Group Managing Director (GMD) of the digital technology firm and set-top boxes (STBs) manufacturing plant, Gospell Digital Technology (GDT), Sir Godfrey Ohuabunwa has disclosed that said that expatriates working in the company has only two to three years to transfer technology to Nigerian engineers and leave.
In an interview on the readiness of the company to fast track the nation’s drive to seamless digital switch over (DSO), he said “Skyworth Digital Holdings Co. Ltd is the company producing the box as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for all the manufactures, so for us to partner with the company is a plus”.
“However, the whole essence is not to fill the country with expatriates, no. Our agreement with Sky worth is that in the next two to three years, they will completely hands off. We are going to have knowledge transfer and the plant will be fully manned by Nigerians. As at today the plant is fully run by expatriates from France, China and young graduates from Nigeria.
Business Hilights gathered that Skyworth Digital Holdings is the number three largest set-top box manufacturing company in the whole world, which is quoted in the Honk Kong Stock Exchange market. It is a very big company with a very strong history of quality control and quality assurance.
Explaining more on why GDT is being referred to as white Label Company, Ohuabunwa revealed that “It means we are not interested in building our brand products. We are manufacturing for Free TV, we don’t own our own box”.
“FREE TV will own the box we manufacture. We are a contract company that manufacture for everybody. So all the pay TV operators, we would like to manufacture for them. They can put their names on what we manufacture. We are not competing with anybody but providing service for the industry. Gospell business strategy is not to manufacture our own brand but to be the manufacturer for brands like Multichoice, GoTV, MTN, Glo, the federal government, Army, police. Any product that requires electrical electronic board we will provide those services for them,” GDT boss averred.
Continuing, he disclosed that GDT intends to localise some of other people’s products. Right now we already have off take from the federal and state governments.
It would be recalled the company built and commissioned recently at the Free Zone Enterprise in Calabar is an initiative the federal government said is part of efforts to encourage private sector investments to grow the economy and drive the nation’s quest to successful DSO.
