“Up NEPA!” A phrase that I find more repulsive than ironic. I felt the rage right from when I was a boy trying to watch “Voltron: The Defender of the Universe” knowing fully well that even Voltron could not defend himself against a blackout. Yes, NEPA would strike. It could be for hours, days, weeks, months, years. You name it; people have experienced it. There is a history of power black-outs and power problems that have become more of the culture than a disappointment. It’s expected. Most people have had very bad experiences with the utility company and its affiliates, both staff and contractors. But, I have been experiencing something somewhat unexpected. 

I have been observing something for a few years now. I am beginning to experience good service from IKEDC which still takes me aback. Just so we are clear, I am the archetypical irate customer. I storm in, grimace and get ready to yell and argue to try my problem solved so I can go away. This is not a successful approach but here we are. I scream at customer service advisers and their managers and ask for as much concessions and compensations as possible usually to no avail. But, for more than two years my experience with IKEDC has been surprisingly pleasant and impressive.

On several occasions, I have gone to the IKEDC offices for complaints and I have found speedy resolutions and a very responsive staff. This has been going on for a few years and I am not sure whether other people are noticing or experiencing the same thing. Although, the energy industry is a monopoly, this approach to good service is quite astonishing to me. The first time was when I was using the online customer care line. It was the weekend and there had been not light for about 3 days. I had a lot of work to do and my inverter was going to go off the next day. So, I thought I might as well use the internet to try to contact them. I did not think much of it but it was worth a try. I got a response on helpline chat.

This just involved filling in some details and writing your complaint. The chat was pretty casual and I did not have much of an expectation. The attendant informed me of the current problem and told me that power would be restored the next day. This was Saturday. For IKEDC to restore light on Sunday to me was complete BS. Sunday came. Power was restored. I went outside to check if the sun still in the sky and if that sky was blue. A few more times when there was no light for more than two days, I used the same chat service and issues were quickly resolved. I stopped using the service because it was just awkward. It was as if I had got some kind of superpower and besides, I stopped having blackouts for more than 2 days.

Another experience has some level of frustration. I was trying to get a meter for another property where I was not actually living in. There were new tenants moving in and I was in charge of making sure there was a new meter. The process was going along well. Going to the IKEDC office was straight forward. The engineer I spoke was very receptive and advised me properly on how to process the request fairly quickly. I told me there was an inspection to be done by third party agents. The agent part was where it started becoming an issue. She came late and incoherent. She could not decide how her transport money should be used on her assignment. I don’t have any idea why she was bringing this up with me. I got a few missed appointments and I thought this was unacceptable. I went to make a complaint and in both offices of Alausa and Ojota. The staff knew what they were doing, were proactive, and provided a speedy resolution. I got my new meter without any further hassles.

Now as much as I don’t like most companies that collect money from me ( I like to keep my money), I really like it when companies take care of their own money .i.e. being able to collect on monies owed and track their accounts and billings. Two of my neighbours were caught having irregular power installations. One was not paying bills at all and one was not using the appropriate meter. IKEDC someone was able to track and target the irregularity. This is good because it demonstrates they are competent and don’t have to rely on whistle-blowers to discover these kinds of issues (Hilary ain’t no snitch). I think this was part of their asset audit and assessment initiative they had a few years back. This way, they can account for all their assets that are vital to billings and collection. This is a great factor in loss prevention and capturing revenue that may otherwise be lost. This is also good for paying customers as the costs of non-payers will eventually affect them.

I really don’t know how they were able to improve and develop their customer service capabilities or who the brains behind it are. But, it brings me to companies that need good or if possible great customer care service delivery. JUMIA to me has poor customer service and this is really disappointing considering the enormous expense sunk towards this. 

