Telecom
Stakeholders Brainstorm on Success Strategies for Startups @2023 WorldStage Economic Summit
Pioneer and successful players in startup businesses have unanimously advised that success could only come in the way of upcoming entrepreneurs through passion and perseverance rather than the desire to get rich quick.
L-R Mrs. Adekunbi Ademiluyi, MD, HumanManager Limited representing Mr. John Tani Obaro, Group Managing Director, SystemSpecs Holdings, Nigeria; Mr. Tim Akano, CEO, New Horizons Nigeria; and Mr. Mayowa Oludare, Editor-in-Chief of Global Financial Digest during panel discussion at the breakout session on WES 2023 tagged The Game Changers on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at the event centre , Nigerian Exchange, Lagos.
They gave the advice on Thursday at the breakout session on the WorldStage Economic Summit 2023 held at the event centre of the Nigerian Exchange, Lagos themed “The Game Changer.”
Moderated by the Editor-in-Chief of Global Financial Digest, Mr. Mayowa Oludare, guest speakers that took turns to share their experiences and address issues that were critical factors in understanding and running startup businesses to succeed were Mr. Tim Akano, CEO, New Horizons Nigeria; and Mrs. Adekunbi Ademiluyi, Managing Director, HumanManager Limited who represented the Group Managing Director of SystemSpecs Holdings, Nigeria, Mr. John Tani Obaro.
Giving a presentation on startups as the game changer, Mr. Akano admitted that it was always tough at the beginning but that passion and perseverance would make starters to overcome any challenge that might come their way in the build-up stages.
Reliving personal experience, he said it took him over 12 months to convince Nigerians about his startup which he started about 20 years ago after resigning from lucrative jobs with Coca Cola and Dunlop.
According to Akano, it takes perseverance to overcome challenges and it’s not a bed of roses to scale various hurdles for anyone ambitious to venture into startups. But every startup entrepreneur must have it at the back of their minds that the reward for solving problems is money and therefore make problem solving their focus if they desire to make headway, he stated.
Sounding out would-be startup entrepreneurs against failure, he warned against partnering with wrong people and to cut off with negative individuals who were only good at seeing challenges but not solutions.
“Don’t make a company of negative people, particularly the learned and academic who are fond of analysis to paralysis, only rolling out problems rather than solutions,” he warned.
He also advised upcoming startups that there is nothing bad in sharing ideas with people who may not be experts to avoid discouragement by people of much knowledge.
Asked if it’s advisable to engage partners from the start, he replied that it might be difficult to build a company with just one brain.
“The fear is understandable, but there’s no straight answer to it,” he said.
He however reminded the audience that Google was a product of some students and professors and that therefore it might not be a bad idea to have partners who are like-minded from the beginning.
He advised the youth not to be dominated by fear of the risk of bringing in people to co-own startup businesses.
Speaking on the benefits of mentoring and mentorship, Akano argued that not everyone could be a mentor but real mentors were called to serve other people, with little concern for reward.
Describing how critical mentors are to the generation of upcoming entrepreneurs, he quoted a statement by Albert Eistein that ‘he sees far by standing on the shoulder of a giant’ to support his position on the significance of mentorship.
“One has to be very bold to seek help, and youths have to be disciplined, trust-worthy and have value to contribute,” he admonished.
Akano highlighted other challenges to upcoming startups as fear of the unknown, overconfidence about break-even which in most cases fail expectations, and cash flow, which according to him is about retaining cash coming in rather than just inflow of cash.
In her own presentation on ‘Journey from conception to launch, Mrs. Adekunbi Ademiluyi agreed with Akano that understanding and knowing one’s passion is key to upcoming entrepreneurs to achieving success.
“Focus on your goals even when your plan is cascading,” she counselled.
She outlined other factors for success in entrepreneurship as understanding and engaging with community; asking the right questions with ideation; challenging the status quo; listening to unmet needs and desires of the world; conceptualizing by shaping ideas into tangible, viable and scalable solution – determining solution that fits the problem; creating a value proposition; defining business model; and putting a legal structure in place.
Ademiluyi also recommended execution based on nurturing ideas, refining and bringing them to life, processing product development, building workable teams and planning resources.
“A successful launch isn’t where the story ends, going live aims at monetization, customers’ satisfaction and creating new markets,” she elaborated.
Asked how idea could be translated to reality, she recommended that a plan should be created, concerns should be shared, structure should be put in place, ideas should be shared, strategic partnership should be initiated, and knowledge of what moving from point A to B in the growth process meant and entailed must be established.
She mentioned the contributions of the government at encouraging startup businesses as instituting the Bank of Industry (BoI), Micro finance banks etc to ensure easy access to funding for financially deprived individuals that sought to go into startups.
Responding to the question about the fintech sector being dominated by technical people, she said it was because investors and venture capitalists always looked for technologists and that those that applied for their jobs were people with a background in financial technology.
