Perspective

Ahmad Mukoshy is the brain behind Aimtech Hosting Company. I had this interview recently. Happy reading

SN: Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests?

Ahmad: That’s way too long to tell. But, I am Ahmad Mukoshy and I am still in college. I am 19 years old and I come from a family of education where studies mean everything in the house. I love reading books, meeting new people and working on my computer day and night.

SN: What is the name of your Company?

Ahmad: We all call it Aimtech Nigeria. But it is registered as Aimtech Hosting Co.

SN: Please tell us about your Company?

Ahmad: Well, Aimtech is a hosting service provider with a US based data center. We provide domain name registration, web hosting and site design services to both individuals and corporations across Nigeria even though our main focus are small and medium scale enterprises.

SN: What is unique about your Company?

Ahmad: We stand different from the rest because we treat each of our customers independently and exclusively. We also focus more on quality service delivery like reliable server uptime and satisfactory customer support.

Unlike other hosting providers, we always stay up to date with new software release. I could remember we were the first to lunch cPanel 11 in Nigeria. As of now, we also run the latest PHP and MySQL software.

SN: How many people are currently using your website services (e.g. feed readers, visitors)?

Ahmad: For now, we have over 120 registered websites with over 98 active customers.

SN: What kind of marketing and/or advertising strategy do you use for your website?

Ahmad: For the first 3 months of business, we used Google Adwords. Now, we completely rely on word of mouth through our customers. However, Aimtech is still in its infancy and still requires further marketing.

SN: What are the main web technologies/tools you use to monitor the performance of your website?

Ahmad: We use Google Analytics and AW Stats.

SN: What is the monetizing/revenue model for your website?

Ahmad: I don’t need to mention. But, realistically just from our annual sales.

SN: Which websites are the main competitors in your market segment/sector?

Ahmad: There are a bunch of them, though we only recognized few; which are Alireta, Abimco, McReal and NairaHost. We are also trying to build our unique business niche with a special consideration to consumer taste in order to eat up the competition.

SN: What challenges do you currently face as a web entrepreneur?

Ahmad: Timely insufficient internet connection! Some times we even loose internet connection at the time when it means everything.

SN: What do you think of new startups and innovation coming out of Nigeria today?

Ahmad: Great, really great. Because nowadays, youth have begun to find opportunities for themselves which is absolutely great.

SN: What new Nigerian startups, in your opinion, should be watched?

Ahmad: I shouldn’t be selfish to this, but the Internet sector really needs attention.

SN: Do you have any thoughts on our Universities and their curriculum in terms of promoting and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation amongst students?

Ahmad: Yes, sure. I think all Universities and Colleges should put up some kind of student idea forum where students could share creative ideas and discuss future opportunities of creating jobs rather than looking for them.
I also think some extra classes should be introduced. Classes that will focus more on entrepreneurship and guiding students on how they can find opportunities from simple and neglected ideas.

SN: What do you think the Government (both Federal and State) should do to improve the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria?
This is what everyone has been thinking, the governments should provide necessary assistance to youths with great innovative ideas. By this I mean financial assistance like subsidized loans for youth with th intellect.

SN: Do you have any advice for people who want to launch new startups?

One thing I would like to advice all new startups is that, starting small is not a shame. Starting something is all that matters! You don’t have to be perfect, all you have to do is get it going. As time goes by, you’ll find room for improvements.

We all started small, from babies to teenagers and to adults. So does every business!

I once wrote an article on this, which could reached on my blog here

SN: Do you have any business advisor/mentor?
Ahmad: No, I don’t. Though sometime I do seek advice from my parents and some of my friends. But if you ask if I have role models then I’ll say yes and one of them is Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.