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:

•Olubunmi Ekundare

INTEL’S role driving Nigeria to digital economythink 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.

Growing business for Intel in West Africa

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….

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 better options of technology.

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.

Helping the SMEs

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