Continental’: From classroom teacher to business mogul

 

 

“One business is not enough to survive contemporary challenges,” says Mamman.

Former Chairman, Katsina State Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KATCCIMA), Alhaji Salisu Mamman, aka Continental Computers, is an accomplished entrepreneur, philanthropist and a household name in Katsina. In this interview, he speaks with ANDY ASEMOTA on his grass to grace story, the misconception over the true meaning of public service and other critical issues.Excepts:

You have no doubt turn your vision into reality. When and what venture was your turning point in business?

As a friend, colleague, associate and neighbour all over the years, you know when it all started. The journey of my business or entrepreneurship actually started of course since I was serving at Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic; what we did there was part time in nature and I felt I needed a second destination and a second address.

I started experimenting with one or two things that can actually add value to my life and by extension the life of my immediate family and that was when I started one or two business ventures.

The crystalization of it came when I took the most important decision of my life: Voluntarily relinquishing my appointment at Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic and concentrating fully as an entrepreneur.

I am one of the pioneers of the ICT and renewable energy in Katsina State dating back to 1993 and of course this has always been our core area of competence and we took advantage of the advent of telecommunications services in 2003 and ventured into the telecommunications.

Earlier than that, I had a portfolio of selling desktop telecom sets and of course the mobile that we were mounting on antennae with a radius of about five to six and sometimes 10 kilometres within Katsina metropolis. After that came 09 and 010 in those days even though the services never reached Katsina as a state. Fortunately for us in 2003, MTN and Econnect launched their services in Katsina and we were covered.

So, it has been a very glorious and a very successful story: from grass to grace; from ground zero to where we are today. We are grateful to God.

 

At a time, you were second to Katsina State Government as an employer of labour in the state, are you still maintaining that position?

Yes and no, you see, as I said, we leveraged on telecom and it was in the telecom business, as the pace setter, that gave us the mileages across the the 34 local government areas in the state.

We were selling recharge cards, marketing sim cards and at the same time selling handsets and other accessories.

When I was probably the sole distributor of the major telecom services: MTN, Glo and Econnect much later, V-Mobile, we had across the state over 5,000 agents and we had over 10,000 indirect agents who sold recharge cards at different places. In fact, even housewives were selling recharge cards in the comfort of their homes and they were buying and selling as agents.

So, yes, it true that at a time when we were the sole or major distributors of some of these telecom companies, only Katsina State Government could claim to have more employees than us.

Today, as it were, I have done a lot of rationalization and streamlining of the operations of Continental Computers and part of what made me to embark on the downsizing was the policy of MTN to stop selling or marketing of recharge cards.

Consequently, I concentrated on two or three strategic dealership which the MTN has given us and that portfolio does not warrant big size distributorship.

Now, I am the data trade partner of MTN in Katsina State, which means I market data only for MTN and I am their ICT partner, so, I deploy their PLN line. What it means is I deploy the optic fibre and micro-wave radio for small size offices, government institutions, NGOs and others who require bulk volume of data or such services.

Recently, we added another portfolio that gives us again larger customers base, that is the MTN Mobile Money. You know, the MTN Mobile Money has been granted license by CBN as one of the payment service bank. On that payment service bank, we represent MTN in Katsina North, other wise known as Daura zone, which consists of 12 local government areas. We are the sole distributor of the payment service bank of MTN in Katsina North.

The service is structured in a way and manner that no one company is given more than one or two senatorial zones across Nigeria simply because they want to give many companies the opportunity to market their products.

 

 What is your advice to the average businessman on how to survive and thrive in Nigeria?

Because of the challenges, you know, I am a consultant, Andy. So, some of the questions you are asking me are accruing free consultancy services.

Of course, one has to diversify; you need to diversify your portfolio to survive the contemporary challenges of Nigeria’s business environment. Let me tell you, the challenges are not limited to Nigeria, these challenges are global .

 There is no doubt that you play some active roles in politics, at least in your local government area. Why have you not offered yourself for the service of your people through serving in political office after all the accolades in your kitty?

You see, I am beyond my local government area, I participate across the 34 local government areas in Katsina State because the Continental Foundation which I represent has done a lot of projects across all the local government areas of the state though we concentrated, first, on my village – Kadandani – and cascaded it down to Rimi Local Government Area and by extension katsina State as a whole.

Our recent signature project that was commissioned about a forth night ago by His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, with His Royal Highness, the Emir of Katsina and his Daura Emirate counterpart as well as other well meaning dignitaries in attendance, touches the life of every person in Katsina State because the Katsina General Hospital, which is the state’s premier hospital, where the project is located is patronized by all and sundry in the state.

You see, God in His own wisdom has made it in such a way that you don’t have to occupy a political office before you can actually participate or provide one form of service or the other to the people.

I don’t have to aspire to public office before I can say let me render service to the people because the whole idea behind public service is service to humanity; service to the people. So, at different levels, as a businessman, as an entrepreneur, I can provide those services that the President, the governors, the senators, the House of Representatives and the State House of Assembly members can provide.

My role is to complement those efforts at various levels. So, it’s not all of us that, by act of divine Providence, can say I want to aspire to be this or that.

You as a journalist can contribute to the system without necessarily leaving your comfort zone of journalism and contesting for the chairmanship of your local government. This is the way I see it.

So, I don’t have at any given time to relinquish whatever I am doing in Continental Computers and say that I am contesting for political office before I can deliver service to the people of Katsina State.

 

It’s believed in some circles that the 28 bed comprehensive female ward you constructed and equipped in Katsina General Hospital among other projects showed that your foundation is now in the league of development partners. Can you speak on the achievements of Continental Computers Foundation?

We have done much, the major ones are infrastructural in nature. My first project was the construction of Kadandani Community Day Secondary School which was commissioned in 2016 and it consists of all the facilities required by the school.