Africa’s tech icon and Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, has advised a world gathering of girls leaders that his determination to construct a expertise firm in Africa, at a time when the sector was just about non-existent on the continent, amounted to what he described as “corporate suicide”.
Speaking on the theme “Losing the Fear”, at The International Women Leadership Conference (TIWLC) in Dubai, organised by the Ibukun Awosika Leadership Foundation, Ekeh, who was a keynote speaker on the ultimate day of this yr’s convention, addressed over 600 ladies trade leaders from completely different nations throughout the globe. He stated he returned from his research overseas to a Nigeria the place his friends have been submitting into banking, oil and fuel, and the place expertise was largely seen as a international sport.
Ekeh, who studied Economics in India, stated he was discouraged from pursuing a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science in Europe due to the prevailing notion then that Africa may need no need for computer systems over the following 35 years, probably leaving him pissed off. He subsequently opted for a postgraduate diploma in Risk Management earlier than pursuing a Master’s diploma in Business Law (LLM) at London Guildhall University. He recalled that he couldn’t sit his ultimate legislation examinations as a result of he had diverted his tuition charges into his ardour for expertise entrepreneurship. He additionally disclosed that he had fended off recruitment makes an attempt by worldwide expertise corporations that had sought to rent him earlier than his return to Africa.
“I chose the road not taken,” he advised the convention. “It was corporate suicide in the eyes of my parents and many others. I lost the fear because I believed technology was the master key that would unlock possibilities for Nigeria and Africa.”
He stated the journey got here with appreciable hardship, together with residing on one meal a day for over three years and sleeping in a really small room in his workplace.
According to him, his imaginative and prescient was to create a Nigerian and, by extension, an African IT id. Recalling the launch of his first firm, Task Systems Ltd, over 35 years in the past, the corporate that pioneered desktop publishing and pc graphics in Nigeria.
At the launch, held at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Ekeh recalled addressing an overcrowded corridor full of trade leaders, a few of whom have been seeing computer systems for the primary time. He advised them: “No country can claim to be independent without technology independence.”
He stated the Nigerian media embraced the imaginative and prescient, describing him as a “miracle child” and supporting the corporate’s roadmap. This, he famous, contributed to the computerisation of over 97 per cent of media and multimedia homes in Nigeria, in addition to in different African nations.
He additional defined that the choice to set up Zinox Technologies, which grew to become one in all Africa’s first Microsoft WHQL- and Intel-certified pc producers, was pushed by the necessity to give Nigeria and Africa a world expertise id.
“We were not just building computers,” he stated. “We were building a statement that Africa could manufacture to global standards because we had the passion, experience and capacity, and believed the risk was worth taking. The government and people of Nigeria celebrated us. With Zinox, we demystified and domesticated technology and were able to handle critical projects in Nigeria and some African countries. This is what innovation is all about.”
Ekeh, nevertheless, didn’t current the journey as a clean one. He advised the ladies that Nigeria had each “blessed and bruised” him, and spoke about what he described as controversial patronage, company blackmail and the battles that include constructing a visual enterprise in a difficult surroundings. He stated these experiences clarify why many billionaires in Africa could also be unwilling to endure the difficulties related to constructing companies and will wrestle to defend their wealth.
“Fear will always have a voice,” he stated. “But it must not have a vote. The road less travelled is less travelled for a reason. It is harder. It is lonelier. But it is worth it.”
He assured the ladies that he would inform the total story in his forthcoming guide earlier than the top of 2027.
Ekeh, who reminded the ladies that they maintain the great keys to nationwide prosperity on this second quarter of the twenty first century, additionally highlighted his group’s funding in ladies in expertise.
According to him, TD Africa Distributions Ltd, one in all Africa’s largest expertise distribution corporations, has, by its TecHerdemy initiative, educated over 1,000 ladies in cybersecurity, synthetic intelligence, software program improvement, information science {and professional} etiquette. Many of the graduates now occupy management roles throughout the expertise ecosystem.
He added that ladies additionally occupy strategic positions throughout the Zinox Group, together with a number of feminine chief executives main enterprise models.
Addressing the ladies at the convention, Ekeh inspired them to recognise their capability to form industries, create alternatives and affect the long run. His message resonated with the broader dialog round ladies’s management, financial participation and the necessity for higher illustration in sectors historically dominated by males.
He underscored the significance of braveness, competence and willpower, notably for ladies in search of to break boundaries in enterprise and expertise. He additionally careworn that management goes past private achievement; it entails creating pathways by which others can advance.
The convention, convened by the Ibukun Awosika Leadership Foundation, introduced collectively ladies founders, executives and first-time managing administrators from throughout Africa and past.
