Nigeria needs more Bill Gates – Zinox boss

NOVEMBER 4, 2014 BY AGENCY REPORTER 

   

 

 

Bill Gates

Zinox Group Chairman and Global Partner Adviser of Microsoft, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, says the country needs at least one Bill Gates added to the present crop of billionaires to become a successful and sustainable global brand.

Ekeh stated this in London, last Friday, while speaking with Nigerian technology entrepreneurs.

He said, “I believe that God’s purpose for this technology-driven century is to reduce the inequalities among people but only serious nations with highly resourceful citizens and leaders will take advantage of this knowledge century to emerge on the global stage.

“How on earth would an Asian or African nation think of competing with any of the developed economies of the world without the power of the brain?”

The Zinox Group chairman said he was sure that most of the entrepreneurs started hearing about Mr. Bill Gates from infancy till date, saying the net sustained wealth from the platform launched by Gates and few of his friends created few years ago could challenge the wealth of our nation with a population of 173 million.

“Think about the multiplier effect and then you will appreciate why you should dig deeper into different areas of technology to at least brand yourself and your families,” he said.

When confronted with the issue of infrastructural challenges in Nigeria, which was responsible for the failure of a great number of Small and Medium Enterprises, Ekeh told the Nigerian entrepreneurs that Rome was not built in a day and that advanced nations such as United Kingdom achieved their current level of technological development over time.

He said until they came back with world-class exposures to make their contribution in different sectors, the nation might continue to wobble.

He reassured them that the country was moving in the right direction and that their parents sent them abroad to study so that on their return, they would better the lots of their families and by extension the whole country.

On their fear for the stability of the country and the national economy, Ekeh made them realise that only cowards would run away from the war front.

While telling them that he restricted himself to technology business, the Zinox boss pointed out that it was the duty of every Nigerian to defend the homeland.

“You should not join few of our brothers and sisters in the UK praying for the naira to be devalued so that their few pounds could be exchanged for more naira,” Ekeh said.

He equated such people to those Nigerian elite praying for oil price to continue to go up so that they would have more cash in their banks forgetting that the higher the oil price, “the less the quality of life for the general populace.”

He said lower oil price would stimulate quality life, reduce cost of doing business and engender the creation of more successful SMEs. This, he said, would reduce the challenge of unemployment, which had remained a major headache for the country.