Project E-Ghana and Emergence of Africa's Bill Gate

A GNA Feature by Mohammed Nurudeen Issahaq

Accra, Jan. 24, GNA - In a modest neighbourhood on Kudirat Abiola Street in Ikeja, a suburb of Lagos, a great phenomenon is unfolding. The stage is being set for a historic social transformation in Nigeria and the rest of Africa; a transformation that can be likened to the renaissance era of yester-year.

The origin of Africa's computer revolution began here around 1986 when Omatek Ventures Limited exploded onto the IT scene in that country. The brain behind it all was an industrious woman, who had graduated from the University of Ife with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering.

"We started by offering IT training services for company executives before moving further to become a major seller for Microsoft, Compaq, IBM, Apple and other world recognized computer brands," said Mrs. Florence Seriki, Managing Director/ CEO.

The evolution process was complete when Omatek Ventures was transformed into Omatek Computers Ltd in 2000, in partnership with Zenith International Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank. Since then there has been no turning back for the MD and her hardworking team.

Now Omatek has become the pioneer and only factory in Africa that produces desk-top and lap-top computers, speakers and other accessories locally, with a turnover of 48,000 fully built computers per annum. Other Omatek products include Servers, DVD systems and flat screen monitors that can also be used as television screens.

The Company's vision is 93to become the clear leader in the African ICT industry by the year 2010," and in the words of the CEO she has her sights on the global market ultimately.

Mrs Seriki attributes her Company's phenomenal breakthrough to two important State interventions. The passage of the 91Computers for All Nigerians Initiative (CANi)' was one of them, the other being the exemption of Omatek from payment of duty for the importation of computer components, as well as the cancellation of VAT on the export of the Company's products. A government - private sector collaboration, CANi aimed at bridging the digital gap and promoting computer literacy in Nigerian society. Today, thanks to this bold step taken by the Government of Nigeria, and also owing to the unshaken sense of mission on the part of Omatek Computers, PCs are not only available locally at affordable prices, but there has also been a record rise in the number of Nigerians, who can now boast of personal computers in their homes.

Of what relevance is all this to us in Ghana anyway, one may wonder. The 93Jubilee news" is that Omatek Computers Ltd is opening a factory similar to the one in Lagos right here in Ghana. 91Project E-Ghana' as it is dubbed, aims among other things to give the Ghanaian IT market an African product comparable to any of its kind anywhere in the world, and on affordable terms too.

According to Mrs Seriki, the formal launch of the Accra factory has been scheduled for the early part of 2007, to coincide with Ghana's 50th anniversary celebration.

To give the Ghanaian public idea of what the Company does in Nigeria, Omatek organized a day's facility tour of its Lagos factory last December. 93Ghana has a lot to learn from the Omatek experience in our Government's quest to popularize IT among our people," said Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Deputy Minister of Communications, who led a Ghanaian delegation to the event. The Deputy Minister also pledged the Government's preparedness to collaborate fully with Omatek to ensure the success of the Company's operations in Ghana.

There is an unquestionable correlation between IT pervasiveness and the socio-economic advancement of a nation, so the benefits of Omatek's move into Ghana are enormous. Human resource development, which is one of the ruling Government's major policy targets, would certainly receive a boost similar to that witnessed in Nigeria in recent times.

Within two years of its implementation, the CANi project had empowered about half a million Nigerians with IT knowledge. It can be argued, therefore, that the proliferation of locally produced computers in Ghana would increase people's access to PCs and help to set the stage for the kind of knowledge-based society that would accelerate the nation's march towards socio-economic development.

It is worth noting that in addition to the exemption of Omatek from paying duty on the importation of computer components (as well as the cancellation of VAT on the Company's exports) the Nigerian Government also issued a directive making it mandatory for State departments and agencies to purchase locally made computers. These steps by the Government provided the right environment for the enterprise to flourish, and from all indications the country's policy makers have not regretted taking those decisions.

At a function in Lagos, President Olusegun Obasanjo is reported as having referred to Omatek Computers as "a company that has done Nigeria proud and put Africa on the world ICT map" by winning the prestigious Microsoft Best Systems Builder Award for East, Central and West Africa in 2005.

The award cited above is only the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, one could fill a medium-sized jotter listing all the accolades earned by the Company under the able leadership of its hardworking MD.

A cupboard located in one of the side-rooms of the factory in Lagos is overflowing with many such trophies the Company has been awarded over the years for its outstanding performance.

They include the Digital Peers International Award of Excellence; 2005 Rare Gem Award; Dr Kwame Nkrumah Excellence in Enterprise Award; Frontier of Technology ICT Leadership Summit Award; Success Digest Enterprise Award; and the Special Award by the Nigerian Society of Engineers, among other awards. These accolades are a confirmation of Omatek's pioneering status as a builder of high standard local computer brands, and a stamp of excellence on both the quality and volume of computers produced by the Company.

On the individual scale, Mrs Seriki's enterprising qualities have obviously not escaped notice, a fact demonstrated by her induction into the Obafemi Awolowo University's Faculty of Technology Hall of Fame in November 2005. This remarkable woman whom you can refer to as "Africa's Bill Gates in the Making" without any fear of contradiction, has also won the Nigeria-American Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurship Award; Best Woman IT of the Year (2003) Award conferred by the Nigeria Information Technology and Telecommunication (NITT) body; Africa International Role Model Leadership Gold Award for Excellence; Patriotic Achievers' Award and the Woman of Merit Gold Award, to mention but a few.

The 93Social Watch Report" (2006) published by the International Secretariat of Social Watch in Montevideo, Uruguay, notes that the scientific and technological development of any given country depends to a large extent on Government decisions, and that indicators such as public spending on research and development could give a clear idea as to how governments are performing in this direction.

"=85Access to personal computers is a prerequisite for access to new sources of information," the Report asserts, adding that the prevailing unequal access to communication technologies globally (otherwise known as the digital gap) has given rise to new inequalities in terms of social development. 93One of the main challenges facing the world in the new millennium is to narrow this gap, and State intervention is clearly a key factor," declares the Report.

In the opinion of this writer who happened to be part of the team that attended the pre-launch tour of the Lagos factory a few weeks ago, Ghana and Ghanaians stand to gain immensely from the arrival of Omatek in the country, provided the Government is prepared to introduce policies that would help to create the right environment for the growth of the local IT industry.

An enlightened workforce, a technologically savvy generation with job opportunities would be the fallouts from the emergence of Project E-Ghana! 24 Jan. 07