A Nigerian identified as Stanley Adeniyi has recently shared his experience on how he almost introduced Free Call Services to Nigeria for Nigerians. He shared this story on his Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts and has a lot to lessons to share with his fellow Nigerians and everyone.


THE FREE CALL INNOVATION AND ITS KICKOFF SAGA


I have always been passionate about service to humanity and this inevitably developed my interest in philanthropy, entrepreneurship and business. As a result, I began seeking ways to provide solutions or services that would improve the lives of my fellow Nigerians. I have very hardworking parents and the most adorable sisters in the world. Though I have a bachelors in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and an expert in control systems, instrumentation and automation, I have always believed that Nigerians deserve a better standard of living at the most affordable cost where practicable hence my fervid pursuit of innovative concepts. After my compulsory national youth service, I began to understudy the business and economic opportunities across the country.

Last year, Paddy Adenuga (@paddyadenuga84) shared his experience in a superlative article recounting how he almost succeeded in buying Chevron Netherlands while also highlighting his strengths and weaknesses. Just like Paddy, our entrepreneurial zeal is the blood that flows through us. His story has inspired me to share my personal experience on why I failed to introduce a ‘Free Calling Platform’ to Nigeria. I am also motivated to write my story because I believe there might be someone out there that would learn a few things that can be applied to their entrepreneurship journey or business adventure.

As an engineering graduate, I had my gaze on the telecom sector and I began analysing the quality and cost of the services provided by the network providers in Nigeria. I decided to travel to India in 2013 to understudy the Indian telecom sector and I was very amazed at my discoveries. Although India happens to be the second largest population in the world after China, they have been able to lift and continue to lift millions of their citizens out of poverty through innovative approach to providing services for her citizens. While in India, I decided to do some training and also began reaching out to companies that offered telecommunication and I.T. related services. I was in the Beautiful City of Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka when I began my adventure. While in the city, my close friend Joshua (@find_joshua) visited India as well. Over lunch we explored various ideas that could positively impact the lives of Nigerians and the prospects of implementing these ideas.

In 2014, I travelled to Hyderabad, the beautiful multicultural capital of Andhra Pradesh (which now partially serves as the capital of Telangana) home to top American software companies like Deloitte and Microsoft. Whilst in this city we finally had a breakthrough, Joshua found a start-up company located in Bangalore that had just began providing free calls to Indians. It was mind-blowing and I became very curious to know the technical platforms that could run this system alongside the possibility of integrating these solutions to networks operating in Nigeria. I called the company to request an appointment to meet with the brains behind this unique idea. Since the company’s headquarter was based in Bangalore, I had to fly back to Bangalore. At this time, Joshua had to return to Lagos, so I was going into that meeting alone but with my business plans, strategies and as a Christian, I knew God’s favour was also with me.

The flight to Bangalore from Hyderabad was a one-hour trip. I took a cab from the airport to the company’s headquarter where I met with the president. It was a warm welcome filled with excitement of the possibilities of potential opportunities for the future. The president proceeded in giving me a tour of the company premises; introducing me to the employees in each department while explaining the duties/roles as applicable to their vision as a company. At the end of the tour, the president, company executives and I converged in the meeting room where we had an active conference call to connect with my business partner.

The meeting was very relaxing but productively engaging as we shared our thoughts on similar challenges facing India and Nigeria alongside how the political landscape shapes the socio-economic policies that forms our societies. Our discussions evolved into presenting ideas to create the necessary technological, technical, profit sharing and legal framework on the integration and implementation of a ‘Free Calling Platform’ in Nigeria and how local network operators can be integrated into the Project. The ‘Free Calling Platform’ is completely free; very straightforward and easy to understand. You talk for free and after every two minutes, you hear a five second paid jingle from brands or businesses that offers services or products across the country. At the end of our meeting, I successfully struck a deal with these budding ‘tech-prenuers’.

The meeting ended on a positive note and I was very ecstatic not only because of the deal I just struck with the board of directors of this company but also about the potential influence this would have in Nigeria. I envisaged the dawn of a new era when free calls across all networks with no limits/restrictions would happen in Nigeria making life easier for everyone. Hence providing an innovative platform that would create more jobs, enhance the chances for competitive call rates. I began to excitedly put together plans and activities to execute when I return to Nigeria. Some of these plans included meeting with the technical and management teams of network operators in Nigeria. I and my business partner created a list of potential advertisement agencies, big brands and corporate firms in Nigeria that would be willing to work with us. The mission to provide free calls to Nigerians remained our focus, targeting the poorest in the society and students in tertiary and secondary schools across the country.

