit down with Johnson Oyeniyi, a prominent figure in the tech industry and CEO of Flexify Solutions. Oyeniyi sheds light on the pivotal role of artificial intelligence (AI) across various sectors of the economy, with a particular focus on education and food security. Oyeniyi elaborates on the ground-breaking AI-powered solution, “CyberAgric,” developed by Flexify Solutions to tackle food security challenges. He provides insights into how Nigerian farmers can harness this innovative technology to enhance agricultural productivity and ensure food sustainability.
Join us as Anthony Nwosu looks into this conversation, capturing the essence of Oyeniyi’s vision and the transformative potential of AI in addressing pressing societal issues.

 

 

Flexify Solutions has emerged as a prominent player in the IT sector, particularly in deploying artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in Nigeria. Can you share some insights into the company’s journey so far?

Flexify Solutions’ journey in the information technology (IT) sector has been marked by significant strides, particularly in the realm of artificial intelligence or known as AI and mobile app deployment within Nigeria. Since our inception, we’ve remained dedicated to leveraging and also deploying cutting-edge technologies to address critical challenges and drive innovation in the Nigerian market.

Our journey began with a vision to harness the power of AI and mobile apps to revolutionize various industries such as healthcare, education, agriculture, and beyond.   During this period, we also recognized the immense potential of mobile technology in the country as statistics show that in Nigeria, among users aged 16 to 64, more than 90% own a mobile phone, with more than 89.2% owning a smartphone and 14.6% owning a feature phone. Based on these statistics, it informed our decision to focus on delivering our AI solutions primarily through a mobile platform, allowing us to reach a wider audience and maximize impact. As a result, we’ve been able to engage with diverse demographics, empowering them with innovative solutions tailored to their needs. Through relentless innovation, a commitment to excellence, and strategic partnerships, such as our collaboration with Cybermate Technologies, a company I am also a founding member, we’ve steadily positioned ourselves as a prominent player in the Nigerian IT landscape. Our journey is fuelled by a passion for transformative technology and a commitment to driving positive change in communities worldwide.

As our footprint expanded, we expanded our operations globally, becoming registered in the United Kingdom and looking ahead, we’re poised to venture into the American market with cutting-edge AI solutions in 2025.

Your portfolio includes FlexKids, FlexFit360, Healthify, and FlexSuite among others. How have you successfully introduced and established these solutions in the Nigerian market?

Embarking on our mission to introduce innovative solutions to Nigeria posed a challenge, given the competitive market landscape and the diverse needs of consumers and businesses. We began by immersing ourselves in the local culture and conducting extensive research to understand the specific pain points. We noticed that there was a high demand for high-quality educational resources, we collaborated closely with Nigerian educators to develop FlexKids, an app tailored to local standards and learning objectives. The app’s success was swift, earning accolades such as the “Teacher Approved” badge from Google within its first month of launch.

Building on this momentum, we addressed the critical need for health and wellness solutions with FlexFit360 and Healthify. These offerings resonated strongly with health-conscious Nigerians, garnering significant user engagement and trust.Our commitment to meeting the needs of Nigerian businesses led to the creation of FlexSuite, a comprehensive business management platform designed to enhance efficiency and competitiveness. Throughout our journey as a firm, we remained dedicated to user-centric design and forged strategic partnerships with local experts, ensuring our solutions resonated with the unique needs of the Nigerian market. As we continue to expand our presence in Nigeria, we take pride in the positive impact our solutions have had, from empowering education to promoting healthier lifestyles and driving business growth. Flexify Solutions remains committed to delivering innovative technology solutions that truly meet the needs and aspirations of Nigerians.

One of your flagship solutions is the AI-powered agritech solution. In light of Nigeria’s food security challenges, how does this technology contribute to addressing these pressing needs?

We recognize the importance of food security in Nigeria, and our AI-powered aggrotech solution, CyberAgric, is designed, in partnership with Cybermate Technologies, to directly address this pressing challenge. By leveraging mobile technology and artificial intelligence, CyberAgric can enhance food security in several keyways and one of its most innovative features is its ability to detect diseases like Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) in cassava leaves within the first two weeks of infection. This early detection capability is a game-changer, as it enables farmers to isolate and contain the spread of diseases before they can cause widespread crop failure, ultimately protecting crop yields and food supply.

By utilizing smartphone cameras, farmers can capture images of their crops and receive real-time analysis and recommendations, putting advanced agricultural technology literally at their fingertips.

CyberAgric is designed to be accessible to farmers, even in remote areas with limited internet connectivity as the scanning module is built to function offline, ensuring that no farmer is left behind in accessing this critical technology, the idea is for every farmer to benefit from the power of this AI-driven crop monitoring and disease detection solution.

Also, beyond disease detection, it serves as an educational platform, providing farmers with the latest agricultural best practices, updates, and connections to expert resources. This holistic approach not only identifies problems but also equips farmers with the knowledge and tools to implement sustainable solutions.

 

What led to the decision to focus on maize and cassava farmers specifically?

Through our strategic partnership with Cybermate Technologies, we have combined our expertise in AI and mobile technology with their deep knowledge of agricultural challenges in Nigeria. This collaboration ensures that CyberAgric is tailored to the specific needs and realities of Nigerian farmers, maximizing its impact on food security.

We started with cassava modules and after wide consultations we decided to add Maize (corn) to it. Firstly, both are staple crops that play a crucial role in Nigeria’s food supply and overall agricultural economy. Maize is a vital source of carbohydrates and protein, while cassava is a primary food crop and an important industrial raw material. By targeting these two crops, our aim is to have a direct and significant impact on securing the nation’s food supply and supporting the livelihoods of a large segment of the farming community.

Secondly, both are particularly susceptible to devastating diseases and these diseases can quickly spread and cause substantial yield losses, posing a severe threat to food security. CyberAgric’s advanced disease detection capabilities, leveraging AI and image recognition, are especially valuable in combating these specific crop diseases, enabling early intervention and containment measures.

Furthermore, maize and cassava are widely cultivated by small-scale farmers across Nigeria, who often lack access to advanced agricultural technologies and resources. By tailoring CyberAgric to these crops, we are empowering these small-scale farmers with a powerful tool that can significantly improve their crop management practices, enhance productivity, and ultimately contribute to their economic well-being and food security.

Considering the internet connectivity challenges and the presence of illiterate farmers, how do you ensure accessibility to your solutions for all stakeholders?

