True Nigerian Experience Interview with Chantelle Abdul.
1. For 34 years, Mojec International holdings have gone from
Power, Energy, Technology, Real Estates to mining. Kindly run us through your
trajectory from 1985 to 2019.
MOJEC Group of Companies is an international holdings
company headquartered in Lagos with operations in Power, oil and gas, Renewable
Energy, Smart Homes, Mining and the retail sector. Its Subsidiary, Mojec Meter
Company is the largest meter manufacturer in Nigeria.
Mojec international’s rich history is rooted in its
provision of key products and services to the consumers. Mojec has its roots in
FMCG (Fast Moving Consumers Goods), it began as a commodities company,
distributing and marketing Michelin tyres, through its partnership with the
French owned Michelin tyres; papers and foods to Nigerians, via its partnership
with NORSE paper and WAPCO respectively.
Mojec eventually became Michelin tyres’ leading Distributor
and was nominated Michelin Ambassador for West Africa in the year.
By the early 90’s the company had ventured into the Nigerian
Power sector and was the first to introduce prepaid meter technology to the
then NEPA (National Electric Power Authority) turned PHCN (POWER HOLDINGS
COMPANY OF NIGERIA), the nationalised government parastatal which had the
responsibility of generating,
transmitting and distributing power in Nigeria.
The biggest issue with the national utility was revenue
protection; its inability to collect payments on bills issued to customers. A
prepaid meter afforded them the opportunity to collect payments ahead of
consumption. At the time there was a 90% metering gap in the country as such
Nigerians were given estimated bills by the Utility which led to a distrust of
the utility by customers. Mojec took on the gigantic task of helping bridge the
metering gap in the country.
In 2010, MOJEC introduced smart Meters into the country and
by 2013 pre-privatisation of the power sector, Mojec International built the
largest meter assembly facility with an installed capacity of 1.2 million
meters in the heart of the commercial capital of the country, Lagos. Today the
firm is tripling its production capacity by building a state-of-the-art
manufacturing plant located in its ‘’SMART ELECTRIC-CITY’’ Project, the largest
of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.
By 2016, three years post- privatisation, Mojec had a 50%
penetration into the market and by 2018 the company had footprints in over 75%
of the metering market, serving 8 out of the 11 Utilities in the country. Mojec
meters was the first firm in the power space to roll-out mass meters into the
Nigerian market, providing multi- year financing payment options to the
utilities to enable them deploy hundreds of thousands of meters to eager
customers. Mojec pioneered the vendor financing of large meter contracts to
utilities with minimal collateral requirement and as such Mojec Finance was
born out of the necessity to provide financing options to the utilities in
Nigeria. Mojec Meter company has the largest installation fleet in the country by
virtue of the size of its meter production contract with the Discos.
Mojec Meter is now a leading indigenous manufacturer and
contractor to power utilities in Nigeria and across the western hemisphere, and
has won several awards such as West Africa Power Industry awards, in 2016. In
2019, Mojec achieved another milestone. The company got listed in the London
Stock Exchange as one of the companies to inspire Africa. This accomplishment
which the company is very proud of prides itself on hard work, great team of
experts, innovation, great customer service and excellent service delivery.
Today, as part of its smart electric city project, Mojec is
venturing into the local production of meter boxes, circuit breakers and other
components that are used in metering to serve the 70% metering gap in the
country which is initially estimated at between 5-10million meters. The company has also made great strides in
mining assets in the country with intent to explore and refine produce for
exports. Lastly, its greatest pride is in empowering young people and building
Africa of the Future and to do so, Africa needs to leverage on technology to
leap sing it the 22nd century.
At Mojec, we are committed to building a world of
possibilities. We are building Africa’s future and building the future in
Africa.
2. The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission recently
introduced Meter Assets Provider Scheme to fast track the roll-out of prepaid
meters to the Electricity consumers. Consequently, Mojec Meters Assets
Management company signed the retail financing with 8 Nigerian Banks for
electricity consumers, how well have you gone with this initiative
The Nigerian
Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) introduced a new regulation called MAP
(Meter Asset Provider Scheme) in May 2018. The scheme which was subsequently
implemented in 2019 was designed to fast track the closure of the metering gap
which extricates consumers from plight of dealing with estimated electricity
bills given by the utilities. It also encouraged the development of independent
and competitive meter services in the industry.
In April 2019, Mojec Meter company partnered with Eight (8)
banks to provide loans to customers to enable them purchase meters. These
partner banks include Zenith Bank, Polaris Bank, First Bank, Sterling Bank,
Wema Bank, Unity Bank and Keystone bank. Customers can now approach these banks
to get their meter purchasing loans.
Mojec Meter Asset Management Company (M3AC) is the MAP subsidiary of Mojec International. M3AC is saddled with the task of providing meter assets, installation and maintaining financing of these meters to end users for 1-10 years., It is the largest MAP in the country today.
“In 2019, Mojec achieved another milestone. The Company got listed on the London Stock Exchange as one of the companies to inspire Africa. This accomplishment, which the company is very proud of, prides itself on hard work, great team of experts, innovation, great customer service and excellence service delivery.
M3AC won the award to provide meters to 3million Nigerians
over the course of 3 years, as such M3AC and Mojec Finance must develop the
in-house capacity to lend money to retail customers. The opportunity for
investment here is Immense because it runs into revenues in the hundreds of
Millions of dollars and it entails lending to the informal sector of the
country which makes up about 60% of the population.
3. Beyond Metring of homes and commercial clients, Mojec
Power is said to be leading the provision of renewable energy to commercial and
industrial clients. Tell us more about your venture into the clean Energy
space.
In a strategic move to further tackle the challenge of
uninterrupted power supply to Africans,
2019 was tagged ‘’ THE BEYOND METERING YEAR’’.
Virtuitis Solaris is Mojec’s
Portfolio company for the provision of
renewable energy solutions and smart Energy. The company seeks to use the power
of abundant Sun in Africa to power people’s homes, offices, industries and
cars. During the day while they are not home, the power generated by the
panels can be stored in smart energy
storage units called V-cube or the
V-container (which stores up to
100kv of power).
Virtutis Solaris also offers clients smart home Solutions
which includes automation, Energy measurement and Energy Management. Customers
are able to remotely switch on and off appliances in their homes in the bid to
manage their energy consumption. Solaris intends to deploy solutions
nationwide.
Solaris is also involved in building embedded mini grids for
large commercial, industrial, and utility customers.
4. In your opinion, six years down the line, how well have
we fared with Nigeria Power Privatisation Program of 2013.
In my opinion, we have fared very well with the Nigeria
Power Privatisation Program of 2013. The Federal Government took the very bold
step of privatizing the Nigerian power sector in 2013 with the sale of majority
shares in the Distribution and Generation companies to private investors.
The privatization was driven by the desperate situation of
the sector, which affected businesses and all aspects of Nigerian life, thereby
crippling economic growth as only 4,000 megawatts of power was available to 180
million Nigerians.
One major key to our success has been the willingness to
identify industry issues and tailor solutions to them and address industry
issues directly. Some examples include lack of finance in the sector, we
designed to address this issue with the distribution companies (discos). We
were able to get and offer vendor funding which made our meters attractive to
our customers and the discos. Another example is our willingness to tailor our
meters to address the needs of our customers, such as enhanced resistance to
tampering. This helps to ensure adoption in the market. We also ensure that at
all times we are the most cost effective and reliable solution to our client’s
problems.
As we look into the future, while acknowledging the great challenges ahead, we continue to see opportunity for growth in the sector and are willing and able to partner with key industry stakeholders to face and surmount the industry problems head on.