No sooner had MTN won its licence to operate in Nigeria than it had to address one particular, burning issue – where was the money for the licence fee going to come from?

Andrew Bing, an integral part of the bidding team and MTN Nigeria’s first chief financial manager with Rodney Wayne as financial officer, recalls the situation: “We had to pay US$265 million [on top of an initial deposit of US$20 million] in a single shot and so we started phoning banks to see what could be done in-country,” Andrew explains.

“Most of them wanted huge fees and had hugely difficult processes. Then we phoned Standard Chartered and spoke to a guy called KO (known by his initials). He said, ‘No problem, we’ll charge no fees and throw in the big plastic presentation cheque [for the inevitable press conference] as well.’

“That marked the beginning of a lasting partnership with that bank – and with KO reflecting the unique blend of risk-taking and unwavering optimism that characterised those early days.

When the going gets tough. . .

“The early years were very, very tough on people, money and everything in between. At one stage we actually ran out of money and couldn’t pay salaries for a month so I had to call a few banks for help, but none would help. One of our shareholders had an interest in a small merchant bank in Nigeria and they met with us and stumped up some funds. We paid the salaries and no-one was any the wiser. Today, that bank is part of a large international banking group and to those individuals who took a chance on me and MTN, I will always be grateful, for their faith in us; I believe it has been rewarded.”

There were multiple challenges aside from financing, as Andrew explains. “We bought cars we were told were new, but which turned out to have been reconditioned; it was a nightmare. We moved office so often in the early days because we outgrew our space the day we moved in. We were often working 18-hour days and the local staff were there with us all the way. 

“Also, the traffic in Lagos in those early days often meant taking two to three hours to drive a few kilometres. How the staff managed all that, plus working weekends – and still kept smiling – was amazing.  Some nights they slept on the floor in the office as the trip home and back would prevent any sleep. Some of those are still working in the Group as senior staff.

“Yes, there were lots of bumps and problems along the road, but the end result was what I remember. The initial funding took three years to get in place and by then we actually didn’t need the funding due to our success, but up to that point it was day-by-day cash management. 

“It was tough. Over the 13 years I was there we won four international awards for the innovative funding we did to keep the engineering/network and CPG [gateway] teams building and spending.

“What I can remember is the impact on the Group share price in 2001; the price was doing well, I think in the R20s, then the initial Nigeria results came out and the Group share price dropped by half; no-one trusted us. Now MTN Nigeria is this huge company. I will always be thankful to the people and the country despite thinking, in 1997, that I would never travel there. You’ve got to meet the people before you make decisions about a country. We met the people; we engaged with them and enough of them put their faith in us. The rest is history.”