Adekunle Adebiyi: Nurturing Customer-Driven SMEs
Some business executives are great at vision; others are very good at managing human and material resources while many are great at execution, effectively managing talents to drive the vision to reality. Adekunle Adebiyi may just have it all.
Adebiyi leads the sales and distribution arm of MTN Nigeria and is responsible for ensuring that the more than 70 million subscribers of the telecommunication giant enjoy unlimited access to the benefits of a modern, connected life, wherever they are, whether in Makoko, Lagos or Mararaba in Nasarawa, Mabushi in Abuja, or Otukpo in Benue, Port Harcourt in Rivers State, and everywhere they go.
Since taking the reins as Chief Sales and Distribution Executive in 2018, the biggest contribution of the Animal Science graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, in the role is daily evaluation of MTN Nigeria’s performance to see if it has accomplished all its goals.
“Whether we’re providing big city Nigeria with the services it needs to keep buzzing or ensuring a specific product is available even in the most remote part of the country; we are constantly dealing with vast distances and great diversity. It’s a big job, but someone has to do it,” Adebiyi said.
The most crucial part of his job is to make the services available to those who need it even if it requires taking it to their doorsteps from his office in Victoria Island, Lagos to Sabon Gari in Kaduna. The customers must be able to access it with ease.
The ease of accessing a product is exactly what the MTN Executive advised SME owners to start factoring into their business model when he spoke as a member of the virtual panel of the Revv Programme masterclass themed: “Smart Marketing & Sales – Your Customers are out there”.
According to him, “apart from coming up with innovative ideas to make the product better, you need to expand your base by taking the product to where the customers are”.
The Revv Programme is another initiative by MTN that brings SMEs together under the mentorship of top business executives and industry experts to relearn, rethink and retool their businesses for growth in the emerging digital economy.
The programme which commenced in August aims to reach and support 10,000 small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) across Nigeria.
Adebiyi brought to the training his wealth of experience and expertise in sales operation with Pfizer Products Plc., Livestock Feeds Plc., Econet Wireless Nigeria Limited, Vee Networks Ltd., Celtel (now Airtel) Nigeria Limited and Visafone Communications Limited.
Since joining MTN Nigeria in 2012 as General Manager, Sales, Adebiyi has held the positions of General Manager, Regional Operations – North (2014) and General Manager, Enterprise Sales (2016) before assuming his current role in an acting capacity in 2016 and in 2018 he was confirmed Chief Sales and Distribution Officer (CSDO)
The popular saying that people search for treasure even if it is hidden beneath the earth may no longer be true with the way business has evolved in the 21st Century. People now form an opinion about a product or service based on how it is presented and packaged, especially online. Looks now matter. Adebiyi said that asides being innovative, there is a need for SMEs to make their products more attractive.
Away from the pro-bono training and advisory SMEs get from business experts on how to grow their businesses, participants in the masterclass also qualify to be a part of the 200 SMEs selected to make up the “Y’ello 200” at the end of the nine masterclass sessions that will be delivered in the course of the programme. This will be further supported with empowerment tools and marketing opportunities.
