It is possible that Jim Ovia, the founder of Zenith Bank and  Visafone made money in the Visafone investment even as he sold to MTN many months ago. Nevertheless, that does not mean he might not have made some strategic technical mistakes. After all, Jim would have loved to keep Visafone and own it if he saw a path to sustained profitability.

He is a highly celebrated IT lover. But it seems he may not have had the technical depth as he went ahead investing in Visafone using CMDA as the technology of choice. Though some of these entrepreneurs like Boudex Telecom Aba put money before the arrival of GSM, there was nothing stopping them building their businesses under GSM. Bourdex began operations in 1997 and was based on CMDA. Visafone would later buy it as it pursued scale which never happened.

Money was not Visafone’s problem. The problem was technology. Even if Jim had put more money, the underlining root issue would still be there. You cannot build any wireless network service in Nigeria today on CMDA. Startcomms is history despite any promo you may see around.

When MTN bought Visafone, it was not about buying the technology. Rather, it was going for the spectrum for its planned future expansion. And perhaps the 2 million customers.

This is a very big lesson – before you invest in any product or service with core technology operation, ask experts for their opinions and do not just pay based on instincts. Ask people already in the business for the industry pattern and roadmap. If Jim had done that, Econet Wireless founder who was already running a GSM operation might have helped.

So, do not allow what destroyed Myspace and Visafone to happen to you. Always have people that understand technology, not IT, when you commit to big core technology platforms for your start-up or investment.

Nigerians always think we are rich as a country because we have men who can spend more than they earn only to move back to villages in coming years when the money finishes. They live on visibility and do not like to build things. That is why corruption is high in Nigeria. The mantra is quick money and money now.

Most people think wealth is created in Aso Rock and government houses in our state capitals. They do not understand that entrepreneurs occupy a vital state in any country if they hope to prosper.They serve as the spark plug in the economy’s engine, activating and stimulating all economic activities. The economic success of advanced economies is the result of encouraging and rewarding the entrepreneurial instinct.

A society is prosperous only to the degree to which it rewards and encourages entrepreneurial activities because it is the entrepreneurs and their activities that are the critical determinant of the level of success, prosperity, growth and opportunities in any economy.

Countries go to great lengths to promote entrepreneurs because they realize that the best way to tell the story of their business environment competitiveness is by using the entrepreneurs themselves to tell the story.

In October 2011, at a meeting of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, the office of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a plan to bring a tactical team of business experts from the private sector into the federal government to help streamline the process for letting foreign entrepreneurs into the United States to help ignite a new wave of economic growth.

The Chilean government also put in place a strategy to encourage entrepreneurs irrespective of country of origin. Thus, they came up with a programme where anyone with a compelling start-up idea, gets a $40,000 grant from the Chilean government to move to the country and establish the business. The Chilean embassy will grant the person a one-year visa within days. When you arrive in Chile, you will have free offices, fast Wi-Fi and other necessary infrastructure needed to move an enterprise forward.

Compare that to Nigeria where the leadership rarely acts as if businessmen men are opposition parties.We do not care because we do not have the mindset to build things. We like to enjoy quick success and that is why we are corrupt as a nation. Entrepreneurship means building things over time and it demands commitment and dedication which Nigeria does not have.

After the successful launch of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme in Season I and the extraordinary execution in Season II, the program is ready for the third year, #TEEP2017 which will kick start Jan 1 2017.

Tell your friends and family their ideas can transform Africa by sending them the links below:

1. Get ready to Start the #TEEP2017 application here.

Application begins Jan 1 2017 but you can get ready now.

By Rick Rogers, Area Manager for East & West Africa at Check Point Software Technologies

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

R. Buckminster Fuller said those words decades ago, but they still ring true in present times, especially when it comes to the progression and innovation in technology. Here at Check Point, we do a lot of thinking about future trends and potential threats, as well as innovating and building solutions to combat these cybersecurity challenges.

To be as effective as possible, threat defences need to be observed and managed in real time to give as much time to respond as possible. Robust security management is a solution that includes the installation of high-tech systems designed to protect an organisation’s data, networks and devices, while providing real-time visibility into security risk.

This includes the development, documentation, and implementation of policies and procedures for protecting these assets. Unfortunately, the response to potential threats tends to be point product or the reactive construction of new policies and rules, which only serve as a Band-Aid, at best. This is largely because a unified security program – based on integrated technology – is often not being used.

Start Solving Real Problems

The security industry does not need more point products to duct-tape solutions together and hope for the best. Companies need real solutions – ones that can integrate their system and give them visibility into the security risk of the environment. A powerful security management platform gives your company a strategic and tactical advantage by enabling the management of potential threats, without inhibiting business innovation.

With that said, there are four primary ways in which you can help secure your company’s environment:

1. Conquer with Consolidation

Security complexity can be conquered through consolidation – bringing all security protections and functions under one umbrella. By consolidating security on a single platform, companies gain more control over their security, get better insight into their security posture and can respond more quickly to shut down threats to their entire environment.

1. Unified Policy Management

Ultimately, when policies are misconfigured, the organisation is not able to protect and gain visibility into the increasing number of business segments. This puts the entire organisation at risk. The key to strong security architecture that can overcome the most difficult cybersecurity challenges can only be delivered by using a security management solution that delivers unparalleled operational efficiency.

1. Integrated Threat Management

You cannot monitor or protect devices you don’t know about. Security challenges are increased when there is a lack of proper visibility for incident detection and response. This is precisely the reason why a single, visual dashboard is so important for event analysis, and threat monitoring and mitigation, to ensure full-spectrum visibility into threats across the entire perimeter and beyond.

1. Automated Operations

By automating operations, security teams have the confidence to integrate ticketing, network management or cloud orchestration systems, knowing that they can limit exactly what integrated systems have access to and what they are capable of doing.

Consolidate and Optimise

As evasion techniques evolve and become more intelligent, so must the technology to keep your business secure. A robust security management platform allows your company to be proactive in its approach to security, rather than reactive.

To provide security professionals with a comprehensive resource on security management, we’ve developed a whitepaper that provides you with solutions to tackle the most complex environments.

We invite you to rethink your current security posture, and enable strong protections for the organisation. Everything from technology, people, policy, operations and management must be considered in a new light, with a fresh mindset.