From just training people on how to use computers, Mrs. Florence Seriki now sits atop Omatek Computers, a multi million Naira outfit that not only manufactures computers but other electronic products. Her dream is to export computers to the Western world just the way the West is shipping computers into our country today. And her message is simple: “Start small and you can grow big, very big, provided you know what you want and where you are going”. She spoke to Ray Echebiri, Nik Ogbulie, Abimbola Tooki and Lawson Ovih in her office in Lagos.

Excerpts:

In 1992, you won the entrepreneurship award of the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce because people saw what you were doing. When they called Florence Seriki, Omatek, it was like, who is this? Can you look back at the way you started, because a lot of people these days don’t want to start somewhere, they want to start from where you are. What do you have to say about this journey from the unknown?

Yes, I cannot but remember, because people I notice now think they have to start from here. I only started by training executives. I was doing my National Service then and I noticed that executives did not know how to use the computer. I was at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) then, and I found myself training executives. After office, I would go and teach one or two executives, and so I got invited to a couple of talks and one of the messages I have given, is that hard work helps. So you have to know what you want and where you are going. Some people do things and don’t know why they are doing it. I have told you the need initially was to train people, to train executives that did not know how to use the computer. I saw a niche there and I used to give them appointment, one on one.

In 1988, Union Bank of Nigeria gave me a space at 409 Marina on the 6th floor. So all the executives would be coming on appointment into that room, including their managing director, and that was my experience. When the new generation banks started, I started training bankers; the same thing I was doing, but it keeps changing and is still the same concept. 

I started selling Compaq; things that we don’t produce. And some people said, why don’t you start producing those things here? And I could see the need for production here.

So we stared in 1993. We launched the first Omatek computers at the then CTO in 1993, and people used to call us clone people, so I tried to go beyond that. And the first time I saw the opportunity of blowing it was that SME thing.  When I walked into the banks, they looked at me and said, Florence, we bought your computers, we have dealt with Omatek, which means one needs to be ethical in whatever one is doing, and professionalism is important.

They were ready to put their money down and help us, which they did through their SME scheme. And a lot of Nigerians also don’t come down to see opportunities where they are, to look at small situations.

 

So how do you link that experience with what happens in the financial sector where innovation needs a lot of financial support? Have you been able to benefit and what are your experiences?

The first time ever that we needed an overdraft and we approached an old generation bank, we were asked to produce our transaction history. At the end of the day, the bank did not give us the facility. So I went to one of the new generation banks, Guaranty Trust Bank. GTB said they don’t know me and that I need to have a transaction history, need to have a bank statement  and I am new. They said it could be from any bank. Luckily I had a transaction history, because I used to bank my money. So when they saw two to three pages of transaction, in, out, they said they would give me N500,000.

So in a nutshell, no matter how small, I encourage people to bank. And my advice to SMEs is to push.

 

Then when you started with all this, did you have the vision of driving the company to where it is today?

Coming up I used to sell Compaq, and used to joke that somebody brought this Compaq  here, one day we are going to take our own to their country. Jokingly, I didn’t know I was going to reach this level, like I trained the executives.

 

Compare your experience today with when you started with respect to fund, bank credit. What would you say?

In those days it wasn’t easy for me. It started with N500,000, it became N1,000,000, It moved to N10,000,000, like a joke.

Can you compare yesterday and today in terms of access to bank facility?

For us, we were lucky that time. All the banks knew me; that I was overtly aggressive. Some said I was a trouble maker, and I would say okay, but I have not got what I wanted. I remember Guaranty Trust Bank then. I would bring a job from Chevron, they would appraise it and say it is not doable. I would say, this is a local company getting a job from Chevron which is not easy. I need somebody to fund it, and they would say no. I would bypass them and go up to meet their managing director.

I would find my way to see the boss. He would invite me in and get it done eventually. So my own case was different. They would give you all the conditions and I would say sorry, this condition can not work. And one day, they said I was the only signatory and that if they give me the loan and I get involved in an accident then who will pay. And I said what alternative do you have for me.

And I told them that I was going abroad to bring the goods and you said your man should follow me, what if he gets involved in an accident, he is under insurance cover, and he doesn’t know how I got the job. He doesn’t have anything at stake, you probably insured him for anything that happens. Then Omatek fails and I asked, do you know the meaning of Omatek? it is the name of my village.

So that is the point I am making. Individuals are different. I used to face MDs, and argue my point out.

 

You are an engineer, but what you are doing from the beginning is more of entrepreneurship, how did you come about it?

