Founder of Omatek Computer Ventures, Mrs Florence Seriki is dead.
She died on Sunday in Lagos.
Seriki was a notable entrepreneur and industrialist who started Omatek Ventures Plc, 22 years ago.
She was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the first completely knocked down Computer factories in Nigeria and Ghana.
Manufacturing industries, factories, banks, schools, government parastatals, Small Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and other private organisations have been urged to embrace solar energy maximise profit.
Speaking to reporters after a tour round the company’s solar solution, the Chief Executive Officer, Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs Florence Seriki said the adoption of solar energy would help to cut down on wasteful consumption of electricity by 80 to 85 percent, thereby saving it and making it useful for other Nigerians.
She added that solar energy would also reduce the cost of production.
According to her, “adopting solar solution as an alternative source of power will help the country to achieve 24/7 power lighting with the digital all-in-one solar powered solutions.
She said the solar solution, off-grid or hybrid, is available for both domestic and industrial use noting that with the solar solution, the cost of diesel or fuel on generators will be a thing of the past.
She encouraged Nigerians to embrace the technology which she said is cheaper and saver when all the expenses of the generating set are considered.
“Our solar solution comes in different models. We have the very small ones of 12 watt which has capacity to lighting. Once it is fully charged, it can last for 24 hours and can be used to serve students, farmers, small homes, like a one bed room apartment, shops, kiosks, and a large number of SME. It has USB port, can charge phone and it has a torch light. We also have the 20, 30, 40, 50 watts and on like that. The solar power by default is 25 years, inverter is 10 years, battery is five years and bulb is five years.
“We are trying to move with banks to create consumer markets for this entire product. We decided to put a manual in the pack with drawing so that people can install by them self. We will also train the local engineers in the companies so that they can continue in the maintenance. W e need them to manage it by themselves, and by so doing we are also building human capacity by training internally everywhere we go.
“When we come to your office, we do chart, we calculate your NEPA bill, your diesel bill, for one year only, the amount of energy you have saved, and it is equivalent, by the time you see it as a corporate body, you will see that this is cheaper.
“The solar solution can take a whole town just like we are working with Shell to do a whole community that would run on solar. They will tap the sun directly; the only risk is that when the sun is not too hot, they will switch to NEPA and it can only be used day time, which is still not bad,” she said.
Head of Production, Saheed Onifade added that the advantage of the solar alternative is that it cuts you off the grid and the energy from the grid is available for other people, because you are generating your own energy.
“Light Emitting Dilute consumes less power like we have in the conventional electricity and the life span is longer”.
He noted that the company has no limit to the expansion of its capacity, saying that as long as there is sun in the city, it the solar power can be used.
Chief Executive Officer, Omatek Ventures, Mrs. Florence Seriki has emerged new vice chairman, African region, for the World Information Technology and Services Advisory Board (WITSA).
Seriki who is also the president, Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) was elected to the office during ongoing World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in Guadalajara, Mexico. WCIT is a consortium of associations from the information and communications technology (ICT) industry around the world.
Founded in 1978, the group represents over 90 per cent of the world ICT market through its global membership, and has a goal of advancing the growth and development of the ICT industry. It participates in advocacy in international public policy that affects the global information infrastructure.
With her election, Seriki will join other elected members including Nizar Zakka who will represent theMiddle East and North Africa, Yannis Sirrors for Europe, Boris Komrakov for Europe, Silvia Bidart for Latin America, Takashi Igarashi for Asia Pacific and John Kyle for the Carribean to steer the ship of the global IT body for the next two years.
The ITAN president also led Nigerian IT industry operators to the Gitex Technology Show in Dubai, where Nigeria is a country partner in this year’s edition.
Omatek Plc will sustain its return to profitability and grow the bottom-line to about N3.34 billion by 2017, the management of the company has said.
The profit projection was part of the highlights of the presentation by the board and management of the computer company to the investing public at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at the weekend.
Group Managing Director, Omatek Plc, Florence Seriki, said the company, which recorded its first positive bottom-line in recent years last year, will build on its profitability and gradually extend the bottom-line to about N3.34 billion over a five-year period.
According to her, total net earnings, otherwise designated as total comprehensive income, will increase from N236.82 million recorded in 2012 to N353.23 million in 2013. This is expected to double to N710.46 million in 2014 and subsequently to N1.265 billion, N2.02 billion and N3.34 billion in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.
She said the company has put in place various initiatives to drive its repositioning exercise and help consolidate on the performance and profitability.
“Today, our story is different. We have much to look to as a publicly quoted company, on the basis of the value we are bringing to our investors and on the high potential we have to dominate the market,” Seriki said.
