Who does not know SLOT or even patronize them? It is the No. 1 telephone retailing and repairing outfit in Nigeria. With over 40 branches spread across the country and a workforce that is in the excess of 500, there is no debating the fact that they are a key stakeholder in the telecoms sector as well as a major representative of some of the biggest and leading brands in their area of specialization. The man behind the company, Mr. Nnamdi Ezeigbo, is such an interesting character. Handsome and bearded, quiet but rugged, the astute businessman, in his 40s and from Umuahia in Abia State, played host to YES INTERNATIONAL! Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AZUH ARINZE, at their corporate headquarters, on Medical Road, Ikeja, Lagos. This was on Friday, June 6, 2014 and below is what transpired. Enjoy…
What makes a good businessman?
A good businessman definitely has to be somebody who has a vision and who knows how to pursue the vision.
What is the costliest mistake that any businessman can make?
The costliest mistake, I think, is ignorance or lack of the required competence. If you have a business that you are doing and you fail to study that business very well and understand the intricacies of the business, then you are likely to make mistakes. In other words planning and having a business model is everything.
What do you like most about being a businessman?
Yeah! I like the fact that I can express myself; because business allows you to show your creativity , bring innovations to play; it rewards hard work and so you work for yourself. It is something that can actually help you measure your performance, measure your growth by how much effort you put in. So, business allows you to measure your level of performance.
What don’t you like about being a businessman?
The fact that you are like an animal in the jungle. Like I always say, human beings are social animals – you have the ones in the zoo and you have the ones in the jungle. So, business people are like animals in the jungle. What that means is that you tend to survive based on your efforts; your survival is based on how much you can achieve. Basically, what you put in is what you get, unlike the animals in the zoo.
What is the greatest thing that being a businessman has done for you?
It has helped me to achieve my goals in life. Naturally, I like to add value to people’s lives. And business has given me that opportunity to impact on people and create value. I’ve been able to also convince people about what my beliefs are. I believe that every human being should have integrity and that integrity should not be adopted as a value, rather integrity is a character. So, every human being should be instilled with that character; the character of being honest. Being ethical; caring for the well being of others. Business allows me to express myself, it allows me to get the kind of attention I want, to be able to express myself. If I were an employee, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to empower people the way I’m doing now. Of late, I have been so involved in speaking to owners of small and medium enterprises at different fora and events. I was a guest at the popular Fidelity Bank Entrepreneur Radio Interview (on Inspiration FM), GTB Entrepreneur Event and several SME events where I had opportunities to speak on how to achieve excellence and grow sustainable businesses in Nigeria. Doing business the ethical way in Nigeria is possible. Talking about integrity and about the kind of values I expect Nigerian businesses to have. Every year, on 27th December, I hold public lectures on entrepreneurship in my hometown. My target are the youths and so it affords me the opportunity to educate the youths on the importance of entrepreneurship in the development of the society. How they can achieve this and contribute to the growth of the state. So, business has allowed me to do all those.
What has being a businessman not done for you?
For example, it has deprived me of partaking in politics, especially in Nigeria. It’s difficult for businessmen to express themselves publicly, because if you are not very careful, the government of the day could actually (laughing) use you as a guinea pig. We have seen that happen in many cases. So, businessmen tend to inactively participate in politics or rather, you quit your business and play politics. So, it’s difficult to actually combine them. However, I believe that politics enables you to contribute towards the development of the state. That can go a long way to assuage the effects of poor governance.
Why do some people attain success in life, but find it difficult to sustain it?
Most of them did not really pass through the rudiments of success. In everything you do, there are principles. If you want to study Medicine, you have to definitely go through a secondary school, pass JAMB (Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examination),make good grades in those medical subjects to get admission. You don’t just jump in and say oh, I want to become a medical doctor. And so you have to pass through those basics. The fundamentals cannot be ignored. There are principles that you need to understand. First of all, how did you start; was there a foundation? The Bible says if the foundation be destroyed what can the righteous do? So, there must be a proper foundation. If the foundation is right, then all other things would follow. To achieve excellence, you must lay an excellent foundation.
You have an interesting and inspiring story – judging from how you started and how far you have come. Can you just summarize that story for our readers?
Interestingly, it’s the story of a young man that just wanted to make a living. I always say that I didn’t plan to do business. My family, my parents were not business people. So, it was something that was borne out of necessity. After graduation, I couldn’t get a job for 2 years and I needed to do something just to survive. But I think eventually I was able to find my vision during that period of trying to survive. Because, there has to be a clarity of focus for you to succeed. I was able to discover myself, that I needed to do something on my own. So, I found a friend who had a computer outfit, and the only thing I had to do at that time was to learn, get the technical knowledge and competence to function as a computer engineer. My passion and competence resulted to excellence I studied ELEC/ELEC. Majoring in Computer Engineering. I needed something to do in line with my passion. The passion as at that time was just Computer Engineering. That was how I started and it became the story of today. That was how I found myself fixing computers. My secret is basically my relationship with people. I was able to start up and raise the initial capital by rendering service and from what I call social capital. Social capital, like I always say, is the kind of capital that you derive from your relationship with people based on your transparency, your integrity and your ability to convince people to trust you. So, I was able to get that and that was how I escaped those regular problems of start up capital for businessmen. I was able to leverage on social capital to start the SLOT business.
