Michael Akindele, a 30 year-old Nigerian, is a director and a co-founder of SOLO Phone, an experience-driven digital content and smartphone company focused on delivering the best content and services on the mobile platform to African consumers.
SOLO Phone, which was established in Nigeria in 2012, is an experience-driven mobile device manufacturer which aims to provide the best content and services to the African consumer at an affordable price. The company manufactures smartphones priced at $150, bundled with free music of up to 20 million songs licensed from Sony, Universal and Warner. SOLO also recently launched a Video-On-Demand App available to all Android devices in Nigeria which offers the latest Nollywood and Hollywood movies from global movie studios.
What’s your personal and professional background?
I was born August 29, 1984 in Washington D.C., to Nigerian parents. At the age of 2 years old, my family moved to Nigeria and spent the next 10 years in Ibadan. At the age of 12, my family returned to the US where I continued my education in Alexandria, Virginia. After graduating from T.C. Williams High School, I attended George Mason University in Fairfax, VA where I received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree from the Volgneau School of Engineering with a focus on Computer Science and Information Technology. I also received a minor in Business Administration from George Mason’s School of Management. While at George Mason I was a member of the Track & Field Team and competed in the hurdles and middle distance running events. Being an athlete on a Division I Track & Field team gave me the confidence I needed to take on events outside of sports and a chance to win. Two days after graduating from George Mason I began my career as a Technology Consultant with Accenture. I gained valuable professional experience from being a Technology Analyst with Accenture. While at Accenture, I started working on a project, which quickly progressed and birthed The Apprentice: Africa. A business partner and myself successfully licensed an American reality game show from Mark Burnett Productions for the Sub-Saharan media market, which featured real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump. I returned to Nigeria January 2007 and was part of a team that developed, produced and distributed the African edition of an 18 week reality show titled The Apprentice: Africa that had a strong following in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
What prompted you to set up SOLO Mobile, and how where you initially funded? (How many employees does the company have?)
In 2010 I started a company called Fusion Mobile, which was short lived. We were unable to close funding needed to start a company singularly focused on driving Africa’s first mobile device manufacturing and content distribution company. However, in June 2013 I was approached by Adlevo Capital to partner with a group of experienced mobile telecommunications professional led by Tayo Ogundipe to start a company called SOLO. Tayo Ogundipe is an experienced finance executive with extensive background in the technology and telecommunications sectors working for companies like Ubiquitel, Sony Ericson and HTC. Thus the dream of SOLO was born. November 22, 2013 we successfully launched a mobile device company that provides experience-driven, end-to-end digital content and services to young adults and adults who are young at heart requiring a mobile device that provides convenient, affordable gateway to the widest range of digital content that is delivered on the go, every at blazing speed to the African consumer.
What has been your biggest challenge in running a successful business from Nigeria?
The opportunities we’ve created have far outweighs the challenges. We’ve successfully secured some key assets that provide SOLO key value differentiation in today’s market. However, we face the same challenges all companies face such as the increase in Dollar to Naira exchange and strikes at the port. In summary, we’ve been able to weather these challenges with a belief that staying power in a fast growing industry positions SOLO for success.
What’s next for SOLO?
We recently launched a co-branded affordable Smartphone with Airtel in Nigeria bundled with our music and movies offering. We will continue to deepen our relationship with Operator partners building on the premise of delivering the best content and services to consumers in emerging markets. The future of delivering these value added services is tremendous in a market where low income earning consumers can benefit on the access to these affordable solutions that enriches their lives. That is the future of SOLO.
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