USTDA TEAM PAYS HOTSPOT A WORKING VISIT

A team from United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) came on a working visit to Hotspot Network Limited. The team comprised of the Regional Director, Sub – Saharan Africa, Heather Lanigan, Regional Manager, Financing and Implementation, Sarah Whitten, West Africa Manager, Jillian Foerster and the Country Director, Josh Egba.

They discussed extensively with members of the Board and Management of Hotspot on the on-going Rural Telephony feasibility study, supply chain, implementation and operations.

The Hotspot team which received the USTDA delegates were Ms. Chinenye Uwanaka a Non-Executive Director, the Founder and CEO, Engr. Morenikeji Aniye, Chief Operating Officer, Adesola Soetan, Chief Technical Officer, Kefas Obuezue, the Head of Human Resources and Administration, Dominic Ogu.

In her welcome remark, Ms. Uwanaka, the representative present during the visit expressed her appreciation to the US government in its support to promote an all-inclusive growth and development in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. She was much impressed to see a great number of female delegates as she mentioned that the rural telephony project will empower many women and lift many families out of poverty. She said that Hotspots vision for the rural project goes way beyond communication and has a sustainable and continuous growth plan.

The CEO was most delighted in the continued show of interest in Hotspots rural telephony project. He explained that Hotspots’ rural telephony project goes beyond deploying network sites, “it is an all-encompassing project that impacts on the socio-economic aspect of the host communities. It brings with it, a new wave of opportunities and improved livelihood through communication and power distribution” he said. He further explained that these network sites will grow to provide solar kiosk that will power the telecoms infrastructure and rural digital centers. The CEO said that the digital centers will support farmers, healthcare services, ICT knowledge center, education and provide a platform for government and non-government enrollments such as voter registration and the NIN for the villagers.

The CTO, Kefas Obuezue while showing them the monitoring solution at the Network Observation Center explained that the software in use for observation has the capability of feedback on transmission, power and traffic reports from each site. Sola Soetan, the COO explained that Hotspot has maintained a process that has seen the deployment of over 150 network sites in the urban and rural space but working to improve on the process for better delivery and management of the growing network.