Move Back To Nigeria: Energy Entrepreneur, Femi Adeyemo Advocates Independent Power Supply As He Shares His Experience


Nigerians are generally unsatisfied with the poor state of power infrastructure in the country. Many homes get only about 3 or 4 hours of power per day, with other households having it either slightly better or worse. This is why we are excited to bring you this week’s interview with Femi Adeyemo, who moved back to Nigeria to contribute to the solution of this perennial matter, which many argue has been a key headwind for Nigeria’s economic development. Please read on to find out more about his thoughts, and if you have your own ideas of solutions to the power situation in Nigeria, please let us know about it in the comments box.

Thank you for speaking with us. Can you please tell us who you are and what you do?
My name is Femi Adeyemo. I am the founder and CEO of ARNERGY Solar Limited, Lagos. The name is an acronym for Alternative Renewable Energy.

Can you take us through your educational background?
I had my basic education in Nigeria and my first degree in Computer Engineering from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Ogbomosho. After graduation, I worked in the Telecoms industry with Huawei Technologies on several of MTN nationwide Base Station Controllers (BSC) and Base Station Transceivers (BTS) rollout and maintenance projects before I left Nigeria in 2006.

Why did you leave Nigeria?
Initially, it was for my Masters Degree; I moved to Stockholm, Sweden to study for a Masters Degree in Information Technology at KTH in Sweden.

Why Sweden? And how was life in Stockholm?
Well, I had two choices, Canada and Sweden. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a student’s visa for Canada, so Sweden it was. Stockholm is a beautiful city to live in; I really enjoyed my time there. Also, considering my interest in technology, I found technology in Sweden as far back as 2006 to be cutting edge.

After Sweden, what was your next move?
After Sweden, I moved to the UK but left after barely a month for an international telecoms consulting role with a Caribbean company about to begin operations in Suriname, South America, operating under the brand name Uniqa. They had just gotten a license to roll out telecom operating services so I got an offer I couldn’t resist which led to a move to the Caribbean. My stay there was for only about seven months as my initial contract ended and I wanted to explore other countries.

Did you go back to the UK afterwards?
Yes I did go back to the UK, and floated my own company in the UK called E2E technologies UK limited, to operate as a telecoms consultancy. Unfortunately there were limited opportunities in the UK telecom industry then as it was at the peak of 2008 economic recession.

How did you find the entrepreneurship process?
Although the entrepreneurial bug had bitten me, floating a company at the peak of the economic recession in the UK was not the best decision.

What happened next? Did you close shop?
Yes, another opportunity came from Lagos so I moved again, this time back to Lagos in November of 2008 for a technical project manager role with an Airtel Service Provider, which was known as Zain then. Zain was about to roll out the 3G network. I got a role with the company to project manage the pre-commercial launch RF tuning and optimisation. This involved tuning the mobile network, ensuring there were no calls drops, one-way speech network congestion etc before the commercial launch.

How long did you do this for?
I intended to do this long term, but when I got to Lagos, I realised I wasn’t mentally ready to return to Nigeria. The infrastructural challenges such as epileptic power supply, traffic gridlock e.t.c were too much for me to bear.

Did you leave?
Yes, I did leave Nigeria again in March of 2009. That was barely three months into that role and I moved to the Middle East.

The Middle East sounds intriguing, please tell us about that
I was in Muscat, Oman which is a beautiful country. I worked with Oman Telecommunication (Omantel). Then, Omantel was just about to launch their 3G network. With my experience and background, I was well equipped to manage the 3G network from a network acceptance and operations and maintenance point of view. I was responsible for the Managed network Services for the 3G network and set up and sat on the Change Advisory Board (CAB). I was the focal point for Omantel 3G operations and maintenance with equipment vendors and played a leading role in formulating managed service tender documents and bid evaluation criteria for Omantel UTRAN Network modernisation and LTE (4G) networks for bidders including Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Huawei and ZTE.

Do you agree that Nigerians will never enjoy uninterrupted power supply if the details Femi mentioned are not implemented?

Source

http://www.bellanaija.com/2014/08/01/move-back-to-nigeria-energy-entrepreneur-femi-adeyemo-advocates-independent-power-supply-as-he-shares-his-experience-read/#comments

where pishure?

interesting

quite interesting

ok

What did I just read?

We started from the bottom, now we are here.

Can dis one increase d number of my follower here?

ok

Booked

woodcook: where pishure?

Mind yourself...... see as you chance me

Noice!

lemme comment before I read lest i miss fp. 1st day...
@ topic, interesting interview noni but topic n interview r two different shits

Boo

Trust Nigerians we cannot be sad we must make ourselves happy even if it means cutting One newspaper interview and claiming it. Op na you biko nothing do you. Fabu!!!![i][/i]

boring saga ................................................................................no b today

What a solution.Like that.Though I didn't read it.

i can't reconcile the title of this thread with the content

hmm

He was basically interviewed and asked about his life,and not what this rubbish "Title" of this thread stated

This op should be hanged

g

Space booked

Mods read before you push topics to the frontpage.

After reading it now.Op!I won't insult u but d MOD who put this thread on front page.MOD!How does this relate to d title of d thread n still put it on front page?I 4 say u don dey craze but won't say it sha.

I think say na only me o. Where exactly did he say anything about power supply?

hahahahahaha
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The solution to power problem is not rocket-science naa,let every state government build 1000MW of electricity,that will be 36000MW...that will virtually solve the problem of power in this country.but they are waitin for federal government.the federal government must also repeal the law that does not allow states and individuals to distribute power.