Nigeria’s serial digital entrepreneur, Leostan Ekeh, has proposed a formula that would help the Federal Government overcome the challenge of youth unemployment and rising restiveness among the youths: the government should engage the youths actively by investing massively in information communication technology (ICT), which he said has become the fancy of young people.
Featuring on Cable News Network (CNN) Ekeh, noted for his multiple successes in nurturing ICT start-ups from the cradle to mega companies, said ICT is the only profession in the world today that would make the child from a poor home turn the bend to become wealthy legitimately.
The founder of Zinox Computers, Nigeria’s most popular indigenous computer brand which has powered several international conferences including the African Union conference in Gambia and the 18th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which held in Abuja in 2003, said African nations stand a chance to leapfrog other nations of the world if they make conscious efforts to invest in technology.
According to him, Nigerian youths are in a closed system which does not offer them the space and opportunities to express their inherent talents, stressing that it is the duty of government to open and expand that space through deliberate investment in ICT. This, he believes, is the surest way to get the Nigerian youths out of the job-hunt syndrome and make them creators of wealth.
“Ninety percent of youths today want to go into trending professions which is lifestyle professions and that is what ICT really is. If government invests in this sector as it should, Nigeria is capable of producing billionaires straight out of the technology space”, he said.
Ekeh is the founder and chairman of the Zinox Group, a technology company based in Nigeria that manufactures and distributes computers at home and abroad. Zinox employs 1,800 Nigerians and Ekeh thinks the company can play a role in improving the tech economy, while tapping into Nigeria’s young population.
“At Zinox, we are closest to the people with 14 offices nationwide. We have sold and serviced computers in every local government in the country and we more than anybody understand what the people need. When we came out with the Zinox range, we equipped them with in-built power surge devices because of the challenge of power in the country”, he recalled.
Ekeh ranks as one of Africa’s most passionate digital entrepreneurs and he has staked this reputation by pioneering several successful technology start-ups and taking them to the zenith of marketplace competition.
Mr. Ekeh is a first rate Indian trained economist and risk Manager, was honoured as an ICON of Hope by President Olusegun Obasanjo October 1st, 2002 for his sustained pioneering effort in the area of Information technology and also as a pride to modern Nigeria.
He has a record of incisive entrepreneurship and his vision to computerize Nigeria has reshaped the history of information Technology in the Third World. He pioneered Desktop publishing and Computer graphics in Nigeria with Task Systems Ltd in 1989. He also pioneered ICT products distributions in West Africa with – Technology Distributions Ltd – which is the No.1 ICT distribution company in Sub Saharan Africa.
