Presentation by Engr.( Mrs ) Florence Seriki , MFR

1. Presentation by Engr.(Mrs) Florence Seriki, MFR Group Managing Director, Omatek Computers Ltd @ E-NIGERIA 2012.

2. LOCAL CONTENT IN IT DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA Marketing IT Local Content Products and Services: Issues, Options and Strategies

3. INTRODUCTION • Must Say it Great That this year’s e-Govt Conference focused on Local Content….this is a great Tool for Growth of any Nation and it means that Nigeria can now join the Global Market to move this continent forward. • All over the world Information Technology plays a major role in the socio-economic development of any Nation • Information Technology is a very necessary tool for the Nation’s Economy and is a main Driver for its Development and Transformation. • ICT as an enabler of the economy can bring about employment generation, youth empowerment and poverty alleviation. • For years , Asians have embraced ICT as a major tool for development • Overtime, ICT has not been given its pride of place in Nigeria and has not been a part of the Nigeria Economic Summit

4. INTRODUCTION • Today, Globalization and rapid technological change have made knowledge a critical determinant of competitiveness in the world economy. • The effective utilization of new information technology would help to meet the growing need for a more sophisticated labor force, manage information systems, and contribute to poverty reduction and job creation around the world and in Nigeria. • This will in turn affect over Gross Domestic Product and become one of the ways to reduce dependence on Oil

5. INTRODUCTION CONT’D • With Globalization, the information revolution and increasing demands for a highly skilled work force, it is clear that nations must accord high priority to building the capacity to effectively utilize technology in everyday living • Modern economies are built on the crest of technology delivery

6. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBAL ECONOMY • There is an urgent need to diversify the economy so that Nigeria will no longer be a dumping ground not just for finished products but foreign products • ICT can therefore be used to drive the economy as exemplified by the Indian and Taiwanese experience through the use of software and hardware respectively. • Over 30 years ago, the two countries took decisions for ICT to drive their entire economy. • Today with our own ICT Ministry….WHAT DO WE WANT

7. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBAL ECONOMY • WHERE WERE WE 10 YEARS AGO • Most Computer Companies were registered as either an IBM Reseller or Compaq Reseller etc. • We were selling these products and distributing them and some of us registered as Service Providers. • The Asians DID THE SAME WITH US but they moved forward. • Today, how many Computer Companies are still existing…. • …………. and where are our counterparts in China…..they are producers

8. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBAL ECONOMY • Step one • The Asians took a decision to be Producers rather than Consumers….to promote employment and grow skills especially with their huge population. • Like asians, we need to take advantage of the population in the African Market and start to engage in local production, local factories. This will assist in meeting economics of scale required for the key first class manufacturers of raw materials in order to maintain quality • To Maintain Quality, you must buy Raw Materials from Key Manufacturers and they require Minimum Order Quantities (MOQ). E.g a 20ft of Motherboard contains 10,000 motherboards and this is the MOQ with the first class factories. etc

9. Step two – Local Policies on Local Content • They Took a decision to Patronise themselves and Local Rules and Local Policies set up to ensure local Patronage. • The Manufacturers cannot eat what they produce. • They Created Massive Campaign around Local Content…educating the masses. • This allows for local Tolerance for the local brands. • They created incentives to assist these factories. • The Number ONE citizen championed the Campaigne. • Like Asians, Africans need to cultivate the habit of patronizing their own.

10. This will definitely promote research & development (R&D), self sustenance innovation, empowerment required in most sectors of the economy e.g medical, education, power, agriculture etc. • Step three – Sustaining the local Policies/Empowerment • They started promoting ICT Companies to produce. • They created ICT Parks to warehouse many SME factories sharing common infrastructure. • They created international exhibitions to expose their SME’s and will line up buyers for them….OUTSOURCING SHOW …still on till today. • Created Projects and schemes and initiatives to GET THEIR FACTORIES BUSY. • They encouraged production of derived products…..e.g I/o cards, modems, flash drives, etc and reduced exhibition cost for these young entrepreneur producers.

