“Winning is not a sometime thing; it is an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit you cultivate”
Winning of awards is not new to Mr. Unyime Idem, CEO of Idems Ultimate Limited and Chairman of Stanford Microfinance Bank Limited. This has come to become a part of his life as no month passes without his being honoured by one organization or the other. It has become his lifestyle and behavioural pattern. I was not therefore surprised when news filtered into town that Mr. Idem has won the Airtel CEO’s Award of Excellence 2015 for the 4th time in a row. This piece is therefore a congratulatory note to this mitochondria of award, a man who has success and winning of awards running in his blood, the Mac Zuckerberg of Nigeria, the Bill Gates of Africa and Richard Branson of Nigeria for winning the Airtel CEO's Award of Excellence for the 4th time in a row. This is a feat no Telecoms partner has achieved in the history of telecoms in Africa and he is from Akwa Ibom state. Mr. Unyime Idem, the CEO of Idems Ultimate Limited is a Telecom Service Provider, Licensed Management Consultant, Entrepreneurial Guru, Banker, Chartered Manager, Indigenous Investor, Social Worker, Philanthropist, Motivational Speaker and Role Model. This award winning personage is CEO of Idems Ultimate Ltd, Chairman First Network Ltd, Chairman Ibom Communications Ltd, Chairman Ibom Cement Ltd, Chairman Villa Press Ltd, Chairman Ibom Liquids Company Ltd, Chairman Idems Property & Real Estate Management Ltd and Chairman Stanford Microfinance Bank Ltd, the Bank of the year 2016. With this latest award, Mr. Idem has truly conquered the telecoms sub sector and remains unchallenged and unrivalled.
If there is one man who turns around any business terrain he ventures into, that person is Mr. Unyime Idem. He ventured into the telecoms sector of the Nigerian economy as a recharge card vendor with a company he started with just N45, 000.00 in 2004. Twelve years down memory lane, the story is not the same. The Company has grown into a conglomerate with interest in several sectors of the Nigerian economy. He is the Nnukwummanwu (Big Masquerade) of Recharge card business in Nigeria. I am waiting for the day he will obtain His own license to float a network akin to MTN, Airtel and GLO. This is because he has what it takes to own an operating license.
Mr. Idem represents everything called success in life. The mitochondrion of awards has carved a niche for himself in all spheres and has remained an unbeatable champion in the Nigerian telecoms sub sector. Mention any GSM network in Nigeria, and I will tell you who the number one distributor is. I believe that God has put gifts and talents and ability on the inside of every one of us. When you develop that and you believe in yourself and you believe that you're a person of influence and a person of purpose, you are bound to rise above any situation. What Mr. Idem has done is to develop his own talent and today he is the cynosure of all eyes in the telecoms sector. Was he born a businessman? Did he start big? The answer is Capital NO. He grew through the rank and file; tried and tried again and again. When a child is born, that child first learns how to sit, crawl, then standing before walking. Even when the child begins to stand and walk, his legs wobble on the ground. He is usually assisted by parents and those around to perfect his walking steps. This process goes on until the child masters the art of walking alone before he ventures into running and even flying.
Mr. Idem may have failed severally and sometimes, disappointingly and disgracefully. Did he give up? No. He persisted. According to Michael Jordan, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” This is also the story of Unyime Idem. I am sure when he started; he was not given an opportunity by the then big players who saw him as a business neophyte. How wrong they were for I am pretty sure they cannot even compete with him anymore. He has left them miles apart to become the big masquerade of the Telecom sector. You want to doubt my assertion; then here are the facts.
It is pertinent to observe that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. We are what we do repeatedly and excellence then is not an act but a habit. From a humble beginning of N45, 000 with two workers and probably without an office space, Mr. Idem has grown his business to a point of its being recognized and honoured. We do hear of those in the West who built companies from zero amount to a world class conglomerate. Today I say without qualms that we do not need to search for successful entrepreneurs from West. We have them in Nigeria and Akwa Ibom State in particular. Through his business lines, he has ensured that recharge cards are available always in Akwa Ibom and Nigeria as a whole for all the networks. From an inherited meager market turnover in 2009, the Company has grown the Telecoms Market in Akwa Ibom State that has contributed significantly to the growth and vibrancy of over $5 billion dollar Telecoms Market and about 8.5% to the GDP of Nigeria. It may interest you to know that based on statistics, for every 10 recharge vouchers you see, they bear the trades mark of Idems Ultimate Limited. This has gone to fulfill the mission of ensuring affordability and availability of products..
