Ehimuan: Google Will Cut Internet Cost by 21% with Subsea Cable

The Director, Google West Africa, Juliet Ehimuan, speaks about the many benefits that Nigeria stands to gain from Google’s regional investments such as the $1 billion investment plan to drive technology innovation, the $50 million African Investment Fund for startups, and its investment in Equiano subsea cable that is expected to go live next year, which will increase internet speed by 5 times its current speed and reduce internet cost by 16-21 per cent in the Nigerian market. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:

What is your view about technology growth in Africa, Nigerian inclusive and what are the plans of Google to enhance technology growth across Africa?
I am excited about the level of technology advancement across the African continent, particularly in Nigeria. Technology is going to be a huge contributor to economic growth of nations, and it will promote digital economy. Part of Google’s vision is to grow the digital landscape and Google understands the enormous talents and potential that exist in the Africa environment. We know that technology can be an incredible enabler to enhance the opportunities that exit in Africa, and that is the reason Google is investing heavily to drive technology growth in Africa. We have announced several investment plans for Africa, which Nigeria will benefit from.

At the Google for Africa event, Google made specific announcements concerning its investments that will support technology growth in Africa. What are some of these investment plans and how will Nigeria benefit from them?
Google for Africa was another milestone for us in all our works and investments in the African environment, which necessitated the $1 billion investment announcement we made earlier for a period of five years.

In the area of access, we are investing in undersea cable called the Equiano subsea cable, that is designed to enhance speed of broadband connectivity across the regions, where internet connectivity is still growing, with an attendant cost issue.
We expect that once the Equiano subsea cable is live, it will help to increase internet speed by 5 times its current speed, and also contribute to the reduction in cost of internet by 16-21 per cent in the Nigerian market, thus making internet more affordable for the average users in Nigeria. We equally expect that internet penetration in Nigeria will grow by seven per cent, by the time the Equiano subsea cable comes alive.

Google is also working with telecoms operators and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on device affordability, that will further deepen internet penetration in Nigeria and in other African countries.
Another area of investment for Google, is our support for startups. Google has also invested in tech entrepreneurs, like Flutterwave, PayStack, KudaBank among others and we think it will really help with job creation in the country and in the overall economic growth of the country. It is about using technology to provide solutions to local challenges in healthcare, e-commerce, telecommunications, banking and finance, including agriculture and manufacturing, among others. Google has a long-standing programme to develop and support early stage technology startups, which addresses our Google4Startups Accelerator programme. Google has over 80 startups that we empowered through the accelerator programme.

Google had announced $1 billion regional investment plan to drive technology innovation in Africa in the next five years. What fraction of this amount will be invested in Nigeria and which of the sectors will benefit from the investment plan?
Great question, I must say. In terms of sharing formula for the announced investment plans, Nigeria stands a better position to benefit immensely from the $1 billion investment plan, even though I cannot put a figure as to what each country across the region will be getting. For instance, Google is investing in the Equiano subsea cable that will run through South Africa, Namibia, and Nigeria, and connect the African continent with Europe.

So for this kind of project, which Google is heavily committed to, it will be difficult to allot a specific kind of fund to any of the African countries that are benefitting from the project. So a number of our initiatives are in that nature. To address your question about the sector of the economy that will benefit from the Google investment plan, I can boldly tell you that Google, through the investment initiative, will be investing in access to technology solutions among startups, agriculture, health, manufacturing, among others.

Google recently announced the African Investment Fund (AIF), which is a $50 million fund that Google is investing in startups. Our Google4Startups initiative, has touched at least 80 startups across the regions. The reason why Google in investing this much in startups, is because we see that startups are already contributing immensely to regional economy growth, and we are convinced that they will create jobs and stimulate viability for all interested players because of the opportunities that they are creating. When all these are in place, demand will increase.

It is the desire of Google to see more home-grown indigenous companies becoming global players. We know that Nigeria has the talent to make this happen and so we are very keen at Google to ensue that the African dream comes through. Another area of investment for Google, is in our Black Founders Fund, which Google announced recently, which is a $3 million fund and we have positive responses to accessing the fund. We have several local organisations that have accessed the fund and they benefitted immensely from the fund.

What are the criteria for accessing the $10 million Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) fund that Google also announced?
Following the CoVID-19 pandemic that ravaged economies, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were badly hit. So the $10 million investment fund is one of our economic recovery plans, designed to help SMEs recover from the adverse effect of the pandemic. The criteria for accessing the fund is quite broad and it is focused on small businesses that have specific areas of needs that require financial support to keep their businesses running and to grow to the next level. Google will be sharing a lot of detailed information in the next few months on how SMEs can access the fund.

What is the timeline for the berthing of Equiano subsea cable, which Google is investing in, and how will the cable complement other subsea cables that have berthed on the shores of Nigeria to further boost internet connectivity in the country?
Google is very excited about the Equiano subsea cable, whose initiative started a while ago. Currently work is in advance stage and we are expecting the cable to be live in the second quarter of next year. The truth is that huge infrastructure project like subsea cable project, has tenure that is usually quite long and we started this initiative about a couple of years ago and we are gradually coming to the point where the cable can go live. So hopefully, by 2022, the Equiano subsea cable will be live in Nigeria, providing increased internet speed and connectivity, thus creating additional jobs for Nigerians and for other neighbouring countries where the cable will pass through.

