Technology has become an important enabler for businesses and institutions around the world. Young Nigerians are already tapping technology as a means of livelihood and for provision of the much needed services in various industries.
Adekunle Kunle-Hassan is one of the youths who have taken the bull by the horns to push digitalisation and redefine technology.
He is the founder and chief executive officer of Summitech Computing Limited, which is principally an IT solutions company.
The entrepreneur has an academic background in Business Management from Regent’s Business School, UK, and has worked in the ICT industry for six years. After his education, he proceeded to follow his passion and establish his own practice.
Kunle-Hassan says although he never had any formal training in technology, he managed to build up his business with the knowledge he gained from friends, colleagues and personal learning. He has also gone through some online courses where he received certifications in Project Management, IT Service Management, Product Management, among others in software development.
“Summitech is an IT solutions company. We build software and apps as well as install and manage IT infrastructure for offices and ‘smart’ homes,” he says. “We are focused on providing opportunities to young professionals to hone their skills,” he notes, adding that his firm offers training in multiple tech-related disciplines with the aim of empowering communities with vital skills.
Sunmitech was established in 2016. The entrepreneur was inspired to start the business after noticing the huge gap in achieving and pushing out high quality products despite having tech teams.
“Before starting Summitech I had been in the Tech industry for about six years. I had noticed that some companies knew what they were doing when it came to building tech teams and implementing world-class solutions while others had no idea but wanted to push out high-quality products. So, we created Summitech to help companies trying to transform digitally but without the skill set for best practice software development or IT implementations, succeed,” Kunle-Hassan notes.
He started the business with N10 million which he got from personal savings as well as loans from family and friends. The entrepreneur did not focus on raising fund or approaching investors, rather he was motivated by the need in the market and intensified the search for clients willing to commit to paying for their services.
Commenting on his business growth, Kunle-Hassan says, “Our growth has been steady and organic. As a company, we have always been focused on cultivating great client relationships which have been the biggest source of our growth. “
He explains that 70 percent of his business comes from referrals. He points out that Sunmitech started with staff strength of four persons but has grown in leaps and bounds to over 30 people. The number, according to him, will continue to grow going forward.
Regarding the tech industry, he says it is still growing with massive and untapped opportunities, stressing that it is clustered in the major cities like Lagos and Abuja and requires country-wide penetration.
Kunle-Hassan notes, however, that his business experiences challenges ranging from high operation costs due to lack of constant power supply, to lack of reliable internet.
He further says that some clients also delay payments for projects, hurting business plans and projections.
The entrepreneur avers that some of these challenges can be solved if the government can create policies designed to promote the growth of MSMEs and also support the intentional running of fibre services everywhere. He adds that there should be more public-private partnerships in the industry.
He opines that the continued existence of the business is down to hard work, negotiation and dedication as the firm does not compromise on quality.
He points out that growth and expansion are critical for the company, stressing that part of its expansion plans are some free services and clothes that would be launching soon, in addition to smart homes/offices solutions. He also wants to scale up training activities to expand the careers in IT.
In order to keep up with the continuous development of the industry and markets he operates in, Kunle-Hassan still participates in trainings and even encourages his staff to participate as well because they present growth opportunities which lead to organisation-wide improvement.
Advising entrepreneurs, he says, “The best teacher is experience. It is incredibly good to be structured, but it is always best to put yourself out there so you can learn quickly. Failure is a good teacher, especially if you do not see it as shameful or bad”.
Speaking on the short-term goal of the company, he says, “Summitech should have a presence in multiple countries and be part of the conversation when we talk about the tech ecosystem in Africa. I see Summitech offering Artificial Intelligence (AI) services/products to both the private and public sector”.
