Published: 11th July 2006 (Updated 18th July 2006)
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In a country where the most basic amenities are a pain in the neck, if at all available, a set of dynamic young men have braved all odds to help bridge the information technology digital divide and help project Nigeria into mainstream technological achievements on a global scale.

In a country where it is considered fashionable to steal and obtain wealth by uncertain means or get a high-flying job with a multi-national in order to get ahead, an unsung few have dared to assume risks those ahead of them have shied away from.

This is a tribute to the young entrepreneur who dares to be creative to achieve his goals. To paint a larger picture, this is also a tribute to the service providers who dared to introduce new services with the expectation that the public would take these services up.

Nairaland

You probably have never heard of Nairaland.com. No; its not a town or a physical location. It exists only in cyber space as a community of over 30,000 Nigerians and friends of Nigeria discussing every issue under the planet. Nairaland is ranked by Alexa, a service that monitors website traffic on a global scale, as number 41,320 in the world. Statistics have it that there are over 30 million full domain websites in existence today, not counting sites that run on sub-domains.

Seun Osewa, the creator and administrator is a young man in his twenties and runs this amazing community from his home in Sagamu, Ogun State. You must be surprised that such a successful project as this is run by an unknown youth and not some blue-chip corporation or millionaire with cash to throw around. While Seun is not yet a millionaire, he is making money off Nairaland. With a website that attracts such a daily volume of visitors everyday, its only a matter of time when smart business organisations will realize the benefits of turning to such a site for exposure.

I have never met Mr. Osewa in person. All our interactions have been online. In those interactions, I have observed the difficulties he had to face and triumph over to keep his dream alive. They are mostly the same difficulties others like him are facing all over the country. Yet, these select number of young men and women brave the odds and take the risks of doing business differently from the traditional brick-and-mortar style business has been conducted in these parts for ages.

DomainStandard Networks

Then there is DomainStandard.net, a web and mobility consultancy started in April 2003 by another young man in his early 30s. At the time, only the biggest names in IT in the country dared venture into webhosting. This young man ran his profitable business for 3 years on little more than a mobile phone.

Within 12 months, DomainStandard.net beat back the big names to become Nigeria's number 2 web host. How did one man run a business that took the industry by storm with so many obstacles, including epileptic power supply, expensive internet access, exhorbitant rent on office facilities and inadequate finances?

By working smart. No; I did not say by being crooked. He worked smart. He created a website with a rudimentary store from which customers could submit their orders and then pay via FlashMe Cash, a service of the then First Atlantic Bank (now First Inland).

At a time most Nigerians had no idea what a smartphone was, this young man armed himself with a smartphone and subscribed to dial-up internet service on the MTN network. This solved the problem of power supply and service delivery.

When a customer submitted an order from his website, he received the information as a mail on his smartphone almost immediately. Then once the customer made the payment, FlashMe Cash sent him an automatic notice immediately, so he could act with promptness.

With his smartphone, he could attend to customer orders and support issues from his bedroom, or anywhere he happened to be at the time. Customers testified to the response times he delivered round the clock and spread the word! Many customers were of the impression that DomainStandard.net was a multi-million naira operation. No; it was a one man outfit that could not initially put together N40,000 to purchase a PC and UPS.

That young man's name is Oluyomi Adedayo Adegboye, yours truly.

People like Seun and myself had to brave extreme odds. We needed to be able to make payments for services obtained outside the country. I doff my hats for Naira2u.com and Graphcard.com, two services that stepped to the plate to offer global payment options, including prepaid debit cards with which we could do business with the rest of the world.

Handling the External Stigma

How did we handle Nigeria's negative image abroad? Ah! I can speak for myself. I was turned away several times by western outfits who would not touch a Nigerian with a long pole. But for every door that was shut in my face, I knocked on 10 more. I finally found a few who welcomed me with open arms. By maintaining integrity and honesty, I won their trust. Eventually, DomainStandard.net began to be noticed by global rating agencies and then we showed up on their scales! This created more goodwill. Today, we enjoy tremendous goodwill from several organisations in the Americas, Europe and Australasia.