Going by the experience of subsea cables that have berthed on the shores of Nigeria, broadband capacities from those cables are centred around cities closer to the shores like Lagos. How will the broadband capacity from Equiano subsea cable be transmitted to the hinterland to address last-mile delivery issues?
Last-mile connectivity is key to enable cities in the hinterlands get connected to high speed broadband. To address this issue, Google will be working with multiple players like telecoms operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including state governments and other industry stakeholders. We have successfully partnered with specific players in the past and we are still open to collaboration. A few years ago, we launched Google Station, which currently provides internet access in high traffic areas, and this kind of investment will be ongoing to ensure that the last-mile connectivity issues are addressed, and make more people have internet access at affordable cost. The good thing about all of these is that Google is solving specific challenges, reducing internet cost and giving internet access to more people. So a lot of opportunities will come when Equiano becomes active in Nigeria.

What is your view about the strategy of Nigerian government going all out looking for foreign investors to come and invest in Nigeria’s technology space, and what is the best way to attract foreign investments?
I think it will be delicate to talk about Nigerian government strategy to woo foreign investors to invest in Nigeria. Google is in Nigeria, and it is investing heavily in Nigeria and in other African countries. Foreign investors will come if they see the need and if the business environment is friendly enough and safe to do business. The truth of the matter is that every government around the world goes out to woo foreign investors, and Nigerian government strategy to woo foreign investors is not out of place. The most important thing for government, is to create the enabling environment where businesses, both local and foreign can thrive.

Google has been in Nigeria for quite some years now, and it has grown to become a household name in Nigeria. How will you describe Google’s collaboration with the federal government, especially in projects that will drive the Nigerian economy?
So Google is open to collaboration with stakeholders, including federal, state and local governments in Nigeria. For us at Google, government is a very important stakeholder to our kind of business, and we have had some successful collaboration with the federal government of Nigeria. We have collaborated with government on our digital skills initiative where we are training 10 million people and we have had partnerships with different arms of government. In Nigeria, Google has collaborated with the office of the Vice President of Nigeria, including the office of the Senior Special Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals. With Google Station, we have had collaborations with the public sector and organisations to roll out infrastructure to specific locations. We have been involved with different committees set up by government to help with policy advocacy for the country.

Information Technology (IT) has continued to drive Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). What is your view about economic diversification and the shift from oil dependency to a technology driven economy for Nigeria?
As a technology person, I have been very passionate about economic diversification of nations, especially nations across Africa. It is very obvious in this digital age that economies need to diversify and depend less on oil and more on technology innovation. Technology provides opportunity to stimulate exports. For instance, YouTube is a platform that accommodates lots of Nigerian creative contents for export. From the YouTube platform, which is technology driven, people can share their contents with the rest of the world and people are making money from exporting their contents via YouTube. This is just one example of a technology driven initiative that is boosting individuals and economies. Also, a lot is going on in the entrepreneurship space, where people are innovating and developing solutions to address specific challenges and they are making money from such solutions.

How will you describe the direct impact of Google initiatives on the Nigerian economy?
The impact is huge, and I will mention some of them. If you put together the large number of people that Google is impacting in Nigeria, then you will be able to calculate the impact on the Nigerian economy. In addition to the 10 million people that Google is training on digital skills, Google is also assisting in developers’ skills training programme, and we have trained over 15,000 developers till date in Nigeria, training them to become certified engineers in Google’s Web, Android and Cloud Technologies. We recently offered scholarships to 33,000 people from a pool of 120,000 applicants, and the bulk of the beneficiaries are Nigerians. Google has invested so much in startups and entrepreneurs who are making great in-roads in technology development.

Google has through its Google.org initiative, committed $40 million to support Nigerians. Google has also, through its Google News Initiative programme, given grants to Nigerian media organisations in the last two years to enhance quality reporting and innovation among journalists. Google gave over 15 media organisations in Nigeria, a COVID-19 relief grant during the heat of the pandemic, when economies were locked down. Google has also supported and showcased Nigerian artists though the Google YouTube. In March this year, Google launched a collection called Eko for Show, designed to showcase the Nigerian culture, food and heritage to the wider world.

Nigeria will be Launching 5G network by next year. What Impact will the Equiano subsea cable, which Google has invested so much in, have on the planned 5G network rollout in Nigeria?
Equiano will be an enabler and its rollout in Nigeria will complement the planned 5G network rollout in Nigeria. It will lead to increased broadband access and also reduce cost of internet in Nigeria.

What is the impact of COVID-19 on Google business in Nigeria and how have businesses been surviving after the pandemic?
The impact of COVID-19 on global businesses, including businesses in Nigeria, was devastating, but that led us to a new normal, where technology is driving almost everything. So for businesses to survive the negative impact of the pandemic, they must innovate, have online presence and embrace new technologies.

Can you tell us about yourself?
I am the Director for Google in West Africa. I was named by Forbes as one of the top 20 power women in Africa, by the London Business School as one of 30 people changing the world and I featured in the BBC Africa Power Women series, and on CNN Innovate Africa.
With over 25 years experience primarily in Technology, Oil and Gas, and New Media industries across Europe, Middle East and Africa, I am a thought leader, and a leading voice on Innovation, Transformation, and Leadership. I have received numerous awards for outstanding contribution to the digital landscape in Africa. Under my leadership, the Google team made a significant impact on local content development, infrastructure deployment, and digital capacity building.

I hold an Executive MBA from the London Business School, a Postgraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge; and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I am also an Executive Coach and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council. I am an author and recently I published the book called 30 Days of Excellence, which is a book on leadership and personal effectiveness guide.