Wande Adalemo
dropped out of the Olabisi Onabanjo University to actualise his dream
of building an Internet service company, which is now worth N1bn. He
tells DAYO OKETOLA how it all started and what other young Nigerian entrepreneurs can learn from his journey.
The Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Oxygen Broadband Networks,
Nigeria’s first metro WiFi network, Mr. Wande Adalemo, is a young man
who aspired to be a university graduate and get a job. But an event in
1998 changed the course of his life and he decided to pursue his dream
of building an Internet company.
Today, he sits atop a N1bn broadband network company, which has just
rolled out a WiFi network at the popular Computer Village in Lagos.
He said his greatest challenge was funding, but the driving force had
been the passion to ensure that all Nigerians have access to affordable
Internet access through WiFi technology.
From the ground zero in 2005, dropping out of school along the line,
Adalemo said he overcome the challenge and was able to attract
investors, who believed in his dream and invested in the business.
Adalemo said the company started with a $2m investment and as at today,
had invested N1bn with a network infrastructure already in place and
duly licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission.
“As we speak, we are currently at the Computer Village in Lagos, where
we have our pilot network. In the last two months since we started, we
have had over 20,000 connections sitting on our network,” he said
In view of this, he said the company had laid out an expansion plan,
which would see it invest another N200m in rolling out services in six
locations across Lagos State before the end of 2012.
“We are doing another N200m investment and we are going to six new
locations by December 2012. We are partnering with malls on the Island,
Surulere, and high traffic restaurants. We already have agreements with
all of these people,” he said.
The expansion, Adalemo said, would see Oxygen Networks expand to 20
locations in March 2013, and 100 locations in Lagos by 2015; and then
Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano, thereafter.
“Of the N200m needed to roll out services by December 2012, we have
attained N75m equity investment to date, which means that we are really
set to move to these new locations,” he said.
According to him, the company currently operates with 100 per cent
private equity fund from the board of directors and “they are putting
in more funds to see us expand.”
He said the company had already attracted institutional investors such
as Google and Main One Cable Company, which were interested in
investing in it and help boost broadband access in the country.
While the start-up appears to be on the right track, the Oxygen Broadband Network boss said the beginning was very rough.
In an interview with Punch on how it all started, he said, “I never saw
a computer until 1998. I was with my cousin Femi Adalemo, who was the
Chairman of the Nigerian Internet Exchange Committee at some points.
So, I went to his office and he said he wanted to send a mail to
someone in the United States. Five minutes after, the person in the US
had responded to the mail and that surprised me.
“I couldn’t sleep that night, and in the morning, I went back to him
and asked him to teach me how to develop something that will make
Nigerians send and receive e-mails easily. I told him I wanted to do
something that would make it easier for every Nigerian to send email.
“He told me it was networking and that was how it started. So, as I
grew in my knowledge of what the Internet access and broadband were, it
became more of a passion. Getting the technology was one thing, putting
it together was another, and getting funding took a while. Between 2005
and now, you can see it has been seven years, it has not been easy.”
On how he got the first investor, who later became a co-founder of the
company, Adalemo, said, “We had spoken with a thousand of individuals
to put their money in the business and the answer we kept getting was
no. Eventually, we found someone and it was an interesting story. We
met the first investor, who later became a co-founder of the company,
in 2005. I didn’t have a penny that day and then a friend of mine
called and said there was someone that ‘is interested in this crazy
idea of yours, let’s go and see him.’
“I had to trek from Iponrin to Ajose Adeogun to meet him. He was the
managing director of a bank then. Meanwhile, I had met several
potential investors who had discouraged me but I did not give up. So,
when I got there, he told me; ‘If you cannot convince me in two
minutes, I cannot invest in this because an idea that cannot hit
someone in two minutes is no good idea.’ Well, I think I was able to
hit him in two minutes and the next question he asked was how do we
move?
“The first thing we did was to go around the world to see where WiMax
was failing because my own idea was that WiMax will not work but WiFi
will. So how do we get WiFi to work? And from there, he got some of his
friends involved in the business.”
Adalemo reiterated that the company would continue to expand because he
believed WiFi technology would play a major role in boosting Internet
access in Nigeria.
He said, “Because we believe that everybody should be on the Internet
and we are restricted by regulations as to how to expand (we cannot
cover wide area), we decided to take the Internet to where everybody is
going?
“Oxygen believes that your Internet should be wherever you are going
and instead of carrying your modem or dongle around, if you know that
Oxygen is present at the place you are going to such as the cinema,
restaurant, clubs and malls, among others; then, it becomes a better
option for you.”
According to him, the second phase of the company’s expansion will be
the ASPANDA Market at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Alaba
and Oke Arin markets.
“For or us at Oxygen, we are taking our WiFi network to a point where
we have a hots pot in virtually every major street in Lagos. It begins
to tell us where we need to start focusing our attention in Nigeria. It
also begins to tell us where we need to start building broadband
ecosystems. We need to start looking at solutions that will enable
people to just plug and deliver broadband services to everybody,”
Adalemo explained.
He disclosed that the company had sealed a partnership with the Nigeria
Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc to provide its WiFi network for PoS
connectivity at the Computer Village, adding that this was the driving
force behind its planned extension into the Oke Arin Market.
“Due to our partnership with NIBSS, we are providing WiFi for the
purpose of PoS terminals alone at Oke Arin Market. These are some of
the plans that Google is excited about,” he said
Adalemo encouraged young Nigerian entrepreneurs not to be deterred by
challenges surrounding them, while assuring them of success if they
remained focused.
He said this was what made him drop out of school when he found out
that academic works were disturbing his entrepreneurial drive.
“I will say that I am also a proud school dropout because at some
point, I realised that pursuing academic excellence was interfering
with my passion for this dream. May be Oxygen would have become a dream
earlier but for exams in school,” he said
When our correspondent took him up on this, he said, “I am not saying
it is good to drop out of school, but I am saying it is good to think
outside the box. The emphasis on paper qualification in our society has
not helped us. If school will limit you as an entrepreneur, get out;
and if it will enhance you, stay with it.”
“I encourage people to go to school, but once you find that dream, that
passion that you can pursue and it is a good idea, you will succeed.
Once you are dedicated, you will get there. It is not about everyone
leaving school, it is about understanding what will work for you.”
Culled From Punch
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