Hey guys, welcome to EntrepreneurshipMonday on BeInspiredShow. Today on the show, we have a super talented Inventor who will be sharing with us his experience as an entrepreneur. Meet Dr Brightence Ogiewonyi
Tell us about you and what you do?
I am Dr Ogiemwonyi Brightence. I’m the MD/CEO and Chief Inventor of all Brightence electronic product. In Brightence Electronics, we are an indigenous company, we manufacture a lot of products. Our focus is mainly renewable energies, alternative source of power generation.
What inspired you to Startup?
The idea of Brightence Electronics started so many years ago when I was still in secondary school. I attended Edokpolor Grammar School here in Benin City, Edo State. While in secondary school, I was always good at designing tolls, I make tolls and take them to the then Edo broadcasting service trade fare which is now referred to as Board of Internal Revenue.
In the Trade fare I use to sell those tolls I made, people will not know that it was locally made and my patronage was high. Overtime, after school, I go back to the classroom to design tolls until the day God smiled on me. My physics teacher by name Mr Aghedo, he said to me, “So you can design these circuit diagrams in your physics textbook creating something from it at a young age” He was impress and inspired. Then he told me that it will be better for me to go to the university and study electrical and electronics engineering and should also go to technical school NAPTECH and study mechanical engineering craft practice. It was lovely and I keen into the idea.
I told my parents about it. My father frowned at it and said if I study electrical/electronics he will disown me. He said a lot of people in the family wants their children to be doctors and that whether I like it or not, I should go to medical school.
I saw it as a challenge though it was painful because my dream and aspiration was to become an electrical and electronics engineering. At some point I decided to trick him, I told my father that my jamb result was ceased, whereas I gained Admission into the University of Ibadan to study Medicine. That same year I went to Technical school and did NAPTECH O’level Mechanical Engineering Craft Practice. By the time I was done I was good with circuit diagrams. Unfortunately for me, one faithful day, my father stumbled into my jamb result I said was ceased and he said “oh, you don’t want to go to medical school and you lied.” Then he said he was going to disown me. I kept begging him. My mum came to my rescue. My father went to Jamb office and got another form and filled it in my presence against my will placing my passport on it.
After so much complaint, some of my relatives who were Professors of Medicine, Professors of Dentistry came in and said the best thing for me to do was to study dentistry so that when I close by 4pm everyday I will have time to do every other thing I want to do.
I liked the idea, and I went to the University of Benin to study Dentistry. I’m a Dental Surgeon and I’m fully registered with The Nigeria Medical and dental Council.
Meanwhile, while in Medical School, in my 300L, I designed the first ever fuel free generator. A generator that can work without using fuel. That was what brought me to the limelight.
Then later something happened. There was a day I was in the hostel in medical school Uniben, Some engineering final year students were having challenges with their project work. I told them to bring the project work that I can do it for them. They refused, but I insisted. I told them not to pay me. I did the project work for them and they were amazed. They took the work to the university for defence. In the process of the project defence so many questions were raised and they could not answer them. The professor in charge of the interview was curious, saying if they were the ones who designed the work, how come they can’t answer the questions. They were now in a fixed. That was how they confessed that it was somebody in the school of Dentistry that did it for them. The lecturers were furious, and requested to see me.
That was how I met the man who God will continue to bless forever, Professor F.O Edekor, he was a professor of Electrical/Electronics Department, as at that time, he was the Dean of Engineering, University of Benin.
Prof. drew me close. Because I didn’t study engineering, there were some things I didn’t know, he took his time and pain to put me through so many things. Within a few years, I become good. I started doing a lot of innovative inventions, a lot of circuitry products that were amazing and mind blowing. That was how Prof Edekor came into my life, giving me the opportunity to design some of these product and test run them in the engineering lab and see how they work.
That was how I started basically and today I’m into the manufacturing of Brightence Inverter, Alternator booster, face selectors, automatic change overs, industrial customize centralize stabilizers and NPPT solar charge controllers and so many others.
Wow, should we say Brightence Electronics Company is a combination of talent and skills?
Yes! All of these things are good given talents. Like I said I’m a doctor, but also an electrical and electronics invertor. They are just God given talents. The kind of things I can do, I can’t say all here. And that’s the reason why I took it as part of our companies cooperate social responsibility to train students, youth, people who are willing to learn how to do some of these things. I cannot live forever. But I want the knowledge to be passed from one generation to another. So far I have been able to train over a hundred and ten students on how to make some of these product. Today they are great entrepreneurs.
