Executive Director, Sahara Energy, Tonye Cole, was guest speaker at the 8th edition of Airtel Nigeria’s Employee Knowledge Series.
The Airtel Employee Knowledge Series offers employees of the telco a platform to exchange ideas, develop themselves and network with people of influence across the society.
Cole, who spoke on the theme, ‘Entrepreneurship and the Workplace,’ said employees who are trained to be entrepreneurial are more committed to their jobs.
“They take ownership of their role and are hungry for success. This keeps them fully invested in the business and its success. Every business that wants to remain relevant need to nurture entrepreneurial characteristics in their staff in order for the company to continue to innovate,” he said.
He cited Paul Buchheit and Justin Rosenstein as prime examples of how entrepreneurship in a work place has become so important for business.
“Paul Buchheit took advantage of Google’s 20 percent time policy and created what we now know today as Gmail in 3 years.
“Gmail became the first email with a successful search feature and the option to keep all of your email instead of frantically deleting to stay under your limit.
“Justin Rosenstein created the Facebook ‘Like’ button while working as a Facebook engineer. You can bet that he is now wealthy from his intrapersonal creation. These are two guys that have – on their own – created something from available resources around them”, he said.
Mr. Cole also charged employees to find their personal purpose and align it with their organizational goals in order for them to attain their full potentials as a person.
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, commended and thanked Cole for his acceptance to headline the company’s Knowledge series.
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“I must thank Tonye Cole for accepting our invitation to headline this edition. Despite his hectic schedule and other numerous commitments, he has honoured us today to share his experience and perspectives on entrepreneurship, business and how to succeed in the workplace,’ he said.
The eight edition of the Airtel Knowledge series held yesterday, Monday, 9th October, at the company’s corporate headquarters in Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos.
