Nigerian phone maker gets global attention

A 30-year-old Nigerian mobile phone maker, Michael Akindele, is beginning to attract attention from the global community, especially the international media. Akindele is an application developer and co-founder of SOLO, a Nigerian smarthphone marker. For instance, a Forbes contributor, Mfonobong Nsehe, describes the Nigerian as a serious challenger in the highly competitive smart phone business. Akindele, he adds, is a mobile phone entrepreneur, who is challenging Apple in Africa. According to Nsehe, SOLO has the wherewithal to compete with leading brands for the African mobile phone market. Born in Washington DC to Nigerian parents in 1984, Akindele returned to Nigeria at two, spending 10 years in Ibadan, Oyo State. At 12, he returned to the US to continue his education, receiving a degree in engineering with focus on Computer Science and Information Technology. Before venturing into mobile telephone and application creation, Akindele had been involved in business mentorship, having worked at Accenture in the US. He recalls in the interview published by Forbes, “I gained valuable professional experience from being a technology analyst with Accenture. While at Accenture, I started working on a project, which gave birth to The Apprentice: Africa. “A business partner and I successfully licensed an American reality game show from Mark Burnett Productions for the Sub-Saharan media market, which featured real estate magnate, businessman and television personality, Donald Trump. “I returned to Nigeria in January 2007 and was part of a team that developed, produced and distributed the 18- week reality show – The Apprentice: Africa – that had a strong following in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.” On how innovation could help reduce poverty in Africa, the entrepreneur says, “Wealth is in the mind” not pockets. Akindele, who says everybody has enormous mental resource to achieve financial freedom, adds that every individual can benefit the society if they engage in rigorous thinking. SOLO, established in 2013, he says, is driven by “speed and innovation.” He notes that Africa, being the second biggest mobile phone market after Asia and predicted to hit 160 million users next year, offers massive opportunities for manufacturers. His company, he stresses, looks forward to gaining from the growing market. “This trend reflects the gradual change in consumer habits. More people are gaining their first Internet experience through mobile devices. This is the future of content distribution and value added services,” Akindele observes. He also hopes the devices, which his team currently manufactures in Asia, will be produced in Africa when the business climate encourages that. Listing the unique features of SOLO and the value it has added, he states that the fir, is ready for the unfolding competition in the mobile market. According to him, the company has started affecting the society with no fewer than 160 employees already on its payroll. The story of Akindele has added to the growing profile of Nigeria in the emerging information technology industry. Last year, Chinedu Echeruo, a US-based Nigerian, made the list of the Forbes 10 Most Powerful Men in Africa. Echeruo’s unique contributions to the relatively-new digital mapping informed his selection. When HopStop, a travelling blog established by Echeruo, was acquired by Apple Inc. in 2013, the $1 billion-deal attracted attention in the industry. Before the purchase, HopStop, which was founded in 2005, had two million monthly active users and launched an active service for reporting real-time delays and other information that made it a toast among travellers. Again, before Apple bought it, the firm ranked among the top 1000 fastest growing companies in the US. With reach in more than 300 cities, the firm has offered services on walking, biking and taxi to commuters. Travelogy.com, another start-up travelling blog the Nigerian startup guru founded, is ranked as a fast unique service provider by different industry reviewers. Today Travel Media Group, another U.S. company, later acquired Trevelogy.com, an interactive travel referral service with focus on connecting travellers with travel specialists.