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But he also knows what it means to build ventures that shut down before long. “Before GigaLayer, it was a lot of trial and error,” Ahmad admits. “I can count about four or five things that I built which ended up failing.” He’s also not shy about the challenges that his company has faced—and continues to face. He speaks just as much about GigaLayer’s successes as the trials it’s had to surmount. Ahmad believes that this doesn’t take away from the brilliance of the company’s accomplishments thus far. For him, being open about the setbacks only helps other founders who haven’t come as far on their entrepreneurial journey as he has. So he was willing to share his story in an interview with Emeka Ebeniro on Connect Nigeria’s Business Connect show.
A Childhood Curiosity And A Love For Building Things
Ahmad traces his relationship with technology back to his childhood in Sokoto. Both his parents were academicians. His father, a professor, had a computer with which he emailed other academics abroad. “This sparked my interest,” Ahmad recalls. “I wanted to learn more.” He remembers logging on to Yahoo—the top search engine at the time –and noticing new changes to the pace every time. He wondered how it was done. Soon, he was taken in by the art of building with code. “I remember the first page I created,” he says with a smile. ”I called everyone to see it. But they weren’t that excited.” He continued to code. As time went by, we became gripped by an entrepreneurial drive. At age fifteen, he launched his first venture. But he says he was more interested in making things for the fun of it than solving real-world problems. “I was curious about what I could do with the things I was learning. If I learnt anything new, the first thing I thought of was how to implement or apply it.” Then he adds a line of caution. “But I advise people not to do this. The world is saturated with options. You can’t build an amateur project and expect them to accept it.”Sign up to the Connect Nigeria daily newsletter
Becoming A Proper Entrepreneur
After several attempts (including one which ended up with his selling the company for thousands of dollars), Ahmad started GigaLayer. He reckons that it’s stuck around because it provides a great product. GigaLayer’s services include domain registration and security, web hosting, and custom emails. These services are available to businesses within Nigeria, and to a dozen other countries in Africa. There are currently about 13,000 businesses using its products. Ahmad has bootstrapped it from its beginnings (it was first called Aimtech) to its present status as one of Nigeria’s top ten web hosting companies. It’s something he seems proud to mention. But that doesn’t mean it’s all gone smoothly. In 2016, the naira weakened sharply against the dollar. A lot of GigaLayer’s invoices were dollar-denominated—they used a lot of resources that originated from the United States –and the payments they received from clients were almost all in naira. As a result, the startup’s finances were hit hard. “We woke up one morning, and our entire bank value was slashed by half,” Ahmad recalls. After speaking with members of his team, Ahmad decided to act: saving the startup would require setting up an international presence. With extremely limited funding and the odds stacked against it, GigaLayer went on an aggressive campaign to launch in several countries. A few company acquisitions later, GigaLayer appears out of the woods, at least from the outside. But Ahmad, almost characteristically, says there’s more work to be done.Going Global, One Step At A Time
In 2019, GigaLayer was named one of Nigeria’s Top 100 SMEs. The award, organized by Connect Nigeria, honours fast-rising SMEs and startups. “For us, it’s a mark of authority in the space,” Ahmad says. “It has opened up opportunities and enabled us to persuade our clients about the value we offer. If we are a top 100 business, it means we’re doing something great. He also mentions that referrals have played a big part in GigaLayer’s success. It follows from his belief in the aphorism about good products selling themselves. But he does say that the company has had to fix a problem with selling in the past. These days, he notes, there’s enough positive publicity around the brand to attract new clients. Ahmad’s advice to other entrepreneurs is a blend of the lessons he’s learned through the years. Dreaming big never hurts, but it’s important to sharpen your focus as your progress. We all have to be great at one thing, at the very least. “Start by thinking broadly, globally,” he says. “Then narrow it down as you go. Take it one step at a time.” If you would like to hear more founders share their entrepreneurial stories, tune in to the Business Connect show. It’s a live session that takes place on the Connect Nigeria Instagram page every Friday, by noon. Featured Image Source: Technology TimesGot a suggestion? Contact us: editor@connectnigeria.com
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