By Enyeribe Ejiogu
IN very real terms, Emeka Ariguzo, easily comes across
as Jack of one trade and master of one: vehicle and equip-
ment leasing. He has been engaged in this for more than
26 years. As he reveals in this interview, he spent 12 solid
years working for another company in the major leasing
markets in Port Harcourt, Lagos and Warri. And in 2008,
he struck out to establish Memose International Limited,
one of the leading member firms of the Equipment Leas-
ing Association of Nigeria, ELAN. Below, he shares some
insights on how to make a success of operational leasing
services in the Nigerian business environment.
Plsease give us a snapshot of your company.
Memose International Limited was incorporated in
2003, but it took us five years to actually start business
in 2008. So the firm has existed for 15 years. Within this
period we have passed through some tutelage. We tried
to understand what the industry expected from us, and to
look at the challenges in the industry with particular focus
on the Nigerian situation, which presents unique opera-
tional difficulties. We then came up with some innovative
strategies to overcome them. Memose operates from five
branches in Nigeria and one in Ghana. We focus on ve-
hicle and equipment leasing, and we purely do operational
leasing. We do not engage in finance leasing. However, a
company can choose to do both.
Entrepreneurs from the South East engaged
in transportation business usually tilt towards
commercial passenger service. Why did you choose
vehicle leasing and focusing on operating lease
instead of finance lease?
We did a feasibility study. We did not just come up,
maybe one got money from one contract, to start to this
business. Rather, I have been in this industry for more
than 26 years. Before setting up Memose, I worked for a
company for 12 good years, in different major markets
– Port Harcourt, Warri, before coming to Lagos. I know
all these terrains and had established a lot of contacts in
those areas. Till today I still have friends in those areas.
Having looked at the trend and everything happening in
the country, and considering the rate of inflation, I had
no option than to be where I would have a little shadow,
to shield me from the heat of inflation and I can at least
relax with the assurance that the equipment that I leased
out would come back one day. You can always do one or
two things about the asset and continue to operate. But
whereby you don’t have this flare, and you finish leasing
out the equipment and somebody will want to pay you
peanuts, that will make you want to shut down the busi-
ness.
Are you in essence saying that the advantages
informed your decision?
Basically yes. I made sure that I brought passion to it,
because if I give you a finance lease, I may put in a clause
that I will not be the one to service the equipment. But the
vehicle has my name on it as Memose. If it breaks down
on the road, nobody will know that I am not the person
that was supposed to service it, maintain and keep it func-
tional, and thereby protect my brand equity. If you want to
be in logistics, be a holistic provider of that service.
So, you are focusing on areas that would serve
the best interest of the customer and that is why
you chose this aspect of leasing that completely
takes away the stress of operating and manag-
ing the asset from the lessee, having defined your
strengths and weaknesses, is that correct?
Sure. I want to give the client smooth and excellent
service experience from ‘Point A’ to ‘Point Z’. I want to
provide a service scenario where the client wakes up in
the morning and when he is ready to start off his day, he
comes out and gets into the car and he is taken to wher-
ever he wants to go. He goes for a meeting and when he
has finished, the car is waiting for him. He does not have
to bother about the whole headache of repairing a car,
fuelling it, fixing punctured tyre, etc. If anything happens,
it is the lessor that takes care of it and makes the client’s
movement and operations are not hindered. Everything
about the maintenance of the vehicle is borne by the les-
sor. If there is a mechanical fault in the vehicle, our client
will get a replacement within a specified time, so that his
own operation would not be affected. Maybe he is a driller
in the oilfield or in the power sector or whatever business
he is engaged in. So, it is the responsibility of my firm to
make we package the client very well, so that he won’t
face much heat in what he is doing. In essence, using my
expertise and know-how I will relieve the client from the
stress of transport logistics operations and management.
Bear in mind that the client will not be paying for the ser-
vice on monthly or quarterly basis. That saves the client
the operating cost in his own organisation. So when we
give you the vehicle, you focus on running your primary
business while I am also doing my own business.
We have extensively deployed information and com-
munication technology to track our operations. From my
laptop, I can tell you real-time what is happening at our
branches in Enugu and Port Harcourt, where we have big
fleets of vehicles just as we have in Lagos and other parts
of the country. This way we are able to avoid or minimise
the duration of time when a particular vehicle is idle
around the country.
Are there particular vehicles you prefer to use
for this business, possibly the imported vehicles or
even Innoson vehicles that are assembled here in the country?
The cars we use are brand new vehicles. There is no
kind of vehicle we do not lease out to our clients. We are
not brand particular. In our fleet you see Toyota, Mitsub-
ushi, Chevrolet, Ford. There are some essentials that we
look out for in a vehicle before we can recommend to a
particular o a client. If you tell me that you are driving to
Sokoto, I will give you a vehicle that will not overheat on
the road. The vehicle has to make the trip to Sokoto and
return without having mechanical fault on the outward
and inward journeys. If you accept my advice and sign an
agreement, I will give you a Toyota Hilux that will take
you to Sokoto, comfortably and smoothly without any
problem. But if you say because of cost considerations
and you tell me your budget, I will equally be able to
advise you because that is why I am there as a business-
man and service provider who will make sure that your
logistics operation does not give you any headache and
hinder success.
As a Nigerian, how do you feel about Innoson Vehicle
Manufacturing Limited?
I feel very wonderful, proud of what the company is
doing for our nation. The Chairman of the company, Chief
Innocent Chukwuma is my personal friend. I have met
him several times. In our Port Harcourt branch, we have
several Innoson vehicles in our fleet, and he encourages
me a lot. The only thing I have told him is to make sure
that spare parts of the vehicles are readily available, to
enable us keep our vehicles moving and not held up in a
workshop, gathering dust. Apart from that, he is one great
Nigerian all of us must encourage. Most of our clients of-
ten ask for Innoson vehicles, which I happily provide. The
vehicles serve them well and they are happy too, like me.
So, before striking out on your own, you built
relationships in the industry, knew it inside out and
identified some of the challenges. What are some of
the challenges you identified and the strategy you
decided to adopt in running your own startup busi-
ness to overcome or avoid those challenges?
The major challenge in this business is funding. As an
individual, how easy is it for you to go to the bank to ask
for money and get it? That is a big challenge. The cost of
fund is a very big challenge, apart from accessing it. There
are some other challenges. You may go to Ladipo Auto
Spare Parts market to buy some parts, but they might not
be the original parts. Meanwhile, you paid money for the
original parts. They will show you the part number and
the rest of it. When you look at Nigeria as a whole, there is
a problem we are trying to solve. The volatility of price is
a major challenge. That is why we have an umbrella body
like ELAN where we discuss common problems affecting
the industry and seek solutions to them.
As it is today, what are you looking at, in terms
of expansion?
Memose is already expanding. One of the key things
we are focusing on is looking at the team we have and
to become one the best leasing companies in Nigeria.
Because of the vision for our company and how we
have been relating with our clientèle. We are particularly
interested in offering services in the area of transportation
logistics to states, educational institutions, other groups,
either for sports competitions and other group tours or
trips. Certainly, we would be delighted to have opportuni-
ties to provide vehicles for contingents from the various
states and institutions. We would be glad to be associated
with the success of those events. We are a vehicle leasing
company and that is our primary business.