Ninan Thomas: The Indian flute at Visafone

Bode Adewumi

Ninan ThomasWHEN the news broke out mid last year that banking guru, Mr. Jim Ovia bought the ailing Cellecom and was ready to join the telecommunications industry, many people saw it differently. Some saw it as a new dawn in the sector, considering Mr. Ovia’s mercurial exploits in the banking industry.

While some saw it as another source of gainful employments for the people, some wore the attitude of let’s wait and see. Whichever way it was viewed, the fact remains that the entrance of Visafone into the telecoms industry has brought a lot of changes.

And typical of somebody with that sense of purpose, Mr. Ovia does not intend to fail. But how would he do this? The only way is to appoint quality people into strategic positions and that was how the name of Mr. Ninan Thomas came up.

Since last year, when Visafone was born, the story has been that of success. This was due in part to the managerial abilities of Mr. Thomas, who has shown from the beginning that he is well focused.

Born Ninan Thomas came from Villachippara, Trivandrum, Kerala State, India. He had his early education at Junior High NVKS Higher Secondary School, India before taking a degree in Engineering from Madurai Kamaraj University, India. He also holds an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines.

Growing up for Thomas in India was the same with those with a humble background in any part of the world particularly in his area and other parts of Africa. It was not a bed of roses. According to Thomas in an interview with Sunday Tribune, “growing up in a country with a huge population of over 1 billion people prepares one to be extremely competitive. With so many people battling to achieve something, each milestone that you cross comes with dedication, commitment and perseverance. “The situation really trains the individual to be prepared for all adversities in life.”

With this foregoing, it is therefore easy to know the mindset of Mr. Ninan Thomas as he occupies the exalted office at Visafone, the telecommunications company that is currently the toast of Nigerians in many cities including Abuja and Lagos. Ninan Thomas does not attain the position he occupies today over night. It was a culmination of years of experience as it would be seen from his resume. He indeed spent most of his career years in the US.

He has over eighteen years experience in the telecoms industry and these span different fields in the industry. It includes the areas of technology, vendor selection and negotiation, network rollout, sales and marketing, distribution, customer services, financial engineeringt and operations.

He has worked as Director Operations, UI Starcomms, United States of America, where he was responsible for the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile business branch of the company. He was also the Vice President of Reliance Communications, India, where he was responsible for building the operations of one of the largest mobile network in the world.

He helped grew the subscriber base of the telecoms operator from two hundred thousand to thirty million in less than four years. Thomas also had a long stint with Motorola, USA, India, and the Philippines before moving to one of the biggest conglomerates in India, the Tata Group, India.

Mr. Thomas has this to say concerning his career. “I am grateful that I was fortunate to be part of the Indian/Asian Telecom revolution by virtue of being there, at the prime of my youth, when all this was happening’’.

Mr. Thomas’ major preoccupation in life is to contribute in whatever way possible to alleviate poverty because he believes that development is directly linked to wealth creation. Accordingly, he told Sunday Tribune that he was ready to create or run a corporation that contributes to the economy, driving the shareholders interests, while placing special emphasis on corporate social responsibilities.

This no doubt may have informed the status he assumed in life. For instance, Mr. Thomas was awarded the Chief Executive Award for Outstanding Performance from Motorola USA in recognition of his outstanding performance in office while in Motorola US in 1996.

This does not come easy in a country noted for excellence. But this may not seem out of place, though, for somebody like Thomas who said his role model is the inimitable Jack Welch, the most outstanding CEO of GE international.

The Visafone boss is a widely travelled human being, partly due to the nature of his job or otherwise. He has visited or stayed in the Philippines, Singapore, USA, Dominican Republic, Angola, China etc, before coming to Nigeria. In all of this, his lovely wife, Elizabeth, a medical doctor, and her two kids, Ninan Thomas (a boy) and Sarah, (a girl), who are both in 6th Grade and 2nd Grade respectively have always been there.

Indeed, Mr. Thomas is a man who marries his profession with family life as he spoke glowingly of is family. He told Sunday Tribune that apart from his job and the family, the other things he is passionate about are photography, lawn tennis, golf and meditation.

According to him, he finds pleasure in things that are done with perfection, things which lead to the achievement of expected results. Therefore, Mr. Thomas said he abhors things that are done with a casual and cavalier attitude. In his words, “I believe in perfection. It may be hard to achieve this, but my utmost belief is that if it can be done, then it must be done. This way, I believe success could be attained, and this has always been my guiding principle all my life.”

Mr. Thomas who joined Visafone from inception said his focus has been on strategy and flawless execution, adding that he is passionate about what he believes in and is always driven to achieve protection on delivery. Said he, “I have a flair for numbers and will not tolerate non-performance, but in spite of all these, I am very approachable and operate an open door policy with all my team mates.

“I am a firm believer in the fact that credit for every achievement goes to the team, while responsibility for failure falls squarely on the shoulders of the leader. I am also a strong believer in team work and see myself as a leader who enjoys leading from the front.”

He added, “I also ensure that I practice every bit of business instinct that I learned from “The Ambanis of Reliance.” They taught me what dedication is all about and how to achieve the impossible with mere dedication, passion and perseverance.”

When asked about his vision for Visafone, he was unequivocally frank and serious. “My vision for Visafone,” he started, “is to make it one of the top three telecoms companies in Nigeria and in Africa. I also want to position Visafone as the mobile carrier of choice for customers, trade partners and above all, the company of choice for employees,” he stated.

He pointed out that when he took over the job, he knew it was not going to be easy especially considering the competition in the industry. But according to him, the challenges are not insurmountable, hence, his resolve to achieve excellence. In any case, Mr. Thomas said he has always believed in achieving excellence, and the job at Visafone deserves nothing less.

Visafone is a wholly-owned Nigerian fixed/mobile (CDMA) phone company and it launched commercial operations in February 2008 in 12 states and over 40 cities, having bought Cellcom, Bourdeax and one other company which gave it the leverage. In less than six months, the coverage has grown to 14 states and over 100 cities across Nigeria, with states like Oyo and Ogun about to join in the next few weeks.

This vision of the company, according to its owners, is to bring joy to Nigerians by providing affordable services of high quality and a ‘passport to reach the world.’ To this end, the telecoms company has introduced products and services that are people-friendly which included cheap handsets and low cost tariffs. And in all of these, Mr. Ninan Thomas has been part of this success story.