John Ugbe
Multichoice Nigeria Limited is at present celebrating its 20 years of operation in Nigeria. Its Managing Director, Mr. John Ugbe, in this interview with Festus Akanbi says the company has so far invested about N55 billion in Nigeria in the past 20 years. He also speaks on the export of Nigeria’s entertainment industry outside the shore of the land, the tax system and other issues
What do you think will come to Nigerians’ mind when they talk about Multichoice or DSTV?
In terms of entertainment, we make Nigerians happy. If you ask Nigerians about the teams in the English Premiership, they will be able to tell you names of the teams that have always been there every year. I think the kids will be able to tell you about a lot of exciting kiddies’ programmes, so I think it depends on who you ask but the important story behind it will be good family entertainment and also being able to bring the world to Nigerian homes and taking Nigeria to the World. I think there is a lot we don’t even know by ourselves but through television, through DSTV we have been able to add value.
What’s your staff strength in Nigeria?
That’s always one of the toughest questions because of the philosophy of the company. Multichoice has about 100 offices nationwide. The important thing is that we have partnered with Nigerians to own those offices and locations so, those businesses are extensions of our business. We have directly and indirectly recruited many people but I can tell you that our staff strength is over 3,000. As I speak, some DSTV super dealers might be employing some staff. However, the beauty of it is that Nigerians own those businesses. We also have a bigger extension if I have to count the retailers who sell and install DSTV and offer support to the organisation all over the country, we have well over 10,000 people because the average person you see installing DSTV is indirectly working for us. The concept of super dealers is one of our business initiatives. So we are in Nigeria ceding these processes to Nigerian companies who are building their capacities.
How come the population advantage in Nigeria has not reflected in the size of the workforce of Multichoice unlike the situation in South Africa, and why has it been difficult for the company to have a very big structure in Nigeria?
That is always the talk in Nigeria but if you look around our head office, you will see Multichoice offices all over the place. If you go to Ikeja, you will see Multichoice offices but in spite of this, I can tell you we have a construction going on in Lagos because we have decided to bring everybody together, so we are building very big premises in Lagos. And recently, we purchased and developed one in Abuja where we have a six-floor, a very modern building, and it’s like our regional hub in the north. Don’t forget we have studios, where we run programming daily. And when I’m talking of workforce, I have not even counted people that work in the studio. There is a sister company like Super sport with big workforce. To bring you the Nigerian premier league match life on air is between 60 and 70 people. There are OB vans in several locations; we do the same for basketballs.
You recently unveiled the 20th anniversary logo. What is it about?
The special thing about this logo is the fact that it was created by a Nigerian, which is his own interpretation of Multichoice and the impacts we have had and our theme of Keeping Families Together. So for us, it’s significant that we didn’t get the logo from Europe but from Nigeria and we didn’t just sit down and design it ourselves, but we put it out there for young Nigerians to show their innovations which are what we admire in this country. The I can-do-it spirit and it was one of the hardest decisions to choose the winner. We had 17,000 entries into that competition and the winner is a 27 year-old man.
Will Multichoice adopt the logo?
No, the logo is just to commemorate our 20th anniversary.
How will you respond to the allegation that Multichoice has killed other pay TV organisations in Nigeria?
We don’t kill. I think the business has a very important philosophy which is, not doing what others are doing. Apart from this, we also have our vision, which is, developing for the future. I think the Pay TV business is often misunderstood. It is a very long term business. It is also a very tough industry. So, Multichoice has been able to survive 20 years in Nigeria because the vision was not to make profit immediately but to develop an institution that will outlive the people that started the business. So, it’s a very long term vision and we are not aiming to compete even in Africa. Someone asked me and I mentioned that DSTV was the second digital pay TV in the world after the Americas, before Europe, but not only that our DSTV/GOTV Mobile is the first mobile TV offering in Africa and if it is compared with what is being done around the world, we took the continent, we took the country and we look at the challenges we have, built products from innovation point of view but also, we don’t bring old technology. We are even ahead of what people referred to as First World Technology.