In 1993, a friend called me and said there is something called the Lagos Business School, so he said I should come and attend. When he said that it would cost N150,000, I said that could bring in about four containers. And from nowhere, Fola Adeola called me too and said the same thing.

He said that some of those things I do that I can learn them there in the books I will buy. I went for the examination, was successful and that was how I got into the school. I sat with other chief executives of companies. When I got there, negotiation was a course and that was how I learnt about my negotiations with the banks. I received big contracts from oil companies and I think of how I can fund it. So when I go to the banks, they tell me all their stories and I will go back and tell them the dynamics I think they should follow.

We fight and fight until they know that their dynamics may fail. Over time I noticed that banks give us high account and attention, because they realized we know what we are doing. Like I always tell them here, if you are asked to take care of something and you say you are waiting for somebody, if that person doesn’t help you, you are the one to push, because I would push till I get what I want.

If I can’t get it I know I have worked hard for it. Credibility on the other hand also helps.

 

We have gone round and have seen that you are doing quite a lot.  Are you making money?

The only thing is that we are doing our best to achieve what we want.

 

What are the challenges?

Supply chain challenges. If the volume keeps moving the way it keeps going, we can improve on the supply chain. We buy more in bulk, so what I mean is that profit could be better than the way it is now. So we are doing partnership now, we are creating channel partners, selling here and there. I noticed we need to have more outlets.  If we can quickly tidy what we are currently doing, then the volume will increase.

The banks need to promote this country’s economy by making sure that more of local brands are patronized. They should tell us where we have problems. You know, we used to have Chinese product, we used to condemn them, but today they are building up, especially if you have people with sincerity of intent, you have where to go back to and improve on it.

In 1991, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was made to patronize local brands, and this was how we started selling Compaq to the likes of them. Before now, they never wanted to buy from the Nigerian companies. They should patronize local brands instead of relying on foreign products.

 

That actually brings us to the enabling environment, are you encouraged?

Well, we were in the last administration and were hoping that all those that followed could sustain it. The government should not allow those policies to go. As for power, electricity, we are used to that one already. I don’t wait for power and if one says he or she should wait for power, how long can the person wait.

 

What do you want from the government?

We want the government to improve on the power issue because there are still a lot to happen in our industry. To enact a policy on patronage of local brands. That will help us to meet our economies of scale. Today we are talking to first class manufacturers, initiatives like that of the computer for all Nigerian initiatives (CANI), the e-xpress initiatives, and the banks are working with us on that.

Power should be continued. The zero percent duty should be visited, and other incentives should be continued.

 

What are you paying now as duty?

I pay between 5 and 7 per cent, the same rate with the foreign brand. Our zero percent was not respected and we still have a valid letter on the zero per cent. We have written to government   before and will continue to write to them. Now that the new ministers have come, we have written to them again.

 

Can you comment on the computer literacy level in the country?

The level is still low but it’s getting better day by day. We were able to get a land from one of our banks to start something and also from the state government. We have launched in 6 states, Lagos State is currently doing its own now. And we supply computers to civil servants which is one way of our contribution to computer literacy.

The state government gave an undertaking that they will deduct it from their salaries at a convenient rate.

 

What of technical skills, do you have any challenges?

When the Chinese people came here, they said, “Florence, we have to start training your staff”. And the engineers are growing in their skills too, and that was why we set up the Omatek Engineering and housed all the repairs engineers there. So I have to create a company around them. I bought some solar equipment and other things so that they would get some training on them and become a profitable company.

We now also have resource centres which would be launched locally and globally soon. The Chinese people gave me one or two people from Asia to come here. They asked where I would set up the institute, and I said I don’t know, that I am not ready for it.

These resource centres would serve as our back up support, and they will see machines coming as practical as well. We will train people in those centres first, we have no choice but do that.

 

You are diversifying into other electronics, not just computers. What is the motivation for that?

For the speaker case you saw, we have a kind of volume requirement which we supply. Even people are now asking for where they could pick them. They always tell us that they worked well but don’t know where to pick them. So we are now creating channels and franchises, and have showrooms where people that are attracted to our products can go to. Presently, we have some showrooms and intend to expand our scope.

 

To what extent do you think the global economic crisis will affect the Nigerian IT sector?

I don’t think it would get to us before it is over. In the IT sector, we still have a long way to go. The need for computer systems, IT solutions are still enormous. What is rocking us is exchange rate volatility more than anything. I would like the government to check exchange rate fluctuation; the exchange rate should not fluctuate this much. We are feeling the exchange rate fluctuation, because it makes the prices to keep changing.