I worked for Nokia between 1998-2013 in different roles in the networks business. It was a transformational learning experience, like a second business university after the first one. There were so many things I was able to experience but perhaps the most significant was observing how Nokia approached the emerging markets: with respect.
The idea that you could make good money by selling to poor people in emerging markets while not ripping them off but actually improving their lives was a crucially important motivator for me. Even though I wasn’t personally involved in that business, I was really proud of Nokia doing this when no-one else among the big players in the sector was.
Even in general, I have always liked the fact that the telecommunications sector is improving people’s lives by
During my first trip to Finland for a sales conference, I decided to see if SMS roaming would work so I sent my colleague who was visiting Auckland at the time a text message. Lo and behold, I got a reply and the conversation carried on for around 40 minutes especially after the 2110 product manager saw what I was doing and grabbed a couple more guys to witness what could have been the first global SMS conversation by 2110.