This episode features Segun Johnson, a young entrepreneur, who explains the struggles of small business owners in the tech industry in Nigeria. Segun owns Johnsonscode, a digital agency that does web development, graphic designs, and branding. Johnsonscode services clients from all over the world.
It's no secret that entrepreneurism is the backbone of a growing economy. Over the years, entrepreneurism has fueled the economies of countries such as India, China, Brazil, and many Eastern European countries. Yet for the most part, despite its enormous youth population and high smartphone usage, many African countries lag behind.
In Nigeria, for example, where the information communication and technology sector is one of the fastest growing, according to a 2021 report by the Center for Global Development for the World Bank. In 2020, despite the COVID 19 pandemic, the tech industry contributed 15% of Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP), second only to agriculture. And this trend has been growing over the last five years. The sector grew by 18% between 2016 and 2019.
According to the report, this growth has positioned Nigeria as the largest tech market on the African continent with 90 tech hubs and a growing and vibrant customer base.
The report estimates that the sector will add at least $88 billion to the economy by 2027. Yet, this growth hasn't translated into jobs for Nigeria's growing youth population. In fact, in 2017, the sector only employed 497,000 people or 1% of the population. So what's going on?
The report suggests that one problem is a lack of digital skills among the youth population. We put the question to our guest, Shagun Johnson. To find out how he's coping and what's going on.
If you are interested in supporting Segun's business, you can contact the company by email at
Info@johnsonscode.com.ng.
Or by phone at:
+234 8100852872.
If you enjoyed the episode, please leave us a review, and subscribe to our podcast.
If you are interested in being a guest on the show or you would like to recommend a possible guest, please contact us on our website to let us know.
This episode features Segun Johnson, a young entrepreneur, who explains the struggles of small business owners in the tech industry in Nigeria. Segun owns Johnsonscode, a digital agency that does web development, graphic designs, and branding. Johnsonscode services clients from all over the world.
It's no secret that entrepreneurism is the backbone of a growing economy. Over the years, entrepreneurism has fueled the economies of countries such as India, China, Brazil, and many Eastern European countries. Yet for the most part, despite its enormous youth population and high smartphone usage, many African countries lag behind.
In Nigeria, for example, where the information communication and technology sector is one of the fastest growing, according to a 2021 report by the Center for Global Development for the World Bank. In 2020, despite the COVID 19 pandemic, the tech industry contributed 15% of Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP), second only to agriculture. And this trend has been growing over the last five years. The sector grew by 18% between 2016 and 2019.
According to the report, this growth has positioned Nigeria as the largest tech market on the African continent with 90 tech hubs and a growing and vibrant customer base.
The report estimates that the sector will add at least $88 billion to the economy by 2027. Yet, this growth hasn't translated into jobs for Nigeria's growing youth population. In fact, in 2017, the sector only employed 497,000 people or 1% of the population. So what's going on?
The report suggests that one problem is a lack of digital skills among the youth population. We put the question to our guest, Shagun Johnson. To find out how he's coping and what's going on.
If you are interested in supporting Segun's business, you can contact the company by email at
Info@johnsonscode.com.ng.
Or by phone at:
+234 8100852872.
If you enjoyed the episode, please leave us a review, and subscribe to our podcast.
If you are interested in being a guest on the show or you would like to recommend a possible guest, please contact us on our website to let us know.
Young Entrepreneur Segun Johnson discusses the plight of small business owners in Nigeria
Moronke: Welcome to what's going on, eyes on Africa and the Caribbean. My name's Moronke Oshin.
It's no secret that entrepreneurism is the backbone of a growing economy. Over the years, entrepreneurism has fueled the economies of countries, such as India, China, Brazil, and many Eastern European countries. Yet, for the most part, many African countries lag behind.
In Nigeria, for example, where the information communication and technology sector is one of the fastest growing. According to a report by the Center for Global Development. In 2020, and despite the COVID 19 pandemic, the tech industry contributed to 15% of Nigeria's gross domestic product, second, only to agriculture. And this trend has been growing over the last five years. with the sector growing at 18% between [00:01:00] 2016 and 2019.