To halt or curb the “japa” syndrome currently depriving Nigeria the services of her bulk of professionals, Ademiluyi submitted that it’s a global challenge that’s not limited to Nigeria alone. However, she saw an opportunity in the challenge
“In every problem there is an opportunity. It’s a global issue. There’s even domestic japa where people resign their jobs and prefer to work on their own. There are opportunities in Nigeria, we only need to adjust ourselves to curb the lure of japa,” she reasoned.
To further curb the phenomenon of ‘japa’ she called on the government at all levels to improve on infrastructures for people to be interested in the country. She equally advocated improvement of the educational system as well as the social factors.
In his opening remark, the President/CEO of WorldStage, Mr. Segun Adeleye said WES 2023 was accommodating a special breakout session tagged Startups on WorldStage with the Theme: ‘The Game Changers’ for founders, startup enthusiasts, corporates, angel investors, and media to network and chart the way forward.
He said, WorldStage, a globally focused media group with strong business/economic contents, is leveraging its capacity to engage the emerging startups and project them for global visibility.
“Data from the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that unemployment and underemployment rates increased to an all-time high of 56.1 percent in 2020, pushing 133 million Nigerians into multidimensional poverty with economic growth not inclusive as it faced key challenges of lower productivity and weak expansion of sectors with high employment elasticity,” he said.
“Getting the youths to work must be an immediate task for the government and will be driven by fixing productivity through combinations of policies that cut across some strategic sectors of the economy.
“Many startups that need to be encouraged are developing technology to solve identified problems in payment systems, insurance, agribusiness, e-commerce among others. The beauty of their emergence is that their concepts are globally acceptable, making them eligible to expand to other countries while attracting foreign exchange and creating new jobs.”
When Okezie Kelechi lost his SIM card, the one he had used since his secondary school days, he didn’t think much of it.
He was shocked weeks later to find out it had been reassigned to someone else.
“I had no idea that if your SIM card has been inactive for more than three months, they will resell it,” he wrote on social media.
“They recycled my SIM card and sold it. Same number, I have had it since secondary school.”
Kelechi’s story is far from unique.
Across Nigeria, more people are waking up to the realities of what is known as SIM recycling, a process where telecommunication companies reassign inactive phone numbers to new users. While allowed under existing rules set by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the practice is now raising serious concerns over data privacy, fraud, and national security.
A regulatory gap with real-life consequences
Experts in Nigeria’s telecommunications and security sectors are increasingly warning that the NCC’s failure to establish stronger oversight of SIM recycling is endangering millions.
“Beyond the data breaches, this issue posed a big threat to national security. I have always maintained the need for a central data system in Nigeria,” said Daniel Makolo, a retired senior official of the Nigerian Immigration Service to The ICIR.
“There’s much more to this if we don’t pay attention to an appropriate central data mining system that gives us a history of each person in the country.”
Ayodele Ajayi, an engineering professor at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, explained the security risks from his own experience.
“I used to have one Airtel number, but I travelled out. Before I came back, it was reallocated to another user,” he said.
Because phone numbers are tied to Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) and National Identity Numbers (NINs), reassigning them can expose people to identity theft and financial loss.
The NCC should find a way to notify users when their numbers are at risk of being deactivated, Ajayi urged.
He also recounted an incident he witnessed at a bank, “a woman was narrating how she used to have a particular number but lost it. Somebody saw the number and started using it.
The woman said that before she could act, the person who got the number had started using it and had connived with a bank office to almost wipe out all her savings.
“Upon arriving at the bank to check her account balance, she found out that she had only N50,000 left from about N5 million she had saved up.”
Ajayi emphasised that while recycling is a practical move for telcos to manage limited number availability, more caution is needed.
“Let people know so they can migrate their data to another line, particularly now that almost every channel we use is linked to the phone number, including our bank verification number (BVN)”, he stated.
Kelechi recalled that his number was reassigned to another user despite still being active on WhatsApp.
“I used to wonder why random Hausa boys were always messaging me and calling me baby.
He added that “when I finally visited MTN office in Nigeria, I was told the line has been sold to someone else. E pain me, I no go lie.”
Another social media user Elizabeth Kandi, @DrETKandi warning others about the hidden risks of SIM inactivity alleges that when reassigned the new user can have access to your USSD banking.
“If your Nigerian number was connected to your Nigerian bank accounts for USSD, if you didn’t use it for long, the network provider can disconnect and sell the number to someone else…but that person would be able to access your money via USSD,” Kandi wrote.
Her post underscores the growing fear that recycled numbers, still linked to sensitive services like mobile banking, can open the door to fraud and financial loss
Why do Telcos recycle SIMs?
At a virtual stakeholder meeting in April 2025, NCC Executive Vice Chairman Aminu Maida acknowledged the concern noting that with the evolving landscape, it has become necessary to address emerging challenges that could undermine consumer rights.
He further noted that the Quality-of-Service Business Rules 2024 stipulate that a prepaid line without a revenue-generating event for six months must be deactivated.
This means if a prepaid SIM card goes unused for six months (i.e., no calls, texts, or data use), it must be deactivated.
If the inactivity continues for another six months, the number may be recycled/reallocated to a new user.