According to her, Omatek has been able to weather operating challenges by introducing several factory initiatives to enhance volume and meet minimum order requirement from first class manufacturers in Asia.
She outlined that the company had launched several consumer schemes for the purchasing of laptops by states, government establishments, tertiary and private secondary schools, corporate organisations and schools.
“The strategy has been very successful in Nigeria and working in Ghana. While improving on current working strategy, we shall improve on it and replicate in the countries embracing Omatek Group’s brand across Africa, Europe and Asia,” Seriki said.
She however stressed the need for the company to source cheaper offshore funds to meet its working capital and compete with the price base of other foreign competitors which have access to low-interest funding.
She said the company has approached the Bank of Industry (BoI) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for single-digit funding in order to compete with foreign companies.
She lamented that Nigerian banks have not been able to understand the transaction dynamics of the company by accommodating its pioneering structure and supply chain management with a view to understand the right kind of funding structure required for the company’s factory and the distribution channels.
“We do not import finished products and our distribution company cannot establish letter of credits for their finished products as ordered by their clients. They pay the factory for finished products and the factory in turn can only purchase what is out of stock. The factory cannot also await orders from the distribution company before replenishing its raw materials inventory because of the lead and transit time required,” Seriki noted.
Theproblem of inadequate power supply to schools may soon end thanks to a 24-hour hybrid solar power solution by Omatek Ventures Plc.
Education Minister Prof Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufai inaugurated the alternative power solution at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), where it has been deployed to power lights on the walkways and reading rooms of the New Hall hostel.
This was followed by a tour of the Omatek factory in Oregun, Lagos, where its CEO, Mrs Florence Seriki showed how the firm has been able to solve problems of power supply and consumption with its hybrid solutions and bulbs that consume far less energy than the popular 60 watts bulbs.
The minister also learnt about the firm’s e-learning scheme which marries the latest hardware technology with content relevant to the school curriculum; as well as its internship programme for undergraduates to learn practical lessons assembling computers. Mrs Seriki said universities send students to Omatek who are involved in hands on training.
“When we say we are doing e-learning, all these computers are already being used in schools. We are not just producing hardware; we have integrated their curriculum into it,” Mrs Seriki said of the e-learning platform.
Praising Omatek for the various solutions, Prof Rufai said the alternative power solutions would improve students’ performance.
“This is going to be a very good way forward in terms of research and development and in terms of our students to have constant supply of power to enable them study to enhance education performance and also increase our capacity for research.”
The minister added that Omatek’s efforts in providing practical training for the youths is in line with the president’s transformation agenda for Technical and Vocational Education (TVE). To this end, she said a new committee to be headed by Chief Aliko Dangote would be established to address skills deficit.
“We have seen that the way we partner with the private sector should be more practical. The issue of producing graduates that will be looking for jobs will soon be history,” she said.
On his part, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Julius Okojie said more needs to be done to strengthen the relationship between tertiary institutions and the industry.
“In the tripartite relationship between government, universities and industry, the weakest link is the university. We need an interface between industry and the university system,” he said.
Speaking with The Nation, some of the students in the assembly plant said they had gained a lot of practical experience that gave meaning to what they learnt in school.
Saiuy Zion, a 400-Level Electrical/Electronics Engineering student of Covenant University, Ota, said: ”
Before I came, here I didn’t know they assembled parts and computers in Nigeria. But now I can dismantle and assemble a CPU, laptop or printer. I just started last week but I have gained a lot of experience.”
Another student, Shola Adesiyan, who is studying Computer Science at Bowen University, Iwo, said in addition to practical, the students get tutorials as well.
Managing Director, Omatek Plc, Florence Seriki, an engineer, has been conferred with a honorary distinguished Gold Medal Award by the Centre for Democratic Governance in Africa.
At the awards held at the corporate headquarters of Omatek, Director-General, Centre for Democratic Governance in Africa, Dr. Dafe Akpocha, who led other members of the board, said the Omatek boss was recognised for the giant strides she has achieved in the ICT sector in the last few decades.
According to Akpocha, the board and management of the centre deemed it fit to bestow the award on Seriki in recognition of her laudable achievements in the ICT sector.
“Through dint of hard work and perseverance you have been able to make a mark in the sector,” Akpocha said.
In her acceptance speech, Seriki said she was not only humbled by the award, but that the recognition came from such an eminent body would further spur her to greater heights.
Omatek, which is the first indigenous computer assembling plant, has recorded many firsts, including investing in solar power, among other innovative products.
The highpoint of the occasion was the presentation of the award medal and certificate of recognition to the recipient.
