Leo Stan Ekeh – Top 10 Igbo Business Moguls Shaping Nigeria’s Economy

Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, Founder and managing director of Zinox Group, governs the most integrated information technology group in Africa. It is a group of integrated companies with interests in certified computer manufacturing, distribution, ICT solutions, telecoms and more. He is the founder and visionary leader of a host of companies with which he has rewritten the history of information technology in Africa. His portfolio of companies includes Task Systems Limited, Technology Distributions Limited, Zinox Technologies Limited, ICT Brokers, TD Plus, ICT Connect and Buyright Africa Dotcom.

Ekeh launched into the forefront of providing ICT solutions with his first company – Task Systems Limited as far back as 1989. The company is one of the few and the biggest of them that pioneered desktop publishing and computer graphics in Nigeria. He took up the task of bringing ICT to the print media and other publishing houses in Nigeria and accomplished it with Task Systems Ltd.

The company holds the record of computerizing 95 percent of the print media, publishing houses and advertising agencies in Nigeria. He discovered quite early the power resident in ICT to transform lives and businesses and like an evangelist, he has since preached the ICT message from company to company and from place to place.

Task Systems Limited later rebranded as a foremost ICT solutions company and entered into strategic partnerships with some major equipment manufacturers such as HP, IBM, APC and Microsoft. The company has since then been in the forefront of implementation of various ICT solutions in the oil and gas, banking, telecoms, and the manufacturing sectors. Task Systems Limited is rated as the most capitalized company in the business, the most visible and the most structured indigenous ICT solutions provider in Nigeria.

The company commands a wide network of branches, providing a robust capacity to serve a large customer base. It offers various ICT solutions, including networking, convergence, security and enterprise application. Others include managed support service, imaging and printing as well as power solutions.

Technology Distributions Limited is the outfit in charge of distribution of computer hardware. It started operations in 1999 as a pioneer bulk distributor in West Africa for HP, Microsoft, APC and Epson. The company is positioned to become a global player in ICT supplies and a key driver of ICT revolution across Africa.

Ekeh is in the ICT sector with a great mission – which is to address all the issues associated with acquisition, deployment and effective utilization of information and communications technology equipment with structured payment plan, value adding services and onsite support, complete with networking, training and asset protection/management services.

He is the man that pioneered IT solutions in West Africa through his company ITEC Solutions Limited through which he has delivered the largest IT solutions ever from a Nigerian firm to the domestic market. He also pioneered IT distribution in West Africa through Technology Distributions Limited, which has emerged the number one ICT distribution company in West Africa. The company is well ahead in the business in terms of market penetration, revenue, and preferred partner status, which have made it the most decorated ICT distributor in West Africa.

One of Ekeh’s giant steps in domesticating the ICT sector happened in 2001 when he set up Zinox Technologies Limited to manufacture Zinox computers. This is a pioneering effort that yielded fruit with the production of Nigeria’s first internationally certified branded computers. Zinox computer is adapted for the domestic market with features, which include the naira sign, and a power supply pack designed to absorb the shocks of electric power supply in Nigeria.

By the time of its launch, Zinox computers had already obtained the WHQL certification – the first of such accomplishment in sub-Saharan Africa. Its quality mark was consolidated five years later with the attainment of the NIS ISO 2000: 9001 QMS certification. In October 2013, the company announced the production of its computer tablet line named Zipad.

Zinox notebooks are rated the best in Nigeria by the International Data Corporation, USA. The company’s products and services are also certified by Microsoft Corporation, Intel Corporation, the FCC as well as the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Computer Society and Information Technology Association of Nigeria.

Today, Ekeh heads an ICT Ecosystem rated as the number one integrated ICT solutions group in Africa. He has gone beyond computer manufacturing to institutionalize high end ICT solutions, moving the sector to the next level. By using technology to proffer solutions to the day-to-day challenges at work, home, school and even at play, he has greatly empowered Nigerians to create wealth with a considerably reduced effort and cost.

Ekeh is counted a key contributor to the development of ICT sector and nation building. His group salvaged the 2006 voters’ registration exercise by delivering 12,000 computer systems to INEC in three weeks. The group provided the technology backbone for the 2011 voters’ registration through the supply of 80,000 DDC machines in 35 days. These are awesome accomplishments by any standard in Nigeria and in the world.