In Section 28 of the NCC’s draft business it is stated that all recycled SIMs must be purged of any NIN attached to allow a new user to link their own NIN. But real-world cases suggest that in practice, many recycled numbers are not properly sanitised before reassignment.
The business case for SIM recycling
For telecom operators, recycling isn’t just a technical choice, it’s economic.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), explained that subscribers do not have ownership rights to SIM cards in their possession, as the telecom operators pay procurement and recurring costs for each registered subscriber.
He further explained that SIM cards are “recycled” to prevent number exhaustion while reducing the cost of generating and maintaining them.
“SIM cards are reassigned to reduce the dormant subscribers, as telcos are profit-oriented organisations,” Adebayo said.
In the exercise of its powers under Section 70 of the NCC Act (2003), the commission made provisions for the development of a new numbering plan for Nigeria. Under the provision, telcos are obligated to pay a sum that is the ‘numbering plan fees’ to maintain their allocated numbers.
Airtel Nigeria has restated its commitment to transparency, customer safety, and regulatory collaboration following recent regulatory enforcement by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC had served Airtel Nigeria a notice of sanction over some alleged SIM infractions in Kano State and consequently slammed a fine of N104 million on the telecommunications firm.
NCC had in a letter, addressed to Airtel Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, dated May 26, 2025, signed by Chizua Whyte, head, Legal and Regulatory Services, and Mohammed Dari, acting head, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, on behalf of Dr Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, NCC, titled: ‘Notice of Sanction: Non-Compliance with SIM Registration Directive in Kano,’ where the infractions were spelt out.
According to NCC, Airtel infractions include unauthorised SIM registrations using 198 unapproved devices, resulting in 8,275 registrations outside the 281 verified Airtel shops; premature activation of 63 MSISDNs prior to proper SIM registration, contrary to the provisions of the Registration of Communications Subscribers Regulations 2022; failure to conduct effective eyeballing, leading to 407 fraudulent SIM registrations with multiple NINs, contrary to the provision of the Registration of Communications Subscribers Regulations 2022 and failure to provide satisfactory explanation for SIM registrations conducted between 12.00 a.m and 6.00 a.m.
On the matter, the letter revealed that there were some letter exchanges and subsequent meetings on the infractions between the telecom regulator and Airtel, starting from January 12, 2025, March 19, 2025, March 24, 2025, and March 27, 2025, respectively.
Apparently, after investigations and responses from Airtel, the NCC was not satisfied and this led to the fine of N104 million, which was to be paid within seven days from the date the letter was issued.
Specifically, NCC fined Airtel N5 million, N12 million, N81.4 million and N5 million for the infractions respectively.
Reacting, Airtel, expressed appreciation to the NCC for uncovering the infractions, describing the development as a critical opportunity to strengthen internal processes and further align with national security and regulatory expectations
“We thank the NCC for its vigilance and continued support in protecting the integrity of the telecoms ecosystem. Airtel takes these findings seriously and is already implementing corrective measures,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Only recently, Airtel Nigeria’s CEO recently announced that the company is doubling its investment in the country, focusing on network expansion, fiber-to-the-street rollout, 4G/5G deployment, customer care upgrades, and digital infrastructure security.
These investments reinforce Airtel’s long-term vision of building a resilient and forward-looking telecom network that meets the evolving needs of Nigerians.
“Our systems are constantly evolving to stay ahead of scammers and malicious actors,” the spokesperson added. “This is not just about compliance; it’s about our responsibility to the millions of Nigerians who rely on Airtel daily.”
Airtel Nigeria says it will continue to work closely with the NCC and other arms of government to ensure high standards of service and safety for all telecom users nationwide.
Kenya is celebrating its regulatory ecosystem being ranked as the most progressive in Africa. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has ranked the East African country first in its most recent ICT Regulatory Tracker.
ITU’s ICT Regulatory Tracker is an evidence-gathering tool for decision-makers and regulators. It demonstrates the effectiveness of regulatory systems in the age of technology.
The ITU evaluates the design of the national regulatory authority, the scope of the regulatory mandate, the obtaining regulatory environment, and the robustness of the competition framework in member countries.
Kenya received 93 points, up from 92 in 2023, and now leads the continent in best practices for ICT regulations.
Nigeria and South Africa finished second and third, with 92 and 88 points respectively. Malawi, Egypt, Rwanda, Morocco, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Senegal complete the top 10 list.
Globally, Kenya was ranked 20th out of 194 countries covered.Italy led the rankings, with 100 points.
The regulator, Communications Authority (CA) of Kenya, said the achievement underscored Kenya’s commitment to creating a robust, technology-neutral regulatory environment that supports innovation, affordability and access.
Steve Isaboke, permanent secretary for broadcasting and telecommunications, visited CA Centre in Nairobi following the announcement on Thursday.
“The ranking is a clear testament of the excellent work that CA has done in spearheading Kenya’s digital transformation and driving digital access for all,” he said.
“After 25 years, CA’s regulatory regime has attained maturity, and gained global recognition. This ranking shows that the CA staff and leadership are executing their work diligently.”
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