As the credit ratings of MTN begins flashing amber, and a number of CEOs from the company spend a Christmas without job (sincere feelings that it won't be long before these nice guys get engaged again); these are the lessons I learnt and I hope serious business people will benefit from it as I share it.

1. The bigger you are, the riskier business gets for you.
Some say the bigger you are the bigger the crash. So if you are big, also remember your problems will be big when they show up.

2. Always consider the flip side (negative possibilities) of every coin.
If MTN had taken time to imagine a scenario where just 100,000 SIMS are unregistered, they would have taken caution with signing a N200,000 / unregistered customer fine with NCC. Be cautious with every single commitment you make. Imagine the worst scenario that can occur with each of your commitments.

3. Nobody is God. Failure always happens. It is only a matter of when and how major.
The successes we have in life make us feel invisible. No condition is more dangerous than when things are smooth. Isn't that why someone was praying "may your road be rough"?

4. Be a stickler to the rules. Don't play smart. Be straight.
A little sleep, a little slumber ... so shall your poverty come.... MTN had been enjoying the various NCC fines all along. If they had tried to be excellent in all their operations, not only when the government pressurizes them, this won't have happened. As business people, it pays to do the right thing even if the "bloody government agency" seem incompetent.

5. Mr Board Chairman should walk in the garden too.
When God made heaven and earth, he employed Adam as CEO and Eve as MD. God didn't sit back in heaven. He came walking in the garden to see what was happening. Where were the executives of MTN when the NCC made the announcement of the need to terminate all unregistered SIMs? It can't be that no one cared to even discuss this at the top level at that time. Even if not for the fine, but the business losses of 5 million subscribers being cut. But it seems they all were too busy to care. The price for not walking in the garden is $3.9billion.

6. Employees will cause you damage, you will bear the damage. Stress-test your employees
Apple will always test their staff. Fpr instance, before they launch new products, they come up with dummies (fakes). If it leaks, they know who had access to information about it, take steps and fire the person. I now see why employ-and-forget does not work. Staff must be kept sharp and diligent. No slacking must be allowed. Do not wait until damage occurs, you can fire staff when damage occurs but the damage would have already been done. Complacence must have crept in somehow else MTN wouldn't have been in this hole.

Hopefully MTN would use this $3.9billion fine as a lesson to polish and emerge as the best telecoms firm in Africa. One good thing is that for several years to come, MTN will be in every business text as case study. And coming from Africa makes it about the most notable corporate fine globally.

Welcome to the league of iconic history, MTN.

I learn