This growth has positioned Nigeria as the largest tech market on the African continent with 90 tech hubs and a growing and vibrant customer base, according to the report.
The report estimates that the sector is on track to add at least $88 billion to the economy by 2027. Yet, this growth hasn't translated into jobs for Nigeria's growing youth population. In fact, in 2017, the sector only employed 497,000 people or 1% of the population. So, what's going on?
The report suggests that it's a lack of digital skills among the youth population. We put the question to our guests today. Segun Johnson. Who is a tech entrepreneur. To find out how he's coping. And what's going on?
[00:02:00] Segun Johnson. Is the owner of Johnson's code. A digital agency that does web development. And also graphic designs and branding. Johnsonscode services clients from all over the world.
It's a pleasure to have you join us today. Segun.
Segun Johnson: Thank you, Moronke it's it's my pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.
Moronke: Wonderful. It's a pleasure to have you. So, tell us Segun how long have you been in business?
Segun Johnson: I've been in business now roughly five years.
Moronke: Okay. Yes. And how satisfied are you with the current state of affairs, with the business and the work that you are doing?
Segun Johnson: Actually? I would say I'm pretty satisfied. Not totally because you. Because of the goal and the vision for the company, we keep pushing on, despite the, the economic hardship and the challenges that we are facing, running our [00:03:00] businesses, but you know, those lead to milestones that we tend to climb and little to achievement, is a reminder that we are actually doing something great in an economy that is so difficult. So I would say yes, we are pushing. Yes.
Moronke: So what are those goals and visions? Give us one.
Segun Johnson: Okay. So, one of the goals for Johnsonscode is, Nigeria is is a country whereby only a few people, not until recently. That we start having new people get sensitized about the digital world, so, Johnson school is set out to actually make people, see reasons why they need to understand this global phenomenal, which is the tech world. By creating Johnsoncode we have the goal of actually employing younger youths and even teaching them [00:04:00] some things about, the digital space, be it, the web designs, be the web development and even graphic designs. So, it's a way of reaching out to people and also giving back to the nation because you know, the world is actually tending towards the digital world now compared to where we used to be. So we need to also catch up with the pace. So that is pretty much the goal for Johnson's code, giving back to people, letting people know the importance of, the tech world.
Moronke: Help us understand what some of those challenges are for you as a young entrepreneur. I mean, you are all of 32 years old, right?
Segun Johnson: Yes.
Moronke: So, can you detail for us some of those challenges that you, your company is facing, and then let's talk after that about some of the possible [00:05:00] solutions to some of these challenges.
Segun Johnson: Okay. First of all, I would talk about. As a young entrepreneur wanting to start a company, the first thing that comes to your mind is, oh, I have this beautiful idea. How do I implement this? The first thing that comes to mind is capital and capital is the first and the biggest challenge of any entrepreneur in Nigeria because of access to loans. Mm-hmm . Recently we just started, having some companies that you. Give loans to people, but nonetheless, right now you still find out that it's very difficult for you to get access to the kind of loans that you need as a business. You know, cause many, a times when you apply for loan as a business, and they'll tell you, oh, your credit trading is this, is that. Or maybe you can only get access to maybe 10,000 naira when you are actually looking forward to maybe, oh, I need 2 million to start up this company. [00:06:00]
Moronke: Wow. That's a big difference. And all you 10,000 when you need 2 million.
Segun Johnson: Yes. So, so it is actually a very big challenge and there's so many young individuals in Nigeria who have great and, beautiful ideas to change the world. And it doesn't even have to, it doesn't have to be just the tech world. There are some guys who are in the engineering world, who, create automobiles and, and so many other beautiful things. But the capital is one of the biggest challenge that any entrepreneur is facing currently in Nigeria, access to loan is quite difficult. Yes. It's quite difficult. And even the ones you get are not even sufficient to start up the company.