JUMIA sucks! What is really sad it that most of the people in JUMIA are really smart and hard-working. In fact, they are the most intelligent and hard-working group of people that I have ever met. But, something is really wrong with system and the culture. This leads to them dropping the ball unnecessarily and too often. There seems to be a lack of incentives and process that develop customer satisfaction and develop relationships. Trying to improve customer satisfaction needs more than just surveys and discounts. Even to me, one of worst things is the 7-day money back guarantee. This is a costly lose-lose scenario which is amazing it just goes on. I remember a video clip I watched during my MBA that showed the owner of Sam Club’s recalling how he gave a customer her money back. She turned and told him that she would never come back again. He was baffled. But, then he realized she didn’t want her money back. She wanted to be a satisfied customer. JUMIA returns buyers money but not their confidence in the company. Also, many vendors really have bitter experience with JUMIA and they incur losses. This is not just bad for the company but also the employees.

JUMIA staff are becoming used to something called CYA (Cover Your A**). It’s a passive aggressive tactic found in many corporate environments where people don’t want to make themselves vulnerable or open to blame. It’s in discussions, e-mails, inter-department interactions. The problem-solving is replaced with self-preservation. So, the employee would do only what would not cause him any potential problems. This is co-morbid with pushing blame to vendors which you can see could really be bad for company’s image and reputation. It’s really unfortunate because it means that costly mistakes and repeated and over and over again. The capital of the company has to be built in terms of stakeholders and that includes customers and vendors. Customer service is not a feel good cliché. It’s actually that system that can be a powerful source of competitive advantage.

Going back to IKEDC, I remember overhearing a Customer Advisor have an exchange with a colleague. I just came to resolve an issue I was having with a payment. It was resolved within 3 days which I thought was reasonable. The colleague was relaying a message from a customer and addressed IKEDC as NEPA. The Customer Advisor coolly replied “We are not NEPA.”

Imagine if Andela focused on growing their network of businesses looking for technical talent, and moved the management of software projects into a well rehearsed ecosystem of agencies. Work keeps coming in, agencies focus on getting better at delivering projects, developers get to just code and work on amazing projects, and foreign businesses get the most bang for their buck. Come with me as I explore what this can look like and just what it will take.

Nigeria needs an open network revolution but it won’t happen until individuals band together for a greater collective good.

What is a network? It is a community with a clear intent. You can refer to my article that dives deeper into what a network is and how its more valuable than data.

For instance, Nigerian youths take 1000 Naira from politicians in exchange for their votes. If you ask them they will say, I gotta eat. Its true; we all gotta eat but this individuality exchanges filling up our bellies today only to be hungry tomorrow with no hope for sustainable food supply.

When I look at the tech sector especially the software engineers, designers, content writers and other highly skilled remote friendly freelancers, I see a missing opportunity. Currently, Nigerian demand for technical talent is well below supply. You can see this because the wages of an average software developer in Nigerian employed by a Nigerian company is pitiful. Whereas, in the same Nigeria, the bonafide software developers have an earning potential that matches technical talents in Silicon Valley. Andela routinely charges US based clients $100,000/year+ for developers living in Nigeria, working remotely.

Let that sink in. I live in Orange County, CA. The standard of living here is such that you spend 25-35% on tax, 30-50% on living expenses. Your spending power  is about 25-45% of that gross income. The demand for bonafide software engineers is so high that these companies are willing to pay wages to remote developers without significantly adjusting for standard of living.

Pillar #1: Global demand for technical talent is currently insatiable.

When Andela started, Nigeria was not known as a destination for software developers. We must give it a huge shoutout for re-branding Nigeria, Africa by extension as a place to invest, and build a world class remote distributed teams. Not only did Andela rebrand Nigeria, it also built a network of world class developers and created a brand for its community. The name Andela on a resume is synonymous to Silicon Valley quality minds and technical skills. 

Unfortunately, Andela has taken more from Microsoft’s old playbook instead of Amazon’s. Andela is a closed network built strategically to drive high quality value primarily for the sole benefit of the closed community.

At Charisol, we saw this trend 2 years ago and set out to learn from Amazon to build a better network that is more open, and profits from driving outcome which reinforces and benefits the community. 

I am writing this article because I believe the  vision – to connect remote African digital talents ( developers, designers, content writers, graphic designers) – to foreign businesses like solopreneurs, start ups, small businesses and corporations, is one that requires key stakeholders to come together to share, collaborate, profit and give back.

