By Ebele Orakpo

Ms. Oyinkansola Olayiwola is a graduate of English Language from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye in Ogun State. She had been admitted to read Law and she actually started with Law but along the line, she crossed over to English Language Department to study the English Language. In this chat with Vanguard in Lagos recently, she speaks on how she got into solar electricity business and the challenges. Excerpts.

According to Ms. Olayi-wola, “I had actually gone to PSC Industries, a solar electricity outfit in Lagos for an interview for a vacant position. Along the line, I started discussing with the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of PSC Industries, Dr. Patrick Owelle and based on the discussions and other things, I got inspired and there and then decided to go into the solar electricity business.

That was the first time I will be meeting Dr. Patrick Owelle and that was also the first time I got to know so much about solar electricity although I had heard about it before but Dr. Owelle really opened my eyes to the opportunities and possibilities in solar electricity business.

Before this time, I had actually thought solar electricity was not for everyone but for a specific class of people. While we were discussing solar electricity, I found out that wow, everybody can get it. From that moment, I made up my mind to go into marketing solar electricity products to people around me,” she said.

Olayiwola went from a job hunter to an employer of labour through hard work. “I went about telling family, friends and neighbours about the products because I discovered that so many people are ignorant when it comes to solar electricity because the first thing they will tell you is that you must have very brilliant sunshine before the products will work and many people will ask questions like: What happens during the rainy season and cloudy days etc? Will the products still work? Of course, you have to answer these questions. This made me to study the materials given to me by PSC Industries on solar electricity and also went to the internet so as to get as much information as I could to enable me become more effective in the business.

From there, I rented an office in Ibadan. I had some independent marketers, those who already had their jobs but were willing to work for extra income, to market the products. I also have someone in Abuja who is helping to market the products. So I’m more on the marketing side than the technical side. Of course, there is no way you will not have something to do with the technical side because you have to convince those you are selling to and how are you going to convince them if you do not want to really tell them about the technical aspect of solar electricity? But I try as much as possible to make it simple,” she said.

Speaking on the name of her outfit, she said she still operates under the name, PSC Industries Limited as a sales executive.

Answering question on how much money she makes in a day, Olayiwola replied: “Solar electricity business is not like a restaurant business where you sell everyday. All you have to do is work really hard. It might take you weeks, months, a year or a year plus to get a target but once you are hardworking, definitely the opportunity will come and you will hit your target. So it is not something like a supermarket where you display some things and people would walk in and buy and take away, no.

You have to convince some people, even those who already have an idea will still question you and you must answer their questions to their satisfaction. Really, solar electricity in this part of the world has been bastardized. Like some of the solar street lights and traffic lights are a mess and I found out that many of these people who deal in solar electricity go to China to get the factory rejects or they go for low quality products and at the end of the day, they sell them at relatively cheap price and you discover that you can only use such products for a few months or probably for a year.

So by the time you try to convince people, they will say ‘oh, what about those street lights? It’s not too long ago they were installed and now they are not working.’ How do you want to convince them?” she asked rhetorically. Replying her own question, she said she gets round the problem by telling hr potential customers that PSC Industries products are different. “Our own products are good. They are made in the UK and of course, we have warranty on our products. I also try to tell them that for there to be a fake product, there must be a genuine product so if there is a genuine product, you will get it from us. The ones you are seeing around are fake but we have genuine products. We have an office so they can always walk in if there is any complaint.,” she said.