The Chief Executive Officer of Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs Florence Seriki, has said that unless the federal and state governments lay good examples by patronising locally made products, Nigerians will not take the government seriously.
The Omatek boss said for the local industries to grow, government at all levels must lead by examples and stopping patronising foreign goods. She added that Nigerians must also shun the rush for foreign products as the locally made goods are of the same quality with those made abroad.
“Unless the president and other government officials put their trust in local products by patronizing them, Nigerians will not take them serious,” she said.
The ICT boss added that the company is poised to produce quality computers and other technology products and urged Nigerians to trust local manufacturers. She also advised President Jonathan to do more for the ICT Industry by providing funds for researches to be made.
It would be recalled that the federal government recently announced plans to ban foreign computers and technology products in public institutions and schools to encourage patronage of “Made-in-Nigeria” and foster growth in the local ICT industry.
She equally advised Mrs Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology, to be proactive by ensuring that all ICT products that are used in the ministry are locally made as this will not only take the sector to its next level but create unprecedented employment opportunities for the teeming youths of this country.
OmateK Ventures Plc has expressed optimism that shareholders will start to reap the benefits of its ongoing business growth initiative with the payment of dividend for this business year.
Its Group Managing Director, Florence Seriki, who outlined efforts being made to improve the performance of the company, said there were hopes that the company could resume dividend payment by the end of this business year.
According to her, while the company had been challenged by the financial crisis induced by the problem in the banking sector as well as economic meltdown, its long-standing adherence to quality and international standards has sustained its customer base, which it’s now leveraging on to deliver growth.
She said the company has started constructing a solar panel production bay in its new expansive factory complex so that it would overtime be able to produce solar panel locally. Besides, she said the company has energised its distribution channels to expand its market share.
She said Omatek has declined to issue new shares to raise funds from the capital market because the market value of the company’s shares does not represent the true worth of the firm.
She, however, charged capital market regulators to be at the vanguard of advocacy for the development and patronage of small and medium manufacturers to sustain listings and attract new ones to the stock exchange.
According to her, both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), should patronise listed companies’ products. She championed broadening of the local content policy to include all Nigerian manufacturers.
She added that the governments at all levels need to imbibe consumption of indigeneous goods to promote domestic manufacturing, which she noted, is the only solution to the high rate of unemployment.
She called for the provision of adequate funding for manufacturers, pointing out financial requirements of the manufacturing sector are different from other sectors.
She said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should redirect its intervention funds to interface with the sectoral operators and groups rather than the situation where companies are required to be recommended by their banks, which might have been implicated in the crisis of the company.
Group Managing Director of Omatek Venures Plc, Mrs Florence Seriki, has identified funding from financial institutions, home paronage and the government policy as the major contraints bedeviling indigenous original equipment manufacturers.
She urged the government to get serious about job creation by addressing these issues..
Seriki, who is also the President of Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN), said the Federal Government should rise up to the occasion and implement the local content policy in the information communication technology (ICT) sector. She spoke in Lagos yesterday.
According to her, it is only when local patronage are sold across board that employment could be created and research and development (R&D) encouraged, adding that the communication technology minister should liaiase with other minstries and do private public partnership (PPP) and make ICT the major driver of the nation’s economy.
She said it is only through this way that ICT sector can contribute significantly to the growth of the nation’s gross domestic product. “The minsiter should liaise with other minstries and do PPP. The government should make ICT the major driver of the economy. That is the way to go. India used software while Taiwan used hardware. Tolerance of local products is also important,” she said.
Seriki who disclosed that the firm’s new factory in Lagos has seven bays out of which three are currently being used, said with the factory and conveyor belt in place, R&D would continue while the firm will not compromise on the qaulity of its products.
On funding, she said the Bank of Industry (BoI) has promised to come to the aid of the ICT sector, adding that the managing director of the bank has already created a desk for ICT with the promise of making funding available. “Funding manufacturing is more difficult than funding finished products. That was why we brought the BoI. The MD has created a desk for ICT and promised to make loans available at single digit interest rate (to ICT industry),” she said.
According to Seriki, appropriate policies are also vital to the survival of small and medium scale businesses (SMEs) in the country, aclling on the Federal Government to revisit the local content policy of former President Olusegun Obasanjo so that the growth and evolution of the ICT sector could be accelerated.
Recaalling the decisions that the firm had taken to enable it function well, she said the firm had undertaken an overhaul of its psersonnel to make it function in the mould of world class technology firm, adding that though the decision was met with resistance, she said it was an advantage for the firm. She promised that when ongoing programmes put in inplace by the management are carried out, shareholders would be in for good times.