Entrepreneur Julius Ogor has diversified interests in Nigeria, having founded companies in the marine dredging business and in telecommunications. Julius Ogor has been particularly focused on expanding telecom service to the African country’s rural population.

Though rural telephony has made significant advancements in Nigeria in recent years, the country still lags behind some other parts of Africa when it comes to telecom penetration. Recent studies put Nigeria’s penetration in relation to its population at 48.8 percent, whereas 94 percent of South Africans have access to WiMAX/LTE services, and 89.4 percent of Kenya’s population can access the Internet.

As reported in The Guardian, approximately 205 Nigerian communities do not have telecommunications technology, or as many as 40 million people. The majority of the Nigerians affected live in rural areas. Recently commenting on the lack of rural telephony in Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, the chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said the solution lies in more consistent investment in rural telecommunications infrastructure. According to the article, there has been a significant drop in such investment caused by a variety of factors, including recession, instability, the lack of FDIs, or foreign direct investments, and the high cost of expanding service to Nigeria’s rural communities.