Shareholders have decried the inability of the board of directors of Omatek Ventures Plc to revamp the company to commence effective operations after the death of the founder, Mrs. Florence Seriki.
The once booming manufacturer of computers has been comatose since the demise of the chief executive officer and group managing director of Omatek Ventures Plc, which, according to the shareholders, the government and other stakeholders should not allow the company to go into extinction with Seriki.
Seriki, an engineer, until her death on March 3, 2017 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), was one of Nigeria’s pioneers and foremost indigenous Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that specialised in the manufacturing of computers and other ICT related devices.
Also, until her death five years ago, Seriki was the largest shareholder of the company and served as Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director of Omatek Ventures Plc, which she started many years ago. She was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the first completely knocked down computer factories in Nigeria and Ghana.
What the shareholders are saying
Reacting to this development in an exclusive chat with Nairametrics, the chairman, Issuers and Investors Alternative Dispute Resolution (IIADRI), Mr. Moses Igbrude, said: “We know the efforts the woman put in place to grow the company before her unfortunate death. However, as a quoted company, the death of the founder should not be the end of the company.
What we expect is that government and other stakeholders should work with the board of directors to revamp the company. They should order for a shareholders meeting to address the challenges. We should not allow the legacy the woman left to die.
Government agencies like BOI and banks that the company is indebted to should find a way to revive the firm for the sake of the woman and what the company stand for in promoting local content”.
Boniface Okezie, the national coordinator of Progressive Shareholders Association said: “We don’t know the state of the company since the death of the founder. The board headed by Dr. Timothy Farinre as the Chairman should be able to give us reasons.
“There is need to call for shareholders’ meeting to address the issue and bring the company back to track. The country doesn’t need to be importing computers while we have a company like Omatek; and that was the dream of the founder.
“The government should come in to help revive the company to see it back to business. The company should not die with the woman. They are doing the woman disservice, leaving the company in this sorry state”.
What you should know
- A cursory look at the company’s half-year 2022 financials showed zero revenue, revealing that the company has been inactive in terms of operations. Finance cost stood at N469.56 million from N457.82 million in half year 2021. Loss after tax stood at N490.23 million from loss of N479.49 million in half year 2021. Total Asset stood at N4.698 billion in half year 2022 from N4.711 billion in 2021.
- Omatek Ventures Plc assembles and sells computer equipment and accessories in Nigeria and offers an after-sales support service.
- The company sells a range of servers, casings and LCD screens as well as computer accessories which includes CRT monitors, fingerprint scanner, wireless routers, notebooks and tablets, DVDs, plasma televisions, desktop computers, speakers and LED screens. Power products include UPS, solar panels and corn LED lights.
- Omatek Ventures Plc was the first company in Nigeria to establish a factory that assembled computer cases, speakers, keyboards and mouse accessories. The company’s head office is in Lagos, Nigeria. Omatek Ventures Plc is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange
This is the bane of most Nigerian startup companies. They go into coma when the founder(s) die. There is no robust succession plan in place in their leadership/management. Most executive decisions are concentrated into one person. And it is worse for most publicly quoted Indigenous companies where the companies are synonymous with the founders with no effective governmental involvement or intervention other than the collection of taxes. Onwuka Hitech Plc went the same way. Investors huge investments in them went down the drain. Government must take an active interest and action in these classes of industries or companies.