You started out by repairing computers, when did it dawn on you that you should veer into telecoms?
I was also very sensitive to opportunities. Like I always say, Nigeria is a fallow ground. There are a lot of opportunities. What I was doing was basically selling computers to companies, fixing computers for a particular segment of the society. I was not really doing much and so GSM offered me the opportunity of selling a product that could appeal to most people . More of a switch. I needed to expand my market share, I needed to do more and I saw a great opportunity in the GSM business and hence the reason for diversification.
You brought a very popular brand, TECNO into this country, how did you come about the idea and what prompted it?
Yeah! There was a golden opportunity which I identified and needed to fill .I felt as at that time, that I needed to bridge that gap. People were carrying two and three mobile phones because of poor network, so I thought that it was something that I could do to solve that problem. The result of that was the introduction of TECNO phones in the Nigerian market. So, TECNO was borne out of the desire to fill that need – people needed to carry a phone that would have dual SIM cards and so I was able to solve that problem by customizing something for the people. I saw that golden opportunity and I was able to capture that. That was also wonderful for us because it actually produced the spike in revenue needed at that time.
How does one identify an opportunity?
Opportunity always presents itself. It comes like a problem, it comes like a challenge. So, each time you identify a challenge, that’s an opportunity. Right now, we can see that in Nigeria, there is power problem. Even the mobile phones; you may have noticed that the battery life is short, that sometimes they do not last more than a day. So, it’s not yet a finished work. A lot is required to make it function better. This is a challenge and an opportunity for someone to solve this problem – help you elongate the battery life of your phone. There are lots of opportunities here and there. Today, people are also selling power bank; power bank is a device that helps you to recharge your phone battery at the end of the day. Sometimes you can charge it twice; so, there are lots of opportunities everywhere. On the streets, everywhere! And Nigeria has this advantage that I call a large competitive market advantage. What that means is that we have large consumer markets. People are ready to buy whatever you have, as long as they can solve problems. So, opportunities are available for people who want to solve problems.
The name, SLOT, how did you come about it 15 years ago when you started?
We were looking for a name that could position us properly. When I started business, I noticed that the business world, I mean in the Nigerian perspective, was basically a predator and prey relationship. Businessmen were just taking advantage of the consumers; they were all about making money. Nobody cared about creating value and I said oh, I think there’s a vacuum here. We need to fill this gap, we need to be different and so, SLOT was a name that we came up with as something that had to occupy the position. It’s an English word, it means position. So, we’ve occupied the position (general laughter) of a company that has come to create value for the Nigerian people.
How big is SLOT and where and where can people find SLOT?
Today, we have 41 retail stores across Nigeria and we are still counting, because we are still building more retail stores. We are trying to reach out to our customers wherever they are. We also believe in the online business; we have a very functional online store and we are also building the brick and mortar stores. Our website is www.slot.ng. We are taking our shopping experience to every city in Nigeria and our services to our Nigerian people.
What is your staff strength?
Today, we are about 540. Both permanent and casual staff.
Business is very, very challenging. What are the best ways to overcome the challenges that come with business?
In the Nigerian perspective, business is meant for people who are rugged (laughter). In Naija, business is meant for people who are risk takers. There is no way you can survive in the Nigerian business environment without being resilient. . You have to make up your mind to be strong and above all, you need the grace of God. You see, business is not meant for the feeble-minded. You have to be very courageous and when you understand that this terrain is not a very organized terrain; it’s very unstructured, very unorganized, very volatile. So, because of the unpredictable nature of the business environment, you are expected to be very courageous. When you understand this, then you can move forward. I take solace in the fact that business is about creating value and not necessarily Naira and Kobo, because the business environment is not a gigantic computer that does economic calculations.– people are watching, people are looking. So, if you are doing it right, very soon, everybody will get to understand that look, there’s a company called SLOT and these guys have come to stay and so, basically, it’s about understanding the terrain, understanding the business environment and also what we call business intelligence. If you don’t understand the Nigerian business environment; if you are bringing the Harvard-trained knowledge here, sometimes it might not work. So, it’s not a very specific or very defined way of doing business.
To successfully run an organization, what is the most critical thing that is needed?
People! You need people. People are the central pillar upon which every company can stand and grow. I believe so much in human development. If you develop yourself and your men, then you would have the right software to drive the hardware called structure that may help you stand very firmly.