Then the second challenge that that we all are facing as an entrepreneur, as a B company, as anybody running business in Nigeria is electricity. The current state of electricity in Nigeria at this moment is close to nonfunctional, epileptic, [00:07:00] unreliable. And this actually makes, you know, we business owners to depend solely on generators to run our business. You know, when I talk about generators, you can't even depend on one generator, you need at least two, because one could just decide not to work anymore. Right. Right. So you need at least a backup generator in case if one goes off.
Moronke: So how long, how long does each generator run for, or is that unpredictable?
Segun Johnson: actually sometimes provided the generator as well serviced mm-hmm , you know, it can actually run all day mm-hmm right. But you know, it depends on the maintenance, right? So in the process, whereby one generator is undergoing maintenance, you need another backup generator to keep running the business. Gotcha. Because you never can tell when the power will be restored. So, you can't base your business on power on electricity [00:08:00] in Nigeria. Mm-hmm so by. So doing, you need to buy fuel every day. And what the fuel price in Nigeria is saying right now is really on the high side compared to the cost of living and even the, the, the minimum wage people are. The petrol price has increased. The diesel price has increased. By so doing, we also have to increase our cost of service. And like we all know, as a web developer, we are in a very tight and competitive space.
Moronke: Yes.
Segun Johnson: You know, there are several web developers in the US, there are several web developers in India who would offer almost the same service for even lesser so imagine, imagine yourself in a pool of developers that are willing to offer a service for X amount of dollars, and yours is like times two of what you're offering. It makes it very challenging getting [00:09:00] clients. So only those clients that are really familiar with your work and the quality of what you deliver would come back to patronize. Right? So, it makes it very challenging to, to secure clients. And, you know, if you can’t secure clients, you don't even have money to run the business.
Moronke: Right.
Segun Johnson: All right. Then I think I think the last thing that I will talk about as a challenge is the internet service providers in Nigeria. Mm-hmm. We are actually in the 21st century and Internet shouldn't be one of the things that we should concern ourself about. Imagine being in an important meeting, only for your internet service to just, go down on you. It makes you appear unprofessional and as though you're not ready for business, right. And some clients could just, um, some clients wouldn't take that likely and, and they'll be, and they'll have the opinion, like. if he doesn't have good internet connection, then how can he manage the work I'm about to give [00:10:00] to him.
Moronke: And that makes sense. And also that makes sense, right? Yeah. How do you counter that?
Segun Johnson: So, what I do is I have virtually all the internet providers network, so I have several routers. So, what if one goes up in the middle of a of a meeting. I tend to, switch another broadband. Right? If that one goes over, I tend to switch, it just keeps switching to, you know, different broadbands in the middle of the meeting. Wow. In the middle of the meeting. So, I could be out for about five minutes or, or so imagine being out for five minutes in the middle of an important meeting. Yeah. It's very unprofessional and it's something beyond our control because, you know, we are purchasing for this service and it's so unfair, having to purchase for a particular service and you're not getting what you paid for.
Moronke: And who's responsi who's responsible for regulating your internet service. [00:11:00] Are they regulat? Are they regulated?
Segun Johnson: Yes, they are regulated. They're regulated. And what I do not understand is since they're regulated, right, there should be a certain threshold or like a certain standard mm-hmm for each broadband to operate. For example, in the US, we have 5g connections. Mm-hmm while in Nigeria, we are still struggling with 3g and 4g. Oh my God. Not in all locations. Yeah. Not in all locations, you get 4g connection. There's some locations there. Some locations you have to put your broadband as high as you're ceiling in order for it to get reception. So imagine staying or having your office in such a place. So, for you to get an office space in Nigeria, the first things or the criteria to get in an office space is you need to check what [00:12:00] the power supply is in that particular area. How is there internet connection in that particular area? Mm-hmm so you can't go and rent you know, rent an office space anywhere you like mm-hmm so you need to be sure of what the internet connection of that area is. There is not all service providers that work in a particular area. There are some particular areas that only NTF is perfect while there are some particular areas. Only Glow is perfect. and there's some areas that, all the internet are just, fair. So it's very challenging.
