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What is White Consult all about?
White Consult Technology Limited is a renewable energy firm that focuses on providing alternative energy solutions to homes, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and organisations.
Since you started operation, how do you rate the acceptability of renewable energy solutions in the country?
The renewable energy industry in Nigeria is yet to receive the necessary level of acceptability. This is because of government policy and the level of education of people. Except for maybe in micro areas like rechargeable lamps, torchlights, radio, and so on.
But recently with the assent of Mr. President to remove electricity generation and distribution from exclusive list, we want to see state and local government adopt renewable energy as a means to substantially improve our energy generation and distribution.
What have been the challenges you encountered in carrying out your work?
One of the major challenges we have in this market is the entry into the market by unprofessional entities. These people exist in every sector because once they see that a sector is moving, they move into it, and they flood it. What they do is that they bring in substandard products and, in the process, de-market the sector. Another category of people is those who do not even understand how solutions are deployed or implemented. These people recommend solutions maybe they quote or they use substandard wire quality, and all these things lead to issues for the end user.
So far, what capacity can your company provide for the end users?
So far, in our nine years of operation, we have different ranges from the smallest unit, which is 1kva up to 60kva. We did a 60kva for a Lagos State parastatal, and till date it is still functional. And it is not limited to that because we can go as far as 100kva as the demand requires.
How did you come about the idea of going into renewable energy?
By profession, I am an engineer and a registered engineer with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). And also I studied Electrical Engineering at the Lagos State University. So, the line I'm tolling now actually is my line of profession. But what really ignited my interest in alternative power was born out of my physical challenge situation. Before now, I had worked in the banking sector and information technology sector and then sickness had to put things on hold. While I was bedridden recuperating from my health challenge, there was this provocative measure that was borne in me during that period. I found out that from 7 pm the whole area is in darkness and everybody is running a generator and there was too much noise and air pollution.
While I was bedridden recuperating from my health challenge, there was this provocative measure that was borne in me during that period. I found out that from 7 pm the whole area is in darkness and everybody is running a generator and there was too much noise and air pollution.
You can hardly have a sound sleep until about 12 am when people begin to turn off their generator sets. And the men of the underworld also seized this time to begin to operate. There was a particular incident whereby there was a robbery incident close to my place and the security people blamed it on lack of power supply and noise from the generator sets which did not allow them to hear and then people putting on generators responded down saying that they would not stay in darkness for the security people to do their job. These got me thinking about whether this is the only way and the engineering in me was awakened at that particular point in time and I began tinkering about how to get over it. And that was what birthed my interest in alternative power supply.
I started by putting my skills into play by trying to design an inverter and then get a battery from the local market to power the inverter. And gradually the company was birthed and then the pilot phase started. We thank God that we are here now.
Your physical challenge is it from birth or as a result of an accident?
It is not from birth and in fact, I have finished my university school, and I began working in the banking sector before I had an accident. It was just an unfortunate situation that in Nigeria, we are still backward in our healthcare system. That is one of the reasons why even our politicians who are supposed to fix the healthcare system are running abroad to get better healthcare. My being in a wheelchair was a result of a neurological disorder borne out of an oversight during a medical examination from an accident I had.
How has your condition affected the growth of the business?
First of all, let me mention that when one is physically challenged, the first thing one should do is recognize their challenge. After recognising your challenge, you need to now make sure you build a system around your challenge. These I have been able to do, and I also try to give back to other people who are physically challenged and attend our orientation programs. When you build a system around this challenge, it helps you to deliver your duties totally. What I have done is that I understand that what is most needed is the brain and I'm the brain behind the organization. My job is just to take the lead and put them right in the way they should be and our service delivery has been 100 per cent.
What is White Consult doing differently to ensure inclusiveness in its service:?
Acceptability has been majorly our after-sales support because we are one of the few companies in Nigeria that offers 24 hours after-sales support. When I said 24 hours support, we are trying to assist our customers through the physical and online. We boost our customers, which they can also attest to that we are available even at 2 am. And why is it important to offer after-sales support? I think that is one thing that we have discussed severally at orientation programs and also at stakeholders' meetings.
If you look at the electricity companies mostly the distribution and transmission companies, if today in an area there is a transformer issue or there is a spark if it happens to be on a weekend, they are on their own. And if that happens to be a public holiday, take for instance, we just had a public holiday from Friday to Monday, if there was rainfall and there was a power situation as a result, in between those four days, some areas would have been kept in the dark because our distribution companies do not offer 24 hours service. Worst still as at 4 pm, dial their customer service number, it is off.
