Accelon boss says Ghana’s
IT Enviroment ahead of Nigeria’s
By OLAOLU OLUSINA, Ghana
Monday, August 1, 2005
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“.
. .You mean you are that careless, my computer fell
from your table and crashed? I feel like crashing my
fist on your jaw, as well !” By Adaorah Onele |
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West Africa Regional Managing Director of Accelon, an international
service company, Mike Quist Jnr., has declared that presently,
Ghana’s IT industry is much more sophisticated than
that of Nigeria.
The population of Ghana’s IT professionals and what
they have been able to do, also surpass those of Nigeria,
he added.
However, he pointed out that this trend may not continue into
the future, even in IT application, as Nigeria is where the
market lies. Mr. Quist also explained the reason for this
trend:
“Ghana’s IT environment started to be liberalised
back in the 1990s so, we’ve come a long way. However,
in Nigeria, liberalisation is more recent.”
Accelon, the company Quist manages its operations in Ghana
and the entire West Africa sub-region, except Nigeria, where,
though he is still a director of the country’s operations,
was adjudged the fastest growing Internet Access Company in
Africa, in 2004. The company has also deployed over 1,000
sites in West Africa, within a year, including Nigeria, whose
operations Mr. Quist also started.
Describing the Nigerian operations as Accelon’s largest
within the sub-region, the service company boss looked further
down the road and affirmed Nigeria’s place as the future
leader in the West Coast’s IT industry.
Said he, “Nigeria by definition, will completely overpower
every other country in the region, even in IT application,
because the market is in Nigeria…it’s huge and
robust in Nigeria because of the size of the country.
“With the momentum that is gathering now, we are going
to see a very strong IT market develop in Nigeria.”
Mike Quist, who talked on a number of issues, including the
NEPAD E-School Initiative, spoke in Accra, Ghana, with OLAOLU
OLUSINA, our correspondent.
Mike Quist Jnr. is the Regional Managing Director, Accelon,
in-charge of Ghana and the rest of West Africa, except Nigeria.
His company, including the Nigerian operation, which he actually
started, has deployed over 1000 sites in West Africa within
just a year and was adjudged the fastest growing Internet
Access Company in Africa, for 2004. But Mike Quist says
Accelon, which is one of the first companies to have been
provided with access to SAT- 3 facility, is not an IT company,
but a service company that relies heavily on IT.
Accelon
Accelon is essentially a service company, offering Internet
access base to the market place. The bulk of our customer
base is in the Small and Medium Enterprises, as well as the
corporate sector. We are hopeful that by supporting
the private sector, we would be supporting the economies of
the various countries that we service. To date, we have
sites inside of Ghana and Nigeria, in Benin, Mali, Senegal,
and we are hopeful that we would have a site in Niger, soon.
Accelon offers satellite footprints from roughly Senegal to
DRC, at charges that are reasonable. The Nigerian operations
take care of the Nigerian market, while the Ghana operations
cover Ghana and the entire ECOWAS region, except Nigeria.
However, our network-operating centre is in Nigeria.
The technical support team in Nigeria supports all of West
Africa.
Year 2004
Accelon was adjudged the fastest growing Internet Access
Company in Africa. It’s encouraging because Accelon
is a start-up company, we were probably strangers to each
other and we have never done this kind of business before
in this region. So it meant coming into a market which
we knew and coming out with a service that was relatively
new to the market. In essence, going by our growth rate,
compared to others, it means we’ve done a lot right
and we hope to learn from our experience.
Unique Service
Since West Africa is becoming a single market and Accelon
is truly a customer-focused business and a quality-driven,
Pan-African company, every month that goes by, we see an improvement
in the way we do our business and the customers are all satisfied
with our services. We’ve developed about 110 sites
from Ghana, in just one year and our operation in Nigeria
is doing about 130 sites every month. When you talk to our
customers, they will tell you that what we are bringing into
the market place is a service that previous to now, only large
corporations could take advantage of. We’ve been
able to bring the cost down.
In essence, a lot of small companies who were denied access
to Internet services can now have access and they don’t
have to be in the big cities. So long as you have a
power source and a computer and you have the will to be connected
in terms of your ability to pay for the services, you can
be connected even from the most remote part of Ghana, even
if you don’t have a telephone. What Accelon offers
is satellite footprint that ranges from Senegal to the DRC,
at charges that are reasonable. Accelon is not an IT
company but a service company with high reliance on IT.