When is the best time for a businessman to think of expanding or diversifying?
Best time to diversify is when your business gets to a maturity stage. Most people tend to diversify even when they are in a business that is growing. That’s wrong. I understand that it actually negates the notion of diversification of risks. But I think that a businessman should diversify only when his business gets to the maturity stage. If your business is at the growing stage, you need to take advantage and grow that business; you need to expand as quickly as possible. So, the business itself provides or presents the opportunity for expansion. And until it gets to that level, you shouldn’t expand. You should just watch your business as it grows. If a business is a small outfit, a small SME business that has maybe two members of staff and then eventually you discover that there’s a need to have the third staff, it’s the business that will demand for that. It is the business that will tell you look; your capacity is not enough to take care of the pressure or the market. Capacity building, ideally, is the role of the visioneer . This is based on the entrepreneurial capability and management efficiencies in line with the direction of growth.
What is the place of mentorship in business?
That’s so wonderful! If you don’t have a mentor in whatever you do, then you don’t have a direction. You should have someone out there that you can call up once in a while to ask questions – questions like how are you able to survive this harsh terrain? How did you do it when you got to this point? Were you able to survive this at that time? These are the questions that we should ask people who had been there before us, people who we respect; the man that has what we require. So, I think that mentorship is very, very wonderful.
What is the best way to cope with social pressure as a businessman?
A typical businessman should be somebody who is very disciplined, very organized and conservative. If you do not posses these virtues, you may struggle to sustain your business in Nigeria of today. To survive 5 years or more , the vision carrier or the entrepreneur must be very organized. Social pressure is very normal. But you should be able to understand your capacity, you should be able to understand your ability, you should be able to understand your strength. That’s how it works. If you understand these things and with focus, then you are going somewhere. It’s not about what people say about you, it’s not about how people want you to behave or how people want you to present yourself and all that, it’s about you. I think a businessman should be somebody who’s intelligent; who has those leadership qualities that we expect of a true leader and with all that, he would be able to sustain a business.
How should an MD cope with a staff who is not disciplined, especially in your kind of company with over 500 staffers?
It all starts from the beginning. When you are absorbing, or recruiting new staff. From the beginning, there should be an orientation period. It’s during this time that you can instill the core values of the company. Every company should have values. It is the value that actually sums up to create the culture of a company. So, a company should have a culture . For example, integrity, excellence and respect for ethics should be some of the core values of a company. If a company understands their values and then they are able to train their employees at inception, the company should be able to instill this value in the lives of their employees in order to avoid bad hire. It’s better, it’s easier. So, when the guys come in, they understand the values of the company and if there’s a value mis-match, the management would know and then even the MD also will know that look, this guy does not fit here, this guy does not belong here. So, there is need to hire people who are fit for the purpose and with the right values.
When should a staffer’s services be discarded?
When there’s a mis-alignment of value; when your staff does not align with the value of the company. Now, I won’t want to sack a staff because of competence. That’s the essence of training. Except where necessary – when you find out that the person cannot be trained, the person is not trainable. Typically, I fire a staff when we discover that this person does not belong here in terms behaviour. He just wants to make money; he’s a money, money person, and doesn’t believe in creating value, then it’s a value mis-match.
How does one know that it is time to move from being an employee to an employer?
Everybody cannot be an employer. I tell people this – if you want to do business because you want to make money, you will not succeed. So, you have to be convinced enough that you have something to offer; you have something to offer the society, you have a gap to bridge. If you don’t have that, then you cannot make money. Most people want to do business because their friends are making money from business. The passion for money should not be what will trigger somebody to say oh, I want to do business. It should be the passion to create value, passion to solve problems.
What’s your dream for SLOT?
To build a very sound business empire; to be the No. 1 mobile phone, GSM company in Africa; to export this brand to other African countries. Like saying oh, a Nigerian company in US. We want to say yes, this is a Nigerian company, but not the regular Nigerian company. This is a Nigerian company that believes in creating value, and a company that is built on sound ethical principles. We believe that we are different and we are not just there to make money at the expense of our customers. I want the customers to see what we are doing and appreciate us, and that is the beauty of it.
What singular thing stands SLOT out from the other people who also engage in your line or kind of business?
What we do here is that we create an environment where customers will buy and have peace of mind. And the peace of mind is something that you can’t just explain without measuring customer satisfaction, without measuring value creation, without measuring quality product, without measuring integrity. And so these are the things that provide the customers with peace of mind.
If you had not set up SLOT, what else would you have been doing?
If I were not managing of SLOT, I would have loved to become a teacher, so I would have been creating value also in the classrooms (laughing).
When you are not engaged in the business of running and administering SLOT, what keeps you busy?
I love travelling with my wife; I love travelling with my wife and the kids and then if I’m around, I like playing lawn tennis.
