Made in Nigeria

The Spark | Ignite / Connect / Achieve
www.thesparkng.com
The Beginning
A dedicated IT professional and project manager,
Omotola starts, introducing himself, like the
gentleman he is and telling us that SterlingPRO
was founded “to provide innovative technology
solutions.” He adds that it was “set up in 2009 to
provide decentralised document management
solution to Fidelity Bank.”
In case you didn’t know, Omotola Okunfolami
is a managing partner at SterlingPRO business
applications limited - a technology Solutions
Company. “We produce/invent innovative solutions,
we’ve been at the forefront of creating
uncommon solutions, because it is the way to
go and it was on that basis we were set up.”
There’s something you don’t know yet. Read on.
“There was this idea that we worked on, and it
became an idea that we do differently, so we
took a deep dive and came up with a solution.
That was how we started SterlingPRO. Fortunately
for us we got a bank that was interested
in the solution and it became a big thing from
there.”
From humble beginnings to doing it differently,
to aiming for the skies... What is that idea still
doing ONLY in your head?
Values And Philosophies
How important are values? To be honest, you
can say values are indispensable, because our
values inform our thoughts, words and actions.
Our values are important because they help us
grow and develop.
On the other end, your philosophy of business
could be an unwritten attitude or a specifically-written
philosophy that defines how your
team will act and interact with each other and
the general public. Omotola tells not to have
worries as SterlingPRO is “customer obsessed.”
Interesting. He adds, “that’s one of the things
I tell my team, the customer is key, whatever
you do. We don’t joke with our customers, we
put a lot of time into R&D to come up with new
solutions. We primarily operate around the EFT
space. We have a couple of the solutions that
have been deployed not just in Nigeria but all
over the world, we are the pioneers of this.”
Added to this is operational excellence and a
passion for innovation - you know, like how it
all started.
Recent Innovative Solutions
This sounded simple to Omotola: “ATM Biometric
cardless cash withdrawal.”
Pushing The Nigerian Story
He was excited about this question, combining
the fact that SterlingPRO is “a fully owned
Nigerian entity” and the company has begun
to engage more with the Nigerian culture and
to change its workspace. He adds, “It’s always
been there that we want to become a global
entity and to become a global entity, you don’t
want to be lost, you want to identify loudly as
Nigerian, while trying to achieve our global
aspirations.”
SPECIAL FEATURE
The Corporate
Custodian - SterlingPRO
...Innovative technology solutions just
when you need them
Brand Tones And Youth Inclinations
“SterlingPRO is a subtle tech brand, passionate
about the delivery of topnotch
technical products and services. We are not
afraid to challenge the status quo whilst
assisting businesses achieve success and improved
productivity by harnessing the wealth
of opportunities in information technology,
particularly software and e-business solutions.
We take our product seriously, delivering
solutions that organisations need to positively
impact business outcomes, from developing
an IT strategy to solutions for optimising the IT
infrastructure and applications; And we help
clients put a premium on the improvements
that will have the most impact. SterlingPRO
believes that empowering the youth is very key
to current and future successes, which is why
we focus more on youth employment in our
in-house recruitment process.
“We recently started a coding club where
we bring teenagers in and, we get a few of
our programmers to mentor them, teaching
them how to code. We think it’s what should
be happening right now, we are able to catch
them young and get them to embrace the idea
of coding. When they are in their early 20s, they
are already grounded developers and they can
impact on others so that Nigeria can be a major
player in the tech global ecosystem.”
CSR Initiatives
Well, added to the fact the SterlingPRO started
a coding club for teenagers, Omotola says there
are plans “to engage a couple of entities, we
feel like it’s the right thing to do. We would do
as much we can to give back to the community.
It would start in a couple of months, and we
would engage them for years to come.”
Future of Fintech in Nigeria - And Sterling-
PRO
“We see Nigeria playing big on simplified technologies
in the banking industry and the world
at large, competing with technologies in the
U.S and other parts of Africa, cutting across the
rural areas where we have some semi-illiterate
citizens; making it very easy and conducive for
them to blend in today’s changes without any
challenges.
“We also see ourselves as a part of this change,
with one of our newly innovated products: ATM
Biometric cardless cash withdrawal solution
where customers don’t need to bother about
not moving around with their debit cards,
as this solution enables all account holders
perform transactions on the ATMS using their
fingerprint as one of the primary authentication
for these transactions.
“I think the tech space has become really big in
Nigeria. We’ve got a population of close to 200
million and that’s a viable market. We have lots
of innovations which are looking to push within
the next quarter and this would position us as
one of the leading tech companies in Nigeria, in
Africa and globally eventually.”
Five-Year Vision
Learn from this. You need it.
“SterlingPRO, in the next five years, wants to be
a global brand. One of the top global brands
and I believe we have the capacity to do this.
Like I said earlier, we have a few solutions which
are novel, things that don’t exist anywhere in
the world. One of the things we do is to do a
lot of research, we have the capacity to play
globally. And then what we’ve done over the
last year, set up shop in South Africa, we are
looking to go to the U.S., set up shop there as
well and compete globally. We feel we have the
manpower. If you have a good brand and you
believe in it then give it visibility.
“I think it’s becoming common knowledge now
that the tech industry would eat up virtually
anything. If you find a young person who has
a knack or desire or passion for tech, you’ll get
hired quickly.”
We are not afraid to challenge
the status quo whilst assisting
businesses achieve success and
improved productivity.
@thesparkng
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