As a major player in the telecoms sector, he recently set machineries in place to completely revolutionize the telecoms sector by introducing airtime vending machines to replace the traditional way of dispensing recharge card in Nigeria. According to him, “In our effort to completely revolutionize the traditional way of dispensing airtime in Nigeria and to simplify and expand the telecoms market to create employment opportunities in line with our Company vision, we are introducing the AIRTIME VENDING MACHINE. This project is our pioneering effort at transforming the face of telecoms business in Nigeria given the fact that we are the first Telecoms Partners to commence this innovation in the country. It is specially designed to enable GSM users/operators to purchase recharge cards for their telephones and other usages with ease without having to buy from a vendor or carry papers around. We are bringing this facility to Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria having found it to be in line with global best practice. This endeavour will also ensure that recharge card vendors switch over from selling paper vouchers to selling printed pins”.
The implication of this innovation is akin to the industrial revolution era where work done by hand was now done by machine. The underlying fact is that with this new innovation of Mr. Idem, recharge cards will no longer be printed on paper, rather it will be dispensed through POS Machines as is done in the world yonder. This revolution brought by Mr. Idem’s company has value added benefits to Nigeria economy, the telecoms market and Akwa Ibom state in particular. These include: guaranteed employment for more than 3000 unemployed persons thereby reducing crime rate and enhancing living standard, beneficiaries will earn minimum estimated monthly income of N60,000.00 which is 3% of daily sales of N60,000.00, Free routine Telecoms/SME Training for beneficiaries and regular Customer Forum, It is in line with the Dakkada Initiative of the present administration, beneficiaries will now be eligible to pay tax to government thereby boosting government revenue, recharge cards of all networks and in all denominations readily available at every nook and cranny, with just N50, 000.00 beneficiaries can buy both the machine and the recharge card to start the business.
Now in the face of dwindling revenue by our state following the fall in crude oil price, government can key into this initiative of Mr. Idem and provide several other thousands of jobs for the unemployed. If House of Assembly Members and Chairmen can empower at least 100 persons from their various local government areas, it will cost only about N50 million to empower 100 persons, which to me is a paltry sum. If the state government in line with its Dakkada initiative and the AKEES programme can empower 3000 Akwa Ibomites through this scheme, it will cost the state only about N150, 000,000 to do so. The benefits are enormous compared to the amount involved. This is what revolution does to a state. It completely transforms the state and its people. And you know what? It takes a man with a vision, a large heart and a brilliant idea like the one under discourse here to cause positive change in his generation. Mr. Unyime Idem is such a business mogul who is not really after profit taking but after empowering the lives of his people for a better and secure future.
Through Mr. Idem I have learnt that to be a champion, one has to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It's about embracing the pain that you'll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge. Also it is instructive to note that Champions are not the ones who always win races - champions are the ones who get out there and try. And try harder the next time; and even harder the next time. Champion is a state of mind. They are devoted. They compete to best themselves as much if not more than they compete to best others. Champions are not just athletes.
Based on my personal assessment, Mr. Idem remains one Akwa Ibomite whose existential humanism is unequal in the state; a global entrepreneur whose transformative paradigm has institutionalized incomparability and has contributed significantly to the State economy, a man with a profundity of parallel humility despite his rich pedigree and opulence by my own forensic reckoning. He is a supra-national manager of both men and resources but is often misquoted, misunderstood, misperceived and misrepresented by a varnishing clan of disgruntled persons and ignoramuses who do not comprehend his attitudinal disposition of life and people who multitudinously relate with him profusely in brotherliness, cordiality and friendship on grounds of his reputational pedigree and perceptional antecedents. He has shown all that giving is the only evidence to prove that we have conquered greed. From child hood, he set out to be an advocate and defender of the oppressed from the hands of wicked and greedy men that pervades our territory. Having been blessed by God without measure, he too has decided to make men and women without asking for anything in return as is the manner of some; after all nothing goes for nothing, if you scratch my back I scratch your own. Not so with Idems Ultimate. He believes that every act, every deed of justice, mercy and benevolence makes heavenly music in heaven. He already knows that we shall be remembered more for our kindness than any level of success we could possibly attain.
