48
March 30, 2013
Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
‘Location is vital in Cyber café business’
FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON
T
here is no doubt about the fact that Nigeria has grown technologically and the need to explore the cyber world is becoming more by the day. For those who cannot simply afford the luxury of a personal computer and a modem, the last resort is always to opt for a cybercafé. For this reason, cyber business can still be said to be viable. Cyber café business is a sort of a rental business that involves the letting out of airtime (slots of minutes or hours to customers) for use in accessing the internet. In Lagos, there are countless number of cafes with many of them rendering very unsatisfactory services. They are often crowded with many slow and not so functional computers and servers that render anything but satisfactory service delivery. However, there are still a few who go the extra mile to put smile of satisfaction on the faces of their customers. Victor Onwuka the Managing Director of Vicuka Ventures located in the heart of Ikeja who has been into the cyber business for about eight years says it takes a lot to be in the cyber business. Initially, when the business started to be popular some 12 years ago, it was a very viable business, in fact a booming one. It was so because it was relatively new and quite a lot of people had no computers to themselves unlike the way it is now where almost everyone has. According to Onwuka, the business became popular because of the need for people to interact with friends over long distances. “In that regard we find many internet users seeking to access the services of social networking media such as Facebook, hi5, MySpace and so on. Also, that has
given room to many small scale entrepreneurs who have identified the need for people to surf the web and realise that location is a very critical factor that must not be overlooked. “In areas with predominantly large student population, cyber cafes tend to have a large and steady stream of customers, “he added. Onwuka further told Saturday Mirror that like every other businesses in the country, there is a problem with electricity supply. Cyber cafes cannot operate without power and yet with epileptic power supply from PHCN, they must as a rule supply their own power using generating sets and also have to cater to other expenses that are incumbent to the business. These factors put together make the business a little capital intensive. Apart from the capital intensiveness of the business, the various developments in the cyber world and numerous atrocities being committed by quite a lot of the internet users who take advantage of innocent hearted ones online who genuinely want to make friends to defraud them has also severe the business terrain, noted Onwuka. “The business is no longer the way it used to be moreso with the various atrocities internet users commit on the internet. Cyber scammers are so much on the rampant and if one is not vigilant and also take safety precautions, it could put an end to one’s business because the law enforcement agents will be after the business and turn the plavce to a raid joint,” he explained further. In terms of basic needs for the business to commence, Onwuka disclosed that one needs to do some formal registration with some bodies. “You have to register with some bodies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission, Association of Cyber Café Operators of Nigeria, law enforcement agencies such as EFCC, NDLEA and ICPC and you must also have an account
ON A SMALL SCALE, ONE CAN START THE BUSINESS WITH ABOUT
N500, 000
EXCLUDING THE
SPACE. ON A LARGE SCALE, ONE MAY NEED AT LEAST
N1.5M
with a reputable internet service provider,” Onwuka added. He further pointed out that among the needs is a large room which is largely dependent on the scale of operation one wants. Computers, servers and other devices are also needed for a start. All of these cost money. On a small scale, you can commence the business with about N500, 000 excluding the space while on a large scale, you may need up to at least N1.5 million to commence the business excluded of the space. This of course does not include contingency just a rough estimate of acquiring computers and may be one year subscription. He also notes that location is key in the business. “Getting a good location to do the business is also a very vital one. A busy environment or somewhere close to a higher institution is good location for the business,” he stated. On the other hand, Onwuka noted that the influx of blackberry phones and modems from various service providers has drastically reduced the use of many cyber cafes but that notwithstanding, it is still viable business because there are still percentage of people who may not have a computer of their own and there are limi-
Onwuka
tations to what can be done on blackberry phones, so for such ones, they resort to using the cafes. “As a means of safety measures, we also have stickers around our cafe to tell those who may have evil intentions of scamming people on the net that scammers are not welcome and so they should beware. Also, because the cafe is also registered with the law enforcement agents, it makes it safer for us to operate and play safe. As a matter of rule, we don’t sell air time to under-aged children which is one of our preventive measures,” he further stated. Onwuka also noted that in this business, there is a limit in terms of profitability and growth as many factors work against those possibilities. Cyber cafes are good as businesses that provide side income as a result it favour small scale entrepreneurs. However, opportunities abound for exceptional cases.