My goodness, me. That sounds pretty frightening when you're talking about a tech industry. The fact that you can't even depend on the internet and you have to get all of them in order to be able to. Switch when necessary. That's a lot of work just by [00:13:00] itself and also pretty expensive.actually, because you need to, you need to ask all time, have data on all those other networks as well, because in case if anyone goes down, you'll still be online because our jobs is solely on, based on internet. Right? So we need to be online every second of the day.
Moronke: So those are three big challenges for you. Are those your three main areas of concern?
Segun Johnson: Yes. Okay. I would limit to that. Yes.
Moronke: Okay. What do you think the government can do to strengthen to deal with those as solutions to those challenge?
Segun Johnson: Okay. From my own perspective, from what I've gathered, for example, speaking about the electricity, you know, it is not actually impossible to have 24 hours electricity in Nigeria. Countries like Ghana that [00:14:00] just grew up, years after Nigeria, in Ghana, there's 24/7 electricity, you know, makes it easier to run businesses. So having 24/7 electricity in Nigeria is not impossible. I just feel our government needs to create some standard. To tackle these difficulties because it's not just limited to we entrepreneurs alone. Mm-hmm , it goes, it cuts across even our personal lives. Absolutely. Because the same way we don't have electricity in the office. We don't have any house. So, you're running in the you're running generators in the office. You're running generator in the house. so, I, I believe our government's, our government needs to actually sit down and decide to change this because it's, it's not above what they can change. Mm-hmm so I think it's a government thing because it's [00:15:00] not an individual thing. Right? So, it's a government thing that they need to increase the supply, or probably switch to, you know, there are some, there are some states in the US that what, what they depend on turbine right. Windmills, you know? So, we could do all of these things too, just to tackle this issue.
Yes. When it comes to go ahead, then speaking about the loans, the capital for starting up a business, I believe the finance institutes can actually um, an avenue whereby they recognize a startup. They shouldn't expect a startup to have X amount of dollars or X amount of credit rating in the accounts for before they can actually get a loan.
So, I believe they need to review their policy and make it more lenient for new entrepreneurs [00:16:00] to be able to explore, because in return, if all entrepreneurs have access to these loans then before we know it, a whole lot of people becomes entrepreneurial. The economy of Nigeria tends to grow right. Exponentially.
Absolutely. So, the idea is the a lot of startups and it's true here in the United States, too. A lot of young entrepreneurs come in without credit rating without all those requirements for a standard loan. So, there should be something, there should be a mechanism in place to recognize that you are coming in with ideas and. We should be able to make, we should have a certain type of loan for you to recognize that you are starting out clean essentially.
Mm-hmm yes. Okay. Pretty much it. [00:17:00]
And what about the third one? The internet situation. What's a possible solution there.
Oh first off. It's pretty much similar thing to the electricity and, the loans for, for the internet, there is a standard which we should follow. So I believe the internet regulation companies should give all this telecommunications company, a specific standard to follow, right? Oh, your broadband should have been lesser than, uh, 4,900 megahertz, or gigas or what have you. And you should be able to provide 5g network, 4g network and 3g network, you know, at maximum speed.
Right. So those right now, the maximum, so sorry. So those requirements are not there. They're not there. If they're there, then they're not being followed [00:18:00] because if they're being followed, right. If they're being followed to the later then three D 3g, shouldn't, shouldn't be struggling to browse. Sometimes I could be on a zoom meeting and then I will start sounding like I'm underwater. Yeah. And the client would be like, oh, Segun I'm, I'm losing you. Segun, I'm losing you. I can hear what you're saying. So I believe if we have, even if we don't have the 5g, even if it's the 4g, optimize the 4g in such a way, serves the population. if we need to go BroadB back or wired, um, cable, let's go wired cable. Although wired cable might be more expensive to run because, they need to run, broadband cable throughout every offices and every homes which is understandably expensive. Right. But for the wireless, there is a standard they can optimize it to in order to cater for the general public. So, I believe it is currently [00:19:00] substandard because we all travel and we get to know, oh, internet in other countries are way better. Mm-hmm so we can achieve it as well.