Addressing the challenges of internet connectivity and literacy levels among farmers is a critical consideration to ensure that a solution like CyberAgric is accessible to all stakeholders. As mentioned earlier, CyberAgric is designed to function offline, recognizing the limited internet connectivity in many rural areas. This means farmers can capture images of their crops using the mobile app and receive analysis and recommendations without relying on an internet connection. The AI disease detection model is embedded within the app, ensuring its functionality even in areas with poor or no internet access.

We prioritize a user-friendly interface that is intuitive and easy to navigate, even for farmers with limited technological literacy. The app is designed with clear visuals, simple instructions, and local language support, enabling farmers to understand and utilize its features effectively. We also understand that adopting new technologies can be challenging, especially for farmers who may have low literacy levels or limited exposure to digital tools. To address this, we are deploying a team of field agents and agriculture extension workers who will provide hands-on training and support to farmers in their local communities. These agents will guide farmers through the app’s features, demonstrate its usage, and assist with any queries or difficulties they may encounter.

We are also collaborating with local farmer cooperatives, community organizations, and agricultural extension services to leverage their existing relationships with farmers and their understanding of the local context. These partnerships will facilitate knowledge dissemination, training, and adoption of our solutions, ensuring they reach even the most remote and marginalized farming communities.

“CyberAgric can enhance food security in several keyways and one of its most innovative features is its ability to detect diseases like Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) in cassava leaves within the first two weeks of infection. This early detection capability is a game-changer, as it enables farmers to isolate and contain the spread of diseases before they can cause widespread crop failure, ultimately protecting crop yields and food supply.”

 

 

Are there any collaborations or partnerships with government entities to facilitate the adoption of your solutions and support farmers?

Yes, we recognize the importance of collaborating with government entities to facilitate the widespread adoption of this solution and to provide comprehensive support for farmers across Nigeria. We are actively pursuing strategic partnerships with various government agencies and initiatives, and our aim is to leverage their resources, reach, and influence to accelerate the adoption of CyberAgric and support farmers across Nigeria. We believe that these partnerships will not only facilitate access to our solution but also contribute to policy development, knowledge sharing, and the overall advancement of the Nigerian agricultural sector.

How does Flexify Solutions approach training initiatives for farmers, and what potential impact do you foresee on food security in Nigeria and beyond?

We recognize that effective training is crucial for ensuring the successful adoption of CyberAgric and ultimately contributing to food security in Nigeria and beyond. Our approach to training farmers involves a multi-faceted strategy that addresses various challenges and leverages multiple channels. We are deploying a team of skilled field agents and agricultural extension workers who conduct hands-on training sessions and demonstrations directly in farming communities. These sessions would cover the practical usage of the app, including capturing crop images, understanding the AI-powered disease detection results, and implementing recommended actions. Farmers would have the opportunity to ask questions, practice using the app, and receive personalized guidance from our experts. Also, recognizing the varying literacy levels among farmers, we have developed educational resources in multiple formats, including instructional videos, audio guides, and illustrated manuals in local languages.

Like I said earlier, we are also collaborating with farmer cooperatives, associations, and community organizations that have strong connections with local farming communities so as to leverage their existing relationships and trust to disseminate information about the app.By combining these various strategies, we aim to create a comprehensive and accessible training ecosystem that caters to the diverse needs of Nigerian farmers. Our ultimate goal is to empower them with the knowledge and skills necessary to fully utilize the potential of the solution.

We foresee a significant impact on food security in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. As more farmers adopt CyberAgric and implement its recommendations for early disease detection and preventive measures, crop yields are expected to improve substantially. This increased productivity will contribute to a more reliable and abundant food supply, addressing the pressing challenges of food insecurity in the country and potentially inspiring similar initiatives across the region.

Moreover, by equipping farmers with the latest technological tools and knowledge, we are fostering a more resilient and sustainable agricultural sector, capable of withstanding the challenges posed by climate change, pests, and diseases. This, in turn, will help ensure long-term food security and support the livelihoods of farming communities across Nigeria and beyond.

For illiterate farmers, is there provision for language diversity in accessing and utilizing your solutions?

Yes, addressing language diversity and catering to illiterate farmers is a crucial aspect of our approach. We understand that language barriers and literacy levels can be significant obstacles in the adoption and effective utilization of this app. To ensure accessibility for all farmers, we have implemented a multi-language support, offering interfaces and voice prompts in various local languages commonly spoken in Nigerian farming communities, such as Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.

This feature allows farmers to navigate the app, receive instructions, and interpret results in their native tongues, removing language barriers and promoting better understanding.

 

 

“We prioritize a user-friendly interface that is intuitive and easy to navigate, even for farmers with limited technological literacy. The app is designed with clear visuals, simple instructions, and local language support, enabling farmers to understand and utilize its features effectively. We also understand that adopting new technologies can be challenging, especially for farmers who may have low literacy levels or limited exposure to digital tools.”

Chidera Onuchukwu: Outstanding Woman in Tech – A Leader in Software Development, Security, and Data Analytics Transforming Businesses in Nigeria and Beyond

Chidera Onuchukwu: Outstanding Woman in Tech – A Leader in Software Development, Security, and Data Analytics Transforming Businesses in Nigeria and Beyond

 

Chidera Onuchukwu is a name that stands out in the African tech space for her exceptional contributions to software development, software security, and data analytics. Known for her expertise and innovative approach, Chidera has had a profound impact on industries ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to large-scale corporations. Her work has left a lasting imprint on the oil and gas sector, as well as in banking, telecommunications, and government, positioning her as one of Africa’s most influential and respected technology professionals.

With her expertise in cloud technologies, software security, and data analysis, Chidera has demonstrated how technical proficiency, combined with a deep understanding of industry challenges, can enable businesses to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Through her work, Chidera has transformed operations, enhanced security protocols, and empowered organizations to leverage data to drive strategic decision-making.

A Leader in Software Development and Security

Chidera’s remarkable career has been defined by her ability to craft secure, scalable, and efficient software systems that address the unique needs of businesses across sectors. As an engineer specializing in cloud technologies and software security, she has played a pivotal role in enabling companies—from SMEs to large organizations—adopt digital solutions that boost productivity and ensure resilience.

For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are often constrained by budget limitations and a lack of in-house expertise, Chidera has developed innovative, cost-effective solutions that make it easier for businesses to move to the cloud without compromising security. She has been instrumental in helping these enterprises secure their digital infrastructure, improve operational efficiency, and gain a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

Chidera’s work has proven invaluable for industries where data security is paramount. By leading projects that integrate cutting-edge security features, she has provided businesses with robust protection against cyber threats, while ensuring that their data remains safe and compliant with industry regulations.