How are you responding to the complaints concerning the mobile TV which you just talked about? People say it freezes.
When we get complaints from customers, we interact with them to resolve those complaints, what we have always done is continuous improvement, as you will see, we had 3.5 and then we came out with seven inch walker. It’s improvement in technology. Being pioneer in technology means you are going out with a ground-breaking product and also what you do is continuous improvement. We will continuously fix any issue that may come up but I can tell you, we have received loads of comments from happy users of this technology. It’s a satellite offering, it is not everywhere you go that you can use it. It can only be used in certain cities and of course you have to be within a particular coverage. We don’t sell it outside places where we do not have coverage.
Considering the state of power supply in Nigeria, some consumers of your products have complained that they are being surchanged since they hardly have what it takes to watch TV. Why can’t you adopt card technology so that consumers will pay for what they watch only?
I think from technology point of view, at the moment, the answer is no. You have to look at the industry. Not all industries can use card technology. It’s like going into a restaurant and you say look, let me just start eating. If I have to leave, whatever I eat is what I pay for. It is in order to serve you, that they create the menu that you can buy a plate of food at certain amount. Content, unfortunately is not paid for in minutes. You can’t pay to watch a football match by minutes. You don’t walk into a stadium to watch a match by minutes and after some time you walk out and demand that you want half or one third of the cost of your ticket back. If you buy a ticket to watch a football match, even if you don’t turn up to watch the match, it is given that you have watched the match. The same thing happens when you go to the movies. Once you buy a movie ticket and walk into a movie theatre, once the movie starts or even if the movie is on and you have to run out in an emergency, that is the end of it, you can’t be refunded. Unfortunately, different businesses have different modules. The module of entertainment industry is not per second.
How have you been able to export Nigerian culture to the outside world?
If you look at Africa as a whole, there is more of appreciation of the Nigerian culture. If you look at channels like African Magic Yoruba, you won’t know the proper impact until you go to other African countries and someone speaks a few words in Yoruba Language. You won’t appreciate the worth of the Yoruba content we have until someone speaks to you in the language. That was why we resolved when we started that we were not only going to bring foreign programmes to Nigeria but we also want to develop very strong Nigerian content, which has made the industries in Nigeria, the music industry and Nollywood to grow because of the ability to reach outside the border of Nigeria. Today, Nigerian artistes are big everywhere because people have the opportunity to appreciate what they do.
You recently declared the readiness of Multichoice management to invest in local content, infrastructure and youth development before the end of the year. How far have you gone on this?
Some of the investments are ongoing, we have rolled out in the last few months about 20 Multichoice resource centres in Abuja as a social investment project where we have rolled out decoders and learning content and we also trained teachers to be able to use this content to teach the kids. These include, Geography and Discovery and other contents that aid learning. Investment in contents is ongoing. In terms of investment of content, we keep going and that is why you see us pioneering programmes. We recently launched new channels in Nigeria on DSTV platform and we have quite a few more in the pipeline in terms of.
To what extent will you say that Multichoice has keyed into the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria?
We took a policy even before the CBN’s cashless policy. Our payments are being done through ATMs. You can pay subscription from mobile, ATMs at different locations and POS machines. The bedrock of what we do is to just move away from cash and I believe the CBN acknowledged the fact that we are one of the first set of companies to adopt the cashless policy because we have ensured that our payments are done seamlessly. You can sit in front of your TV and pay your DSTV subscription on your mobile phone, using different mobile payment systems that are available today.
How profitable is Nigerian business to Multichoice?
I will say the Nigerian business is still developing. Nigeria is a big country. There is room for growth for business in Nigeria but like I said earlier, the pay TV business is not so much about profit. It is a lot about investment, and making sure you have a very compelling offer, that is how you can grow your subscription, especially when you have a large base. It is not an easy business you start from zero and your cost is high but it aggregates over time. For instance, if you have 15 channels, in this case we have more than 100 channels, and you are paying the suppliers of these channels and if you have subscription of say 10,000 people you should know what you will arrive at. You pay more when you have more subscribers meanwhile; your initial cost is so high when you want to start the business.
