“I told my friends I was going to quit my computer business for GSM business but they never believed me.’’
These were the words of Nnamdi Ezeigbo MD/CEO SLOT SYSTEMS LTD when CVMag crew visited him for an exclusive interview and profile of the leading GSM phone sales and services company in Nigeria.
Excerpts:
Sir, may we meet you?
My name is Nnamdi Ezeigbo, the MD of Slot Systems Limited. I am a graduate of Electrical/ Electronics Engineering, and currently in pursuit of a Masters degree in Information Technology at Ladoke Akintola University (LAUTECH).
How did the journey start?
The journey really started after my youth services with Guinness at Ikeja. I must confess that it never occurred to me that I would become a business man. All the business experience I could boast of at that time were things I learned from helping my mother with her retail store in ‘80s where she sold bread, sardines, milk and other such stuff. I remember helping her out after school hours; but I never dreamt of becoming a business man. At the completion of my NYSC, I tried one or two interviews; one of them was Mobil Nigeria Unlimited. I did the aptitude test, passed it and was invited for the second stage; but at the last stage where you had to come with the originals of your credentials, one of the guys at the panel discovered there was a mistake with my age declaration and I was dropped. The salary was about 120,000; an accommodation allowance was N500, 000 with training in France. I could not believe I lost the opportunity. After that time, I could not get a job because I was comparing the salary with what Mobil offered, which was a real discouragement.
Finally, I got a job somewhere at Ilupeju with a management training company where I could not work for more than 25 days because I was not fulfilled. While I was still with this company, a friend of mine with whom I was working at Diya Fatimileyin told me something that really inspired me. He said, “somebody just called me and said he wants to get accommodation for one young and brilliant chap; and this young chap read Electrical/Electronics Engineering just like you and has since ventured into computer business and has become very rich’’. The guy in question was the owner of Micro Device, a computer firm on Allen. My friend kept talking about this guy: about how young he was and how his phone was always busy and how he had a 090 which was the phone at that time. I was really inspired and I said, ‘’ I want to be like that guy’’. He told me that I had to go into computer business and get some practical knowledge about computer since I had interest in computer engineering and my background in electrical/electronics was considered an advantage. It was then that I remembered that I had a friend in Ikeja at the computer village by the name Festus who had served in a computer outfit in the computer village while I served at Guinness. When I met him, he told me that he had just got an office at the computer village and that I could join him if I wanted to. That was how I came to computer village in 1996 to work with Micrologic Solutions which was the name of my friend’s company.
At the time, the computer village was not what we have today. The place was purely a residential area with only two or three offices. My friend had a one-room office in the village; there was Genius Computer and Hariscocan Computers. Festus’ shop was purely an engineering outfit and people came around only to fix their computers. In fact, that was the main attraction for me; I joined him because of the strong passion to learn the trade, and to be a sound computer engineer.
These were the words of Nnamdi Ezeigbo MD/CEO SLOT SYSTEMS LTD when CVMag crew visited him for an exclusive interview and profile of the leading GSM phone sales and services company in Nigeria.
Excerpts:
Sir, may we meet you?
My name is Nnamdi Ezeigbo, the MD of Slot Systems Limited. I am a graduate of Electrical/ Electronics Engineering, and currently in pursuit of a Masters degree in Information Technology at Ladoke Akintola University (LAUTECH).
How did the journey start?
The journey really started after my youth services with Guinness at Ikeja. I must confess that it never occurred to me that I would become a business man. All the business experience I could boast of at that time were things I learned from helping my mother with her retail store in ‘80s where she sold bread, sardines, milk and other such stuff. I remember helping her out after school hours; but I never dreamt of becoming a business man. At the completion of my NYSC, I tried one or two interviews; one of them was Mobil Nigeria Unlimited. I did the aptitude test, passed it and was invited for the second stage; but at the last stage where you had to come with the originals of your credentials, one of the guys at the panel discovered there was a mistake with my age declaration and I was dropped. The salary was about 120,000; an accommodation allowance was N500, 000 with training in France. I could not believe I lost the opportunity. After that time, I could not get a job because I was comparing the salary with what Mobil offered, which was a real discouragement.
Finally, I got a job somewhere at Ilupeju with a management training company where I could not work for more than 25 days because I was not fulfilled. While I was still with this company, a friend of mine with whom I was working at Diya Fatimileyin told me something that really inspired me. He said, “somebody just called me and said he wants to get accommodation for one young and brilliant chap; and this young chap read Electrical/Electronics Engineering just like you and has since ventured into computer business and has become very rich’’. The guy in question was the owner of Micro Device, a computer firm on Allen. My friend kept talking about this guy: about how young he was and how his phone was always busy and how he had a 090 which was the phone at that time. I was really inspired and I said, ‘’ I want to be like that guy’’. He told me that I had to go into computer business and get some practical knowledge about computer since I had interest in computer engineering and my background in electrical/electronics was considered an advantage. It was then that I remembered that I had a friend in Ikeja at the computer village by the name Festus who had served in a computer outfit in the computer village while I served at Guinness. When I met him, he told me that he had just got an office at the computer village and that I could join him if I wanted to. That was how I came to computer village in 1996 to work with Micrologic Solutions which was the name of my friend’s company.
At the time, the computer village was not what we have today. The place was purely a residential area with only two or three offices. My friend had a one-room office in the village; there was Genius Computer and Hariscocan Computers. Festus’ shop was purely an engineering outfit and people came around only to fix their computers. In fact, that was the main attraction for me; I joined him because of the strong passion to learn the trade, and to be a sound computer engineer.
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