Transforming the Oil and Gas Sector in Nigeria

Chidera’s influence in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria stands as a testament to her ability to apply technology to solve real-world challenges. As one of the most critical industries in the country, oil and gas face a unique set of hurdles, including managing complex logistics, regulatory compliance, and data security issues. Chidera has applied her expertise to address these challenges through innovative software solutions.

Her work on TapeTrack, an asset tracking platform, has been a game-changer for companies in the oil and gas industry. By streamlining asset management, enhancing security, and improving the transparency of supply chains, Chidera has helped firms in Nigeria and beyond boost operational efficiencies while ensuring better compliance and data integrity.

Moreover, her focus on software security has been critical in protecting sensitive data within these organizations. In an industry where data breaches and cyber threats are ever-present, Chidera’s solutions have ensured that oil and gas companies can rely on their digital infrastructure for secure, uninterrupted operations.

Harnessing the Power of Data for Strategic Growth

Chidera’s technical expertise also extends into the world of data analytics, where her ability to derive actionable insights from large datasets has been invaluable to businesses in multiple sectors. As data becomes increasingly central to decision-making processes, Chidera has empowered organizations to make informed choices that drive growth, reduce inefficiencies, and maximize profitability.

In sectors like oil and gas, telecommunications, and banking, Chidera has used data analytics to enable organizations to gain deeper insights into their operations, predict trends, and optimize their strategies. Her ability to transform raw data into clear, actionable intelligence has helped businesses navigate complex challenges, improve forecasting, and make data-driven decisions that keep them ahead of the competition.

By integrating data analysis into business strategies, Chidera has not only improved organizational efficiency but has also contributed to the wider digital transformation efforts taking place across industries in Nigeria and Africa.

Mentorship and Empowering Future Tech Leaders

Beyond her technical achievements, Chidera is also a passionate mentor and advocate for diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. She is dedicated to empowering the next generation of tech professionals, particularly young women, through various mentorship programs. Chidera’s mentorship focuses on nurturing technical expertise, leadership skills, and a mindset of innovation.

Through her programs, she has helped countless aspiring tech talents in Nigeria and across Africa break into the tech industry. Her approach emphasizes the importance of building resilience, fostering leadership qualities, and cultivating a forward-thinking approach to problem-solving. Chidera’s commitment to mentorship ensures that the next generation of African tech leaders will not only be skilled in their respective fields but also prepared to navigate the challenges of an ever-changing digital world.

Recognition and Impact Across Industries

Chidera has received widespread recognition for her contributions to technology. One of her significant achievements was being named the Beacon of Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Award winner for Software Security Personality of the Year in 2022. This prestigious award recognized her outstanding work in the field of software security and highlighted her role in shaping the cybersecurity landscape in Africa.

In addition to this, Chidera has garnered multiple awards and accolades from organizations across Africa. Her work has been recognized by key players in various sectors, including MTN, Zenith Bank, NNPC, and government agencies in Nigeria. These recognitions underscore her expertise and the lasting impact her work has had on industries critical to Africa’s economic growth.

A Driving Force in Africa’s Digital Future

Chidera Onuchukwu is not just a software engineer—she is a driving force in Africa’s digital transformation. Her ability to bridge the gap between software development, security, and data analytics has allowed businesses across Nigeria and Africa to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Whether empowering small and medium-sized enterprises or helping large corporations streamline their operations, Chidera’s work continues to shape the technological landscape.

As one of Africa’s leading tech talents, Chidera remains a beacon of innovation and leadership, constantly striving to build solutions that meet the evolving needs of businesses. Her legacy as a leader in software security, cloud technologies, and data analytics will undoubtedly continue to inspire future generations of tech professionals across the continent.

OVER 25 YEARS, WE HAVE MADE TREMENDOUS STRIDES IN THE NIGERIAN TECH ECOSYSTEM – COURE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 

OVER 25 YEARS, WE HAVE MADE TREMENDOUS STRIDES IN THE NIGERIAN TECH ECOSYSTEM – COURE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 

   Coure has always been an IT firm for years. How has the journey been?

COURE Software & Systems Limited (“COURE”) is a Platform Services Provider with a focus on the provision of accurate, secure and relevant data to improve its clients’ business processes and operations. We started out in the US in 1998 at a time when the internet and modern technology, as we know it, were taking off.  At that time, we were focused on networking and physical systems integration.  Over the years, the shifts in technology and the need to be scalable beyond billing for individual man hours caused us to migrate our technology services first to web and application development, then to what we currently provide today, which are platforms that leverage standardized and aggregated data to enable and enhance the operational efficiency of our clients.

It has been an exciting 25-year journey of change and transformation! Our flagship solutions, ANQ and HUB, have been enabling the telecom, fintech, banking and various other sectors to increase their value and service provision to their customers. Our development teams consist of analysts, UI/UX experts, programmers, product managers and network engineers all of whom have many years of experience in the design, development and support of clean, functional and aesthetically appealing applications and solutions.

Do you think that the Nigerian IT space is evolving in terms of digitization?

The IT space is constantly evolving with the advancement of digital technology such as cloud computing, AI, IoT, blockchain, etc. Nigeria has not been left out of this. The trend towards digital transformation, automation and artificial intelligence is accelerating, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the past, there were a lot of manual processes in business, and while automation was being implemented via IT, the pace was average.  The pandemic accelerated digitization in Nigeria and across the world as businesses and people had to survive without close contact.  Many businesses were forced to shut down. For those that were better prepared, their adoption of digital technology and new ways of working became an advantage, and customers embraced online and digital service delivery.  The IT industry continues to develop innovative solutions to make life easier for people and to help businesses harness the power of digital technology to improve operations, products, services, and customer reach.

Can you consider yourself as a fintech firm?

COURE is a platform services provider with key partners in the telco, financial, and technology space. Through our platforms, we are able to aggregate various types of data, analyze the data, and create services that provide value to these organizations and generate revenue for them. This makes us an enabler of fintech firms as opposed to being one ourselves.

Tell us more about your ANQ Platform?

