Software Sector Needs Patronage to Thrive-Toheeb

Agboola Toheeb is the chief technology officer, ITRDN Technologies. He is an Information Technology Expert, a Solution Developer and Partner at ITRDN Technologies.

He has focused on supporting small business over the years, helping them to succeed.
Toheeb has a degree in computer science and a diploma in information technology.

He has been involved with many companies as a technology consultant and continues to reach new goals delivering on several IT projects and growing the company from a man's dream into a thriving technology business. He spoke to peterugwu.

Overview of ITRDN
It is a dynamic and resourceful technology service company. We provide dependable and innovative IT solutions for small businesses and large corporations who count on technology to deliver great service to their customers.
Like we always tell our customers, with extensive and well-established experience in the IT industry, they are guaranteed high quality, cost effective business solutions.
Our business models are focused around YOU; that is, a customer-centric approach with quality driven service, proven methodologies that works and great team performance.
Meanwhile, ITRDN Technologies is an arm of a fast growing Technology Group TG, formed through strategic alliance between professionals and specialized technology ventures to deliver turnkey solutions, emerging technologies and optimizing business process.
We have been able to come up with a very successful dynamic business model in the field of IT.
The successful brands are PC Connect, NextWeb, NextHost and Train101 Academy.
The latter is dedicated to IT training and we have been doing that since 2002. PC Connect on the hand is a dedicated IT support portfolio. The way it works is very simple.
The focus is more on hardware repairs, networking, computer maintenance and services.
The targets are small and medium scale businesses who cannot afford a dedicated IT department within their business structure. We stand and provide the missing link.


Market Response
There are two sides to it. Some companies are just concerned about the payment.
Can we afford the pay? That is usually in their thinking line. On the other hand, the level of unemployment really contributes a lot to the whole matter.
The companies cannot run away from this hence IT has become part of our lives.
They just have to train and retrain personnel. On individual basis, anybody coming into the sector needs not put money first else you deviate. When we started it was because of the passion.
Only that will make you understand the rudiments. You don’t wake up to say you are a computer this or that, you grow over the years.
You will notice that before PC Connect was established it has existed as Swift Maintenance Services, by implication we have tried some models and they did not work out, however we moved on.
Thus, companies should know that the existence of quacks is fueled by the need of company’s who loves the cheaper hands at the expense of competent professionals.
For example, someone came to our office few days ago, wanted to buy Microsoft Office 2010 that goes on Microsoft site for about N85, 000 per license.
Unfortunately, the person told me there are people offering him 12 licenses for N85, 000. These are probably fraudsters, so how can you compete with that.
Therefore, the rate of unemployment and the fact that some people don’t want to be trained are contributory factors.
Expertise requires years of experience and a lot of training. You also need mentorship.
And you cannot make headway if you fail to develop a business model. Thus, even most IT engineers are not at par because they don’t see it as a business rather a shortcut to get rich by playing tricks.

Applying Local Software in Your Solutions
In fact, that is a major challenge in Nigeria.
Presently, the industry is not growing at expected level.
To me, the only success we have had is in terms of web applications where you have different websites that are locally built, or outsourced and maintained locally.
Which is fantastic, but other customized desktop and mobile applications that are not really focused on online solution, you will find out that we are not there yet.
Even those who are trying to develop that aspect of software are not getting patronage from Nigerians.
Unavailability of the local market is a major problem. As a country, for us to succeed on this aspect, government needs to do a lot of funding and investment into it.
Even the private sector has to encourage local developers too. We have had some experiences where schools will come to us that they need solutions that will help them manage their schools, but after a while you will find out that they will always prefer to go after the foreign software provider. What is the reason?
To develop software for a client I should be able to balance my account, but they consider it too expensive to pay the amount I am asking for. Funny enough, they are ready to go to South Africa to pay same amount, at the expense of the local developers.
We need reorientation to save the local developers. Developers are getting more dedicated and creative but in a country where you have to think about poor power supply, water and the landlords are on your neck; these things kill the interest and passion for many. No matter how you struggle, if you do not have an edge to rely on over time you get turned off.

Surviving Despite Challenges
We have been driven by passion rather than grabbing the money at first instance. However, after hitting the ‘bull’s eyes’ with my passion, I ended up making the money.
Talking about challenges, my first experience was when I met Mrs.Yemisi Kuti; I was to provide a repair service to her and she was like this small boy, can he do this. Somehow, I was given the opportunity and I fix and bring to life the system that was abandoned for about two years.
This singular conviction made her to walk down to my workshop to praise my expertise. Like I tell people that come to me, focus on impressing yourself with the quality of work you do, the challenges will definitely be there, but you will overcome.
For instance, my salary then was averagely N3000 per month and I had friends who were earning up to N20, 000, but that determination to satisfy the customers made me to continue.
Apart from that, I came from a programming background, but there was no order for software, I had to venture into repairs. At some point, I was into training.
It was in that era that I sharpened my skills in repairs. And over time, I pursued certifications, researching, all geared towards developing my skills.


