OLANREWAJU Alade, chief executive officer of LT Telecoms, a fast growing telecommunication company, assesses the telecoms sector in Nigeria against the backdrop of what is obtainable in other climes. According to him, the interest rate is discouraging investments and exacerbating the prevailing economic crisis. Alade, who doubles as the President of Rotary Club of Ikate, also about his company, challenges and more.

I didn’t just decide that I was going to start my own company. Let me talk about my employment life. I am a graduated from Yaba College of Technology in Civil Engineering. With the advent of satellite technology, towards the end of the twentieth century, I was introduced to a South African firm, which came to partner with Nigeria and they started deploying v-sat technology. They took me up as a trainee and I happened to be the first Nigerian to join them. That was how I ventured into telecoms. My employment was with the Nigerian firm. Gradually, my employment moved from the Nigerian outfit to the South African outfit and I worked with them for about seven years. I rose through the ranks and became the Country Manager with operations spreading from the West Coast of Gambia to Cameroon. Later, I decided to see what I could do for myself and that was how I started LT Telecoms. I must give credit to the South African firm for making me leverage on some of their assets when they were leaving the country. I took over some of their clients and that made business easy, because we had a ready clientele.

What major challenge do you face in your capacity as the CEO of LT Telecoms?

The challenges are enormous like in every business. Managerially, I could have some challenges but we all know how the business terrain of the country is now, since the last 10 years. The sector has it own challenges, not talking of the general challenges. You talk about overhead costs, that is, for power, security and the like. These are supposed to be taken care of by the government but you are left to provide all that yourself for your business to thrive.



Could you comment on the different stages of your company’s growth, though you leveraged on the gesture of that South African company you earlier worked for?

As I said, we leveraged on the opportunity given to us. But we didn’t fold our hands and go to sleep. With my experience, we plunged in and forged ahead. I believe in interacting well with the environment. You must open yourself to new relationships. We were able to enter into new partnerships with some international companies. One in the US, another in Netherlands and another in South Africa. One of the companies’ major customer in Nigeria is MTN.We were appointed a partner to manage telecoms equipment for major companies and we also do that for MTN Nigeria.

How competitive is the telecoms market in Nigeria?

The telecoms industry is very big. Apart from telecoms equipment sales and services, we also provide internet services. The internet market is very large but penetration is still very low. It’s a case of the sky big enough for all birds to fly freely. We still have a long way to go.

How successful is your company?

That’s very relative. It depends on where you are coming from and where you are going. We are not doing badly compared to some other companies.

How has the global economic recession affected your firm?

The Yorubas say if the heaven would fall, it won’t fall on one roof. Everybody is affected by the recession only that we are feeling it the most in this part of the world, because our policy makers still have a lot to do. It once happened in the US and it didn’t take them too much time to resuscitate dying companies. We can only be optimistic. Like they say “e go better”. Our government must make and implement the right policies for businesses to thrive.

What’s your stake in Nigeria’s telecoms industry?

We all want to create a niche for ourselves and the business world is very competitive. As much as we are all competing, we must also be very careful of how we compete. What I have been preaching lately is encouraging others. The “I must run you down and destroy your brand” mentality has to give way. God has so blessed this country with population but the is- sue is that we all want to serve the same set of people. Nobody wants to break new grounds. Our kind of business is capital intensive. I read in the papers that the minister of finance has told CBN to lower the interest rate but CBN is saying no.

What’s your take on that?

That makes it difficult for businesses to grow because it’s like we are just working for financial institutions. You have your overheard. Soon, people may have to start looking for unconventional ways of doing business. I am sure that the finance minister has a point on that. I remember that there was a time we were trying to access a loan to acquire a particular property and it was so difficult. I have friends in saner climes who would say it’s never like that elsewhere. Once your input and output are evaluated as a company, you should be able to access loans freely but we just make things so difficult for ourselves in this country.

Can you compare the telecoms sectors of “saner climes” like you put it, to what is obtainable in Nigeria?

I don’t have businesses outside but my friends abroad would always say they get a good support from the government of their host countries. Interest rate is single digit over there but we are paying double digit rate here.

Are you apprehensive that your company may fold up, if the recession persists?

We are not praying for that. No one would pray that his investment crashes one day. As human beings, from the day you were born, you are as good as entertaining death. We are doing our best to stay above the waters.

The Debt Management Office recently said that our national debt has increased by 34.4 percent just within the last one year. What is your reaction to that?

You cannot do without borrowing in any economy. The economy now, needs a lot of stimulation and there must be a way of pumping huge funds into the business arena. If we keep producing and consumers don’t have the purchasing power,of what use is that? The major thing is the ability of firms to produce and for customers to buy. If I don’t have, I must borrow. If the only means for us to have is to borrow, then why not?

Are you justifying government’s endless borrowings?

I don’t want you to take me out of context. If government goes to borrow because we don’t have enough, they spend and also create avenues for people like us to have access to funds. They have bailed out some sectors and even some states. Money must just flow. If they don’t have, then they have to borrow.

What’s the level of your workers motivation towards realizing corporate goals?

When I was to start the company, I was properly trained to be able to deliver according to the culture of my former company. My former boss would say we have two ways of doing things , “the Nigerian way and our way”. They believe that we have this careless way of doing things, whereas they pay attention to details. I can recall that one of my colleagues was fired simply because he didn’t do a neat job when he was sent to a site. For us, we train and retrain. We have our corporate culture and our staff are taken through requisite training. Our system is self-sustaining and as a worker you’ll know if you’re performing or not.

Source: http://www.financialwatchngr.com/2016/09/25/lower-interest-rates-key-to-business-growth-in-nigeria-olanrewaju-alade/

Cc:lalasticlala, Seun, puskin, dominique, naijacutee, FOD