Omoge Lepa: Featured Entrepreneur Interview - Samuel Uduma/ CEO of ChargeBox Nigeria Limited

I would like to introduce you to my first featured entrepreneur . . . Sam Uduma, MD and CEO of ChargeBox Ltd Nigeria.

CEO ChargeBox Ltd

His business caught my attention a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved the idea so am pleased to share with you our interview!

Ask her about ChargeBox!

Enjoy!

· Tell us a little about yourself, your background

I am Samuel Uduma, 26 yrs of age, the First of 2 boys, from a township called Ohafia, Abia State. Engineering degree from Uni of Nottingham with a masters in Telecoms from Uni of Bristol. Friends call me SuperGeek.

· What is your business and what do you do?

Primarily, I’d say I am a technology enthusiast and my business centers around incubation of Technology solutions - taking them from "proof of concept" stage to "implementation". This enthusiasm has led me to creating a company Chargebox Nigeria on which an innovative, unique solution - ChargeBox Kiosks have been launched.

· When did you start the business?

ChargeBox Nigeria was officially incorporated in Sept, 2011. However the qualification of the solution and evaluation of its viability began about a year before that.

· How did you get the idea for this?

Not surprisingly, the idea was born out of a related need at the time. I had gone to visit my girlfriend in London, where she was lodging at an airport hotel en route U.S.A. In typical character, I had left my mobile phone charger at home and my BB battery was giving me the red stare. I spotted this contraption in the hotel which said "charge your phone here". Using it was extremely easy, convenient and secure so I had the Eureka moment and started making moves to bring Chargebox to naija. Obtained exclusivity rights to deploy and run Chargebox kiosks in West Africa and the rest is....

· What were the biggest startup challenges?

As an employee of another telecoms leader - Ericsson UK, it was near impossible to find the time to do all that was required to make Chargebox Nigeria a reality. It also didn't help that the UK govt were taking all my money through a legalized form of extortion - Tax!!

· How did you overcome those challenges?

I brought in like minded partners, gave them vested interests in the company and utilized their skills & networks to develop what is today known as Chargebox Nigeria

· What makes your business unique, what’s your “unique selling point”?

I think I’ve given this away already - Accessibility, Use-ability, convenience and security.

· In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.

Sporadic!!!

· What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?

Job security...lol. Seriously though, having worked for someone else, I can say there are very close synergies between the employed and self employed. For one, measurements of success and failure are closely related, the difference being in the case of the latter, the entrepreneur could face more sever consequences like bankruptcy and even jail time o_O.

· What do you think it takes to become a successful entrepreneur?

I won’t know for sure yet lol... however; i think dedication and vision will set you on the right path. It doesnt hurt to have the right partners as well, God being numero uno.

· What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?

This is a tricky one as i've seen hugely successful "skill-less" entrepreneurs (branson...lol). In terms of skill, the more adept you are at convincing people about the usefulness of your product/service, the better chance you have at making it work. So in a nutshell, Sales skill is key.

· What would you say to someone considering starting their own business?

Don't do it!!!! Lol, just joking. i'd say to someone with such ambition, the mere thought of starting their business shows they have the right building blocks, however, not only the blocks make a house habitable. They need to measure the risk on a scale of 0-100% certainty and continually de-risk the business in their minds until the scale tips over 50% risky. The moment you feel the likelihood of reward for your business outweighs the risk of failure then go for it Hammer and tons! P.S ALWAYS HAVE A FALLBACK!!!!

· What was your greatest fear in starting a business? How did you manage that fear?

Fear of failure. I wont necessary say that fear is completely gone as the business is not as successful as i want it to be yet. Now i must stress it is completely human to not want to fail but the fear of failure is an innately cancerous thing to have, failure isnt always bad when controlled as there's always a valuable lesson to learn - this is the way i have taught myself to manage that fear.

· What would say are the five key elements for starting and running a successful business?

God first, respect for people, know your product/service, know your market, and work relentlessly.

· What inspires you?

A ton! I am inspired by certain people in my life, inspired by the state of affairs in my country, inspired by that fear of failure...lol, inspired by the magnitude of what i can achieve etc etc... As you can see, doesn't take much to inspire me :-)

· If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask yourself, and what would the answer be?

Now I’m doing your job for you, i hope i'm getting paid! Ok seriously, i would ask myself - If you could do anything differently in retrospect what would it be? My answer - NOTHING!

Thanks for your time :)