Chinedu Azih: Succeeding where peers fear to tread

Globally, private security business is considered the preserve of ex-service men, but Chinedu Otakpor-Azih, cofounder of Kazih Kits Limited, is not deterred from an industry dominated by the male gender.

Chinedu saw a gap in the Nigerian security market and made up her mind to fill it despite not having sufficient experience in the field then.

She was inspired to establish Kazih Kits Limited, cofounded with her husband in 2014, by the uniformed men and women who taught her during her secondary education.

“I caught the security bug in my secondary school sojourn at the Command Secondary School in Ibadan. I spent my formative years schooling and living in the midst of these veterans and their families,” Chinedu says.

“It is quite an honour and camaraderie among the uniformed men and women who defended Nigeria. They inspired me; I was hooked even though I did not realise it then.

“Looking back now, I realise I had ventured into security services as an alternative to enlisting in any of the Nigerian armed forces. Maybe my son will wear an Air Force uniform and pilot a fighter jet someday,” she recounts.

Chinedu picked up a job with a security firm immediately after her tertiary education to gain experience on security and also took up courses both online and off line to learn more on the subject.

The master’s degree holder tells Start-Up-Digest that her passion and that of her cofounder is to provide uniforms, kits and other accessories for security personnel while also equipping them with the necessary required skills.

Her initial start-up capital was money from her personal savings while working.

Chinedu says Kazih Kits Limited has grown tremendously as the business now does its supplies of security kits and other accessories nationwide as well as trainings.

“Our business has grown tremendously. We presently supply our products nationwide,” she says.

She tells Start-Up-Digest that her raw materials for the kits and accessories are sourced both locally and imported. “It is a mix of locally produced and imported items, but our long-term plan is to manufacture those imported items locally and, perhaps, grow our business into the West Africa market,” she says.

Currently, Kazih Kits has 10 employees permanently and employs on part-time basis when the need arises.

Speaking on the country’s currently insecurity issues, Chinedu says that high rate of insecurity is as a result of the huge illiteracy and high unemployment rate in the country.

She notes that if the government can address these two social malaises, insecurity will become a thing of the past in the country.

She urges the government to drive entrepreneurship amongst youths to help reduce the country’s high unemployment rate.

Speaking on the challenges limiting her business, the University of Lagos graduate says that huge infrastructural gaps across the country have remained a major threat to her business.

She states that the business spent so much on transportation of its kits to clients across the country owing to the poor road network across Nigeria, which has continued to increase cost of production.

She pleads with the Federal Government to address the issue of poor road infrastructure by rehabilitating most of the bad roads in the country while also calling for the improvement in power supply and lower interest rate for small businesses.

Answering questions on some of her business expansion plans, the entrepreneur says that the goal of the firm is to be the go-to for security kits in Nigeria and Africa at large.

Similarly, she states that the business plans to establish a garment and shoe factory in the long run to manufacture most of its accessories locally.

Asked what her advice to other young entrepreneurs is, Chinedu says, “Running a successful business venture requires a lot of work, and, some days, it can be frustrating. Just remember why you started, be persistent, pray and the success will naturally follow.”

Josephine Okojie