Olubunmi Ekundare is the Managing Director of Intel Corporation, West Africa. In this interview with Emeka Aginam, he outlined Intel plans for the Nigerian market. Assuring continued innovation from Intel to support the market, he said that Chip maker will continue to provide connectivity and relevant content to the Nigerian market.
Excerpt

My career journey
I actually joined in 2005 as an Education consultant; it has been a very rewarding and exciting journey. Intel is a very dynamic company and being given the opportunity to impact lives with what we do is most rewarding.

Again the greatest influence you can make to the society is to impact lives in a positive way, sometimes when you are doing this, you do not realise that people are watching; being recognized for the work we do is like winning the Nobel Prize especially when it is done independently and one is also recognised amongst the great pioneers of ICT in Nigeria.

I have received two of those 1st from the Centre of Leadership and Development for Intel’s leadership in the commercial development of ICT in Nigeria and the 2nd from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology the pioneer Technology university in Nigeria – for Exemplary Leadership in driving Entrepreneurship with ICT development.

Plans to grow career
My plan is to move Intel to the next level in Nigeria, we are already a trusted advisor but we still have quite a lot to do; we want to share our experience and help our country grow to be one of the 10 ten economies in the world; we want to be able to help turn this country around through technology and help focus resources and infrastructure to benefit our people, whether in terms of HealthCare, education, transport etc. We want our children to go to school and have access to the same resources and technology a child in the West has.

We want to support the government in tackling issues through technology and make Nigeria a more prosperous country. When you look at it from this angle I still have quite a distance to go in my career.

Olubunmi Ekundare is the Managing Director of Intel Corporation, West Africa

Roles Intel is playing to transmit Nigeria to digital economy.
from the present state to digitally up to game country? I think the greatest asset we have is our technology and our ability to innovate and come up with technology and products that improve the quality of life of the people of the world. Our technology has helped Nigeria and indeed the world over to overcome some very basic problems like connectivity. Indeed it has helped us here in Nigeria to basically leap frog and overcome years of having to start from the scratch. We work with our ecosystem partners both local and international to develop new solutions that improve daily lives. An example is our socio-economic empowerment programs like SHE WILL CONNECT…..

Plan to grow business for Intel in West Africa to impact life with technology
We will continue to work with our ecosystem partners to develop new solutions, make technology more affordable and accessible; as you know education and the youth is a big part of who we are and what we do in Nigeria, so how do we create employment using technology, how do we empower the youth so that they can be more productive – we plan to put technology in the hands of our youth so that they can continue to innovate….

Intel sponsorship on educational activities

Again, when you build a solid foundation the outcome will be a lasting legacy, Intel is in Nigeria for the long haul and so developing our youth like I said is part of our DNA. Indeed Intel was established by a group of M.I.T. professors who value education and who understands how this helps a nation to develop, we are continuing in this legacy.

How Intel has helped the Nigerian ICT ecosystem
As you know we are an ingredient company but our technology has far reaching impact outside the devices they are embedded in; it is about creating an environment with as much as possible level playing field that allows every individual develop to their full potentials whether your are from a wealthy or not so wealthy background. In the last few years our work has be focused on how create an infrastructural base for Nigeria that delivers world class technology at very affordable rates, working with our ecosystem partners and government – how do we increase the reach and affordability of technology so that the individual in Sokoto does not have to travel all the way to Lagos or Abuja to have access to Good, Better,

Best options of Technology.
We have been focused on helping our health care system to develop ICT base response to serious and critical health issues and emergencies like we had last year with the Ebola crisis, we are helping to replicate some of the successes we have recorded by sharing our experience on you best to make broadband available and affordable for the majority of our people.We have partnered with government and private sector organisations to improve the quality of life for our Girls and women through entrepreneurship training, among others.

Indices in the Nigerian ecosystem
There has been a tremendous growth in the ICT ecosystem starting from the fact that government recognized this and created a ministry to take charge of the development of the sector. In the last 3years the sector has grown to over 5% in its contribution to the GDP and the resultant effect are not hard to find – a classical example is the growth of online commerce and services including mobile money.

Intel effort in pushing adoption of technology in Nigeria
SMBs and SMEs are the backbone of a country’s economic prowess and development it is the engine of growth and it is what made America and Japan what they are; fortunately for us Nigerians have the same spirit of entrepreneurship and we like to innovate and develop what is ours . We have about 7million different SME/SMBs and we are currently working with our partners to make technology more accessible to them by providing everything from basic tools like accounting packages to entrepreneurship training, to developing Go to Market Plans and also equipping them with technology so that on their own they can research , find markets for their goods and services and find ways to improve their business and grow to become world class enterprises.

Effort to boost PC penetration in Nigeria
Indeed PC penetration is directly related to availability of broadband connectivity and useful content; it’s like having an LED television at home with no channels on it- it becomes useless. Our goal is to help create an environment where people can have access to the web on the go and also to have useful content particularly for our children in school.

So our focus has also been working with our partners to develop a formula that would make it attractive for organisations to invest in providing connectivity and content useful to Nigeria and Nigerians – indeed this is coming from within as local content is being developed to help solve basic issues both in education and everyday living example Brainfriend

What Nigeria should expect from Intel in the coming year
Nigerians should expect continued innovation from a world class company; we will continue embed our technology in the development of the infrastructure base of Nigeria and support the growth and development of all sectors making technology accessible and affordable to all Nigerians in order for them to improve their socio-economic status and quality of life for the development of Nigeria.