A popular businessman, Alhaji Mutiu Anthony has narrated how he dominated the recharge cards business in Nigeria for 17 years, saying he became the biggest distributor and toast of telecom operators in the country.

Alhaji Anthony fondly called by the soubriquet ‘Easy and Quiet’ revealed his business acumen during a presentation at the 113th Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) Lagos State.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Entrepreneurship: Idea Generation and Funding’, the Muslim businessman said entrepreneurship is at the core of Islamic value because it is all about value creation.

According to him, “In Islam, creating a business is not the end goal. What’s more important is how you achieve it and what you end up doing with the returns from it.”

Narrating his journey into the recharge card business to his audience, which included camp delegates and officials, Alhaji Anthony who began the business in 2000 with a call centre emphasised the need to be sincere with the Almighty Allah and trustworthy in dealing with people.

He said his idea of offering to help people to get their table phones recharged at Victoria Island, Lagos where the telecommunications company is situated, thereby saving them stress and time of transportation, made him explore and seal the recharge card business line.

“I started my business with calls. Then, there was no recharge card. We had to go as far as VI, Lagos to pay to be credited on our table phones. I was living in Surulere then. We had many people with table phones in our area. The transport fee was between 200 naira and 300 naira.

“So, I thought of meeting people with table phones across the areas I will pass before getting to VI to tell them I can help them pay just for them to give me the transport fee. Ordinarily, they would have to go to VI, but I offered to help them. I moved around Ijesha, Lawanson and other adjoining areas to meet people using table phones. Before I knew it, the transportation fee started amounting to like 3,000 naira. I then expanded my coverage to other areas.

“Thereafter, intercellular came. It was the second network then. They introduced recharge cards. It was better than Multilinks. But those who still had Multilinks came to me to help them pay. For intercellular, I met one of their biggest dealers in Surulere with the business name, S & S Wireless.

Then I already saved like 50,000 naira. So, I bought recharge cards for 50,000 naira from him. He gets 7.5 percent from the network as a big dealer. You cannot be a dealer unless you have 250,000 naira.

“So I went to him, bought 50,000 naira worth of recharge cards and he would give me 5 percent. I marketed to people on the streets. Instead of people going to VI where the head office of intercellular was, they would come to my place to buy. I sold the 50,000 naira recharge cards almost immediately because people had switched to intercellular from Multilinks.

“Due to the huge sales, I was making, S & S offered me more. He started giving me N75,000 recharge cards on credit and I pay later.

He had a target from the company. The more volumes covered, the higher the commission. He also started giving me 5.5 percent. I also gave some of my customers 3 percent to make a profit.

“In the twinkle of an eye, subscribers switched to handphone from intercellular. Sales started booming again. I expanded my coverage to more areas including Mushin. I was also getting an increment in recharge cards. This went on for a while. Then another company came in, Starcoms. They introduced table phones with promo. They offered one free phone to those who bought one. So, they were also in need of those that would help them distribute their recharge cards. Those who distributed right from the company are those we called super dealers then.

“When most of them learned that S & S was doing about a million naira in sales, they investigated to know how he was doing it and found out I was the one doing most of the sales. They invited me to their offices and offered to give me more than what S & S offered me. They offered to give me 6 percent. So, I accepted the offer and expanded my business coverage too. I started going to Trade Fair. The distributors always want to meet their targets because the networks want to sell above what they consume. Instead of them expanding, they only had one big office. But for me, I started having my footprints across the place.”

On The Danger Of Interest

Easy and Quiet, who later built a mosque known as Nurul Huda for the worship of Allah and centre for Islamic propagation, also narrated how riba (interest) destroyed his partner who had a business relationship with the bank but didn’t immediately see the interest trap set for him.

He said he had always avoided banks owing to interest matters, but the bank kept running after him due to the volumes of his sales in the telecom business and agreed to shift grounds on interest for him.

“By the time GSM came, to become a dealer, you should have up to N1.5 million. Then, I had already moved to become a dealer in intercellular. I had a friend then with whom I pulled resources together to become a dealer. Instead of getting 6 percent, we could now get the actual 7.5 percent. My partner was staying on Victoria Island, while I stayed in Surulere. He sells more than I do because he contributes more. He, however, told me later that he cannot continue with the partnership because he contributes more and sells more. He offered to sell to me. I agreed with him and asked for 7 percent instead of the 6 percent other dealers were offering.