They can do that and make away with it, but we can not do that and make away with it because we deal directly with the end users. Now, an average man wants to come into his home at 10 p.m., put on his inverter system, and have power. If for any reason he doesn't have power, he should be able to get support at that particular point in time. Remember, he left where he was with the sole intention of getting home to meet light and not necessarily the general light from the government because he is his own government. He has done a private power solution for himself and it is only going to be very disappointing if for one or two reasons the inverter did not come up and he has that conviction that a little support can trigger the inverter on, he dials the customer service number and someone is able to offer that support. That is why we decided to go the extra mile to offer our customers 24-hour after-sales support. It has been a very good marketing strategy, and it has become a significant order of what we represent, and we intend to keep improving on it.
How do you source your equipment, is it imported, or do you reconstruct them in Nigeria?
As I mentioned, I was provoked into going into an alternative power solution because of the unavailability of resources I have to make do with what was available. It was actually difficult pitching for funds being in a wheelchair. The people did not see the bigger picture in me, and the only thing they see is the limitations. And while you are pitching what your dream is, they are seeing 1000 reasons why it will not work. What I did during that difficult challenge was source items locally. I should make mention that we were able to build inverters then and sold locally-made inverters. All items and fabrications were done in Nigeria, but because of the cost of putting these things together, we found out that our inverters were even more expensive than the imported ones.
Secondly, we discovered that an average Nigerian man out there prefers imported products for his own use to what he heard that Adebola built in one company in Ejigbo. So, those were the challenges we had, and at some point, it was hindering our sales vis-a-vis our growth. Therefore, we had to drop the idea and join the wagon of importing items. But we are still hoping that sometime soon, we can actually go back to building things locally.
With this beautiful idea and the achievements you have recorded, won't you consider pitching your company with some of the foundations that support SMEs in Nigeria?
It is very necessary, I must say. Over the last two years, we have focused more on pitching this idea, but of course, like every pitch session, we have not been lucky enough to be among the winners. But of course, we are not relenting because we just started another pitch, which we are putting together now, and we are hoping that this might just be our turn.
How are you impacting your immediate environment, and are they patronising you?
Apart from doing sales and offering training, one of the things we take cognisance of is to be a responsible corporate citizen by paying our tax as and when due. We also try to give back to our community, and one of it is our immediate environment. When you look around the street, you will see solar lights everywhere from the gate of our community. This is one of the ways we give back to our host community, and they have supported us with their sales because we have over 15 customers in this community. We also have students for our training center from this same community.
What we have done in return is to illuminate the community as a form of social responsibility to our host community. And it is not limited to only this community. We have also done so to our host state, Lagos State. During the COVID-19 period, we were one of the exempted sectors because that was when working from home started. And how do you ask a man to work from home when he does not have power? So, people started going into alternative power solutions, and our services were required, and we worked like every day.
During that period, we had some work to do consistently for some days around Maryland, and we worked till late nights. When we were coming back, we had to pass through Ikorodu Road linking Oshodi. The bypass by Anthony had been a dark spot since 2018 till sometimes in November 2021 when we had the privilege of installing solar lights there. Today, the place is well illuminated, and that has reduced the regular risk and tension occasioned by the threat the dark spot posed.
We decided that if this is the little we can give to Lagos State, we should take that step and take that action. We lit up that road up to the corner by Total Energy Filling Station on Oshodi Road. That is part of our social responsibility, and I implore other companies to also partner with the Lagos State government.
For many physically challenged persons, disability is the end of all possibilities. But this is not the case with a Lagos State University (LASU) graduate, Adebola Anofi, who believes that there is ability in disability.
Despite his physical challenge, Anofi, who is a member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), has shown that there is a lot to achieve in the face of disability.
Anofi has distinguished himself as a shining light to many disabled persons in the country. In the last nine years, he has been able to successfully run a renewable energy company, White Consult Technology Limited following the accident that confined him in a wheelchair.
His company has been able to deploy renewable energy solutions of different capacities ranging from 1kva to 60kva. And one of the landmark achievements of the company was the successive installation of 60kva power capacity for a Lagos State Government parastatal.
Anofi said: “So far, in our nine years of operation, we have different ranges from the smallest unit, which is 1kva up to 60kva. We did a 60kva for a Lagos State parastatal, and to date, it is still functional. And it is not limited to that because we can go as far as 100kva as the demand re- quires.”
Donor agencies
Despite some of his achievements, Anofi believed that his physical condition had remained an impediment to the growth and success of the company. For instance, he said that many donor agencies both local and international, approached to invest in his ideas only to see his physical dis- ability rather than the business proposal of contributing his quota in solving the energy crisis in Nigeria.
He said: “It was actually difficult pitching for funds being in a wheelchair. The people did not see the bigger picture in me, and the only thing they see is the limitations. And while you are pitching what your dream is, they are seeing 1000 reasons why it will not work. What I did during that difficult challenge was source items locally. I should mention that we were able to build inverters then and sold locally-made inverters. All items and fabrications were done in Nigeria, but because of the cost of putting these things together, we found out that our inverters were even more ex- pensive than the imported ones.