It is believed that providers of luxury items like Multichoice should be able to tell us if the Middle Class is actually growing in Nigeria or not?
We don’t see ourselves as providers of luxury services. We have different offerings which we feel are essential for every home today to develop yourself and even your entire family. And to answer your question on whether the middle class is growing, I will say yes and hopefully it grows more so that we can have a very large middle class. You see it with new cars on the roads. Twenty years ago when Multichoice came to Nigeria, we didn’t see many new cars as we do today. In terms of cars that were in vogue, patronage for Tokunbo cars was very common then which people used to get at higher purchase. Today, everyone can see that the middle class is growing.
What is the worth of Multichoice investment in Nigeria?
Over the last 20 years, Multichoice has invested a total of N55 billion in Nigeria directly and indirectly. Our philosophy has been to provide entertainment and training opportunities. Not only do we provide entertainment, but also create training opportunities and ensure that the users have the ability to participate in the communities. We have also contributed to the economy by way of tax payment. Our contributions have always been to all the stakeholders. The community, the federal government and to a large extent, our people.
In terms of investment in Nigeria, musicians that are making money all over the world and bringing such to Nigeria are parts of the company’s contributions. It is because of Multichoice exposure that Ugandans know about our musicians and all that. Let’s take the value of entertainment in Nigeria, especially the movies. Let’s take the value, especially 20 years ago compared to the value as it is now. Our investment is not only about the money we spend. We spend money on training and production and on script writing. We tend to train people because ours is not just to be paying people, it is better to give them the opportunity to continue to pay themselves.
What is the relationship between Multichoice and Nollywood?
If you look at our relationship, we are the biggest buyer of local content in terms of movies. We have a strong relationship. We buy a lot of local content. When it comes to even music royalties, we have a relationship with COSON and we pay royalties for music we play on our channels on DSTV. So we are a company that believes in working very effectively with local regulatory bodies and the local industry. Earlier in the year, Africa Magic held First Viewers award in Nigeria. It was a big award ceremony put together where we recognised African movies for which we have been key partner over the years.
Are you confortable with tax system in Nigeria?
There is a bit of multiple taxation in the country but I think there is an attempt by the government to bring all these together, we however hope the guidelines become even clearer.
What kind of partnership exists between Multichoice and mobile telephone operators?
We have a mobile television offering and we are still talking with them but you will also notice that there is a lot of development in the sponsorship of programmes from DSTV platform by mobile providers because it is a very strong platform to get their message out. So, I think we have a good working relationship, which we hope to develop as time goes on.
Can you give an insight into how the anniversary logo was chosen?
We could have sat down and come up with a logo but we thought why don’t we look at it from the external point of view, why don’t we ask what people see Multichoice as? We then came up with the idea of a very small competition where we expected just a few entries. We thought it would be that easy but we were overwhelmed with the response we got from Nigerians. One of the strongest points in Nigeria is our human capital, and our can-do- attitude. Yes, some of the designs looked funny and could not make the cut but what we ended up with was even after we pruned them down to 10, it became so difficult to make a choice because these 10 designs captured the essence of Multichoice in 20 years in Nigeria. We are happy that a 27 year-old Nigerian was able to give us the design that captured everything we wanted. He also won a cash prize.
What is the theme of the anniversary?
We tend to capture the essence of our operation in the past 20 years, we tend to keep the family together because we always ask, what is that thing that always take you home, what’s it that keep the entire family together, something that unite them. We make sure there is a compelling content. We get a lot of thank you from wives for sending their husbands home, as in keeping them on their seats. Most men that usually go out on Saturday are now kept at home. When we found out it would bring marital problem, we introduced dual decoder with each of them handling remote each.
When we say keeping family together, it is simply talking about parental guidance and we have parental functioning on the decoder. Through this, we give power to the parents. If you have an under-aged at home and you don’t want him to have access to some programme, you can disable those adult contents. We indeed give power to the parents.