I returned to Nigeria by August 2014. Full of energy and determination, I was ready to take Nigeria by storm through adding value to a lot of Nigerians that would benefit from this amazing idea of making calls absolutely free of charge. I met with my friend Joshua who is also my business partner in mapping out strategies of implementing our business plan. The first step was to register a limited liability company (LLC) with corporate affairs commission (CAC), in order to give us a business identity while discussing with potential clients and network operators. We also recreated a Nigerian subsidiary of the Free Calling brand and booked appointments with major firms and all telecom companies. Our company was based in Lagos, Nigeria because most companies have their administrative and corporate headquarters in Lagos.

Our experience with the private sector in Nigeria was a memorable adventure. We got to know almost every big firm in Nigeria and their head offices, networking with people across board. It was a lot of fun submitting our business plans, sharing our ideas, attending board meetings, engaging startups, learning from successful businessmen, experiencing acceptance, conditional offers and rejections. First hand discussions with my fellow Nigerians on the possibility of translating our vision to reality was a very life-changing experience. We felt like politicians campaigning around the city, convincing everyone and anyone that cared to listen to us on how our brand would change the lives of people positively across the nation. Some of the challenges we encountered included but are not limited to the following;

First of all, booking an appointment to meet with the top executives of some companies seemed like an uphill task and almost impossible in most cases. I recommend Nigerian companies fix this in order to make it easier for start-ups to be able to pitch their ideas to the right person in the right office. Also companies can create a department dedicated to receiving and reviewing business proposals and ensuring the appropriate actions to follow are duly implemented. Another challenge we encountered was that, although network operators in Nigeria were very enthusiastic about our idea and willing to help at the implementation and integration phases, there was a major concern about the technical congestion it might cause their infrastructure across the country alongside a host of other factors. We also saw reasons with this issue because the network operators were not performing at their optimum level at the time. You cannot run a free calling platform over networks that have overstretched infrastructure. It would further cripple the infrastructures hence forcing them to render paid services very poorly. Unfortunately, similar challenges halted Free Call services of our parent company in India.

Eventually, we had to hold several meetings to discuss our plans, strategies, mission and vision regarding introducing free call to Nigeria and we realised that although it remains the most beautiful idea ever that could soar like an eagle, we decided to clip her wings momentarily while we await the next best opportunity to re-launch and make Nigerians proud again.



SOURCE:www.medium.com/@stanadeniyi/i-have-always-been-passionate-about-service-to-humanity-and-this-inevitably-developed-my-interest-d7a30c1e9c8f

Follow Stanley Adeniyi on Instagram and Twitter @stanadeniyi

This is a beautiful adventurous piece that everyone should read, Very apt and concise.

Where are the mods and Super-mods... Myndd44, Lalasticlala, HigherEd, puskin, dominique, FOD, naijacutee and Seun. Please read, share and push to the front-page for public consumption.

Whao! Very innovative and interesting to be part of its success story whenever it does. God will help you guys! Just wait for the best time and relaunch!

beewhy009:
Whao! Very innovative and interesting to be part of its success story whenever it does. God will help you guys! Just wait for the best time and relaunch!

Most definitely, This is a very innovative concept very much needed in Nigeria.

Where are the mods and Super-mods... Myndd44, Lalasticlala, HigherEd, puskin, dominique, FOD, naijacutee and Seun. Please kindly move to the front-page for public consumption.

Very nice idea... If only it could be implemented..

freeman67:
Very nice idea... If only it could be implemented..

Yeah, A nice and brilliant idea to implement in Nigeria. It would go a long way to ameliorate the living conditions of Nigerians especially the poor or students like he rightly stated.


Myndd44, Lalasticlala, HigherEd, puskin, dominique, FOD, naijacutee and Seun. Please kindly move to the front-page for public consumption.

This is a very resourceful article.

Myndd44, Lalasticlala, HigherEd, puskin, dominique, FOD, naijacutee and Seun. Please read, share and push to the front-page for public consumption.

Interesting idea

The last part of the experience concluded it all, abuse will be inevitable, most be will goto bed with the lines on to wake up next morning to continue the call simply because it's free..., causing unnecessary congestion and poor service to the network providers.