How would you describe the state of power supply in Nigeria and how do you think Brightence Electronic Company can come in?
It is painful that in Nigeria after so many years of independence, we still struggle with power problems. It looks as if some of the things we are using are most of those things left behind for us by the colonial masters. The challenges facing Nigeria in terms of power to say the list is embarrassing. That since independence we are still struggling to have constant power in Nigeria.
However, there are several alternatives and solutions to the power problems in Nigeria. The first thing is that Government must be willing to appoint people who have the technological know how in the ministry.
Also communities are expanding everyday. People are building houses, buying electronics in the various houses. You don’t expect a particular transformer serving the entire community to remain the same for years. As communities are expanding, government is expected to be adding new transformers, upgrading the KVA’s to higher capacities so as to accommodate people building new houses and buying more electronics.
Then we now talk about the generation of power, the transmission of power and then the distribution of the power.
Brightence Electronic Company has always said it that it is easy for us to come into the power sector in Nigeria and solve it. How? The idea of using hydro electricity power generation should not be the sole source of power for a country with so much population as Nigeria. For example, we can use high quality solar panels to power the North because of the high sun intensity using the mono crystalize solar panel. While in the south the poly crystalize solar panel.
Apart from bringing in solar panels, look at Enugu for example, we have coal. Why can’t we use coal as another source of power solutions. We also have power degradable waste that people can use to generate power.
Here in Brightence Electronics, we have been able to bridge the gap between the power failure and the time the public power will be restored by providing what we call Brightence Inverters with Brightence NPPT solar controllers. And with quality batteries, we can guarantee you twenty four hours independent power supply. Here in our office, we generate our own independent power. So I advice people to keen into the idea of using Renewable energies.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a company and how were you able to overcome?
First, one of the challenge we face in the company is being able to raise capitals to mass produce the product through out the country. With mass production, the prices can become cheaper and readily affordable for people. That’s where we look at government intervention. However, we’ve been able to do our best within our capacity to produce the products in quantity that enable us meet our customers demand. Also we are always improving on our product base on customers review and that’s why we have different models of our product. And our labels are proudly Nigeria.
What are some of your visions for your company in few years from now?
By the Grace of God, we look at the situation whereby we are able to expand the company and have offices in every state in the country. Apart from that, set up a training institute, a school where people can come to learn technical practical work. No too much theories, you come, you learn practical skills. As an IT student you can also come and learn some of these things.
Can you mention one or two entrepreneurs that inspires you?
I would compare myself with the likes of people who are inventors and how they have been able to achieve giant strides in their own businesses. People like Steve Jobs and Bill Gate and maybe Dangote in Nigeria who has a lot of branded product.
How would you advice a Nigeria youth?
My advice for a teaming Nigeria youth would be that, learn not to rely on white collar jobs alone. They should learn how to do things that can make them self employed or student entrepreneurs. That is my advice for young Nigerians.
Alright guys, thank you for staying through with us on the show. It’s been an inspiring section with the CEO of Brightence Electronic Company, Dr Brightence Ogiemwonyi. He has shared with us how he has been able to combine talent and skills. And how he has been able to build his company so far. It’s been beautiful. Just imagine the federal Government of Nigeria collaborating with him, you will be amaze at what can be done. I am very sure that in less than two years, electricity problem in Nigeria can be solved.
Thank you so much once again for staying with us, It’s Mercy Omoregie on BeInspiredShow, See you next week Monday.
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Mercy Omoregie is a New Media Consultant and Content Strategist. She consults on content creation for personal and business growth, helping businesses develop strategic web content to promote their brands online.
Mercy Omoregie is a Script Writer and a member of the team of writers for the Executive Governor of Edo State.
Mercy is a humanitarian, with passion for personal and business development in Africa. Along with her team, she organizes digital skills training for teenagers in secondary schools. Plus, other online exclusive master classes that inspire and empower young people to fully maximize their potential. Leveraging the digital space!
Mercy is the Convener of the Content Strategy Forum (CSF), Africa's number one forum that trains young graduates, career professionals and entrepreneurs on content development and strategies.
Mercy Omoregie is the founder of BeInspired Show, an online platform where she writes to inspire young people, hosting interview sessions with great Africa entrepreneurs, Government personnel, thought leaders and Influencer with a focus on inspiring and promoting startup and successful entrepreneurs in Africa, telling and sharing their stories.
Mercy is an Author of three books including; Power Content: A content creation insight for every brand and business. Connect with her by clicking the icons below.
very inspiring and challenging post.