The Nigerian market has opened up to the world since the return to democracy in 1999 and investors has trailed the Nigerian markets. Kazeem James and Ejikeme Okeke caught up with Steven Hoepel, the MD/CEO of Dunameous Trading International Limited (a Dutch company), and he shared his dream, passion and love for the Nigerian market. Here are the Excerpts.
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Q:
What is Dunameos all about and who are the target clientele?
A:
Dunameos Trading International Ltd is a Company I started together with my partner and friend Joost Laan with the intention of serving the Nigerian market and to play a role in the development of Nigeria. We are aiming to bring Trucks, Earthmoving equipment, Mining Equipment, Construction Equipment, cars and also Generators to Nigeria, our philosophy is to work on order in order to keep things as cheap as possible for our customers and we will only concentrate on doing a quality job for our customers, who you can find in the Oil & Gas, Construction , Mining and also car industry our main aim is to do B 2 B service.
Q:
To go by the endless stream of negative copy by the international press, the Nigerian image is in shambles. Why do you want to risk it?
A:
That is correct the International press is indeed not to positive about Nigeria however I know Nigerians are basically good and honest persons it’s only a small percentage that was able to destroy the chances for the honest businessman. However nowadays you see that also the Nigerian Government is working towards improving the international view of Nigeria by also bringing justice to those fraudsters that are destroying the name of Nigeria.
Q:
Local Content input is important in every sector in Nigeria now; are you here just to make sales and bolt away with the money or do you have plans of investing in solid structures. eg. Warehouses, Training centers etc
A:
This is a very good question, It is my intention to bring some knowledge and improve things in Nigeria that I have seen that can be done better, Like we are planning to open warehouses in various parts of Nigeria where we also want to offer services like spare parts sales, Repairs and Maintenance, Showroom and technical support to our customers.
Q:
You were with Seatrucks Nigeria limited; what was your job there and are you counting on your experience while at Seatrucks to mean success of your new company.
A:
Thanks to Sea Trucks I discovered that Nigeria was something completely different from what I’ve expected as the only information I had was the International media and the way they where talking made it look like Nigeria is a very dangerous place where you will likely be a victim of kidnapers, armed robbers and also fraudsters who will take away all your valuables.
And soon enough after my first arrival that proved to be not the case I have never been into most of these dangers only that people tried several times to make me fall for a scam, however if you are careful and check the people you work with well you will soon see who is real and who is not.
What made me to decide to start Dunameos Trading International Ltd was when working with a Construction Company in Nigeria I noticed how difficult it was to find good equipment to rent and to buy, they all where very expensive because of the high demand and the low numbers of equipment available.
I saw that there is a niche in the Market where we can be of help and that is to supply the Nigerian market with good and clean equipment, trucks, cars and generators for a reasonable rate so the client will be happy and we as well for building up a large number of clients who we want to be connected with for a long period of time.
Q:
Does your company intend to offer services to the Oil & Gas Industry in Nigeria; if so, what are the specific areas are you focusing at?
A:
Our company will support the Oil & Gas industry in Nigeria by supplying the contractors with good equipment and material to enable them to do a better job.
Q:
Nigeria is a developing country; with massive road construction projects ongoing or being planned in years to come; do you see an opportunity for dunameos trading international limited in this whole development?
A:
I believe that Dunameos International Trading Ltd has been registered in the right time and we will be able to play a role in all these developments and projects that are ready to commence.
Q:
Are you also looking at investing in other African countries? If so which other country or countries are you looking at?
A:
We are definitely looking at other African countries and one of them is Ghana a Country which I expect will come into development and a country in development needs the tools to build the infrastructure, which we will gladly supply to them, however our first aim is to establish first in Nigeria and see how soon we will start activities in Ghana and possible other countries in Africa.
Q:
What competitive advantages do you have over other companies offering similar services?
A:
The advantages of Dunameos Trading International are we want to deliver quality equipment and timely delivery is our motto, will the main aim is to keep it cheap in order to make more turnover. Furthermore we have a very thorough network in Europe en the US, which enables us to find exactly the products that our customers are demanding, instead of just bringing in all kinds of equipment and hoping for a buyer. That is why we want to have a personal relationship with our customers, we can think with them about their exact needs, which we aim to deliver.
Then we will concentrate on a good after sales policy and service to our clients that they will remain with us and build with us on a long lasting Business Relationship.
Q:
Where do you see Dunameos in the next five years?
A:
Our aim is to become a key player when it comes to bringing in Equipment, Trucks, and Cars into Nigeria and to also get more involved in training good technicians who will be able to maintain the Equipment and take away that part of our clients who can buy and maintain their equipment with us we will keep up with them when there equipment is due for service.
Q:
The market you target: Equipment supply, has some key players. John Holt is one. Leventis is another. They’ve been here forever. How do you hope to gain a foothold?
A:
First of all I have to say the Nigerian Market is very large and it has not reached its peak yet, and it is my believe and expectation that from this year it will grow in an exploding manor that there is enough room for more suppliers for equipment etc.
And what we will also do we will be different from the existing suppliers in a way we bring our Dutch culture with us in supplying in timely delivery of good and clean equipment that will not give unnecessary downtime due to lack of maintenance or over abuse.
Q:
How long have you worked in Nigeria?
A:
I started working in Nigeria in 2007 what was a steep learning curve for me, at first I had to learn the Pigeon English and also the Nigerian culture which has a big difference compared with Europe.
This lead to many funny situations for instance ones I asked my driver to bring me to my house to quickly collect some documents and to return to the office immediately after that.
I told him don’t go away I will be back shortly, the moment I left the car he drove of with high speed and before I reached him on the phone he was almost back at the office, he was surprised as according to him I just told him to go away as in pigeon don’t means do.
But in European English don’t means do not.
Q:
How soon do you plan to commence operations?
A:
Dunameos International Trading Ltd , has started operations since the 25th of February this year.
We are in talkes with various clients and building on a good and long lasting relationship
Q:
What is the single major challenge you expect to deal with, in the Nigerian business environment, as you commence operations?
A:
The single major challenge I expect to deal with are more than one,
1. How to satisfy the huge demand: that is my biggest challenge and I am also very happy with this challenge as it means we will have much business the only thing is we will need to consolidate resources in order to be able to patronize our clients
2. We must get trustful, good & responsible employees who can with a strong client awareness when we will start to expand.

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