“PERABEAM brought Panasonic into Nigeria. It was then National. It’s still a leading brand in terms of quality and we still supply it. We have now introduced Inventor, a leading European brand. It’s been selling for over 50 years. It is also very popular in the Middle East where, because of the heat, people value robust air conditioners that cool the house or office efficiently and are also durable”.
PERABEAM is a 60-year-old company. We used to be part of UAC Group.
PERABEAM used to be two UAC companies. PERA means Pan Electric Refrigeration and Air Conditioning and BEAM is Business Equipment and Machine. PERA supplied and serviced all kinds of air conditioners while BEAM supplied and maintained office equipment such as chairs, tables, safes, and so on. Both companies were later merged. The focus now is only on office, home and commercial cooling systems.
PERABEAM has supplied and maintained air conditioners for companies such as Shell, Mobil and so on. We have added many companies to our clientele, especially banks. Some require us to design, supply and install air conditioners while others ask us to maintain. We service the air conditioners in over 50 branches of Access Bank. Of course, we service all UAC companies. We used to supply and maintain the air conditioners in all Mr. Biggs outlets when they were under UAC. Reliable cooling is essential to premium eating-out experience. This is easier for centralized businesses to achieve. The Place outlets, for instance, are always cool. Mr. Biggs restaurants are managed by different people under the franchise, you don’t get the same ambience everywhere.
We supply cooling systems on hire basis.
Some of our commercial and industrial clients don’t want to buy air conditioners. We supply appropriate cooling solutions to them and service them. We remain the owners of the equipment while the client pays us for hiring and maintenance. We have about 200 cooling equipment of varying sizes in Guinness plants. We also work with international breweries all over Nigeria.
We don’t just sell air conditioners. We sell the most efficient, most cost-effective and most durable cooling solutions for each client, private or commercial.
We are market leaders in the supply of air conditioners and other cooling systems. We are not makers or distributors of air conditioners. We are the only company with our structure in Nigeria. We listen to your cooling requirement, design the best solution and supply and maintain the equipment. Some customers only want us to supply and install. Our design solutions are for large businesses and small ones such as hotels and offices – even offices in a single duplex. A client building a hotel is wondering whether they can have air conditioner condensers on the rooftop, which is great for managing space and aesthetics. We ask to see the drawing and see if this is possible or if we can design an equally pleasing safe alternative.
Tailored solutions work for even small homes and businesses
We like to be brought in early when a building is being constructed. We work a lot with architects. You can maximize aesthetics as well as functionality. If someone building a hotel or their architect talks to us early, we can have a single big condenser for all the air conditioners rather than having 36 condensers hanging from each of the 36 rooms. We had a man in Anambra, a hotelier. He was quite surprised and very pleased with this solution. Working with PERABEAM even on small projects ensures that you don’t have pipes for 1 horsepower air conditioners used for 2 horsepower air conditioners.
“If someone building a hotel or their architect talks to us early, we can have a single big condenser for all the air conditioners rather than having 36 condensers hanging from each of the 36 rooms”.
AC Distributors sell through us (and we sell at affordable prices), so you can never buy a fake
Many of the high-quality air conditioners are counterfeited. These are very good fakes, made in Asia. They don’t cool very well and are not durable. The major distributors supply us directly, you don’t run any risk of buying a fake. The prices of air conditioners are quite transparent, so we can’t mark up. But we buy vast quantities, so we have considerably better prices than in the shops. And we have very large contracts supplying big businesses all over Nigeria. This significant economy of scale makes our services affordable.
We have a 60-year history of bringing leading air conditioner brands into Nigeria, the latest we have brought is Inventor, a leading European brand that is widely used also in America and the Middle East.
PERABEAM brought Panasonic into Nigeria. It was then National. It’s still a leading brand in terms of quality and we still supply it. We introduced Inventor, a leading European brand, to Nigeria four years ago. People who know the brand – individuals as well as companies – have been bringing it into the country for 40, 50 years. So, we know that there is still a strong market for high-quality European air conditioners. Now that we have put our structure behind Inventor, people who import on their own or buy through us can enjoy first class installation and maintenance services.
There is an advantage for everyone to work with us, companies as well as individuals.
It is fairly obvious why big corporate clients come to us. They can’t afford any errors or inefficiencies with their cooling systems. Banks and IT firms, for instance, use big air conditioners for very sensitive equipment in their data rooms. They can’t afford the air conditioners not to work for even five minutes. We maintain back-up systems and then a technical team that is ready to be deployed to fix problems, anytime of the day. Radisson Blu made some errors with their air-conditioning system and the hotel had to be shut down for almost a year.
Big corporates also enjoy credit with us. We have service agreements with many organisations that spell out the air conditioners we are supplying over 2-5 years, where and when they will be serviced etc. This allows these companies to see the cost and plan for it. We have many flexible options. Even for individuals, you require assurance you are buying quality products, and original ones. You also want excellent installation; you want the right cables to be used. The little things are important for safety – cabling decisions could result in fire outbreaks – and how efficiently the air conditioners cool and how long they last. Also, because we are a company with full-time, well-trained staff, you can let our people into your house and bedroom to carry out installation or maintenance.
We have 7 Electrical Engineers and 38 Highly Trained Technicians
I am also an engineer. Our technicians are graduates of technical schools, so they have a good grasp of key electrical principles. They are not artisans who picked up skills through informal training. They undergo a six-month training programme when we employ them. Then they also undergo training programmes for specific equipment through our partners such as Inventor, LG, Panasonic and others. Our high standards and the vast opportunity to work to meet them while working on diverse projects throughout the country is the best training.
Our technical depth means we do consultative selling. We just don’t issue an invoice and supply you anything you ask for. Our engineers help you design what will work best for you. For large projects, there is often a difference between what a client’s engineer has in the drawing and the viable way to do installations. Because we deploy qualified and experienced engineers, they can invite the engineers who have done the design and point out practical difficulties and how best to resolve them. This saves clients a lot of money and headache down the road. We also advise clients on how best to save costs, considering quality of cooling equipment, cost, durability, robustness of the equipment and costs of replacing parts and repairs. Initial outlay may be attractive, but it can also prove to be unbearable 4-8 years down the road.
We are putting our track record behind Inventor
Inventor is a leading European brand. It is well-known in Europe. It’s been selling for over 50 years. It is also very popular in the Middle East where, because of the heat, people value robust air conditioners that cool the house or office efficiently and are also durable. Inventor will deliver great pleasure and value to Nigerians. We are putting our reputation, as leading air conditioner technicians in Nigeria, behind it. In the next five years, the Inventor will be one of the top two air conditioners in Nigeria for clients who want to balance price with quality. I can confidently predict this because of the enthusiastic take up by corporate clients. They easily see the value proposition when we present the technical specifications and the footprint of the brand to them. We allowed some clients to use the brand for 3 months. All of them choose Inventor when they are replacing air conditioners or buying new ones.
So, we take a lot of burden off the client; you help me choose the best AC you put your name and track record behind that AC, and the way you sell and install it, you guarantee value for money.
Mr. Abayomi Adeola Akindele (MNSE, R.Eng, MASHRAE,FNIMN, FIMC, CMC) studied Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), graduating in 1989. He has previously worked with Minesfield Engineering Ltd, UACN and Schneider Electric.
