Friday, April 23, 2021
TechMoran
  • Startups
  • Reviews
  • Insider
    • Obituaries
  • Business
  • Women
  • Blockchain
  • Columnists
  • Hacks & Facts
    • How To
  • Editions
    • US Edition
    • India Edition
    • MENA Edition
    • Asia Edition
    • Europe Edition
    • International Edition
  • Classifieds
No Result
View All Result
TechMoran
">
Home Startups

How Fedironics’ iMeter aims to prevent electricity theft & improve energy management in Nigeria

Vivianne Musumba by Vivianne Musumba
3 years ago
in Startups
10 min read
0

Fedironics Intelligent Metering Company is a smart metering company founded and incorporated in 2016. At Fedironics they believe that everyone has a personal power and that access to electricity is key to unleashing this power for the good of humanity. Fedironics provides iMeter, a smart and affordable electricity meter designed to improve access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa starting from Nigeria, by giving electricity consumers and utility companies control over how electricity is used through smart metering technology, electricity theft prevention, convenient energy management and bill payment software solutions.

TechMoran caught up with Ugochukwu Ifediora C.E.O Fedironics Intelligent Metering Company and here is what he told us;

How did you come up with this idea? What inspired the birth of your company?
Growing up in our community Aba, south of Nigeria, inaccurate and outrageous electricity bills were a nightmare because you get disconnected if you don’t pay. My mother paid in tears most times. Today, it has grown worse with energy theft at its highest level, because some consumers avoid paying for power consumed through meter bypass, while consumers that have no meters are made by the utilities who loose revenues to pay for what they haven’t consumed through estimated bills, leading to poor electricity access for those who can’t afford this.
This inspired my career path in the Electricity Utilities and later the creation of the Intelligent Meter (iMeter) which gave birth to Fedironics Intelligent Metering Company. iMeter has a hardware and a software part. It is patented in Nigeria and received International Telecommunications Union’s Excellence Award.

Outline the services or products that your company offers to the consumers. Who is your target market?
Our target customers are Electricity Utility Companies while our users are electricity users.
Fedironics provides iMeter hardware to the utilities which provides the following services
1) Smart metering technology that provides accurate digital energy measurements, billing and tariff management.
2) iMeter detects meter bypass and 5 energy thefts with the location and reports in real time to Utilities.
3) Big data management and analysis.
However we provide our users with energy management solutions and convenient payment solution via the iMeter mobile and web software applications.

READ  Drone maker Volansi raises $50 million to accelerate middle-mile drone delivery

What market gap did you spot that motivated your venturing into this business? How did the market receive you?
Two market gaps actually motivated us to venture into this business which include High cost of meters and “advanced” energy thefts not currently detected by available meters. The utilities in our market in Nigeria were excited about this, they loose a lot of revenue through electricity thefts because the current meters they use are unable to detect these thefts.
If somebody wants to venture into this market, what are they looking at in terms of capital, growth rate and stability?
The capital requirements to enter into this market largely depends on you business model and what percentage of the production process will be done locally or abroad.
Growth rate in our market is high because of the demand of smart meters and the influence of Government policies in Nigeria which has also brought in stability.

How did you guys start in relation to funding, with investors or savings?
We actually started with personal savings and donations from friends and family. And in 2017 we got a grant investment from Tony Elumelu Foundations.

What are some of the barriers that you faced since launching your business?
The major barrier we have faced in launching our business is accessing funds and lack of stable electricity, which is a problem we are solving.
What keeps you going, entrepreneurship is challenging. Nowadays, everyone is venturing there.
I think entrepreneurship is a “Calling” with a big “Why”. When you are at that point of giving up, the strength of your “Why” is tested and if it’s strong enough, you will have a unique paradigm shift about who you are and your purpose on earth which fuels you up to keep going till you see results. Then these results also add more fuel to your passion.
What do you want to do for the society as a business when it comes to giving back?
We currently have a blueprint for our foundation, which will focus on free healthcare for the poor and underserved in our communities in Nigeria. We were a part of a healthcare outreach in Apirl 2018. In the long term we want to use technology to reinvent the structure and delivery of healthcare service in our communities.