Our ANQ (All Number Query) is a lookup platform that provides quick and easy access to information which enables our clients support their customers in areas such as Fraud prevention, Routing and KYC (Know Your Customer) using various number and data sources. Our partnership with data owners and access to large volumes of diversified data along with our processing capacity and intelligent algorithms enables us apply real-time analytics to data that is being searched against and provide information to businesses to aid their decision-making.  

Tell us more about your fraud prevention solutions?

Our fraud prevention solution adopts strategies, technologies, and processes to protect individuals, businesses, and organizations from fraudulent activities such as payment fraud, account takeover, and identity theft. Using intelligent algorithms, we check and flag fraudulent transactions before approval. Our algorithm takes into consideration numerous data points and provides a risk level rating for the transaction, thus minimizing losses, optimizing efficiencies, and protecting customers from fraud. This service helps achieve a faster and more effective fraud detection process leading to reduced financial loss, increased customer retention, protection of brand and reputation.

CEO , Coure Technologies Limited, Lagos

Are they only for banks and fintechs?

Our solutions cater to a cross-section of organizations that provide services to end customers. This includes banks, fintechs, lenders, payment services companies, telco service providers, retailers and value-added service providers. Fraud can affect any organization that deals with sensitive data or valuable assets. Many businesses outside of the financial sector invest in fraud prevention solutions to protect themselves against financial losses, maintain customer trust, and avoid legal and financial penalties. The same applies to KYC, Routing and Communication. These are all services that are relevant for organizations that provide services to end consumers.

 

Your Hub Platform is one of a kind. Do you think that SMEs can deploy it? If yes, how?

Our HUB platform is what is called a CPaaS – Communication Platform as a Service.  It enables Aggregators and VAS providers in the telecom industry integrate with the Telcos, then safely and accurately deliver messages between the applications through the Telcos and onward to the end customer and back. Message types include Bulk SMS, USSD, Whatsapp and RCS (Rich Communication Services).  It also addresses a number of industry issues and concerns such as the management of Sender ID’s and Short codes.

HUB is a ready-to-use platform for SMEs to create and manage their services, content, and subscriptions. The platform allows for hosting, management, and delivery of VAS services to Aggregators or Operators on behalf of the Service Provider. HUB was specifically built to address some of our local and African peculiarities.  It is easy to use for SME’s as there is no local installation required, and for most of the services, the client can login via our web interface to enable management and delivery of their services. In the event the client already has a local system that they want to integrate into HUB, we have API’s which they can leverage to be up and running in a short time.  HUB enables them to integrate once and have access to all the Telcos and multiple aggregators based on their preference thus simplifying their onboarding process. HUB’s messaging capabilities such as Whatsapp and RCS, help SMEs build better relationships with their customers, improve customer experience, reduce customer support calls, and improve communication security. They can also benefit greatly from using bulk SMS and USSD services as part of their marketing and communication strategies. These services offer a cost-effective and efficient way to engage with customers, provide information, and increase sales.

What are the challenges you face in Nigeria?

Given the insecurity challenges and the economic hardship in the country, we have witnessed the loss of talent across many sectors of the economy including the technology sector. This has made it paramount that we adopt an aggressive recruitment and talent retention strategy in a bid to forestall the negative impacts of this trend affecting our business.

“HUB was specifically built to address some of our local and African peculiarities.  HUB is very easy to use for SME’s as there is no local installation required and for most of the services, the clients can login via our web interface to enable management and delivery of their services.”

Do you have a presence in other ECOWAS countries?

Our routing service is present in most African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Côte D’Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt. Our 2023 roll-out plan includes expansion to key regions within the continent with a focus on Ghana, Uganda and South Africa.

How do you do your Data Monetization?

COURE partners with data owners in the telco, banking and payment service sectors to aggregate and centralize data that can be analyzed to extract intelligent insights, and in an automated and real-time manner, provide those insights to service providers for decision-making. This offers data owners the opportunity to monetize their data which would otherwise sit idle. It also enables users to gain secure access to their data across different service providers, making it easier for them to use third-party applications which require these data. This presents a mutually beneficial business relationship between COURE, a proven platform provider, data owners, and end customers. In providing these analytics, COURE is careful to adhere to global data privacy laws and security standards, being an NDPR-certified organization.

How can the Public Sector leverage your solutions?

COURE’s services and solutions are relevant for public sector use. The HUB CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) offers an opportunity for such organizations to improve communication with citizens, enhance security, streamline billing, provide real-time transaction notifications, and gain valuable insights through data analytics. The service is currently used by a number of public sector entities including the CBN. Our fraud prevention solutions can also help public sector entities protect against fraud and cyber threats. This is especially important when handling sensitive information, such as personal data or financial information.

What do we expect from you this 2023?

This year 2023, COURE will be commemorating its 25th year of existence. This is a remarkable milestone for us and represents a pivotal point in our journey. We will also be expanding our services to other countries on the continent as well as adding a 3rd platform to our suite, the OpenBanking platform. The OpenBanking platform offers financial data owners the opportunity to monetize their data by making it available to third-party financial services securely and efficiently via APIs, and in alignment with the CBN’s Open Banking Initiative. We have already partnered with some banks to pilot the solution and are excited about the ease and convenience that customers will enjoy when they use applications that leverage these APIs. Needless to say, we expect great times ahead!

 

 

 

“Given the insecurity challenges and the economic hardship in the country, we have witnessed the loss of talent across many sectors of the economy including the technology sector. This has made it paramount that we adopt an aggressive recruitment and talent retention strategy in a bid to forestall the negative impacts of this trend affecting our business.”

 

FOR 25 YEARS, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE TREMENDOUS STRIDES IN THE NIGERIAN TECH ECOSYSTEM – UCHE OWUDIWE, CORE TECHNOLOGIES CEO

FOR 25 YEARS, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE TREMENDOUS STRIDES IN THE NIGERIAN TECH ECOSYSTEM – UCHE OWUDIWE, CORE TECHNOLOGIES CEO

 

 

 

COURE Technologies CEO Uche Onwudiwe discusses the company’s journey from the USA to Nigeria in a 25-year retrospective interview with Anthony Nwosu. The conversation delves into the evolution of the Nigerian IT ecosystem, as well as COURE’s significant contributions in the areas of Value Added Services, Aggregators, , Fintech, and Public Sector. Onwudiwe also shares insights into the company’s expansion across various African nations.

 

Coure Tech has always been an IT firm for years, how has the journey been?