I am a strong believer that Nigeria’s future depends on when we can create this network. Our developers individually are trying to compete on Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal; and they are increasing facing discrimination, scam reputation and many more. They are the future of Nigeria’s middle class which is the media that will transform Nigeria into a force to be reckoned with.

A lot of startups in Nigeria fail because the Nigerian populace does not possess spending power. China’s introduction to the world stage as a market to pay attention to started with “cheap labor” producing employment; employment which created value; value that raised foreign exchange; foreign exchange that built a middle class.

Economists do not look at 1.4 billion people when they do market analysis of China. They look at 300 million middle class spenders. To borrow from a point in the article – data is not the essential value but network. The middle class in China is the network that business owners want to get their products to. Until Nigeria develops a larger middle class, our position as the most populous black nation will remain an enigma. A trap that lures investors and entrepreneurs only to assume ROI but encounter a death trap.

Returning to the Chinese playbook, let’s make the global gig economy, Nigeria’s version of China’s manufacturing revolution. But what is this going to take? Glad you asked. 

A clear vision that we can rally around designed to benefit its creators ONLY when the community profits. Nigeria must lead the way in making remote work supreme and advantageous to employers, and businesses that encounter our approach.

The pillars of this network looks like these:

• Recognize the value foreign employers perceive in remote workers start with: Clear Communication. Resolute Dedication. Honest Work. Competence. Results.
• Every Nigerian remote talent takes a pledge; one that identifies and engrains the fact that our actions and the experience of foreign employers with us is an interaction that affects more than an individual. We represent a Nigerian remote brand.
• Lead with results, and outcomes for your client and pay will follow.
• Solve for availability. In a remote world, clients need 24/7 accessibility. If you try to be a lone wolf and never sleep; you will burn out. This reinforces your need to be part of a community.

On the business side, I truly believe developers should not be taking on gigs as individuals. We need a network that looks like these:

• Micro Tech Agencies: instead of having developers that are SEO, Design, frontend, backend etc experts; master of none. We need agencies that look more like these  3 friends – React developer + Designer + Project Manager.
  • Notice the clarity of the skills.In this example, it is a Javascript React mini dev agency. It is not a-bring-every-development-job agency. This allows tech talents to hone and further develop their skills in order to rise to the level that is the minimum threshold for foreign businesses.
  • Because developers are the modern day manufacturers, guarding their time is important. Designers and Project managers can take turn in managing client expectations and communications. 
  • Imagine you go to China to manufacture your goods. Would you go to a factory worker or go to a manufacturing company? Developers, you need more than soft skills. Unless you have just one client, there will not be enough time in the day to produce and manage all the needs of your clients alone.
• Platforms: 
  • Thought Leadership Demonstration: Because github houses intellectual property, using it to showcase expertise is not much of a viable option. Content is benign way of demonstration thought leadership in a way that shows off the indegous flavor to problem solving that we possess as Nigerians. It could be a medium publishing, an online forum, a reddit community, anywhere that stories, insights etc can be shared to grow the community and capture the imagination of foreign business owners. Diversity is a prominent ingredients for great products and a platform like this can showcase and attract those who value it.
  • Open Source Software: Imagine if like LinkedIn, there are APIs to request detail profiles of remote talents based on search/filter criteria. An up to date registry of the tech talents in Nigeria that makes it easier for people with networks that include business owners looking for talent to connect requests for talent to the right level of skill quickly.
  • Managed Network of Foreign Business Leaders: the supply side for this ecosystem is very important. Creating a process for requests to be verified, understood, defined, priced and executed will most certainly be of value. An advantage of this network can have over upwork is the setup to consistently exceed expectations. This doesn’t happen through random uncoordinated efforts.
• Governance: A process by which the community is continuously intentionally designed to better serve and be served.

At Charisol, this is the vision we wake up to everyday. Some days we feel inadequate, other days we are intoxicated when we see our stakeholders get outcomes that matches their definition of value. 

Designers, Developers, Dev Agencies, Design Agencies, Branding and Marketing companies, Content Writers, etc come join the network, write for the community, be the community and share the vision!