Diro Systems - 10 Years On
Today, we at Diro Systems, celebrate our ten year anniversary. This dream was sown in the halls of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. But even before that, I watched my late father, Engineer Gerald Anigbo, leave the public sector where he had enjoyed the privilege of being part of several iconic engineering projects in Nigeria (including the Kainji Dam and Niger Bridge projects), to start his own Engineering company. He named this naturally after the last born in our family and the apple of his eyes, Sandra. Sandrex, as the company was named, sadly did not last long enough to do everything Dad had set out in his vision as death came far too early and well before the company could take off properly.
I remember waking up early to go down to his offices and watch him be his own boss with dedication and focus. As a 9 year old I was sold! It was no surprise that some time, as my finals approached as a Pure and Industrial Chemistry undergraduate, I made up my mind that I will run my own company.
It was during my National Youth Service Corps year that I fell in love with Information Technology. Back in those days, it was very new in Nigeria and access was low. Nevertheless, my friend and fellow youth corper in Calabar, Benjamin Mukoro, encouraged me to register for my first IT Training.
And the journey was off and running.
In typical energetic mode, I left service and immediately registered Diro Systems (with Fabito’s kind help) and quickly realised I knew nowhere near enough to run a company never mind a technology one.
This prompted the decision to proceed to the UK for my Masters in Computing. At the end of my studies, I was fortunate enough to join my mentor and boss for 11 years, Cedric Frederick, at then Penta Housing Limited. I cannot say enough about Cedric’s influence in my career as he provided me all the guidance and platform to express myself professionally. Huw Davies, was another that I learnt a lot from at a time when I needed to learn so much about corporate leadership.
Throughout my 11 years at what eventually became ADEPTA, I worked with so many incredibly talented colleagues including Martin Nicholas, now Director of Partners in Support (incidentally one of Diro Systems’ first clients!), William Ajala and Sophia Phills amongst so many others.
On the 4th of January 2008, I registered Diro Systems in the UK and in August 2008 finally left Adepta to run the company fully.
In 2009, we started the push to work on the African continent as part of the dream to bring valuable skills and experience to support the growth being experienced in especially Nigeria. Our first foray included co-hosting a seminar on Disaster Recovery in Lagos. This opened our eyes to the immense challenges and opportunities on the African continent.
It will still take us till 2012 to set up our offices in Lagos and begin to service the Nigerian market.
Over the 10 years since, we have been privileged to work with so many wonderful clients including Retail Trust, Partners In Support, the UK Government’s “Get Connected” project, Be Totally You, Pinnacle College, Bloombreed Schools, Shell, Total E&P, Africa Internet Group (Lamudi), Seadrill, Suntrust Oil, Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, Union Bank, VGC Water Services and so many others.
We have experienced steady growth and survived two recessions while delivering successful projects for our clients.
Some of our notable projects include:
An Intelligent Video Surveillance System for one of banking clients
The development of The Global Nigeria Platform
A Private Cloud Infrastructure Deployment
Deployment of DWDM systems to improve performance to Disaster Recovery site.
A campus wide mix of wireless and wired LAN
Beyond the projects we have been able to develop ourselves into a responsive and reliable partner for our clients. This is something we take very seriously.
As we celebrate these strides, I will like to acknowledge the support of our Chairman, Ugo Okafor and my fellow directors, Chuks Adichie and Olisa Allanah. These guys have been immense in driving this journey to this stage and continue to provide necessary sounding board for our ideas and challenges.
On a purely personal level, I must mention my brothers Chuka Okolo and Emeka Onugha who have become informal board members standing in the gap for me whenever I needed picking up.
Enterpreneurship can be a lonely place and you need totally biased cheerleaders for those difficult moments. I have been blessed with Ada Nwako (my twinnie), Og Nwakoby, Azubuike Ofokansi, Igo and Odiri Weli, Essien Efana-Okon, Ogo Ibok, Okwy Okeke, Roosevelt Ogbonna, Emeka Okafor, Chibuzo Efobi, Uche Ugwu, Stephanie Busari, My TEDxEuston family (Chikwe Ihekweazu, Ike Anya, Amina Abonde-Adigun, Ifediba Greenstein, Adaugo Amajuoyi, Felicia Meyerowitz, Chika Unigwe), Nneka Onah, Irunna Ejibe and so many more.
The heroes of the journey no doubt are the many current and former members of the Diro team over the ten years. Each one has added something to the journey. I thank you all.
For those thinking of similar journeys, my key take away from the past 10 years is this. You need an army of smart and good people around you. I have listed mine. Make sure you can list yours!!
I look forward with even more enthusiasm to the next 10!
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