Boyede:  Thank you. I'm glad you've used the word "attempt". It is virtually impossible to talk about selling or buying anything on the Internet in my country. E-commerce is virtually non-existent. The few businesses that have an idea what e-commerce is all about have their hands full trying to cope with one infrastructural deficiency or the other. Telephones are for the rich. In a country of one hundred and ten million inhabitants, there are only seven hundred and fifty thousand telephone lines. It could take hours on end trying to reach one city from the other within the country and several more trying to talk to the outside world.

While other countries are already using Internet-ready mobile telephones, Nigeria is yet to commence the GSM. Electricity supply is epileptic; the roads are in deplorable conditions making it virtually impossible for exporters to transport their goods to the ports in time to meet shipping schedules and importers' requirements. In the face of all these, it just suffices to say that attempting to sell products on the Internet here is like making a camel to pass through the eye of the needle.

Q:  In your view, what must Nigeria do to encourage more SMEs to participate in this electronic economy?

Boyede:  First, the country must recognize that the future of her economy lies in the immediate development of the non-oil export sector. She must come to terms with the exhaustibility and perishability of oil as a natural resource and take deliberate and conscious steps to diversify the economic base away from oil. It is only such a conscious approach that could lead to the evolution of an export culture, which would, in turn, adopt e-commerce as one of the tools of efficient export development. More direct strategies to encourage the SMEs would include educating them on the vast potentials inherent in electronic commerce, establishing and equipping Internet cafes that would bring the facility closer to them, repairing and/or up-grading existing infrastructure to simplify the manufacturing process, etc.

Q:  What is the greatest constraint facing SMEs in Nigeria and in developing countries as they attempt to market their products and services over the Internet?

IBoyede:  nadequacy of basic infrastructure and e-commerce education.

Q:  What kind of model program or service should be developed to help SMEs in Nigeria build their competency in electronic commerce?

Boyede:  A complete program package that would first seek to educate the population at the three levels: Government, the business enterprises, and the populace, on the desirability and profit of e-commerce. It would then encourage the participation of the small and medium-sized enterprises by providing personal computers to select product categories or trade associations, enabling the presence and effect to be enjoyed by a sizable number of companies. As a pilot scheme, free Internet access could be provided through the setting up of a few Internet cafes, funded initially by Government or the donor/co-operating international agency. The success of this pilot program would certainly encourage others to join the new wave.

Q:  What advice would you give a young person in Nigeria determined to go into the exporting business n Nigeria?

Boyede:  Exporting is serious business. It is a business of trust and confidence. The most important ingredient is perhaps your personal integrity. This can be complemented by your competence, determination and dedication. There is no other short cut. As a young potential exporter, you must also be prepared to learn, and learn and learn, as there is no room to explain failure away under the guise of being a first timer. You've got to get it right first time and keep doing it right. The country's image is already dented by the activities of fraudsters. You can only make your mark by demonstrating that you are different from the rest. In this way also, you'd be helping to rebuild the country's battered image.

Q:  Anything else you'd like to add?

Boyede:  Certainly! I would like to appeal to the already developed and e-competent nations and institutions to remember that the world is now a global village. They should therefore not spare any efforts in helping to train and develop their "less- privileged" brothers. Education and public awareness campaigns sponsored by these institutions, provision of computers, even those already "out-dated" and discarded in the developed countries, direct sponsorship and establishment of a few Internet cafes, etc. are bound to do the magic.