Now that your family has come into the picture, can we talk about them?
Yeah! My wife is a very wonderful person. Her name is Nkechi. Funny enough, we registered SLOT together; we are both shareholders at SLOT. SLOT was established by two directors. I met her the same year (1998) we started and together we established SLOT and we work together…
(Interruption) – How did you meet her?
I just saw her. I’m a very prayerful person. Whatever I want, I connect it to God and believe that when you have faith, you will achieve whatever you want. There’s God factor in everything. I’m such a careful person when it comes to spiritual things. And so I was praying for a wife and when I saw her, I knew that she was the one. I didn’t want to bother my head about that. I just knew she was my wife. I remember telling my friends 6 months before then that I was looking for a wife and they just laughed. So, I prayed for 6 months before I met my wife and she’s been very wonderful. She’s been at the back-end, managing our accounts, managing our treasury and making sure that we have a water-tight account system.
Can you tell us about your children?
I’m blessed with four lovely kids – I have three boys and a girl.
What are their names?
Chuba, Chuka, Chudi and Chudera.
It’s obvious that the Almighty God has been very nice to you, what more do you want from God?
Yes! Spiritual growth. There’s always need for that terrestrial and celestial growth. The terrestrial growth is the easier one. You can do that by reading, you can do that by working so hard, but spiritual growth is something that you can get from God only. You can read the entire Bible, you can do all the fasting and all that, but you cannot really get to the level you want. So, it’s a process. I just want to grow spiritually so that I can do the things that ordinarily people cannot do. Most people can do basic things like making money, most people can do basic things like succeeding, but I want a spiritual power so I can do more extraordinary things. Not just the regular things. Not just a normal way of creating value. If somebody is sick, sometimes it may not require money to cure him. It could be a word of prayers. So, what level of spiritual growth or spiritual position you have is what determines how much you can do in terms of healing people, in terms of solving people’s problems. So, I think that if you compare the role of a pastor and the role of a businessman, they are all basically creating value, solving problems. So, anointing is about solving problems. If I have anointing to make money, what about anointing to heal the sick? That is the other power that I’m talking about right now.
What is that thing about you that most people don’t know?
I’m a very brave person. I think I got that from my upbringing. I grew up in Sapele (Delta State). Though, I wouldn’t know how it looks right now. It was a very rough and very tough terrain, so it’s always like a place where you have to be tough to survive. It’s like Ajegunle (in Lagos State). I grew up in a very rough environment where every day you are sure of fighting one or two people – on your way to school (laughs), or on your way back. So, you are always, always prepared. I grew up in such an environment. I’ve seen most of those risky, tough environment and it’s helped me to survive doing business in Nigeria. Like I said, doing business in Nigeria is not meant for the feeble-minded. You have to be very, very courageous, you have to be very, very bold and above all, I have God. So, that makes it complete.. I think I’m a very bold person; I’m also a very calm and calculated person.
Earlier on, you told us that you did not only set up SLOT with your wife, but also run it together. What exactly is it like running the same business with your wife?
I think, first of all, your wife has to be your friend. Because if your wife is your friend, then you will see in her a great and a wonderful partner. Sometimes, the only person you can trust in your business is your wife. So, when she tells you look, I think this strategy will not work; I think this model will not work; at the end of the day, this is what we are most likely to get, you need to listen more. I think sometimes we can’t see it all. Our wives are very careful people. My wife is a very careful person. I am the risk taker here and she is the risk averter. Sometimes she says slow down, you need to slow down; oh, you are running too fast or this is very risky. So, there’s somebody at the back – end that tells you this is not very good and sometimes too it’s your wife that can be bold enough to tell you the truth. Most people won’t tell you the truth. Most people want to tell you yes sir, alright sir, wonderful sir. But your wife will tell you this is not right. She is the best person that knows how to criticize and I see that as very constructive, and it helps me a lot.
When both of you disagree in the office, how do you sort it out at home?
Oh, in the office, I’m the boss (general laughter). In the house, at home, I’m the husband. So, they are two different things. Even when we are having management meetings sometimes, when she talks or tries to argue unnecessarily, I may be tempted to say keep quiet, let me talk. So, in the place of work, I’m the boss and then at home, I’m the husband. But the difference is that I listen to her. Sometimes when I fail to listen, I make mistakes. So, I’ve learnt to listen and then take her very seriously.
Is there any disadvantage in one running the same business with his wife?
Yes, one of the disadvantages could be that you are putting all your eggs in one basket. For example, if you are doing a particular business and the business eventually collapses, you risk that financial loss. For instance, if you guys are running a petroleum business and the government comes up with a regulation that disorganizes that business and what happens? The entire family will have to start looking for something else to do. But if your wife is running a different business , you may enjoy the advantage of diversification of risk.