Omatek Computer boss buried amid tears

The remains of the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Omatek Computers, Mrs. Florence Seriki, was finally laid to rest yesterday, in Lagos, shortly after a funeral mass was held in her honour at the Holy Cross Cathedral Church.

Seriki died on March 3, 2017 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), after battling with pancreas cancer.

The homily by Monsignor Gabriel Osu, who officiated the requiem mass alongside Rev. Fr. Vincent Bankole, centered on four key points: material things, the human body, relations and friends, as well as the human soul. Immediately after the funeral mass, her remains was moved to its final place of rest by Ebony Undertakers, leaving friends and relations of the deceased in tears.

Seriki, who studied Chemical Engineering from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife), was married to Olalekan Seriki, and Architect, and blessed with a boy and two girls.

She was born to the family of late Andrew Udebu and Mrs. Victoria Udebu, both from Ebu in Oshimili North Local Government Area in Delta State. She had her primary and secondary school education in Lagos, before proceeding to the university to study Chemical Engineering.

Seriki, started computer trading as a vendor before establishing Omatek Ventures in 1987, as a local computer assembling plant in Lagos. In 1993, she launched the Omatek brand of computers. She later expanded the business by opening a branch of Omatek in Ghana few years later and another branch in Singapore later.

She was a member of several ICT industry associations, including the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and the Information Technology Industry Association of Nigeria (ITAN), where she was president of ITAN. She won several industry awards while alive.

As a Chemical Engineer, Seriki put in her skills in the business, which started picking up as at that time. In other to raise money for the computer assembling business, She listed Omatek on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2008, and the IPO was oversubscribed, raising more money for her business, being the only technology company listed on NSE as at then.