Innovation Village (IV) met recently with Martin Udogie (MU) and here are excerpts of the interview.
IV: Tell us about Martin Udogie
MU: I was raised in a small village in Edo State in the 60s, but was formed and became wise in the city. I attended Immaculate Conception College Benin City, (the best school in my time in my humble opinion) and then University of Benin (the Great Uniben). Graduating with a first class in Business Administration, I subsequently sat and qualified as an ICAN chartered accountant.
My first job was with Citibank Nigeria where I cut my professional teeth, then navigated through a few other banks culminating as head of planning and strategy at Fidelity Bank. I later ventured into management consulting with Accenture before setting up BottomLINE Newsletter. Citibank and Accenture, two quality American companies were fabulous training grounds for me.
So I went from a somewhat shy and aloof village boy to a tough, confident urban hussler. But the transformative journey spanning decades served one powerful purpose. It helped me to know who I am, and what makes me tick. It is a combination three things: my spirituality, my reading and my physical exercising. I always strive to have all three in sync, and whenever they are, I hit my “flow”, meaning that I am at my peak performance. I try to attend church everyday (Daily Mass, being a catholic), I read about four books every month and I exercise vigorously.
IV: It has been quiet since the days of BottomLINE. Tell us what you have been up to in the business world.
MU: BottomLINE was my foray into entrepreneurship. It also turned out to be my vehicle into the powerful and wonderful world of media, from the traditional to the new media. BottomLINE sharpened my writing and research skills, which again became indispensible when writing my book.
But as I observed the media closely, it was obvious that voice, ability to speak to and through a mass medium would be indispensible. So when the opportunity for radio came, I tip-toed with much trepidation into it. Both newsletter publication and radio significantly expanded my network. I continue to build a network of business people, both of corporate executives and lately, amazing young men and women building amazing companies by taking advantage of emerging technologies.
I believe in the saying that your network is your networth. I am currently working on projects that would leverage this network.
IV: Tell us about your new project of trying to get Nigerians to read.
MU: This is my exciting current project. Reading is probably the best kept secret. Take any successful professional or executive or even an individual of quality and substance you admire, you will find that they read, and probably read voraciously.
President Barack Obama reads. He went on his two week summer vacation in 2010 with five books totaling 3,000 pages of reading. As Microsoft Chairman and World’s richest man, Bill Gates used to set aside one week in a year for doing nothing but reading. Lee Kuan Yew as Singapore Prime Minister was an avid reader and credits reading for the success of Singapore. World acclaimed, black American neurosurgeon, Ben Carson says reading made him smart. The list goes on.
And there are several examples as well in Nigeria. I am currently compiling short video clips of prominent Nigerians talking about how reading has shaped their success, from Dick Kramer to Dotun Sulaiman, Omobola Johnson, Ndidi Nwuneli, Okey Enemalah, Chief Phillip Asiodu, Nike Ogunlesi, Larry Izamoje, Adesuwa Onyenokwe, etc. These people are successful and reading has been a big part of that success. Unfortunately, most Nigerians are not aware of this, because nobody has focused on it.
If there is anyone you admire who is articulate, reads and writes very well, and exhudes confidence and always seems to make sense whenever he communicates, it can only be for one thing. The person reads books, always.
IV: We see you recently wrote a book “How to read more”. What inspired you to write this book?
MU: After graduating from the university and began my professional career, I stopped reading books. I only started reading again when I wrote my ICAN exams. And then stopped again. Until I joined Accenture and was given a book to read by the managing partner on my first day on the job. That book opened a whole new world of knowledge to me and started me on a lifetime of learning and real education.
The reason I wasn’t reading even though I was a bookworm on campus and graduated with a first class was because I erroneously thought that reading books was what you did while in school. Or while studying for an examination. Why else would someone be reading a book? Many people have this mindset.
I once came across a quote that said that we first learn to read, then continue to read to learn. Some of your best education comes from what you read in books after school.
But as I read, I began to realise that really, reading doesn’t happen naturally. It is a habit that one needs to build gradually, and that there is infact a process to developing the habit. This was the motivation for writing my book, How To READ MORE.
IV: How has the Nigerian public received your book?
MU: Almost everybody that has read my book has said that they not only thouroughly enjoyed it but have learnt a lot from it. One reason is the style the book is written in. How To READ MORE is packed with stories and written in a simple, conversational tone that just engages you and keeps the pages turning. A nine-year old pupil, Ime-Ruth Udoh read it in two days. It took my son, an undergraduate five hours to read.
I have also come to realise that writing a book is the easiest part. Promoting and marketing to reach people is the hardest part. I am currently leveraging all possible channels to get the book and the reading message to all Nigerians. How To READ MORE is more than a book. It is a campaign, a movement.
Right now, the book is available in hardcopy, eBook, audio book formats. I am also serialising the book through short, daily one-paragraph sms to people’s mobile phones. So if you text READ to 33070 on your mobile phone, then you receive daily messages with beautiful images. This is ideal for those who still can’t find time to read the entire book. So over time, they still get the message everyday on their phones. This is novel. There is also an animation service being created for the book and of course the short video clips of the reading habit of successfull people. Writing a book is easy, very easy. The hardwork is promotion and marketing.
IV: Is there any other book in the near future?
MU: YES!