COURE Software & Systems Limited (“COURE”) is a Platform Services Provider with a focus on the provision of accurate, secure and relevant data to improve its clients’ business processes and operations. We started out in the US in 1998 at a time when the internet and modern technology, as we know it, was taking off.  At that time, we were focused on networking and physical systems integration.  Over the years, the shifts in technology and the need to be scalable beyond billing for individual man hours caused us to migrate our technology services first to web and application development, and then to what we currently provide today, which are platforms that leverage standardized and aggregated data to enable and enhance the operational efficiency of our clients.  It has been an exciting 25-year journey of change and transformation! Our flagship solutions, ANQ and HUB, have been enabling the telecom, fintech, banking and various other sectors to increase their value and service provision to their customers. Our development teams consist of analysts, web designers, UI/UX experts, programmers, graphic artists and network engineers all of whom have many years of experience in the design, development and support of clean, functional and aesthetically appealing web portals and solutions.

Do you think that the Nigerian IT space is evolving in terms of digitization?

The IT space is constantly evolving with the advancement of digital technology such as cloud computing, AI, IoT, and blockchain etc. Nigeria has not been left out of this. The trend towards digital transformation, automation and artificial intelligence is accelerating, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the past, there were a lot of manual processes in business, and while automation was being implemented via IT, the pace was average.  The pandemic accelerated digitization in Nigeria and across the world as businesses and people had to survive without close contact.  Many businesses were forced to shut down, but for those who were better prepared, their adoption of digital technology and new ways of working became an advantage, and customers embraced online and digital service delivery.  The IT industry continues to develop innovative solutions to make life easier for people and to help businesses harness the power of digital technology to improve operations, products, services, and reach new customers.

Can you consider yourself as a fintech firm?

COURE is a platform provider with key partners in the telco, financial, and technology space. Through our platforms, we are able to aggregate various types of data, analyze the data, and create services that provide value to these organizations and generate revenue for them. This makes us an enabler of fintech firms as opposed to being one ourselves.

Your Message Hub is one of a kind, do you think that SMEs can deploy it , if yes, how?

HUB is a ready-to-use platform designed for SMEs to create and manage their services, contents, and subscriptions. The platform allows for hosting, management, and delivery of VAS services to the Aggregators or Operators on behalf of the Service Provider. HUB was specifically built to address some of our local and African peculiarities.  HUB is very easy to use for SME’s as there is no local installation required and for most of the services, the clients can login via our web interface to enable management and delivery of their services. In the event the client already has a local system that they want to integrate into HUB, we have some very easy to use API’s which they can integrate into their platforms and be up and running in a very short time.  HUB enables them to integrate once and have access to all the Telcos and multiple aggregators based on their preference thus greatly simplifying the onboarding and management of the solution. HUB’s messaging capabilities such as Whatsapp and RCS technologies help SMEs build better relationships with their customers, improve the customer experience, reduce customer support calls, and enhance transaction security. They can also benefit greatly from using bulk SMS and USSD services as part of their marketing and communication strategies. These services offer a cost-effective and efficient way to engage with customers, provide information, and increase sales.

What are the challenges you face in Nigeria?

Given the insecurity challenges and the economic hardship in the country, we have witnessed the loss of talent across many sectors of the economy including the technology sector. This has made it paramount that we adopt an aggressive recruitment and talent retention strategy in a bid to forestall the negative impacts of this trend affecting our business.

Tell us more about your fraud prevention solutions?

Our fraud prevention solution adopts strategies, technologies, and processes to protect individuals, businesses, and organizations from fraudulent activities such as payment fraud, account takeover, and identity theft. Using intelligent algorithms, we check and flag fraudulent transactions before approval. Our algorithm takes into consideration numerous points of data and provides a risk level rating for the transaction, thus minimizing losses, optimizing efficiencies, and protecting customers from fraud. This service helps achieve a faster and more effective fraud detection process leading to reduced financial loss, increased customer retention, protection of brand and reputation, protection of customers’ details, identification of employee misconduct, fake account reduction and account take-over prevention.

Are they only for banks and fintechs?

Our solutions cater to a cross-section of organizations that provide services to end customers. This includes banks, fintechs, lenders, payment services companies, telco service providers, retailers and value-added service providers. Fraud can affect any organization that deals with sensitive data or valuable assets. Many businesses outside of the financial sector invest in fraud prevention solutions to protect themselves against financial losses, maintain customer trust, and avoid legal and financial penalties. The same applies to KYC, Routing and Communication. These are all services that are relevant for organizations that provide services to end consumers.

Do you have a presence in other ECOWAS countries?

Our routing service is present in most African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Côte D’Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt. Our 2023 roll-out plan includes expansion to key regions within the continent with a focus on Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

How do you do your Data Monetization?

COURE partners with data owners in the telco, banking and payment service sectors to aggregate and centralize data that can be analyzed to extract intelligent insights, and in an automated and real-time manner, provide those insights to service providers for decision-making. This offers data owners the opportunity to monetize their data which would otherwise sit idle. It also enables users to gain secure access to various data related services for enhancement of their business processes. This presents a mutually beneficial business relationship between COURE, a proven platform provider, data owners, and end customers. In providing these insights, COURE is careful to adhere to global data privacy laws and security standards, being an NDPR-certified organization.

How can the Public Sector leverage your solutions?

COURE’s services and solutions are relevant for public sector use. The HUB CPaaS offers an opportunity for such organizations to improve communication with citizens, enhance security, streamline billing, provide real-time transaction notifications, and gain valuable insights through data analytics. The service is currently used by a number of public sector entities including the CBN and the NPHCDA. Again, our Fraud solutions can help the public sector entities protect against fraud and cyber threats. This can be especially important when handling sensitive information, such as personal data or financial information.

What do we expect from you this 2023?

This year 2023, COURE will be commemorating its 25th year of existence. This is a remarkable milestone for us and represents a pivotal point in our journey. We will also be expanding our services to other countries on the continent as well as adding a 3rd platform to our suite, the OpenBank platform. The OpenBank platform offers Financial Data owners the opportunity to monetize their data by making it available to third-parties financial services in a secure, efficient and profitable manner via APIs, and in alignment with the CBN’s Open Banking Initiative. We have already partnered with some banks to pilot the solution and are excited about the ease and convenience that customers will enjoy when they use applications that leverage these APIs. Needless to say, we have great times ahead!

COURE Technologies CEO Uche Onwudiwe

 

“HUB was specifically built to address some of our local and African peculiarities.  HUB is very easy to use for SME’s as there is no local installation required and for most of the services, the clients can login via our web interface to enable management and delivery of their services.”

