By Ikeugonna Eleke
Government has been urged to support the growth of the tech industry in Nigeria as a way to encourage young people going into the sector.
Mr Linus Ifejika, the Managing Director of B-Lord Group, a fin tech company based in Awka, and owners of Billpoint App, used for payment of utility bills, made the call recently during the end of year event of the company organized for its agents.
Ifejika, a social media personality who has also been named among the richest under 30 youths, said he had been under pressure to relocate his company to Lagos and Abuja, but had rejected all the offers because he wanted to support the growth of his state.
He said: ‘We want to support Governor Chukwuma Soludo to develop Anambra State, that is why when people keep asking me, ”B-Lord, what are you doing in Awka”? I tell them that this is my home.
‘I have been under pressure to relocate my company from Awka to Lagos or Abuja, but if I leave Awka, what will these young people that are in my employ do? We have over 300 Billpoint agents, and thousands of dependents.
‘Within the seven years that we have been in existence, we have created many young millionaires. We are the only tech company in Anambra today, and we do not want to leave soon. We only ask that government should support the tech sector, so that young people who wish to pursue a career in the sector can thrive.
‘In our company we employ people without asking for years of experience because we know that most of those who want to play in the tech sector are young people. We bring young people in and give them the experience they need to thrive.
‘I’m 26 years old, so I’m a young person, and I want to help many other young people to grow. So there is no way we can be asking young people to come with years of experience before we can employ them. I have time to grow and I’m going to use that time to grow with all my agents,’ he said.
He unveiled services offered by the company to include: Billpoint, which is for payment of bills; Dolla App used to generate cards for making online payments; Famous App for elevating ones online presence, and Jetpay to trade digital assets like Bitcoin.
The event featured the presentation of gifts to agents of the company who performed exceptionally well in their transactions. The company gave out gas cookers, microwaves and 50 inches television sets as presents to agents.
