Mr. Ayodeji Akanbi is one of the few Nigerians who have travelled far and wide in search of knowledge. He started his career in the United Kingdom later moved to Germany before coming back to Nigeria. He has garnered lots of experience in Information Management in readiness to take on the challenge of running a family business. In this interview with MARKETINGSPACE team, he talked about how young Nigerians can learn from his experience both in Nigeria and abroad. Excerpts…
Since you came back to Nigeria, how would you assess the Nigerian Business environment compare to that of the United Kingdom?
I will assess the two countries based on my experience in both markets. Things work in the United Kingdom because they have actually done well for quite a while. As for Nigeria, we are still struggling to get things right. I think the issue with that is mostly from individual perception towards the country. Our perception does not really show that we believe in the country. Everyone in Nigeria is employed in one way or the other but the way we act is different from the way we are.
Every organization has a culture of doing things. When you pay a visit to some organizations, e.g. oil and gas, you will find out that they have structure and culture. I have been privileged to work with a couple of oil and gas organizations here in Nigeria at some point, the way an individual acts in that particular organization is different from the way that particular acts an individual. I think we still have more opportunities to achieve great things but there are certain things (internal or external) that limit us to achieve this.
What are your experiences in the UK market before coming to Nigeria?
My experiences in the United Kingdom market have been awesome. Firstly, I started work as a sales representative and later moved into retail management level. For me, I believe, for every business to grow we need to always put the customer first. And I have realised that here in Nigeria things are different. We don’t care about customers, we just think that we can do whatever we like. Customers are the ones making our businesses stay in business. If you don’t retain your customer, the chances of you staying in business is limited.
Like I said, I have worked in one or two organisations where we believe customers are king. The way you threat your customer will determine whether your customer will come back to you or not. But here in Nigeria, we are not customer focused. Just one very common example, Our airlines, customers miss their flights due to one reason or the other, flights are delayed and canceled, there are no apologies. So, with these experiences when I compare, I think we are still struggling, however I believe we can still get to the point of good customer service.
What are the things you want Nigerians to learn from you?
I want Nigerians to learn from my three rules. My three rules are stability, sensibility and satisfaction. When I say stability, this country needs to be stable. If we are not stable things will not be right. Nigerians are complaining that things are not working well, but in our personal life, are we stable? Until we get to that point we are stable then things will start to work out fine. Secondly, are we sensible to things around us? Are we sensible to the needs of others? Because you are okay, you don’t know whether your neighbour is okay. If your neighbour is not okay that is going to bring enemity, stress, hate, despite and envy. So, we need to get to that point where we are sensitive to other people’s needs. If not all, we can help some people we can. Thirdly, satisfaction, we need to be satisfied. However you are making it, if you are making twenty or thirty thousand Naira monthly you should be satisfied. I don’t believe in making hundred million Naira and not satisfied. I know people that make millions and they are still not satisfied. They are still looking for more ways to acquire more. These three rules have worked for me and hopefully it would work for someone out there.
Do you have any intention to set up an academy or training institute where Nigerians can tap from the knowledge you garnered from the United Kingdom market?
Presently, as Director of Technical Services at Busicon, I have been able to put in place some trainings for people to learn. We are in partnership with the Institute of Information and Management (IIM) headed by Mr. Ayodeji Oyedokun. Whenever we have training session we partner with IIM which gives us a bigger platform to work on. Busicon, in-partnership with IIM, RIMA is giving rise to the importance of information. With information of the Nigerian economy, I think we will be able to do things properly.
Also, our recent vigorous research in Lagos, we are able to discover Lagos State Record And Archives Bureau (LASRAB). LASRAB preserves accurate records of Lagos State. I met with the Director General of the Bureau, Mr. Biodun Onayele who shared the importance of information on nation building and we are ready to work with them.
What other professional trainings have you undergone?
As an information and IT company Director, I look forward to empower Nigerians and help them to make life easy when it comes to information. I have attended several international information management seminars and exhibitions. This has given rise to the vision for me and the company enforce Document Management. We do not know the importance of a document until it is needed at a very crucial level.
I have undergone, DSC (Docuware Systems Consultant), DAC (Docuware Application Consultant), RFID (Radio Frequency Identification for Documents), KodakAlaris (Kodak Scanners for doc imaging), all which we are partners with.
Every training I have gone through is to make life easy for day to day Nigerians who work with documents. With my team at Busicon, we have been able to implement some of these solutions in our clients’ organization. We also customize these products to fit within the client’s environment.
What are those things you enjoyed most in the United Kingdom that are lacking in the Nigerian business environment?
Though there are couple of things that I am missing. For example, Nigeria runs mostly on SME platforms. These are the businesses that mostly generate income in Nigeria. SME businesses should start to care for their staff. They need proper structure and also employer-employee relations. There should be well laid out salary structure which is very important. Because without an employee getting salary the employee cannot plan properly which takes us back to my three SSS, stability, sensibility and satisfaction.
We are saying there is no job in Nigeria; honestly there are jobs in this country. We just need to bring in the right people to the right jobs. In Nigeria, it is about who you know and we keep bringing in the wrong people to do the wrong job. These are one of many things that are making Nigerian economy to remain unbalance. We have experiences/expertise that are not being fully utilized. We need more people that are technically sound.
That is how the other European employment works. Employment is based on the experiences majorly rather than qualifications you have. But in Nigeria, we employ people based on the qualifications and not by experience the employee possess. This also can be added to the fact that the educational level is not stable.
As Director of Technical Services at Busicon Nigeria Limited, what are your roles and how do you intend to build the brand?
Busicon started as a family business. It started as a computer business; selling of hardware, software and the likes. But now, we have seen over the years that Busicon has evolved into an Information Management Company. We are gradually moving into the app space whereby creation of more Information Management systems (IT development, mobile apps, financial technologies, AI Intelligence) for problem solving.
We just recently concluded a Busicon App Challenge 2018 Edition, whereby we got young Nigerians between the ages of 18-36 years old who came to showcase their apps and compete for the challenge. We received over 50 applications however, at the end of the day we got a winner. The product will soon be launched. The winner of this challenge got One Million Naira reward.
Busicon in the next two or three years would be an app development company with integrations to provide a solution.
Since you started this, what are those challenges you have faced?
The challenges I have come across are people not willing to buy into your business. As a Director of Technical, there are so much of technical knowledge and solutions out there. There is limit to what you can know when it comes to technicalities. I am one of those people that say you need to learn all things but stick to one and know it well rather than say you know twenty things and at the of the day you fail woefully in all the twenty things. So, my challenges have been that.
However, I am also looking into more knowledge acquisition in other aspect of IT services. However, my core focus is providing good customer service to my clients which I strive daily.
Kindly share with us your educational background and where you have worked before coming to Nigeria?
I started here in Nigeria with Corona Primary and Secondary School. From there, I attended Lewisham College, United Kingdom where I obtained my B-Tech National Diploma in Computer Studies. After that, I moved to obtain B.Sc at London Guildhall University which is now known as London Metropolitan University.
Then I came back home to do my National Youth Service and later proceed for my MBA in International Business at the European Business School based in Germany.
Do you have any role model here in Nigeria or in the United Kingdom?
My role model has been my dad though he is late now, Mr. Lateef Akanbi. He was a business guru and entrepreneur. He was an IT person. He loved to read books and acquire knowledge. He would always advise us that we can actually go above the sky. That is my role model and he has helped me to become who I am today.
What are those books you love to read?
Mostly, I read inspirational books and books about life. Also, I learn from mistakes people make. I read their books not to learn from what they did, but to learn from their corrections (what they did wrong). That has been shaping my life. I enjoy my life and make the best of each day. I tend not to worry a lot because I know it won’t get me anywhere. I have also learnt from my personal life experience.
Kindly tell us more about yourself.
A hard working, self-motivated and responsible individual with an outgoing personality and excellent communication skills, who enjoys meeting challenges and seeing them through, while remaining confident and good humoured under pressure. A problem-solver with the ability to adapt to new situations and work as an effective team member. Sufficiently alert and intelligent to work.
I am from Osogbo, Osun State. However, born in Lagos. I have lived all my life in Lagos till I left for the United Kingdom and Germany to further my study and career. I love travelling; mostly for adventure and new technologies. I enjoy learning different cultures