Moronke: So, we're, we're supposedly at six G at this point, aren't we working on six G in some areas. And we actually struggling with 3g.
Segun Johnson: Unfortunately, you're struggling with three 3g. I, I can't remember the last time we were dealing with 3g here.
Moronke: Very interesting and very sad actually to hear. So, I know that not too long ago, the government established a an agency to deal with the tech industry, and I can't remember the name of it off hand. Is that agency working? What can they do? What can the government do to strengthen this tech industry, which as I said before is supposed to be a major contributor to our gross national product.
Segun Johnson: Okay. First off, I think the major thing is sensitization a whole lot of people in Nigeria at this moment do not know so much about the tech industry. Okay. You know, speaking of tech industry, it cut across so many aspects, we have the data scientist, the data, um, the data analyst we have, you know, designers, we have, um, we have engineers, so, but when you don't get to know about a particular opportunity. It becomes even harder to conceive the idea of learning it. Right. So, I believe the first step is sensitization. Then although some companies like Google I've actually started some boot camps in Nigeria. You know, they teach [00:21:00] people how to develop web development, web designs and they offer certificates as well. Mm-hmm so I believe things like this. If other companies as well come to Nigeria, to sensitize people about some of these opportunities, it'll actually go a long way, in bringing the Nigerian youth up to speed with what… Because if, if 20% of the Nigerian youth are well informed in terms of tech, or acquire one tech skill or the other, then those percentage of those fraction of, or segment of youth would not be waiting for employment from the government, right. Then on the, by themselves, they can actually start working freelancing or remotely for a company in the us or whilst being in Nigeria. And I know they get paid in, in dollars. In return, the economy of the country is growing because the last keeps coming [00:22:00] into the country through these people.
Yeah, then it'll decrease the rate of unemployment. For example, I started civil engineering in the university mm-hmm and I'm working as, as a web developer, uh, UI UX develop, um, designer mm-hmm. So, it's actually way, way different from what I actually studied in school. Right. But because I got, informed early enough.
And I knew having to wait for government to provide job my take, forever. And the cost of living in Nigeria is gradually increasing for over a year. Now it has increased by 26%. Wow. And the mini and the minimum wage still remains the same. Imagine, uh, um, your minimum wage being at a fixed point and the cost of living has increased by 26%. Meaning your minimum wage can't take you through the month. No, let alone for you to, you know, to live a good [00:23:00] life. You can't even survive, let alone or even a decent life, even decent mm-hmm so it's it's so I believe the way forward is sensitization. Once the youth get to know about any digital. Any digital skill. There are so many, for example, if you get an Upwork or freelancer or Fiverr as a young individual, you can get jobs there and you get paid without having to wait for the government to give you money or to give you employment. Mm-hmm by. So doing it would, it would reduce the crime rate in Nigeria. Mm-hmm it would reduce the unemployment in Nigeria. It would, um, increase the standard of living of people. and it would also increase the economy of Nigeria.
Moronke: Absolutely. That all makes make sense. And I guess it also leads me to the report from the Center for Global Development that highlights the biggest problem. [00:24:00] Everybody, is well aware of the infrastructure issues that you have indicated as being major problems, the, the electricity and stable internet, and they have, they identified that despite the need for enhanced digital skills within the Nigerian economy, which is what you've just highlighted, it said the tech training infrastructure is not adequately set up to provide them. And the the young people need to be trained and that there are few formal training courses available by universities and higher education institutions in the workplace and through trainee program. And also, the difficulty for trainers to source training material. You mentioned that the, if if the youth was sensitized to [00:25:00] this digital economy as an opportunity for progress they would jump at it. But yet this report says that the formal training is prohibitively expensive for the average Nigerian youth. What would you agree with that assessment?
