By Victor Gotevbe

Aniekan Okono, 30 is an Akwa Ibom born Nigerian living and doing business in Europe. He grew up destroying electronics, bicycles and always looking internally on how to solve problems. This naturally inquisitive young man shares his experience of how he patiently and passionately provided a technological solution for businesses across Europe and other continents of the world. From Finland, he takes us into his world of inquisitiveness, creativity and technological breakthrough.

My humble background
I am a second child from a family of six and first male  child. My father was a federal minister of technical education in Nigeria in 1983. I grew up with an inquisitive mindset always searching to know how things work and not a typical academic person. My father did everything he could to make me study hard like most parents would do but I wanted something else.

He wanted me to be an engineer or a doctor but I was fascinated by his numerous business cards, travel exposure, his generosity and financial calculations although he was a mechanical engineer; I always saw him calculating percentages and exchange rates.

I saw lots of company documents and I would spend my time digging through them, reading them instead of reading school books, I will always hid behind to listen to both political  and  business discussions instead of studying. So, at a certain time, I started looking for what to do with my life which would be based not on academic prowess but related to real life that would play a huge role in providing opportunities for others or enable others who cannot help themselves to do so.

ANIEKAN OKONO

My  journey into entrepreneurship
I always wanted to use technology to solve the common problems that people or businesses have. I started this passion in 2006, but had to abandon it to go overseas to study Business Administration. I came to Finland, September 2008, because I got admission to complete my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

I graduated in 2010, thereafter I set out to start a publishing business, and I got so many challenges with the magazine publishing idea from the consultant to the local authorities responsible for giving aid to people with ideas so much so that I had to change my location to a different city with a different idea.

I worked as an international sales manager for a small business manufacturing road safety and traffic enforcement devices, our products were not limited to Africa, Asia and Europe but I saw firsthand how difficult it is to credible partners to know about what we were offering.

When I left the company I started researching on the best way to connect small and medium scale manufacturers in developed countries who already have databases of registered companies to manufacturers or distributors or credible partners in emerging economies who don’t have database of credible companies readily available on the net. I also thought of a way to enable these SME’s to be able to advertise to the exact target audience. I spent a lot of time researching before discovering the gap that existing solutions have left uncovered. That’s how we establish Zilot.

Uniqueness of Zilot amidst several similar projects
Ziliot.com is a business network that will enable manufacturers to find credible distributors and partners for their products in all parts of the world. It will also enable business in Europe interested in expanding to emerging markets in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to find credible contacts, connections. We decided to work on this idea because we discovered that existing services do not offer well enough services and the need still exists in the market.

Choice of developing projects in Bulgaria
We needed developers who can understudy our need, language and are passionate to work and we found them in Bulgaria since one of my partners is a Bulgarian. I tried to look for Nigerian web developers but some of the once available in Lagos want to earn money like their western counterparts and in my opinion that knocks them off when compared to their counterparts in developed countries. Indian offers so much cost effective manpower in the sector and also eastern European countries. I wish that more Nigerians could start to take advantage that the internet offers.

My mentors and what I have learnt from them
My mentor is anyone who despite their academic or financial backgrounds still believe in worthy course and works to achieve results. Looking at Steve Jobs you learn how he started, same with the twitter guys and Facebook guys. People who expect  great things should be great from the start, but these guys just benchmarked, pivoted along the way where and when necessary and it worked out for them. I have also learnt that if they can do it, I too can, perhaps I might not need as much resources, but I need to train my eyes and understanding to think like them when it comes to product development.

How  my business can impact young Nigerians and the ordinary person on the street.
The reason why I came out with the concept of Ziliot.com is to enable Nigerians take advantage of the internet and mobile technology to expand their businesses and services. Hence, the shoe cobbler without  academic skill is a potential millionaire or employer of labour. The reason is that our platform should help such semi-skilled Nigerians to display their products for companies interested in buying them to make orders.

A good example can be a Finnish company that usually buys 500 units of foot wares yearly from Vietnam but on our platform the Finnish company can see that there are Nigerian manufacturers (SME’s) who can make these foot wares for a cheaper price, the company then contact them to start a business relationship.

Take a look at Amazon.com or Ebay.com you will discover the average Westerner can sell on these platforms, why can’t the average Nigerian sell on Ziliot? Chinese manufacturers are using this approach. So Ziliot will help the artisans on the streets of Nigeria this way.

Young Nigerians venturing into entrepreneurship
The greatest challenge is staying hungry, tightening your belt until you generate revenue. Believe in your abilities and be passionate, never ever give up. Be open to constructive criticism, ask questions and also look for answers. There is so much information available today and almost any question that you have concerning entrepreneurship is available. You make your own luck.