By Bankole Orimisan
Banji Adesanmi is the Chief Executive Officer of Peace Tiding Ventures (PTV) Ltd. PTV recently unveiled a new corporate identity as a full-fledged ICT firm. In this interview with BANKOLE ORIMISAN, he spoke on the ICT Industry and its potential in Nigeria. Excerpt
How would you describe Nigeria’s ICT industry?
The level of sophistication in the industry has increased. Movement of data and communication is easier and faster. Ipad, Phones and Computers can now transfer data. In terms of ICT industry, it is growing and the quality of what is being offered is comparable with the world. The only area to improve on is in the quality of Internet as this will increase the depth of ICT in Nigeria. The transfer of data needs to be achieved more. The industry is exciting as you can check bank account online and a host of other things. Despite the noticeable improvements in the ICT industry, there is the huge need to accelerate further growth. The quality of Internet as I stated before needs to be considerably improved. This is very important to further sustain the growth in the industry.
You said the industry’s sophistication has increased. To what extent do you think government has helped in this regard?
The problem from the government’s side is a generic one for businesses. The problem of injustice has to be resolved. The courts should accelerate the process of justice. Businesses face a lot of encumbrances like power and it hampers our operations. We cannot even interlink our branches due to power failure.
There are technologies in the U.S that you can give instructions during any season through the Internet. You cannot do all these where there is no infrastructure underneath. One of our staff engaged in fraud and it took us four and half years to prosecute the case amidst frustration. When there is justice and order, the Government can then provide infrastructure.
The provision of infrastructure to support business should be the major priority of government as this has hampered a lot of activities. Without solid infrastructural development, the ICT industry cannot achieve desired growth. This is one serious concern to the stakeholders in the ICT industry. When government provides the enabling environment, growth becomes a consistent phenomenon.
What informed the name PTV?
We have been in the market since inception. The Nigerian market is evolving and changing. We as a brand need to rebrand to provide service to every strata of the society. Now, we are transiting to full ICT company. Whatever segment you are in the Nigerian market, we will meet you. We also want to support the loyalty of our customers; they want us to provide other offerings and this informed our decision to expand the coast of our businesses. We want to amplify the customer experience and engage customers more. We are providing integrity alongside exceptional customer satisfaction.
It is also impertinent to state that PTV remains a credible brand name in the ICT Industry. We are leveraging a positive brand heritage to sustain a solid pedigree. PTV has the ambition to occupy the foremost position as Nigeria’s number one phone and electronic retail store. We have over 18 branches across key geographical locations in Nigeria and the strategy is to appeal to every strata of the society. PTV is not just a name but a brand that builds close affinity with customers. We have retooled our internal processes as part of our strategic goal to remain a pro-active and dynamic organisation.
As a player in the device market of Nigeria, how have you been coping with the influx of fake mobile phones?
The influx of fake and substandard phones is capable of crippling the phone market. It also impacts on the nation’s economy negatively. The truth is that the prevalence of fake handsets has denied the average consumers the opportunity of getting value for their hard earned money. The trickle down effects is that consumers begin to lose confidence in the ability of the market to deliver standard telephone handsets due to the prevalence of all these fake phones.
The issue is not new as it has been there from day one. There are also worst issues such as substandard phones without quality control and warranty service. The way PTV responded to this is that we do not engage in this act. We know ourselves in the industry but for us in PTV, we have focused on integrity. This has really worked for us and we stay away from such acts.
What of grey market activities?
The Grey market thrives as a function of the effectiveness of the brand to protect their brands in the warranted market. The advantage of Nigerian warranty is that customers go to their phone outlets directly when the brands came. To kill grey market, it has to be countered with prices. The products also need to be differentiated. Service should also be provided to back up the original brands. It is a function of each brand as it depends on their response to such issues. The phone brands also attempt to blacklist such from their loyalty scheme.
How would you assess future of Nigeria’s phone market?
When we started, what we recognized was the ability to carry huge boxes of phones but the market is changing, customers now want to come directly to stores to ask questions. In those days, we did not have time to respond to questions but now the future is that customers have to be attended to.
That is the future of the market. People want answers as customers should not just go home with devices only. Now, when people come in, we profile them before providing phones to them. We have discovered over time that customer relationship management is very important. This is the more reason we want to leverage on exemplary customer service. Customers want to be given utmost priority as they want to have touch points that give them satisfaction
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