Segun Johnson: Actually, I do agree because, um, getting the digital skills paying for a course online is quite expensive. Mm-hmm although recently, platforms like Udemy, Shaw Academy, you know, they've been offering these courses for lesser price. Yeah. Very affordable price. Right. They are very affordable. But the only challenge with those courses are they only teach you the peripheral Like the icing at the top. Right? So, once you graduate, you know, ensure academy or Udemy you just [00:26:00] know a glimpse of the field, but you don't get to know the in-depth because you know, you get to teach you for maybe I think a month. It's three weeks. You're about mm-hmm . Yeah. So, and three weeks is not enough to know the in-depth of JavaScript, right? yeah. Or, okay. You want to go into, um, note, the JS three weeks is not enough to learn all of those. And within three weeks they want to teach you HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and maybe Python. How do you tend to learn all of those in three weeks then meaning you have to go for further learning, you know, visit some resources on online to gather more information. So, they don't really tell you, give you the in-depth information you need. Then I believe have there been, this has been incorporated in our institutions in Nigeria, [00:27:00] it should have made it more extensive because an average Institute in Nigeria spent, I think about three years mm-hmm to get a degree.
Right? So imagine studying web development for three years. That give you an ample time to know virtually all you need to know. So at the end of the day, all the short courses give just creates half-baked you know, half-baked skilled workers. That is why you see so many skilled workers on Fiverr and on, um, Upwork and the likes. And at the end of the day, you employ them to do something for you and at the end of the day, you get to see something different from what you told them, you wanted to yes to achieve.
Moronke: Just thinking about this too, what they also need are internships, trainee programs. Yeah. It's one thing to sit and learn this in the classroom. It's quite another to actually do it, right? Yeah. How did you get your training? [00:28:00]
Segun Johnson: Actually, it's a long story. okay. Well, um, while, while I was in school, mm-hmm, actually started web development in school.
Right. And I was studying civil engineering. Mm-hmm so I needed to, I needed, I did an assessment of the current economy of Nigeria, then I estimated. Okay. How long would it take me to start making X amount of dollars or X amount of naira as a civil engineer. Mm-hmm as a junior civil engineer, then I realized, oh, Segun if you're going to wait for this, you have to wait a long time. So, I thought, okay, what can I do to conquer this current economic crisis? Because I can afford to leave school and, you know, living a less decent lifestyle. So, I talked to myself, then I did a research on the [00:29:00] internet. Then I checked some, high paid jobs on the internet. Then I realized, oh, web development is one of the highest paying jobs in the world. Mm-hmm meaning if I learn this discuss, I can actually work anywhere in the world without even leaving the comfort of my room. Wow, beautiful. Right then I said, okay, how do I learn this? Then I took up an online course. The one thing is it is actually very difficult learning a skill online without somebody, physically, directing you asking, although it was an interactive online course. Cause I could ask questions. Mm-hmm but it wasn't as, as good as, you know, having someone you can always run to when you have this hiccup or that hiccup. So, it was be challenging, but because of the focus I had a focus that I must try to live above average or at least decent enough off. So that was my drive. I started taking courses [00:30:00] online. Then it was quite interactive, although a bit challenging. And because there was no physical person to direct me on this or tell me, oh, this shouldn't be there that shouldn't be there. Right. Mm-hmm so, but because of the goal, which is to live above average, I kept on going, but actually helped me was after the course I took, I was recommended. to, to work as an intern for someone. Okay. So, the internship part is, is what did the difference? Yes, not the courses I took online.
Exactly. It's encouraging after taking so many courses and you know, if you don't get to have a client one month, two month, three months, you'll lose the skill, right, over time. Right. So, I took up an intern job. It was very low paying, but it kept me, you know, solving problems, solving problems, and I became better by the day. [00:31:13] So internship cannot be underestimated.