 

 

As an IT firm for years, how has the journey been?

COURE Software & Systems Limited (“COURE”) is a Platform Services Provider with a focus on the provision of accurate, secure and relevant data to improve its clients’ business processes and operations. We started out in the US in 1998 at a time when the internet and modern technology, as we know it, was taking off.  At that time, we were focused on networking and physical systems integration.  Over the years, the shifts in technology and the need to be scalable beyond billing for individual man hours caused us to migrate our technology services first to web and application development, and then to what we currently provide today, which are platforms that leverage standardized and aggregated data to enable and enhance the operational efficiency of our clients.

It has been an exciting 25-year journey of change and transformation! Our flagship solutions, ANQ and HUB, have been enabling the telecom, fintech, banking and various other sectors to increase their value and service provision to their customers. Our development teams consist of analysts, web designers, UI/UX experts, programmers, graphic artists and network engineers all of whom have many years of experience in the design, development and support of clean, functional and aesthetically appealing web portals and solutions.

Do you think that the Nigerian IT space is evolving in terms of digitization?

The IT space is constantly evolving with the advancement of digital technology such as cloud computing, AI, IoT, and blockchain etc. Nigeria has not been left out of this. The trend towards digital transformation, automation and artificial intelligence is accelerating, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the past, there were a lot of manual processes in business, and while automation was being implemented via IT, the pace was average.  The pandemic accelerated digitization in Nigeria and across the world as businesses and people had to survive without close contact.  Many businesses were forced to shut down, but for those who were better prepared, their adoption of digital technology and new ways of working became an advantage, and customers embraced online and digital service delivery.  The IT industry continues to develop innovative solutions to make life easier for people and to help businesses harness the power of digital technology to improve operations, products, services, and reach new customers.

Can you consider yourself as a fintech firm?

COURE is a platform provider with key partners in the telco, financial, and technology space. Through our platforms, we are able to aggregate various types of data, analyze the data, and create services that provide value to these organizations and generate revenue for them. This makes us an enabler of fintech firms as opposed to being one ourselves.

Tell us more about your ANQ and Hub Platform?

Our ANQ (All Number Query) is a lookup platform that provides quick and easy access to information which enables our clients to support their customers in areas such as Fraud prevention, Routing and KYC (know Your Customer) using various number and data sources. Our partnership with data owners and access to large volumes of diversified data along with our processing capacity and intelligent algorithms enables us to apply real-time analytics on data that is being searched against and provide information to businesses to aid their decision-making.  ANQ also helps our data owners monetize their otherwise idle data.  Our HUB Platform is what is called a CPaaS – Communication Platform as a Service.  It was built to enable aggregators and VAS providers in the telecom industry to integrate with the Telcos then safely and accurately deliver messages between the applications through the Telcos and onward to the end customer and back. Message types include Bulk SMS, USSD, Whatsapp and RCS (Rich Communication Services).  It also addresses a number of industry issues and concerns such as the management of sender ID’s and Short codes. Built with industry regulations in mind, HUB is the ideal platform for any Service Provider with great service ideas capable of meeting the needs of its subscribers.

Your Message Hub is one of a kind, do you think that SMEs can deploy it , if yes, how?

HUB is a ready-to-use platform designed for SMEs to create and manage their services, contents, and subscriptions. The platform allows for hosting, management, and delivery of VAS services to the Aggregators or Operators on behalf of the Service Provider. HUB was specifically built to address some of our local and African peculiarities.  HUB is very easy to use for SME’s as there is no local installation required and for most of the services, the clients can login via our web interface to enable management and delivery of their services. In the event the client already has a local system that they want to integrate into HUB, we have some very easy to use API’s which they can integrate into their platforms and be up and running in a very short time.  HUB enables them to integrate once and have access to all the Telcos and multiple aggregators based on their preference thus greatly simplifying the onboarding and management of the solution. HUB’s messaging capabilities such as Whatsapp and RCS technologies help SMEs build better relationships with their customers, improve the customer experience, reduce customer support calls, and enhance transaction security. They can also benefit greatly from using bulk SMS and USSD services as part of their marketing and communication strategies. These services offer a cost-effective and efficient way to engage with customers, provide information, and increase sales.

What are the challenges you face in Nigeria?

Given the insecurity challenges and the economic hardship in the country, we have witnessed the loss of talent across many sectors of the economy including the technology sector. This has made it paramount that we adopt an aggressive recruitment and talent retention strategy in a bid to forestall the negative impacts of this trend affecting our business.

Tell us more about your fraud prevention solutions?

Our fraud prevention solution adopts strategies, technologies, and processes to protect individuals, businesses, and organizations from fraudulent activities such as payment fraud, account takeover, and identity theft. Using intelligent algorithms, we check and flag fraudulent transactions before approval. Our algorithm takes into consideration numerous points of data and provides a risk level rating for the transaction, thus minimizing losses, optimizing efficiencies, and protecting customers from fraud. This service helps achieve a faster and more effective fraud detection process leading to reduced financial loss, increased customer retention, protection of brand and reputation, protection of customers’ details, identification of employee misconduct, fake account reduction and account take-over prevention.

Are they only for banks and fintechs?

Our solutions cater to a cross-section of organizations that provide services to end customers. This includes banks, fintechs, lenders, payment services companies, telco service providers, retailers and value-added service providers. Fraud can affect any organization that deals with sensitive data or valuable assets. Many businesses outside of the financial sector invest in fraud prevention solutions to protect themselves against financial losses, maintain customer trust, and avoid legal and financial penalties. The same applies to KYC, Routing and Communication. These are all services that are relevant for organizations that provide services to end consumers.

Do you have presence in other ECOWAS countries?

Our routing service is present in most African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Cote D’Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt. Our 2023 roll-out plan includes expansion to key regions within the continent with a focus on Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

How do you do your Data Monetization?

COURE partners with data owners in the telco, banking and payment service sectors to aggregate and centralize data that can be analyzed to extract intelligent insights, and in an automated and real-time manner, provide those insights to service providers for decision-making. This offers data owners the opportunity to monetize their data which would otherwise sit idle. It also enables users to gain secure access to various data related services for enhancement of their business processes. This presents a mutually beneficial business relationship between COURE, a proven platform provider, data owners, and end customers. In providing these insights, COURE is careful to adhere to global data privacy laws and security standards, being an NDPR-certified organization.

What do we expect from you this 2023?

