By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
Nordic companies have developed world-class technological solutions, in everything from industrial tools, education tools, transport solutions and energy efficiency to leadership and business models. These technologies are creating a vast amount of attention from world leaders, entrepreneurs and investors. With a total population of less than 30 million people, the Nordic countries comprises of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
At Nordic-Nigeria Connect event held on 22nd – 23rd of May 2019 in Lagos, the Nordic companies shared their experience, best practices of Making Innovation Happen and showcased some of its technological solutions in ICT, Education, Financial and Energy Sector.
During the first day of the event, companies like Nokia, Ericsson, Scania and others made a keynote presentation about their innovative technologies that supports the drive for a digital transformation in Nigeria.
The second day of the event focused more in Energy Sector, both in oil and gas as well as renewable energy with discussions on Access to Finance from Nordic financing solutions.
Atlas Copco’s Country Manager in Nigeria, Raphael Kiandiko, disclosed that its company provides innovative support services to the Nigerian oil and gas industry and it supplies air compressors, vacuum pumps and power tubes to clients in the industry.
According to him, Atlas Copco has successfully delivered projects in Nigeria and some of its clients are NBC, Shell, Agip, Total, and other oil companies not just in Nigeria but globally. The company also provides support services for the manufacturing industry such as consumer products and all sorts of manufacturing products and services.
“We are industrial leaders in quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the products that we offer. On service support, we have a good track record in the Nigerian market and we are developing these products to ensure that we have a good customer experience. But, we really want to scale this up in terms of quality and customer satisfaction across Nigeria.
“We are also a research and development company and we use R&D to developing our projects which makes us more efficient in project delivery. We have a digital team focused on digitalisation and they are fully Nigerians.
“It is good to see a lot of innovation coming from the NORDIC companies and Nigeria isn’t left behind and we are developing modern technologies that are been used globally,” he added
Atlas Copco is a global and industrial company based in Sweden but has been operating in Nigeria since 50 years ago. The company has operation in over 70 countries with about 37,000 employees globally. In 2018, its revenue reached 95 billion Swedish kronor (9 billion Euro) and the operating margin was 22.2%.
For Solar Energy innovation, Sweborg, a Swedish Nigerian company, has developed an innovative solution known as “Solar-powered WATER Desalination and Purification Mobile Solution System’ that treats water more efficiently.
Robinson Emoh, Executive Director/CEO of Sweborg commented: “Our technology is best suited for rural communities. If you go to rural areas, there is no sustainability there in terms of power and good drinking water. These are things we can provide in an affordable way and it can be used anytime and anywhere in the world.
“Our Solar Energy Mobile Water Solution provides good clean safe drinking water than any other table water you find in the Nigerian market.
“We operate in almost 17 countries in Africa and we have established a working partnership with UNICEF, United Nation and other Asian countries.
“We have a lot of pilot projects in Ghana in the Northern region. We have successfully delivered a project for Ghana Water and Cywage Agency Ghana. In Nigeria, we are ready to offer our technology services to the Nigerian government,” he added
SWEBORG Nigeria was established in 2008. The company is affiliated to SOLARWAVE AB Sweden. Sweborg is the representative of Solar Wave in Nigeria, Ghana & Liberia.
The company’s product is user friendly, robust, portable, compact, environmental safety, eliminates 99.99% of Water-borne diseases, Bacterial Contaminants, Viruses, Protozoa, Salts, Leads etc. The special features on this product includes High-tech UV disinfection mechanism of special Filters without any chemicals, exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) standards for Portable Water.
The Solar-Power is an added advantage of Energy which provides Mini-Grid Electricity sustainable to support the rural communities, people and environment.