Setting up a Succesful business in Nigeria

January 18, 2015. I sit behind my lap top and I am thinking how I can recount my journey so far. Should I only tell you about the successes and omit the failures? Should I tell you about the ease with which you can break into a market and omit the challenges that are thrown your way at every turn? As I write this story it will come to me. In January of 2014 we selected a manufacturer in China who would manufacture the systems we would install for our customers. The decision was based on the fact that they could provide us with everything we needed to install a complete system for our clients. They gave us cables, batteries, racks, panels, control systems and allowed us to be OEM. Knowing very little about solar power, I interviewed and hired someone who was already in Africa but had trained in the United States. I verified his references. We started to sell our wonderful new system and we were fortunate to get some sales. I also made the fortunate decision to ins...

Aero has been running a promo. N10,000 naira to any destination in Nigeria. I booked a round trip for my wife and myself to Owerri from Lagos. The flight attendants and crew were very pleasant. As the plane was about to I showed my wife our online booking and she noticed that the return date was wrong. The flight attendants told us to ask for the station manager one IG who should help us take care of it. When we landed we went to the ticket counter. After being ignored for more than 45 minutes the individual who attended to us told us that IG had had a stressful day and we should not bother him. We went to the office that was immediately outside the Owerri airport gates. After waiting for over 1 hour we met IG whose name is Ignatius Utsalo. He was recently posted to the airport. He introduced us to a lady who said she could not help and directed us to send an email to tickethelpdesk@aero.acn. IG asked us to forward a copy to admin@aero.acn. The reason they could not help was because of...

http://africajumpstart.com/2014/04/04/african-entrepreneur-insights-nigeria-the-steps-i-took-to-start-a-solar-power-business/#comment-55 Our story on how we got started is posted on the Africa Jump Start. Follow the link to read the story. F I HOME BLOG FEATURED COUNTRIES EVENTS MEMBERSHIP ABOUT SHOP African Entrepreneur Insights - Nigeria: The Steps I Took to Start A Solar Power Business   Home   / Identify Opportunities   / African Entrepreneur Insights – Nigeria: The Steps I Took to Start A Solar Power Business Previous post April 4, 2014 1  Comment Identify Opportunities This is a guest post by  Christopher J. Onwuasoanya , founder and President of  Atlantic Waste and Power System . In his article Christopher, who resides in the USA, describes the early steps and challenges he faced setting up a new business in Nigeria. He also describes the big opportunities in the power sector in Nigeria, a...

How does this Solar thing Work? This has been a recurring question that I get each time I talk about our Solar Power Solutions. I will attempt to answer it again. No Changes In How You Use Electricity Solar electricity works exactly the same as the electricity you buy from the utility company. You turn on lights, plug in lamps and power appliances the same way you do right now. In fact, if you didn’t see solar modules on the roof, you’d never notice any difference—except a lower electric bill. While the science of converting sunshine into electricity is complex, the idea is pretty simple. Solar electricity is generated by a group of solar modules called an array that’s installed on your roof or in your yard. When sunlight falls on the solar modules, a DC electrical current is created instantly. The DC electricity is fed into an inverter that changes it to standard AC electricity – the same kind your home already uses. No need to change your home wiring. Solar Power Is Highl...

Unfortunately this behavior is spreading to the USA as well. Those that have done very well for themselves feel that they deserve their good fortune and those at the lower end of the scale deserve their misfortune. We are in the boat together. It is a collective effort by all.

A few weeks ago I read that Nigeria had more than 60 million generators. Considering that the average Nigerian experiences less that 3 hours of electricity, you can begin to imagine the noise. I was in Lagos in September and October and I can tell you that it took me over 3 days to sleep through the night. The noise was over whelming. I am sure you can begin to imagine the pollution from these noise makers. At night the smells from the improperly tuned engines assaults the eyes and the nose. You begin to understand the reason people have perpetual colds. The cost in fuel and repairs are never considered by the average Nigerian. What he looks at is his upfront cost. For N35000 they can purchase a generator. What nobody tells them is that those cheap generators are deadly for laptops, TV and sensitive electronic devices. The power supply for my laptop caught fire while using one of these cheap generators. The other one destroyed my fathers phones and would not charge my Kindle. How ...

Nine in the morning, the children are there and no sign of adults. No teachers, no custodian, no principal nobody. The young children swept the compound and waited around for the teacher who got there after 930. Can you imagine this happening any where else. In a school with so many buildings, where are the other teachers? An unknown adult on school grounds and no other adult to challenge him or monitor his movement. The adult was with us. Can you imagine this anywhere else in the world?