This year 2023, COURE will be commemorating its 25th year of existence. This is a remarkable milestone for us and represents a pivotal point in our journey. We will also be expanding our services to other countries on the continent as well as adding a 3rd platform to our suite, the OpenBank platform. The OpenBank platform offers Financial Data owners the opportunity to monetize their data by making it available to third-parties financial services in a secure, efficient and profitable manner via APIs, and in alignment with the CBN’s Open Banking Initiative. We have already partnered with some banks to pilot the solution and are excited about the ease and convenience that customers will enjoy when they use applications that leverage these APIs. Needless to say, we have great times ahead!

 

 

“Given the insecurity challenges and the economic hardship in the country, we have witnessed the loss of talent across many sectors of the economy including the technology sector. This has made it paramount that we adopt an aggressive recruitment and talent retention strategy in a bid to forestall the negative impacts of this trend affecting our business.”

 

COURE Software & Sys (@couretech) / Twitter

 

WE ARE POISED TO BUILD ONLINE PORTALS & WEBSITES FOR NIGERIAN SMEs – HARRISON OKAFOR

WE ARE POISED TO BUILD ONLINE PORTALS & WEBSITES FOR NIGERIAN SMEs – HARRISON OKAFOR

 

In this interview, Harrison Okafor, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Harnix Tech, an indigenous web development and online presence firm located in Lagos talks about the need for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to invest in online presence. He complained of the low adaption of virtual presence by Nigerian business owners. He talks about how they generated two million followers in the social media page. Anthony Nwosu captures this in an exclusive interview

 

Tell us about Harnix Tech as an IT firm?

Harnix Tech is a creative digital agency, located in Lagos. We are a team of IT professionals combining the knowledge of our skills to provide outstanding digital solutions to our business clients.…. We are a team of professional graphic designers, web developers, content writers, marketers and IT specialists combining the knowledge of our skills to create beautiful designs and strategies, aimed to meet your business’s needs.

As a web developing firm have you ever thought of building software which is a clear departure from web development?

Yes, I have. But, before I move into details, we provide other services other than web development, we currently provide graphic design, digital marketing, SEO, content writing, social media management, and branding services too. Now back to a software, as I said earlier, I do hope to someday create a Book-Keeping product that specifically helps business entrepreneurs track their revenue, transactions, expenses, profits, tax and so on. The goal would be to make it super-easy for entrepreneurs to navigate through and understand.

The need to have virtual presence is very important for many organizations. What do you think are the Nigerian SMEs attitude towards building web or online presence?

Currently due to the bad economy, they feel the prices are on the high side, and most businesses just choose to opt out and keep running their business offline even when they know we live in a digital era when having your business online is very vital. However, we are working on something at Harnix Tech that would help accommodate SMEs in Nigeria. We believe as time goes on, businesses will evolve and come to understand the importance of virtual presence.

Do you think that cost of building websites is chasing or scaring Nigerian firms away?

Currently, I would say yes. Now when we look at the analysis of how many small businesses there are, you will notice there are over 80% small businesses and more are still going to come up. Now if we decide to check the rate of how many small businesses own a website, they are very few. We could say around 5-8%. But again, sometimes it is not about the price, it’s actually about small business owners lacking knowledge about the digital space and how the digital space could help scale their business. Businesses that do not key into the vast opportunities that internet offer is basically missing it big time.

Do you think of hosting apart from web development?

I have given it a thought, but right now, I just want to focus on scaling Harnix Tech to a whole new level. Hosting will come as we evolve but now, we are focused on our core.

As a digital marketing firm, what do you think can be done to push SME brands in the country?

Firstly, I would say we need to educate small business owners on why it is very important to have their business online. The reason I am saying this is because, we have dealt with clients who are clueless about the digital space, and when we present them with results of how their website was performing, they simply don’t get it. We have to break it down, so that they could truly understand what we are doing and what the next step is, when it comes to positioning their brand online.

Secondly, I will say making use of affordable resources. I say affordable because, we are talking about SMEs here, if they find the price of a website too expensive, then what happens when we start pitching SEO to them? They would take to their hills, because SEO is very costly. SEO costs ranges from 100k – 300k monthly, and an SEO campaign could take up to 6 months or more. You don’t want to pitch SEO to an SME brand, rather you want to draft out affordable marketing strategies, which they can use to scale their business. At Harnix Tech, one of the things, we do is create and optimize our clients Google MyBusiness account, one of our clients, Parkview Astoria Hotel is on their top game, when it comes to ranking on Google MyBusiness, when you search for keywords like luxurious hotels in Ikoyi, 4 star hotels in Ikoyi, or hotels in Ikoyi, Parkview Hotel is with in position 1 or 2. This has helped their business generate over a million in 4-5 months. So, when dealing with SMEs, think of Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Influential Marketing, Google MyBusiness or Apple Map listing. Then once they start generating that revenue, they would have more confident in the online business, and then you could pitch SEO to them.

What are the challenges that you face doing business in Nigeria?

Well, there are myriads of them but I will bring to these few things such as Getting the right people to work with. Clients delay in balancing payments, because we charge 60% upfront before we embark on any project and 40% after project is done. Bad Economy. Getting International SMEs to trust your brand. Today, a lot of Nigerians especially in the med field and tech are leaving the country.

How has this affected you?

I will not say that it has affected us, because some of our very good clients are Nigerians based abroad. And I won’t really say them moving abroad isnt the best option, because clearly it is. I also want to take my brand international one day, because it is high-profitable out there than within Nigeria.

Your team use SEO, PPC, social media and Content Marketing, among other channels, to build your brand and achieve goals. Tell us how?

At Harnix Tech, we make use of Influencial Marketing, social media, SEO, and Content Marketing currently. Now when it comes to Influencial Marketing, it has helped our brand generate visibility in the online space. While social media has helped us communicate more with our audience, our posts, our designs, everything communicates and we have used that to generate revenues for the brand. Content Marketing helps us build trust with our clients and create a bonding relationship with them, one of the things we do at Harnix Tech is study our client’s industry, and provide our clients information that can help them scale and stand a chance to compete in that industry. SEO has helped us generate online traffic and even sales for the brand. We are currently looking at using a new strategy, which involves turning our customers to our ambassadors, and creating a referral system.

You’re into digital marketing. How has this been?

In short words, it has been an awesome experience, the brand has really grown this year and we have generated more than double of our revenue last year.

Tell us your expectations this later part of the year?