Related posts

zoom

Zoom Announces $100 Million Zoom Apps Fund for Developers to Build on its API

April 22, 2021
0

Music streaming service Audiomack partners MTN to bring music to over 76 million subscribers at Zero Data Cost

April 22, 2021
0

Drone Space Receives Certification for Commercial Drone Operations in Kenya

April 22, 2021
0

Revix, a Cape Town-based cryptocurrency investment platform raises $4.1 million for rapid global growth

April 22, 2021
0

OKO raises $1.2 million to expand its offerings to more African markets, starting with Ivory Coast

April 22, 2021
0

Nigeria’s Klasha & SA’s Akiba Digital to Receive $200,000 from Expert DOJO International Accelerator program

April 21, 2021
0

How do you market your company? Any marketing advice to those who want to venture into the same?
Our key customers are the electricity utilities and marketing for us as a B2B business starts from our product development. We had meetings with each of these companies and included some of their preferences in our product designs. Lean methodology approach and proper customers validation process is very useful in developing a B2B product and makes marketing it much more easily because your product is need focused and have a shared ownership with your consumers

READ  Nigeria's Frienditeplus Unveils New Look Site | Ditches its Former Facebook Look-alike

Someone looking to do entrepreneurship, what’s your advice?
Ask yourself what you and the world around you will lose if you don’t become an entrepreneur! The answer to this question is the best advice on whether to be an entrepreneur or not because you are going to need a big “Why” to sustain you through the journey of entrepreneurship.

Readers 3,494

Share

  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Tags: HardwareiMeterNigeria
Vivianne Musumba

Vivianne Musumba

Related Posts

zoom
Business

Zoom Announces $100 Million Zoom Apps Fund for Developers to Build on its API

April 22, 2021
0
Music

Music streaming service Audiomack partners MTN to bring music to over 76 million subscribers at Zero Data Cost

April 22, 2021
0
Business

Drone Space Receives Certification for Commercial Drone Operations in Kenya

April 22, 2021
0
cryptocurrencies

Revix, a Cape Town-based cryptocurrency investment platform raises $4.1 million for rapid global growth

April 22, 2021
0
Startups

OKO raises $1.2 million to expand its offerings to more African markets, starting with Ivory Coast

April 22, 2021
0
Startups

Nigeria’s Klasha & SA’s Akiba Digital to Receive $200,000 from Expert DOJO International Accelerator program

April 21, 2021
0
Startups

UNDP vets 4 African startups for transforming access to health, energy & waste management

April 21, 2021
0
Startups

Worldpay Partners Flutterwave to Expand Processing Services into South Africa & Nigeria

April 21, 2021
0
Startups

Okra raises $3.5M to expand its data infrastructure across Nigeria.

April 21, 2021
0

ADVERTISEMENT

Join our Mailing List

Loading

Recent Posts

Vivo X60 Pro: unique Gimbal, but to be fine-tuned

April 23, 2021
apple store

Russian Hacker Has Given Apple Until May 1st To Pay $50 Million As They Have Access To The Future Product Schematics

April 23, 2021

YouTube Rolls Out A New Feature Which Will Make It Easier For Creators To Change Their Names

April 23, 2021

Microsoft Has Opened Up Its Online Multiplayer Service For XBox Player

April 23, 2021
twitter-5

Twitter Starts Testing A New Profile Type That Will Allow Businesses To Display More Business Information

April 23, 2021
">
">

Follow Us

">

There are many sites out there focused on blowing off some steam, from funny entertainment to thrilling experiences like playing online, in some cases online gaming could grant you the chance to win extra money. We came across rocketpot.io while browsing for a good btc casino online and it left us a very good impression with their wide variety of games and crypto offering.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

© 2019 Moran Media Group - All rights reserved TechMoran.

No Result
View All Result
  • Startups
  • Reviews
  • Insider
    • Obituaries
  • Business
  • Women
  • Blockchain
  • Columnists
  • Hacks & Facts
    • How To
  • Editions
    • US Edition
    • India Edition
    • MENA Edition
    • Asia Edition
    • Europe Edition
    • International Edition
  • Classifieds

© 2019 Moran Media Group - All rights reserved TechMoran.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
%d bloggers like this: