‘How forex challenges created growth opportunities for indigenous businesses’

Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) has said that the foreign exchange challenges witnessed in Nigeria, especially since 2015, actually brought out the ingenuity of indigenous operators.

The Chief Executive Officer, CWG Plc, James Agada, said the challenge created several opportunities for indigenous companies to find new ways to reinvent themselves and position for diversification and growth.

According to him, even though the foreign exchange challenges hit hard and resulted in the loss of about 50 per cent of CWG’s earnings, “it ultimately created opportunities for the company.

“CWG Plc which is the largest system integration company in Nigeria was forced to turn inwards, rejig its operations and revive some of its local solutions, which were until then, unfortunately, not given the desired priority because of heavy dependence on foreign partners”, he added.

Agada disclosed that the company reported a significant loss in 2015, driven mainly by issues related to foreign exchange rate.“As a result of this, we had to exit some businesses because we simply could not continue with them. It however, also created new opportunities because it forced us into survival mode; we were ultimately able to sit back and re-strategize. Weighing the options, examining our competencies that are not reliant entirely on foreign expertise, what challenges do we have within our society that we can create active technology solutions for?, we were able to define new business streams, new products, we even had to define new customer segments so that our exposure to the future of foreign exchange shocks will be minimal,” he said.

The CWG CEO explained that although it takes time to reinvest and build, the results of defining new businesses, new products and new customers are already being noticed by CWG.

He noted that today, CWG has expanded its business operations to delivering local solutions that are solving local challenges in every area of the Nigerian economy; a drive, the company said is in tandem with its mission of enabling growth.

“What we pride our self in is that we have always reinvented ourselves to face circumstances and we positioned the Company to take advantage of the dislocations and issues created by the foreign exchange shocks,” he said.He further went on to state that it usually seems darkest before the break of a dawn; but things were generally going to begin to take a turn for the better.