Moronke: I agree with that completely. So, one of the things they were saying is is promoting this is the same report that I'm looking at promoting managed migration partnership. Um, whether it's with Europe or whether it's with the us. Obviously, the US with a lot of its immigration policies, making things a little difficult, but apparently a lot of Nigerians because of the challenges that you articulated today or seeking opportunities abroad that they're taking their qualifications and seeking opportunities abroad.
But what's interesting about it is that many of them are returning to Nigeria. And there's some examples here. There's a company called jam. I don't know if it's still, it's a Nigerian eCommerce hub. And one of the first, uh, tech startups in the country. Mm-hmm[00:32:00] several diaspora returns have founded companies employing several thousand including and tell me if some of these companies still exist.
I Roco TV, flutter wave. I know that I read about them recently. Yes. And Bamboo. Yes. And yet it says that these companies are coming back to do some of the things that, that we're talking about today. And supposedly open the door for these trainee internship programs. But it says yet this role for migrants going abroad and then coming back as drivers of human capital and job creation is rarely discussed within Nigeria. Would you say that's true? What are your thoughts on that?
Segun Johnson: I would, are, are they coming back? I would say bringing jobs, what what's going on, actually, there are some are coming back and bringing jobs. Like the few you've mentioned mm-hmm the junior, you know, junior has employed quite a [00:33:00] number of staffs. Mm-hmm , you know, they have offices in almost all the states in Nigeria wonder. Um, the, yeah, the Flutterwave is actually, you know, making waves in Nigeria. Yes. And they have quite a number of staffs as well. Right. So some of this come, some of these individuals actually coming back, which is quite good because, you know, then being back in Nigeria shows it, it is more of like an enlightenment to, to people that do not know all of this thing existed. so now people know, oh, I could be this. I could be that. Right. And, you know, by so doing the they've also created opportunities for internship. Right. You know, taking up, you know, young youths, um, they have boot camp programs to, teaching and all of that. So, which is quite very good, which is quite very good. So, yeah.
Moronke: So, this is, this is probably something that we need more of. Yes. So, so is this something that could be part of your mission too, to get to the point where you can also provide internships to, to people, or is that way down in the future for you?
Segun Johnson: Actually, I wouldn't say way, way, way down in the. I would say the nearest future because okay, good. We are almost there. Wonderful. We're almost there. Yes.
Moronke: Wonderful. So how many people do you employ right now?
Segun Johnson: Um, I would say it's a startup company, so I have about five staffs. Okay. Digital. Yeah.
Moronke: That's good for, for a startup. So, we talked about all these big tech companies that have moved into Nigeria, but I also get the sense that they seem to have one foot in the door [00:35:00] and one foot out, that's to suggest that there appears to be a lack of commitment. It seems because some of the issues that you are talking about in terms of the internships in terms of potentially providing capital funding, apple is, big on funding on a number of things and Microsoft, I mean, Bill Gates talks an awful lot about funding startups. Is it a lack of commitment from them or are there genuine issues of concern that you think prevents them from fully engaging in Nigeria?
Segun Johnson: Well, I wouldn't say there are one leg in one leg out. Totally. Okay. Because actually, I have a couple of friends who have been employed by one of these big, companies. Okay. You know, like AXA. Okay. Like AXA, you know, we have Microsoft, yes. Quite a number of people also, I've been employed by [00:36:00] Microsoft in Nigeria. Okay. So I believe some of these co companies they've been doing quite a number of their best, or they've been doing their best to actually. pick up tech individuals, you know, employing tech individuals to, to work with them. But, you know, the first thing is if we have low number of tech individuals in Nigeria, then there's little or nothing they can actually do. Right. That goes to, so that's why I said to the sensitization right. To the SENSIT. So we mm-hmm . So we need to grow to the extent of, you know, when we have, where we have, a number of people who are inclined in this aspect of IT or that aspect of IT for them to be employable.
