Profile
Ololade Otayemi is one of Nigeria’s youngest entrepreneurs. He is an I.T. expert, a strategist, a nation builder and a motivational speaker. He got his passion for technology from his dad who is a technology innovator. He was the first Nigerian to create sound operated bulbs and street light automated switching system.
At the age of 12 Ololade created electric mobile hand fans which he sold to the hostel students in his secondary school. When he was 15 he created capacitance water heaters which he sold and made profit from.
He started his company, Orbra ITC (an information technology firm) at the age of Seventeen (17) and incorporated it two years after. The company started as a web development company and today it is one of the leading names in I.T. devices manufacturing. The company has a wide range of products, ranging from mobile phones to tablet pcs and many more.
He has organised several youth empowerment trainings such as Project Affiliate (a network marketing seminar for students), W.D.M.E. (a web development training). He has spoken at several youth empowerment seminars motivating thousands of youths to become the best they can be.
Transcript
Hi there, my name is Ololade Otayemi. I am the manufacturer of Orbra mobile devices, that is the Orbra mobile phones and tablet pieces and I’m a Nigerian youth. How I started, well I grew up with a father that is a technologist and an innovator as well. I remember when I was young then, on our corridor at home we had this clap operated bulbs and then we had it in some other places in the house where if we wanted to turn off the light all you had to do was clap or you snap your fingers. Make any sound and then the lights will come up. We had so many innovative things like that in the house then. At some point in secondary school he made a lamp for me that also use the same technology. Sometime towards the end of my secondary school, he was working on a project where we created a system or a device that automatically turns on streets lights when its evening and turns them off when its morning. I think that was what built my brains to be inclined in this direction.
So, how I started basically, I started out in Lagos in 2010 where I created or rather I did some research on how I could produce devices like this because I’ve always wanted to do that since I was child.
So after carrying out my research, I discovered that we don’t have the technology in Nigeria so I had to outsource the job to another factory outside the country. So the factory created some sets for me that if I see them today I wouldn’t really be proud that I did something like that, but then I was really happy that I did it because that was an eye opener for me and I learnt a lot from that. I made these devices; I made thirty (30) at that time and saw that it was nice. We sold the thirty (30) in less than two (2) weeks; the market moved well and we saw that it was nice. So that was basically how I started.
From there I started trying to get investors, people that will invest in the business- lets expand, let’s make better products and all that. I got a lot of people that promised and failed, I got a lot of people that made me feel “oh, you’re doing great”. I got a lot of people that made me feel “why are you wasting your time”, but I still kept on at what I was doing. I wasn’t discouraged because I saw the big picture; I saw where I was going too.
The struggle and disappointment that has come with this are a lot, I can’t really count. A lot of people have disappointed, there have been a lot of struggles, there have been a lot of times where I had to stop every other thing I was doing and then go back and start thinking, start re-strategizing, start thinking of how to move forward, how can I get these people to stop discouraging me, how can I get more people to support me and all that. It hasn’t been a very easy task though.
The learning, the learning in all these, I’ve learnt a lot, I’ve learnt how to be a better businessman, I’ve leant how to be a better entrepreneur, I’ve learnt how to be a better designer and innovator, I’ve learnt how to treat people and how not to treat people, I’ve learnt how to deal with people and how not to deal with people, I’ve learnt that there are some set of people that when you meet them you stick to them because they are the people that will help you achieve what you want to achieve, I’ve learnt that there are some set of people that when you meet them you run away from them because they’re the ones that will pull down what you’ve been trying to build. So I’ve learnt a lot.
The challenges, number one the challenge is the mindset. The general mindset we have in Nigeria is that anytime a Nigerian is trying to do something innovative especially something like this, Nigerians believe the product is fake. Anything that is Nigerian is not original. Meanwhile, that perception is really wrong and we really have to work on that as a nation, we have to work on that together as a people. Other challenges have come, family, friends, older ones, younger ones, people around you, some people try to encourage you while others try to pull you down as I said earlier. The good thing about challenges is that it makes you stronger, it builds you and if you’re able to scale through every challenge as they come then you are set on the course for greatness. My number one challenge as I said is the Nigerian factor, the Nigerian mentality. Also the number two factor, the number two challenge is fund because really this is a capital intensive project. As it is, we’re competing with the big names in the market and to mention a few, I’ll mention Samsung, Apple, Blackberry. That is the competition where this is. The number two challenge is funds as this is a capital intensive project, you don’t go near this project if you don’t have plenty money to play around with, so that is the number two challenge. In our country as I said, it’s not a very easy task to get people to invest in things like this. People find it easier to invest in houses, cars or things that they can see rather than a vision they cannot see. But thank God, over the years I’ve kept at what I’m doing and I’m trying to get better at it and its getting better by the day. I’ve been able to overcome a lot of challenges. As of now, I wouldn’t really say I don’t have challenges but I’ve been able to overcome most of them.
The present, we’re presently one of the growing businesses in the IT devices industry and we’re working really hard to be the biggest and the best in this field. We presently produce one of the cheapest and the best devices you can get in the market, with one of the best customer services you can find. Because the way we treat our customers, once you get one of our devices or once you’re affiliated to us in any way, we treat you like a king and a queen. So that is where we are presently.
The future, we look at a future where our products are number one that comes to anybody’s mind when you think of getting an IT device. We look at the future where every person that uses an IT device has at least one of our IT devices. We look at the future were we are the big name in the IT device industry were we’re providing IT solutions for governments, individuals and organizations. We look at the future were we create innovative products that would make living in the world easier for everyone.
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