Many entrepreneurs are driven by a passion to solve societal problems. For Taslim Salaudeen, the founder of Milsat Technologies Limited, his driving force was to harness cutting-edge technology to help businesses harness the power of geospatial information for enhanced decision-making, improved efficiency, and unparalleled growth opportunities.
Salaudeen’s affinity for the environment can be described as innate. He believes he was born into the class of those who will always add value to enhance the environment, hence his desire to study geography from the outset.
His background in geophysics, remote sensing, and GIS technology influenced his path to entrepreneurship. He founded his business in 202 to provide practical data solutions for businesses across industries.
“Data acquisition is the act of collecting data, storing and analysing the data to enhance planning, strategizing, and decision-making,” he said.
“A company working in the FMCG space might want to know which geographical area their product sells the most, what kind of people live there, why they are buying it or why they are not buying it.”
“It could also be that a telecom brand wants to know 100 new locations that meet their ROI requirement to deploy their mast. In this scenario, a data acquisition service provider comes in to meet that need.”
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He added that there are different types of data use, however, Milsat has carved a niche in providing location data services to reduce time and conserve funds deployed to field research.
He noted that Milsat helps clients do all the necessary fieldwork using the right tools within the shortest period – usually saving them between 40 – 70 percent of their initial budget for fieldwork.
Giving insight into how he made inroads into his field, Salaudeen explained, “I’ve always loved geography as a young boy. I was fascinated by anything that brings me close to nature.
As fate would have it, I gained admission to study Remote Sensing and Geography Information Service (GIS) at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, he said.
His technology has aided in urban planning, infrastructure development, disaster management, and public health initiatives.
Governments and organisations now have access to comprehensive spatial data, enabling them to plan and allocate resources more effectively and respond promptly to emergencies, he noted.
Speaking on some of the brand’s core achievements over the years, the tech expert noted, “Personally, in the past three years, I’ve consulted for several organisations and international agencies.”
He added that his organisation initiated the shift from the orthodox pen-and-paper methods to modern mobile applications and dashboards with their recent work with the National Population Commission.
“I created diverse solutions for the pre-enumeration census which aimed at annotating all the buildings in the country,” he said.
“I was able to reduce the turnaround time for enumeration area map download and provisioning from a projection of 16 months to less than 30 minutes if executed concurrently. Interestingly, the solution has been translated into an operational architecture for the upcoming Nigerian census,” he explained.
On major hurdles the business is facing, he noted that finding the right team and implementing the right structure and culture is a challenge that often goes under the radar.
He stated that crafting solutions to solve the multiple spins of problems faced by its clients was a problem the business had to deal with in its early stage.
On his advice to other entrepreneurs, he said, “Believe that your dreams are valid and you can become anything you want in life.”
“The tech space is an interesting one, your ability to apply tech to every field of endeavor stands you out.”
“I have failed multiple times in tech which sounds bad to an everyday person. But my failures were just catalysts and shapers of how I approach situations now.”