Right. So I believe that is the major challenge. Yes.
Moronke: Okay. That's good to know. That's good to know. I, you know, you talk about sensitization, but the fact that we all seem to believe that everybody has a, uh, has a smartphone, would indicate that people are aware or deep into this digital digital world that we are. But you are saying that, they may have smart phones, but they don't understand the potential in the digital industry, is that what you, what we're saying and that they need to be educated as to what the potential is and how they can use it. Mm-hmm as opposed to just, um, texting people or going on Twitter or Facebook or whatever it is, mm-hmm that we do. .
Segun Johnson: Yeah, cause for example, why would I choose to Hawk bananas on the streets and make maybe 50,000 naira a month [00:38:00] when I can be on my smartphone, doing something creative for one company or for one individual in the UK or in the US, or wherever in the world and get maybe for a day and get maybe $300 compared to getting 50,000 naira a month. To some Nigerias it seems to go to be true, or it is too long a process to go through.
Moronke: Yeah. Being an entrepreneur's hard work,
Segun Johnson: honestly, it is.
Moronke: it's hard work. and honestly, yeah. You've gotta be persistent. You've got to, as you said, you've got to be professional at every level every day. Yeah. What's interesting though, is, as you said, the competition from India, they call, I can't tell you how many calls a month I get from people from India who want to work on my website or [00:39:00] develop this or develop that or whatever. It's a lot of calls. They, I guess they must have some system set up, but I guess, Segun, that's the competition that, you, as an entrepreneur are well aware of and, have to compete with.
Segun Johnson: So, what we do to challenge that is for every service that we take up, right. We ensure our quality is topnotch, right? So, when you place an Indian work with an Nigerian work, you can vividly see the difference. Okay. The touch of perfection is, it's just there.
Do you make those phone calls though? Do you do those cold calls.
Yeah. Yes. Actually, I call a number of clients. Mm-hmm then what we do on a monthly or first period is we send out, emails to clients, or we send WhatsApp messages to clients. You know, some clients that we have them on WhatsApp. Sometimes it could just be a good [00:39:55] morning, have a blessed for day, right? Sometimes it could be, oh, we are running a promo. Would you like to take this offer? Then sometimes just to check up on them. So, so it doesn't look like, oh, he is always calling me for business. Right. You know, when you see a particular number that is always calling you for business, it becomes boring. It, yeah. Sometimes you just want to bar the number to stop calling you.
Moronke: Listen. It's a lot of them. you can almost tell what's coming as soon as you pick up the phone and it's like, leave me alone already, but you know what? They grow their business. Sure, sure. That way. So I guess that those are some of the things that, one has to think about. But you're right. And I think that it's important that you state that, there is a difference between what you provide and what some of these flash in the pan folks from, these other countries do. Mm-hmm is there anything else that we've missed that you wanna talk about or have we covered everything here?
Segun Johnson: I [00:41:00] think we've covered it, but now
Moronke: wonderful. I really appreciate this. I've learned an awful lot about what's going on the ground level and this folks is what's going on the ground level from an entrepreneur who is trying to make it work, who is growing and persistent even with all the travails of setting up business in Nigeria. Thank you. Segun. How can listeners contact you if they're interested in your service? Obviously I'm going to put it on the website too, but how can they reach you?
Segun Johnson: Okay. We have an email which is Info@ at Johnson's code.com. Dot ng. Info at Johnson's code.com dot NG. Then we also have a phone number which is [00:42:00] plus two three four eight one zero zero eight five two eight seven two. Plus 2, 3, 4 8 1 0 0 8 5 2 8 7 2. Wonderful. Thank you.
Moronke: Wonderful. I look forward to talking to you again. I hope that you can be a guest again on our show, and maybe when you reach that next level, you can tell us how you are getting there. And if you see any other challenges we can talk about you'll bring it to our attention.
Segun Johnson: Sure. Cha thank you so much for having me.