Government’s Role
Recently I was at Computer Village, Ikeja and the question I keep asking is: can’t government take time to study the model we have there and replicate them in many other states? By that, they would have solved a lot of unemployment issues.
Sometimes, even the cyber criminals need just a piece of information that can assist them to know that if they can channel their energy to the right direction they can achieve greater and better results.
The fact remains that some of them are ‘Wiz kids’, considering the fact that they didn’t pass through any formal school to learn that. But it take someone to seat them down and say, ‘guys instead of doing yahoo yahoo (internet fraud), do you know if you run a blog in the next five years you will become a billionaire’.
Of course, yahoo yahoo won’t make you a billionaire in the next five years, because the money flies away just the same way you get them. Winning them over will make us have models and directions to look at.
Therefore, it is a two side thing. Government is not doing enough, and if you look at the challenges of leadership we have presently in the country, you will be forced to believe that these guys have no choice. The truth is that I do not admire what they do, but really they don’t have choice.
For instance, after I obtained National Diploma in computer then, the first job I got was in a company known for bringing out fake documents, but I said no when I discovered, however some other persons would have accepted it with both hands.
I was supposed to become a graphics designer for one of the fraudulent partners there. I turned down the offer, not because I don’t need money but because I had the right training. At that time, computer has not become paparazzi like today, so if you are computer inclined you are bound to make headways, but most offers I had were from these fraudulent groups. So both sides can do better, change their orientations.


Manpower Development
The simple truth is that the IT industry is the hardest to regulate, especially in an environment like ours.
Why would I allude to that? One can afford to go to a computer school to learn Microsoft Word, and you meet a friend, shortly to find out that he has not gone anywhere, but can operate the package better than you do.
Just like we have quacks who are building engineers, we also have many spring ball training centres that will offer training for N3000, not because they know it, but they want to fulfill certain needs of theirs too. Road side training centres are contributing to the problems of unskilled manpower we face in the industry.
But in our training centre we have one focus – to develop professionals and this also involves mentorship. Yes, there are many training centres, but government needs to step up the tempo of regulations. Even in terms of software development, and packages.Although we cannot compare ourselves with the Chinese, but I recalled an instance when the Chinese government ask Microsoft not to include certain applications in its Windows XP for their country so as to make it affordable for their people.
Can the Nigerian Government do the same for us? They won’t. Perhaps, the problem is not Google or any other big shot over ridding us, but about us looking inward and having something presentable to the world.
Today, you can’t deal with PayPal in Nigeria which is absurd considering the market potential. We have done businesses with many people without having problems, but the PayPal’s case is different because government is not taking these things serious.
That is why I said earlier that you can’t blame those yahoo boys alone, because someone that wants to do the right thing but denied access due to government’s failure to make an in-put will go the wrong way.
In the last five years we have been pressing forward for paypal to reconsider its action, but we have our limits.
Then, consider a situation whereby the president, probably through the concerned Minister calls PayPal for a dialogue, to iron out the problem that will enable Nigerians to do business with them in Nigeria.


Interest in Mobile Money Business
Yes, that is part of our future plans. I met with a CBN consultant last year to discuss the opportunities therein, but you will understand that most government policies are hard nuts to crack; as they are putting the policy in place they tie on its back obstacles that will not make it a success and the policy eventually collapses. Mobile Money is something that every Nigerian should partake in.
I found out that one thing the American government has done right for its populace was the ability of the government to anticipate what they need to do to put their people at the right spot.
It does not mean government has to push out money to everybody to do business; it has to do with information.
For instance, if someone can gather the cart pushers that park debris in our streets and tell them they can make up to N60,000 every month and plan their lives, those guys will begin to think along that line.
We must know that most business are home grown, Bill Gate started from home, late Steve Jobs, Dell started from the garage. To solve Nigeria’s problems is very simple – put the right things in place and the country will snowball into a major hub.
But as far as we keep having the same crop of people in government, it will remain a big challenge.
So, for ITRDN Technologies mobile money plan, we are looking at the best way to tap into it and our focus is to target a particular segment of the market.


Mobile Money in Nigeria: So far..
I have problem with anything electronic service in Nigeria. The simple reason is that they lack the structure.
And the ‘big guys’ involved in it lack the passion. When I said; big guys’ I meant the banks.
For instance, around 2006 when yahoo yahoo was nose-diving, we had a notion that these guys will turn on the banks, because they (the banks) were coming out with internet banking platforms.
We advised them to pull resources together, establish a third party that will continuously research into IT security for them to protect their banking platforms, the shocking news was that they ended up doing nothing.
A particular bank went to India to acquire software they spent huge amount and was bragging that they have IT security platform and that was the last I heard of it.
Meanwhile, IT security never stops; it is rather an ongoing thing that demands consistent development scheme. Now, how do you develop solution for those kinds of people?
I was discussing with a forensic expert recently and he asked me which is better, to go to the banks and train their staff on forensic analysis for their ICT infrastructure or to take a solution to the banks.
I told him; don’t take a solution to the banks. Yes, you can train their staff but when you take the solution to them and they start doing their underground works, definitely your solution will pick them up.
They will never buy that solution. Presently, they do a lot of things that are inappropriate and CBN (the regulator) is also aware.
That is why, to me, it was funny when the CBN Governor was pushing the idea of cashless economy.
He didn’t need to do that; after how many years of ATM? We should gradually transform into that.
So, if people have not transformed into that, it is a failure on the side of the stakeholder specifically the government. You don’t need to use a ‘koboko’ (cane) for people to jump into that.