‘Broadband availability critical to PC penetration in Nigeria’

Olubunmi Ekundare is the Managing Director, Intel Corporation West Africa. He has over 20 years of experience working in the country’s technology sector. In this interview with ADEYEMI ADEPETUN, he spoke on how Nigeria can become digitally connected, stressing that availability of broadband facility will deepen PC penetration in the country. Excerpts…

Can you shed light on what Intel is doing to transmit Nigeria into a digital country?
I think the greatest asset we have is our technology and our ability to innovate and come up with advance products that improve the quality of life of the people of the world. Our technology has helped Nigeria and indeed the world over to overcome some very basic problems like connectivity.

Indeed, it has helped us here in Nigeria to basically leap frog and overcome years of having to start from the scratch. We work with our ecosystem partners both local and international to develop new solutions that improve daily lives. An example is our socio-economic empowerment programs like ‘She Will Connect.’

We will continue to work with our ecosystem partners to develop new solutions, make technology more affordable and accessible. As you know education and the youth are a big part of who we are and what we do in Nigeria. We create employment-using technology by ensuring that youths become more productive. Our target is to put technology in the hands of our youth so that they can continue to innovate.

How has Intel helped the Nigerian ecosystem as far as ICT is concerned?
As you know, we are an ingredient company, but our technology has far reaching impact outside the devices they are embedded in. It’s about creating an environment with as much as possible level playing field that allows every individual develop to their full potentials whether your are from a wealthy or not so wealthy background. In the last few years our work has been focused on how to create an infrastructural base for Nigeria, which will deliver world-class technology at very affordable rates. We do this by working with our ecosystem partners and the government. We believe that through collaboration, we can increase the reach and affordability of technology so that the individual in Sokoto does not have to travel all the way to Lagos or Abuja to have access to best options of Technology.

We have been focused on helping our health care system to develop ICT base response to serious and critical health issues and emergencies like we had last year with the Ebola crisis. We are helping to replicate some of the successes we have recorded by sharing our experience on how best to make broadband available and affordable for the majority of the people.We have partnered with government and private sector organisations to improve the quality of life for our Girls and women through entrepreneurship training, among others.

What are the growth indices in the country’s ICT ecosystem?
There has been a tremendous growth in the ICT ecosystem starting from the fact that government recognized this and created a ministry to take charge of the development of the sector. In the last there years the sector has grown to over five per cent in its contribution to the GDP and the resultant effect are not hard to find – a classical example is the growth of online commerce and services including mobile money.

Again the landing of the different undersea cables means we have enough bandwidth and we are directly connected to the world.

Research shows that there is low PC penetration in Nigeria, what actions have been undertaken by Intel to drive penetration?
Indeed, PC penetration is directly related to availability of broadband (connectivity) and useful content. It’s like having an LED television at home with no channels on it- it becomes useless. Our goal is to help create an environment where people can have access to the web on the go and also to have useful content particularly for our children in school. So our focus has also been working with our partners to develop a formula that would make it attractive for organizations to invest in providing connectivity and content useful to Nigeria and Nigerians.

Interestingly, this is coming from within as local content is being developed to help solve basic issues both in education and everyday living, for example Brainfriend.

The Nigerian business sector is largely dominated by Small and Medium Scale enterprises. What effort has Intel put into facilitating the adoption of technology in both the private and public sector?
SMEs are the backbone of a country’s economic prowess and development. They the engine of growth and it is what made America and Japan what they are today. Fortunately for us, Nigerians have the same spirit of entrepreneurship and we like to innovate and develop what is ours – We have about seven million different SME/SMBs and we are currently working with our partners to make technology more accessible to them by providing everything from basic tools like accounting packages to entrepreneurship training, to developing on the go; to market plans and also equipping them with technology so that on their own they can research and find markets for their goods and services and find ways to improve their business and grow to become world class enterprises.