“I was wondering where my partner was getting money from to complete the total amount needed because he did not have all the money. I later found out he was getting money from the bank. I’ve been seeing that we make sales but do not make money in the real sense. But my partner said it was not usury. What he didn’t realise was that the bank tricked him because they knew he was making more sales. They told him that whatever he sells they would share the profit.

“As a businessman, I woke up as early as 4 am to commence business for the day. To be a good entrepreneur, you have to work hard and make sacrifices. I was the manager, accountant, and salesman, all rolled into one. I pray fajr in VI. So, one morning, I was coming from home, then I got to VI seeing recharge cards on the floor. Recharge cards worth 5000 naira, and 10,000 naira. So, I was picking it. I then saw my friend with his hands on his head looking so dejected and worried. I asked him what the problem was and he said his staff that he told to get recharge cards lost the cards. I sensed it was part of it I saw on the floor while coming. So, I gave him the ones I saw.

“Then, telecom companies don’t cancel recharge cards because they want people to embrace them. So, a lot of money was lost. The bank who said they were sharing profit with him came for him. My friend had signed an agreement that he would be paying the bank for a period. So as he could no longer pay when that incident occurred, they were adding interest to his debt and it started accumulating. That’s how they destroyed him. He later realised it was still interest.

“Then, I moved on to Starcoms with my N250,000. What I did then was to add my profit to my capital and try as much as possible to minimise my spending. I went to different dealers, some did intercellular, others did Starcoms and like that. One thing again is the trust I built in relating with them. There were many times S & S mistakenly credited me in excess and I bring his attention to it. He likes me so much for this reason and directed that any amount of recharge cards I want on credit should be given to me.”

Alhaji Anthony explained how he had to work so hard to meet up with targets, including hopping from one ‘okada’ (motorcycle) to another, expanding his business coverage in Lagos State and across the country.

He also talked about how he donated half of his total profit towards a mosque construction project, noting he would later reap bountifully from his gesture.

“I started increasing my spread too. Then, I had one wife. But when the money was getting to N500,000, I told my wife I was going for a second wife. There are a lot of temptations around. Even sometimes you meet ladies who want to sell for you barely clad. After marrying my second wife, I had to work harder. By the time I married my third wife, I was still living in a rented apartment. I remember then when I drive my car for sales and there was traffic jam, I just park it somewhere and find an alternative because there are targets. I was always on ‘okada’. My profit started moving to about 1 million naira. I never knew it was just the beginning.

“I usually attend lectures and other Islamic programmes then. I came across one organisation that wanted to build a mosque. They told us the story of the companions too and how they spent to the cause of Allah. I learned, especially about the incident involving Abubakar and Umar where Abubakar donated all he had and Umar donated half. So, when they called for a donation towards building a mosque, I donated half of my profit. Then I had around N2 million. Another lesson is that you should always spend in the cause of Allah. It was no longer than then I got a car from S & S as a sub-dealer. I moved around with the car to do business. In areas where I couldn’t get dealers to drop recharge cards, I opened outlets there to sell.

“Banks started coming after me, but the only problem I had with them was interest. Habib Bank came and offered that they won’t do interest with me. So I registered and kept my money there and do other transactions. Other banks started coming too. You can go and find out in those banks, I never accepted interest with them.

“One day, it was a great day, I was called by Starcoms itself that they wanted to see me. They asked if I can sell a stock of N100 million if I was given 15 percent. I told them I was going to do N200 million but I don’t have money. They offered it on credit.”

Alhaji Anthony said he was the biggest distributor for telecoms in Nigeria and had received over 200 brand-new car gifts from telecommunications companies as rewards for his efforts.

“This is what Allah is telling us. When Allah decides to help you, there is no limit. If you are selling recharge cards today and you say you don’t know Easy and Quiet, you have just started. I was given a deal by Multilinks to distribute all over Nigeria. As far as recharge cards are concerned, I started from scratch and rose through the ranks,” he noted.

“I keep encouraging people to stick with the rules and regulations of Allah (SWT). You can verify what I am telling you from banks and people who sell recharge cards. Get what people need and work on it to provide solutions. There would be a test from Allah. You should start with the little you have. It is sincerity and faith that Allah needs from you. I married my three wives when I lived in a rented apartment. I have never doubted Allah before. I am not a saint but I keep to Allah’s commandments to the best of my ability