“Secondly, we discovered that an aver- age Nigerian man out there prefers imported products for his own use to what he heard that Adebola built in one company in Ejigbo. So, those were the challenges we had, and at some point, it was hindering our sales vis-a-vis our growth. Therefore, we had to drop the idea and join the wagon of importing items. But we are still hoping that sometime soon, we can actually go back to building things locally.”
But Anofi maintained that those challenges would not stop him from seeking and pitching his ideas for funds in order to reach all his target customers. “Over the last two years, we have focused more on pitching this idea, but of course, like every pitch session, we have not been lucky enough to be among the winners. But of course, we are not relenting because we just started another pitch, which we are putting together now, and we are hoping that this might just be our turn,” he said.
Accident
Narrating how he ended up in a wheel- chair, he said he had an accident after his degree education and has been confined to a wheelchair since then. “It is not from birth in fact, I had finished my university and began working in the banking sector before I had an accident. It was just an unfortunate situation that in Nigeria, we are still backwards in our healthcare system.
“That is one of the reasons why even our politicians who are supposed to fix the healthcare system are running abroad to get better healthcare. My being in a wheel- chair was a result of a neurological disorder borne out of an oversight during a medical examination from an accident I had. “And by profession, I am an engineer and a registered member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). I also studied Electrical Engineering at Lagos State University. So, the line I’m telling now actually is my line of profession. But what really ignited my interest in alternative power was born out of my physical challenge.
“Before now, I had worked in the banking sector and information technology sec- tor and then sickness had to put things on hold. While I was bedridden recuperating from my health challenge, there was this provocative measure that was borne in me during that period. I found out that from 7 pm the whole area was in darkness and everybody was running a generator and there was too much noise and air pollution. You can hardly have a sound sleep until about 12 am when people begin to turn off their generator sets. And the men of the underworld also seized this time to begin to operate.
“There was a particular incident where- by there was a robbery incident close to my place and the security people blamed it on lack of power supply and noise from the generator sets which did not allow them to hear and then people putting on generators responded down saying that they would not stay in darkness for the security people to do their job. These got me thinking about whether this is the only way and the engineering in me was awakened at that particular point in time and I began tinkering about how to get over it. And that was what birthed my interest in alternative power supply. “I started by putting my skills into play by trying to design an inverter and then get a battery from the local market to power the inverter. And gradually the company was birthed and then the pilot phase started. We thank God that we are here now.”
In the face of his disability, Anofi has advised other physically challenged Nigerians to look beyond their appearances and invest in their development. He said: “When one is physically challenged, the first thing one should do is recognise their challenge. After recognising your challenge, you need to make sure you build a system around your challenge. These I have been able to do, and I also try to give back to other people who are physically challenged and attend our orientation programmes.
“When you build a system around this challenge, it helps you to deliver your du- ties totally. What I have done is that I understand that what is most needed is the brain and I’m the brains behind the organisation. My job is just to take the lead and put them right in the way they should be and our service delivery has been 100 per cent.”
Renewable energy
Anofi regretted that the renewable energy sector is still under-patronised despite the epileptic power supply in the country. “The renewable energy industry in Nigeria is yet to receive the necessary level of acceptability. This is because of government policy and the level of education of people. Except maybe in micro areas like rechargeable lamps, torchlights, radios and so on.
“But recently with the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari to remove electricity generation and distribution from the Exclusive List, we want to see state and local governments adopt renewable energy as a means to substantially improve our energy generation and distribution. “But in White Consult Technology Limited, our acceptability has been majorly our after-sales support because we are one of the few companies in Nigeria that offers 24-hour after-sales support. When I say 24 hours support, we are trying to assist our customers through the physical and on- line. We boost our customers, which they can also attest to that we are available even at 2 am. “And why is it important to offer after- sales support? I think that is one thing that we have discussed severally at orientation programs and also at stakeholders’ meetings. If you look at the electricity companies, mostly the distribution and transmission companies, if today in an area there is a transformer issue or there is a spark, if it happens to be on a weekend, they are on their own.
“If that happens to be a public holiday, take for instance, we just had a public holiday from Friday to Monday, if there was rainfall and there was a power situation as a result, in between those four days, some areas would have been kept in the dark because our distribution companies do not offer 24 hours service. Worst still, at 4 pm, dial their customer service number, it is switched off.”
Notwithstanding the physical disability, the experience of Engineer Anofi has shown that if support and resources are provided for people like him with an exceptional desire to make an impact on the growth of the economy, the sky will be their starting point.
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