Time Out with Otunba Akin Alabi

Meet Otunba Akin Alabi,  a young enterprising man, who has made prominent difference in the nation,  in an interview with Olori Wendy;  exposing his business and personal interests. 

Who is Otunba Akin Alabi?

I'm an entrepreneur, philanthropist, a man who wants to make a difference in the economy and make a difference in people's lives. I'm an Ibadan man, grew up in Ibadan, I'm in my late thirties and married with two kids


Of all the businesses/projects you're into, which is your first love?

Well I don't have a first love to be honest with you, as an entrepreneur, you have got to hang your hands in different pies and all of them are equally important to you, okay! But I have got a sport betting arm in our business, Nairabet.com, a seminar and training company, a consultant company, we have got quite a lot we are doing, energy company, and they are all equally important to me.

 In Nigeria today, you're most widely known for pioneering sports betting in the country, how did this come about?

I was in the UK doing business at a time and I went to a sport betting shop with one of my friend and while we were at it, I said "this is not going to be a bad idea to do this in Nigeria, not a bad venture at all" and that is what I did when I got back home. I looked for a developer, started Nairabet and where we are today, and the rest is history.

 With other sports betting platforms also springing up, how do you fancy the competition these days?

I love the fact that there are other people coming in to the market, I love it because they are going to help  developing the market. Sports betting is not that entrenched in Nigeria yet, as we have in the UK. Sports Betting is like part of their vocabulary, and that's what we want for Nigeria and how can I do it all alone. So now that there are others m in the market, they are developing the market, we are going to have those that are fly by night operators who will come and go, we are going to have other serious ones but I don't expect to be the only one in the first instance, any big industry or any sector where there is a monopoly, that sector is obviously not doing well, because if it is doing well other investors are going to come, other entrepreneurs are going to come and it is good, let's develop the market.


By the way, some people see this as gambling, which is against their ethics. What's ur take on that?

Well it is a form of entertainment, someone takes out a thousand Naira, goes to the cinema, drops the money, watches the movie, enjoyss himself and goes home. Sports Betting you take out your one thousand Naira, you go to a sports betting shop, you place it on your favorite team, you enjoy the match, maybe with some tension, enjoy and you go home, probably you are going to have a chance again to take money back home. So it depends on the way you want to view it, it all depends on you as an individual. It's a form of entertainment and it widely acknowledged all over the world.


It seems concentration is on the south western part of Nigeria, is Nairabet in the east or south south as well?

We are all over the country, not just the western part alone.

 Recently Nairabet.com picked some people to attend the FIFA world cup in Brazil this summer, tell us why you undertook this gesture?

As a football fan, I have always thought about how I can always join in the support of the Super Eagles, the National Team. I was in South Africa during the last World Cup 2010. I went with a couple of friends and colleagues, during the Nations Cup as well which we won again, but this time around, I said I shouldn't be going alone, I should be taking people along and I thought what better way to do it than to take Naira Bet customers who are basically football fans, who are automatically Nigerians and will be supporting the Super Eagles, so let's find a way to take this people to Brazil and we came up with a Quiz Concept. We teamed up with George Essein and we came up with it and now we have people going with us to Brazil.


In your opinion, what is the future of sports betting in Nigeria?

Absolutely huge, the market in the UK has been there for about a hundred years, we are just starting in Nigeria, we have got a huge population, we have got a huge developing middle class sector, the love of football is massive, access to cable Tv for people to watch the matches, even if you don't have cable in your house, you can watch at viewing centres or bars, so everybody has access to this matches so people are loving football more and more and we don't see that stopping at all, so it is a huge industry that can only grow.


We also understand people can apply to be Nairabet agents, please tell us how this works?

Well, because we want to spread around the country, we can't do it alone, we set up a franchise program for anyone that want to invest in it, for example you look at the likes of KFC, Mc Donald, if you see a KFC outlet around you, it doesn't mean the KFC management came down to set it up, it is a franchise program. Someone went there and applied to be their agent, and set it up, and be remitting a kind of royalty to KFC or Mc Donald and that's what we are doing. Someone that has an interest in setting up a Naira Bet outlet in their area can come up and we will have a 50/50 sharing ratio, whatever profit he makes, we keep 50 percent and he keeps 50 percent. 

Since you have a lot of Naia Bet agents, do you know every one or the agents all over the country?

I know the number of agents from my statistics but I don't individually know them but we have guys in our office that know them. We have over hundreds all over the country. We have guys in the office who handle all the franchise program so they know them physically but I as the CEO don't know all of them physically but I have the statistics on my table 

 Finally, as a record label owner, are you thinking about signing any other artistes apart from SKUKI?

Yes, we are looking into it, we are already looking at the works of somw youngsters, brilliant talented young boys and girls who have been coming to our office and our studio and we have been lookin at their work and how we can improve them and in the next couple of months, we will be signing one or two of them.
We haven't selected or signed anyone yet, so it is still open.