We are aiming to generate 3M, Harnix Tech was launch 23 April, 2021. And last year been our first year, we did 785k+. We started this year with a lot of fire, and everyone on the team has been spectacular, with our new implemented strategies, we have not only generated over 2M+ this year, but also increased our client lists. We are confident to we can achieve this before the year runs out. We are also looking at exploring and dominating other social media platforms as well as keep increasing our client lists. Currently we have brands who trust us in Nigeria, UK, Russia. But altogether we have offered digital services to different brands in 5 countries. We believe there is still a long way to go when it comes to the issue of SMEs in Nigeria, and we will be looking at educating a lot of SME Entrepreneurs.

 

 

Well, there are myriads of them but I will bring to these few things such as Getting the right people to work with. Clients delay in balancing payments, because we charge 60% upfront before we embark on any project and 40% after project is done. Bad Economy. Getting International SMEs to trust your brand. Today, a lot of Nigerians especially in the med field and tech are leaving the country.

 

WE BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE TOP SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS IN RIVERS STATE – Sprinthub CEO

WE BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE TOP SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS IN RIVERS STATE – Sprinthub CEO

WE BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE TOP SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS IN RIVERS STATE – Sprinthub CEO

In this interview, the CEO of Sprinthub, Sokari Gillis-Harry, the CEO of Sprint Innovation Hub State speaks on how post Covid 19 will be a game changer in the ICT ecosystem, as a software development firm based in Rivers State, known for oil and gas activities, the software developer made people to understand that there are more to Rivers State than oil and gas industry. Anthony Nwosu captures this in an exclusive interview

Sprinthub is an IT establishment, can we know when you started?

We started in July 2018. The name Sprinthub comes from our agile approach. We break down an idea down to its most valuable and essential components. By helping you focus on what really matters, we create a solid foundation for sustainable business success. The end result: a product worth feeling passionate about. To us, engineering mobile app experiences is beyond a job. It’s our way of connecting ambitious entrepreneurs (and businesses) with customers in today’s mobilized world. Though, the journey hasn’t been an easy one, we consider ourselves as start-up but we have a positive outlook to the ecosystem.

Why Rivers State? Many IT and software development firms are based in Lagos, Yaba precisely, why Port Harcourt?

As a service-based company that builds digital products, the need for our customers to meet physically with us is not necessary, if we do exceptional work and deliver on time. We have clients in Europe that will never meet us even if we move to Lagos. In the early days we had difficulties finding talents because the best talents are moving to Lagos, but we quickly adjusted to a Remote DevOps culture which enabled us to find talents across the Globe. At the moment our Quality Assurance Testers are in Europe. So as an IT firm, we have to leverage on technology in the areas of capacity building and skills outsourcing. We mustn’t be in Lagos as you said to scale.

Over the years you have developed many software solutions, how is the capacity building and skillset there, in a city known for oil exploration?     

It’s amazing the kind of talents that are down here if you pay enough attention. After we started working with remote employees, we found that there are senior software engineers and designers in Port Harcourt and we couldn’t find IT firms that can match their salary. They gave up and applied for remote positions oversees. We were able to get some of them into advisory positions in the company. So, the city isn’t all about oil and energy services, the ICT ecosystem is also busy and burgeoning.

Bhood Music is one of your music and online entertaining app, what have you achieved with this. A lot of online streaming apps have been accused of short changing the artistes in terms of revenue. What is different about this?

The Bhood Music team approached us to build a platform that will be is strictly for religious acapela music. We currently don’t know how much they pay their artists but their userbase have been growing and they have plans to expand to other religious organizations. Ours is to develop a bespoke software and solutions for organizations and Bhood Music happens to be one of them.

How many downloads and streaming do you have averagely in a month?

The last time we looked at their dashboard, they had over 1000 downloads per day. We strongly believe that this number would increase, knowing that gospel and accapella type of music is restricted to certain class of audience, it is a niche market and for that application to witness about 1000 downloads per day is a step in the right direction.

Do we have your solutions (software and apps) in other West African Countries?          

Currently we don’t. We are working on one that will be available for public beta testing by the end of Q3 2020. We have our eyes in the overseas markets especially the ECOWAS region. We strongly believe that we would be deploying there in no distant future.

Cabby Nigeria is an app designed to give Uber a run for their money. How has this been considering the level of signups and download in Rivers State and Niger Delta region?

Even though I am not allowed to comment on the internal business affairs of our customers, I will say the business of competing against heavily funded companies like Uber is tough, though I see them becoming a major player in Nigeria in the coming years. We strongly believe in their capacity, the market in Nigeria is huge.

What are the challenges that you face doing business in Rivers State and Nigeria as a nation?         

Electricity, Stable internet and security are the major challenges we have. We have a lot to contend with in these afore mentioned areas. They have eaten deep in our operational expenditure. Internet connectivity is still on the high side in this part of the world especially high-speed internet. These are the teething problems we face, the issue of security is another thing, but we believe that the state and the federal government is doing something in these regards.

The country is emerging from Corona Virus epidemic, what are the unique solutions that you have that you think that would interest Nigerians?

On-demand delivery solutions will become mainstream as we come out of the pandemic. Before, adoption to services like this were difficult but the lockdown left people with no choice but to give these services a try. So as you can see,  the social distancing policy by the government will spur growth in this area and we as a software development firm is well positioned to take advantage of this by creating top notch on demand solutions that is in tandem with what is applicable in other parts of globe.

As a stakeholder in the industry, do you think that the government is doing anything or much to support indigenous IT firs like yours in terms of policy?

They are doing okay, but there is room for improvement. The recent open bank policy has enabled new fintech businesses with little or no external funding to build solutions that are disrupting the banking sector. There would be a whole lot of disruption from FinTechs to eLearning solutions, what the government must do is to create an enabling environment for these. Yes, NITDA has put machinery in motion and we believe that the minister Isa Pantami the ComTech Minister understands what to do in these regards.

Do you think that Nigerians are beginning to appreciate locally developed software?

Yes, we have customers that would have hired Indian firms if they did not find us. So we can say yes to your question, but we are not yet there, we are not going to build software so that Nigerians will buy from us or we deploy for them, we believe here that they will buy from us as a Nigerian firm and more importantly, because we built a world class solutions for them. 

The recent open bank policy has enabled new fintech businesses with little or no external funding to build solutions that are disrupting the banking sector. There would be a whole lot of disruption from FinTechs to eLearning solutions, what the government must do is to create an enabling environment for these.