Today, DomainStandard.net is no longer a one-man army, but has evolved into an organisation. Today, the DomainStandard.net website is ranked among the top 500,000 sites in existence, with visitors from all over the world returning daily for information on web and mobile technologies. Not a mean feat placed side by side Mr Osewa's Nairaland.com, but certainly commendable when you understand that most Nigerian websites do not show up among the first 10 million sites.

People like Seun and I have probably done more to create a good image for Nigeria on the global scene than anyone can imagine. Because of our precedence, it will be easier for some Nigerians to do business with the world. We are also creators of wealth and employment. Because of what we dared to do, many others have followed suit and have a sustainable income today.

Challenges Within

Did we have any other challanges? Plenty. There's the general impression that every young man with a laptop and internet access is a fraudster. The average policeman seems to be firmly convinced of this. A few of my staff have been harrassed simply for carrying a laptop around! Once I joked that the police would probably just gun me to death if I was found carrying my laptop, my Nokia 9500 communicator and a USB flash drive together!

About 6 months ago, I was on the road, had urgent work to do and was famished at the same time. I stopped by at an eatery adjacent the main entrance to Omole Estate in Ojodu. I was a frequent face there and expected that there would be no probems if I worked while I ate. But was I wrong. I asked the lady attending to me if I could setup my laptop and get some work done, and she reponded that there was no problem with that.

With my meal ready, I connected my mobile to my laptop and got down to work on a customer's web hosting account. It wasn't long before a security man walked up and rudely told me "We do not allow this knd of thing here". I knew there was no use explaining to the obviously illiterate fellow, so I asked to speak with the manager. He turned down my request! One other gentleman having a meal at an adjacent table had to step in to insist that as a customer I had the right to request audience with the manager.

Eventually, he went for the manager who turned out to be no better. I invited him to have a look at what I was doing and to scrutinize my PC to verify that I was one of the good guys, but he wouldn't budge. The other customer put in a few words for me, but to no avail. The manager and his team threatened to pack up my things and throw me out if I did not pack up! I did pack up and have not returned to that eatery ever since.

This happened in a world were eateries all over the world (and a few here in the country) actually setup Wi-fi hotspots and invite customers to come inwith their laptops! Interestingly, I predict that this particular eatery will eventually fold up or change its policies. Its only a matter of time.

It is a tough road for the young Nigerian. Hundreds of thousands graduate from our universities yearly looking for jobs that are non-existent. Information communications technology can make it easy for many of these young men and women to earn a living for themselves. It only takes some creativity. Writing and sending out mails designed to con people of their money is not being smart or creativity. Its stupidity. Its being a thief.

What More Can Be Done?

On its part, government has a lot of work to do with enlightenment. The EFCC is doing a fine job keeping the fear of being caught in the hearts of internet fraudsters. May I ask that in addition to that, they embark on enlightenment programmes. For example, why not also tell people the other legitimate possibilities the internet offers the jobless man on the street? Offer him alternative ideas. Motivate him to do something honourable on the internet. Its my submission that some of these fraudsters would make good writers of fiction! And that is not a joke. My wife and I have been looking at that idea to see how we can make it a project that will eventually produce world-reknowned writers and authors.

My Tribute

So, here's my tribute to others like Seun Osewa of Nairaland.com and myself. Here's also my tribute to pioneers like: First Inland Bank for FlashMe Cash and internet banking, MTN for its Enhanced Fax & Data service, GloMobile for its GPRS internet access, SmartPay for Naira2u.com its online payment service, GraphCard.com, and to others like them.

You are all testimonies to the triumph of the new generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs.

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This article was written by Yomi Adegboye, clergyman and web/mobility consultant. Visit his personal web pages at Yomi's blog where he writes on the church, web and mobility, and life in general. The site is accesible on your PC, smartphone/PDA and modern mobile browsers!

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At DomainStandard Networks, we specialize in helping others implement mobility for their business operations and/or mobile web accessibility for their websites.

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