Investors charge government on business environment

Investors in the technology sector have urged the Federal Government to pay better attention to infrastructure, prime among which is power, in order to encourage more investment into the Nigerian economy.

Managing Director of Acti-Tech Limited, the local partner company of German sound engineering firm, Beyerdynamic, Peter Madu, made this appeal in Abuja, at a training programme and conference organized for experts in the sound engineering sector and consumers of sound technology.

According to him, the company has a long-term interest to transfer technology and to establish production lines in Nigeria if infrastructures, especially power are improved upon.

According to him, Beyerdynamic has a relationship of 16 years with the Nigerian market, and would be willing to invest further in Nigeria if the conditions are right.

“When you want to site an enterprise you consider market factors and availability of other things, one of them is electricity. Nigeria is richly blessed with cheap labour and good climate but we need to get our infrastructure right.

Power is still a challenge but as our government begins to look at these areas and make amends you can see you won’t need to invite investors. We are 170 million, that’s a huge market. So the challenge is on us to get our infrastructure right and they will come”, Madu said.

Corroborating his comments, Managing Director of Beyerdynamic, Robert Winterhoff who was at the conference titled “Energy of Sound Conference West Africa”, told journalists in an interview that the company would consider an assembly plant in Nigeria in the long run.

“We have partners who are very knowledgeable about our products. Nigeria is a thriving country. We bring the technology. I’m not in a business of cost but of quality. Imagine if the prime minister speaks and the microphone will not work. We are trusted in many parliaments for providing solution to their accostic challenges. The whole parliament in Germany uses our microphones. We will do this event yearly so we can reinforce the knowledge”.

“Why I’m here is to understand your market needs. If there’s a business case to produce locally, I’ll be localised. Already I have a business partner I’ll invest in him heavily to do whatever manufacturing is necessary. It will involve training people for months. Nigeria has a lot of young and brilliant people. We have a lot coming for Nigeria but we want to start with education because for every developed country, education is the beginning”, he said.

Earlier at the presentation of the company’s sound solutions to the public, Winterhoff said that the company offers a wide range of quality microphones for conferences, and other purposes. There were in display, microphones for school, recording studios, churches as well as for the broadcast industry. Some of the microphones come with in-built rechargeable batteries and are designed using the RF technology.

Madu stated that some Nigerian organisations and government institutions have been using the beyerdynamics sound solutions in the last 10 years without hiccups.

“The essence of the Energy of Sound Conference West Africa is technology transfer. We don’t want a country that will continue to grow in consumption of technologies. We are bringing manufacturers close to our people, so that they will deepen their knowledge and experience in these products and have their own visions and dreams. Every great enterprise starts with a dream. We expect that Nigerians will go with the dream that they too can start from somewhere. You saw the history of Beyerdynamic. It didn’t start big”.

“Also, we want to ensure product availability. You’ll agree that often you need something but some products cannot meet your needs. We have become a dumping ground for fake products. What we are doing is not just technology transfer but to also offer knowledge of alternatives that meet our needs without hazzles”, he said.