Francis Van-Lare writes:
How I dominated the IT industry in Nigeria in the 1990s .
In everything you do go for the head not the tail . Even when I am chasing after a woman , I aim at her head not her kpekus. Get the head of anything and all other things will follow .
My youngest brother on one of visits to Nigeria in 1989 advised that the IT industry was lucrative that I should go into it . IT to him was selling computers and accesories but I am software developer in New York . In New York I concentrated on software solutions and I tell the client the hardware requirements and another company supplies the hardware , handles the network configuration etc . If there is a problem , so far as the computer is on I take responsibility as it may be software related . You cannot have a hardware problem if the computer is on . It is either the software or the operating system and back then it was Novelle operating system used for networking.
My brother just knew there is money in IT . After doing some research, I registered to be a dealer to IBM , Apple ,Hewlett Packard , Compaq Computer , APC UPS etc in the USA
I approached the big players in Nigeria for me to be supplying them with computers and accessories but they all did not take me seriously and rebuffed me . As usual Francis Van-Lare gets what Francis Van-Lare wants unless I am not really interested.
I went and acquired a story building on Unity Road , Ikeja in 1990 and brought a container load of different computers , components , computer paper and accessories then started advertising in the Nigerian Newspapers with prices . Nobody was doing that before me as I was the first to take a whole page of newspapers and advertise computer products with price . Customers will come and be amazed at the inventory there . I am one of the first to be assembling computers in Nigeria called FVL computers and we sold thousands . People were calling me not to put the price because I am spoiling their market selling cheap . These are same people I approached earlier to be their silent supplier and they rebuffed me .
I hired 14 Sales people with individual cars and drivers to approach companies so we can offer complete solution , hardware , software , training and maintenance as we had all in our building . We even installed on behalf of some computer dealers pretending to be the company.
Later on , I realized that the walk in sales we were getting were from the tail customers not the head .My Sales team could not reach the head because they have their own click of dealers they deal with . I then decided to start selling technical materials like books ,training CD and invested $100,000 to set up a technical library in Ikeja , Lagos with $500 a year registration for individual and $2,000 a year corporate up to 5 employees . My staff thought I was crazy and who will pay $500 a year for use of a library? I said just watch . I recouped my investment in that library in two years as an average of 100 registered in a year plus like 10 corporate customers.
You see buying technical material is not what you send your secretary to buy . This is not like buying toner , printer or a computer. This is about gaining Knowledge and you have to come yourself . When they meet me then I charm them with my vast knowledge of IT , same way a woman will follow you without money if you have a world of experience. The technical directors of most companies came to my office building and from there we make deals to provide hardware , software and maintenance solutions to them instead of my sales team going to them they came to our office from all over Nigeria seeking solutions.
Most of the computer dealers were selling computers and accessories not the software solution . I am the Jankaraman and plan to dominate the app market with several app solutions for all industries in Nigeria and take back the IT industry again .
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