Mr. Idem defines his disposition to people and relational philosophies. One evergreen point that needs to be underscored is that he does not forget those he has encountered one way or the other. It may take time, but when it touches his heart, the life of any of his innumerable beneficiaries changes for the better, if not the best. One cannot really describe the routinous kindness he has to one and all with me as the latest beneficiary, a testament to his borderless and boundless philanthropy. I make this declaration with all sense of dignity, maturity and responsibility having been a beneficiary of his milk of human kindness.
He has helped me discover and use hidden talents in me and has linked me with other successful entrepreneurs and academics. As he was to tell me later, he noticed that I had raw talent which needed to be refined. I must give him the credit for helping polishing raw skills and transforming me. He gave me support and encouragement and knocked me into line whenever I strayed. He has given me opportunities to prove my mettle. There are cases where he gives me tasks that are daunting the essence of which is to bring out the best in me. He remains an unrepentant apostle of merit and fairness. He taught me the values of honesty, hard work and complete team work. A totally detribalized Nigerian, it did not matter to him that I was Ibo and he was an Ibibio man, he rewards my contributions, criticizes me where necessary and pushes me up the ladder. Today, I stand tall anywhere I find myself because I have a worthy mentor who has replicated himself in me; that is what leadership is all about. Sir, God will lift you up the way you have lifted me up and others.
In line with the vision of job creation, Mr. Idem employs more than 300 persons. This does not include the 901 sub dealers and over 3200 retailers as well as the several thousands of roadside recharge card dealers whose survival depends on Mr. Idem’s telecoms activities. He has over two decades of working and business experience. His success in the business world is a classical example of resilience and tenacity. His business indulgences have led him into partnership with several companies in various sectors of the Nigerian economy and even beyond. These include Airtel Network Ltd, Globacom Nig Ltd, MTN Nig Communications ltd, Visafone Communications ltd, and Etisalat Nig Ltd. Others are Dangote Cement Plc, United Cement Plc, Samsung Communications Inc, Nokia, LG Mobile, Dell Computers and HP Computers, etc.
Mr. Idem values the importance of knowledge especially as it applies to business. He has attended various Technical, Telecommunications and Business-based Workshops and Seminars including Financial Management and Strategic Management Course at Lagos Business School Nigeria, Telecoms Customer Service Training at Accra Ghana, Human Resource Management Course at Johannesburg South Africa, Telecoms Customer Service Training at New Delhi India, Marketing Management Course at Beijing China, Executive Management Course Westminster London UK, Financial Management Course Boroughs London UK and Public Administration Course at New York USA, etc.
He is highly respected entrepreneur and one of the biggest private sector employers of labour in the country. On this account and in recognition/appreciation of his numerous patriotic initiatives, he has received countless awards and honours from various organizations in the past two decades with more than 120 awards. Some telecoms awards Mr. Idem and his Company have won include Regional Airtel Champion Award in recognition of outstanding performance in Gross Additions South East Zone 2013; Airtel CEO’s Award of Excellence in 2012, 2013, 2014 and the latest being in 2015; the highest feat any CP has attained in the history of Airtel business. He is also Globacom National Winner Gross Activation Promo for October-November 2015, Best Performing MTN Partner in Nigeria on Fortune 100 for 2014 and 2015, Bold Service Award for Telecoms Services by Rotary Club of Uyo 2013, Best Performing GLOBACOM Partner South South Nigeria 2014, Best Performing MTN Partner in Nigeria (Retail Sales) 2013 and Heroes Award by Etisalat Nigeria 2013, etc. The summary is that he has won MTN Best Retailer back to back, Airtel CEO’s Award of Excellence Back to Back and the fourth time in a row, and other telecoms awards, etc. He is Fellow to Scores of Professional Bodies. He remains an Epitome of humility and integrity. His life philosophy is guarded by the notion that “Only a life lived for the service of others is a life well lived; and that, the ultimate test of a man’s conscience is his willingness to sacrifice something today for the future generation whose words of thanks will not be heard”. He rose above bias, ethnic sentiment and religion to give me a platform to excel. I remain eternally grateful to him. Kindly join me to celebrate this iconic icon, silent achiever, a man with a very big heart, a friend, brother, mentor and benefactor who has put smile on my face always. Please help me say congratulations to Mr. Unyime Idem.
Deacon Aluu Vincent, an HR/Media Consultant writes from Uyo. 08036688375, 08089753734 Email-vincentaluu@yahoo.com.
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