11. Step Four – Direct Investment /Markets • They Started encouraging the SMEs and Local Manufacturers to partner with foreign direct investors or BUYERS. • They started created Export opportunities to move their products out and this generated foreign funds for the government. • They encouraged Exporters who collect commission for goods sold and especially those who can speak English. • Government started partnering with these Factories and would give projects out to DISTRIBUTION Companies and Resellers; whilst they spec these goods directly with the Factories and monitor the quality and deliveries directly with the factories. • This helped to generate Massive Employment Opportunities and help to boost technology transfer (Tech. Know-How) etc

12. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBAL ECONOMY • If the target of joining the league of twenty largest economies in the world by the year 2020 must be achieved, there is the to create a vibrant workforce that will be in tune with global trends through the right application of its tools to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. • There is therefore need for consistent government policies/incentives to create local content, ,local patronage and encourage organizations in the IT industry to develop innovative solutions to meet the challenges of our local needs while servicing the international market

13. Step Five – Creating Funding for Manufacturers • The benefits of long term funding of SME’s and local factories cannot be over-emphasized. Banks must put heads together to assist in this regard. The SMEIs scheme failed earlier because banks did joint ventures with these factories and SMEs but forgot that they were bankers and not in these areas of specialization. • The Bank of Industry funding cannot support working capital but can at least allow us take off with infrastructure and renovation. They just set up an ICT desk only recently after an event organized by ITAN three months ago in honour of NASSCOM delegates that visited Nigeria from India to explore business opportunities. • If banks find a solution to rendering assistance to these SME’s , there will be tremendous effect on the economy. The ripple effect on the whole economy will have positive impact on banks too as turnover of these factories will increase

14. Buying from high class manufacturers makes competition tougher as the other foreign brands sourcing their raw materials from the same factories have 1-6% cost of funds whilst we have 22%-36% interest to deal with. • The stability of exchange rate for a long period like we had experienced in the last 3 years or reducing the gap with the US$ can have great positive effect. • They realised the Dearth of knowledge on IT business cycle by financial institutions. • They recognised the Absence of Project Management Approach towards lending and transaction cycle by financial institutions and intervene to assist to help SME’s with banks.. • They prevented Unrealistic terms and conditions for lending to the sector. • They recognised Funding as catalyst for the emergence of local component production.

15. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBAL ECONOMY • Step six – Creation of SME Derived factories & RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT (R&D) • They started promoting new innovatitive factories and Derived SME factories. E.g Cartons for packaging, Nails, Screws, Polyfoams, etc • This brought about lots of new factories that can thrive in the ICT sector and are capable of causing ripple effects in all other sectors. • R&D labs started springing up and factories started sharing common ICT labs and R&D Facilities.

16. Step seven – Creation of INFRACSTRUCTURES • Long term investment like one or more banks forming consortium to fund roads, drainages, private power, alternative power, housing ICT parks etc can go a long way in reducing the cost of running factories and this will not only have positive effect on ICT related factories but all and the global economy itself. • Govenrment went on R&D on the Solar power and started providing this as a shared facility for all. • Addressing critical infrastructure-power, road and network. Improving telecommunications system and its system for productivity, unemployment: especially urban youth. • Sustained investment in power generation and distribution to ensure even access.

17. Explore use of alternative energy sources and create incentives for private sector investment in power generation, transmission and distribution. • They created strategic alliance between Companies and the high class manufacturers.

18. Step eight – Influencing Education • Providing the needed critical mass to drive government’s policy • Setting up training scheme (R&D) • Building a system to make educational extension courses more courses more available • Creation of Resource Centres • Building a database of learning opportunities

19. Step Nine – Making Computers available for ALL . Introduction of Schemes and initiatives that will drop Computers to ALL at very affordable prices….e.g Consumer schemes . Work with Banks to support Manufacturers and Consumers for both cheaper funding and Rental Payment Structure respectively. . Ensured Distribution Channel so that ALL WILL BE EMPOWERED . Set up a Monitoring Agency to ensure Quality . Set up Research Labs and Constant Training

20. Conclusion • With the advent of ICT, the world has become a global village and Nigeria cannot afford to be left out. • I dare say that ICT is even critical to the success of Vision 20:2020 • This vision which provides for the strategic implementation of an economic policy framework aimed at making Nigeria one of the world’s 20 most developed nations by the year 2020will task us both as individuals and as professionals • This is a project that will test the technical prowess of our professionals and we cannot afford to fail or falter.

21. CONCLUSION CONT’D • The United Nations showed a clear commitment in realizing these opportunities through goal 8 of the MDG that aims to develop a global partnership for the development and cooperation with private sector while making available the benefits of new technologies, especially information dissemination through the global ICT-Based platform. • Literacy in information technology and proficiency in the use of IT tools have become vital to acquiring knowledge and managing same efficiency

22. THANK YOU Engr.(Mrs) Florence Seriki, MFR Group Managing Director, Omatek Computers Ltd, www.omatekcomputers.com Email: floseriki@hotmail.com