This is because we don’t design or manufacture the equipment
but we use it to satisfy our customers so that they can do
whatever they want with the service.
Sat 3
Accelon is probably one of the first companies to have been
provided with a direct link to the Sat 3
– non – communication. In essence, we can
now deliver some services, which previously would have been
difficult to deliver. With Sat 3, Accelon can hook every
organisation, especially banks and multinationals with headoffices
outside Ghana, with their head offices, no matter where they
are, on real time basis.
IT Industry in Nigeria/Ghana
It’s huge and robust in Nigeria because of the
size of the country. But when you look at the environment,
Ghana’s IT environment started to be liberalised back
in the 90’s. So, we’ve come a long way and
that has reflected in the amount of IT professionals that
we have and what they have been able to do. However,
in Nigeria, liberalisation is more recent and in terms of
professionals, there are quite more from Ghana but the market
is in Nigeria. And with the momentum that is gathering
now, we are going to see a very strong IT market develop in
Nigeria. The rate of growth is much greater than what
we have in Ghana. In terms of application, Ghana is much more
sophisticated. However, in the future, Nigeria by definition,
will completely overpower every other country in the region
even in IT application because the market is in Nigeria.
NEPAD E-School Initiative
Before Accelon really got started, the CEO, Mr. Robben Tipps,
made a presentation at NEPAD’s meeting in Senegal about
four years ago and made a commitment to NEPAD. For me,
it is not surprising for we have sought to follow NEPAD’s
advancement and growth and we are now, indeed, involved in
this educational pilot project which, by the way, is being
spearheaded by Oracle, Microsoft, HP and Immarsat. Our
contribution can be described as that of the ground troops.
Accelon would be going into the regions and actually installing
the equipment and getting the service up so that the schools
can be in this network. This project, in the demo phase,
is designed to cover a total of 20 countries and we are looking
at about 120 schools, with six schools in each country.
The countries in the pilot stage are Algeria, Burkina Faso,
Senegal, Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Congo, Mozambique, South
Africa, Mauritius, Ghana, Uganda, Mali, Cameroon, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Egypt, Lesotho and Benin. At Accelon Ghana, we’ll
be looking at doing the installations of those countries in
West Africa and we will be supporting the Oracle consortium’s
drive in making it a reality. We are working closely
with the Ministry of Education here in Ghana and, indeed,
people from Oracle are in town already and we are working
very closely with them as well. The pilot project is
for 18 months, after which I believe there will be a bid and
some contracts awarded to further develop the project and
we’ll be looking at some 600,000 African schools over
the next 10 years.
Young Entrepreneurs
Now, the world belongs to the youths, especially with their
energy and creativity. They can begin to look at how they
can come together so that they can share the investment. What
Accelon offers is satellite footprint that ranges from Senegal
to the D.R.C. at charges that are reasonable. The youths can
always think that they don’t have money but the key
here is that they can come together and share the investment
over a number of themselves, each with his own coordinated
plan about how to deliver this service. Everything that
frustrates you is a potential to make money and it is up to
us to be creative.
Accelon, not an IT Company
People often look at Accelon as an IT centre but I always
say, no. Accelon is not an IT company but a service company
with high reliance on IT. We don’t design nor manufacture
the equipment but we use them to give service to our customers
so that they can do whatever they want with the service.
Future of the Industry
It’s very bright. Essentially, we are social
animals and there is the need for us to continuously be in
touch with each other. So IT, whether it’s services,
which really are what we are talking about, present prospects
on their own. So we have to see what the sub-region will be
doing in the next few years.
Look at the sectors, education for example. I see a major
impact on education, especially in Ghana. Even in commerce,
banks, insurance, the monetary union, when it becomes a reality,
what’s going to happen there? Are we going to have regional
credit cards? When you talk about all the possibilities
of life, that’s going to tell you what is going to happen
to our industry sector. I think there is going to be
an explosion and this is going to happen in education, then
followed by commerce. But let’s not forget about
governance, either. May be it’s IT services that
are going to put the top on the lid, of us having a united
Africa, so that we can really move as one.
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