I have been using GTB Mastercard to make online payments (Nigeria, US, UK...) since 2009. I used it first on Amazon, at first they wouldn't accept and requested I fax them some verification documents. I contacted GTB and they faxed those docs to them on my behalf and that was all. Since then I have made several buys on Amazon.

I won't bore you with extra stories.
Let the slides begin!

I use vtiger CRM officially. And it's very versatile. And I think it's got more generic features than Microsoft's Dynamics.

In this post I'll explain to you what vtiger CRM can do. You can check this vtiger CRM YouTube channel for more. And for all the help you'll need in installing, administering and milking the best out of vtiger CRM, visit the vtiger wiki page

I originally typed this in MS Office.

So you want to stop Glo from dipping their hands into your pocket and making you pay for a service you're not sure you want to continue using. 
You don't want your Glo data bundle to be renewed automatically. 

Here is the way out.

Just text CANCEL to 127 

Voila! Your Glo data bundle plan will not automatically renew, after it expires.

You might also want to check these too -

Glo Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

Airtel Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

MTN Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

Complete Etisalat Data bundles - EasyBlaze, iPhone, Android and other smartphones

Complete Etisalat Blackberry plans, price, subscription codes and data allowance

New MTN Call packages/plans

Complete list of Glo Nigeria data bundle plans, price, activation codes and validity period

Complete MTN Nigeria data bundle plans, price, activation codes and validity periods

A complete list of Airtel Nigeria internet data plans

Easy Tip: How to stop Glo data bundle from automatically renewing

Easy Tip: How to deactivate and resubscribe to Airtel BIS plan before it expires, after exhausting the GB

Easy Tip: How to stop Airtel BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) plan from auto renewing 

How to deactivate Etisalat BIS to prevent auto-renewal

Etisalat Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) Data allowance, the truth

How to deactivate Etisalat BIS to prevent auto-renewal



For more useful tips, don't forget to subscribe via email here.

How to manage your Personal Finance as a Nigerian living in Nigeria, the ultimate guide!

For those of you, who are like me, who use your Airtel BIS plan on your internet modem and/or download heavy files with it. If suddenly you exhaust the GB before the 30 days subscription period, and you want to immediately re-subscribe. No problem, just text DEACTIVATE to 440

But if you only care about stopping auto renewal of the BIS plan then read my how-to post, Easy Tip: How to stop Airtel BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) plan from auto renewing

You might also want to check these too -

Glo Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

Airtel Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

MTN Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

Complete Etisalat Data bundles - EasyBlaze, iPhone, Android and other smartphones

Complete Etisalat Blackberry plans, price, subscription codes and data allowance

New MTN Call packages/plans

Complete list of Glo Nigeria data bundle plans, price, activation codes and validity period

Complete MTN Nigeria data bundle plans, price, activation codes and validity periods

A complete list of Airtel Nigeria internet data plans

Easy Tip: How to stop Glo data bundle from automatically renewing

Easy Tip: How to deactivate and resubscribe to Airtel BIS plan before it expires, after exhausting the GB

Easy Tip: How to stop Airtel BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) plan from auto renewing 

How to deactivate Etisalat BIS to prevent auto-renewal

Etisalat Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) Data allowance, the truth

How to deactivate Etisalat BIS to prevent auto-renewal



For more useful tips, don't forget to subscribe via email here.

How to manage your Personal Finance as a Nigerian living in Nigeria, the ultimate guide!

If for any reason, you don't want your BIS to be auto renewed and you use Airtel, then you're in the right place.

Just text stopautorenew to 440. And voila! No more PINGing, well, till you want it back.

But if you use Airtel BIS for your day to day data needs, as Airtel doesn't restrict the GBs to use on Blackberry alone, and your GB is exhausted. You can deactivate the current BIS plan without waiting till expiry date. Just checkout the how-to here, Easy Tip: How to deactivate and resubscribe to Airtel BIS plan before it expires, after exhausting the GB.

You might also want to check these too -

Glo Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

Airtel Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

MTN Nigeria Blackberry (BIS) plans,subscription codes and price

Complete Etisalat Data bundles - EasyBlaze, iPhone, Android and other smartphones

Complete Etisalat Blackberry plans, price, subscription codes and data allowance

New MTN Call packages/plans

Complete list of Glo Nigeria data bundle plans, price, activation codes and validity period

Complete MTN Nigeria data bundle plans, price, activation codes and validity periods

A complete list of Airtel Nigeria internet data plans

Easy Tip: How to stop Glo data bundle from automatically renewing

Easy Tip: How to deactivate and resubscribe to Airtel BIS plan before it expires, after exhausting the GB

Easy Tip: How to stop Airtel BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) plan from auto renewing 

How to deactivate Etisalat BIS to prevent auto-renewal

Etisalat Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) Data allowance, the truth

How to deactivate Etisalat BIS to prevent auto-renewal



For more useful tips, don't forget to subscribe via email here.

How to manage your Personal Finance as a Nigerian living in Nigeria, the ultimate guide!

This is going to be simple and short, no beating around the bush.
Just dial *229*0# text STOP to 229


Next to God & Audible (How Audible changed my life), Coursera has the most impact on my life!

I now have a good understanding of Finance (Personal Finance and Corporate Finance) - Basic economic principles, Finance principles, how to read financial reports and Pro Formas, how to analyse a business' profitability, and general accounting principles. Thanks to Professor Gautam Kaul of University of Michigan. And this wonderful book he recommended, Corporate Finance by Ivo Welch (free online). God bless both Gautam Kaul and Ivo Welch! 

I now have a working knowledge of the key fundamentally structural issues beneath economic decisions of governments and economic debates, thanks to Professor Nilss Olekalns of University of Melbourne. His Macroecomonics course on Coursera is my favourite course and Professor Nilss is a natural teacher, I'll enroll for any course he's teaching.
Also, I'm now aware of the irrational nature of every human, and how to use it to my benefit (especially, my own irrational behaviours), thanks to Professor Dan Ariely of Duke University.
And I'm currently getting a cool understanding of Psychology, the amazing nature of the brain, thanks to Professor Steve Joordens of University of Toronto.

I got to learn about Coursera from Appy Geek, a wonderful tech news app, in December 2012. I was scrolling through the news articles on my Appy Geek Android app widget and came across a news about Coursera starting Signature tracks. I went on to read the article and learned that Coursera is an educational organization that partners with the top universities and organizations in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take freely. I jumped on board and started my own Coursera journey. In fact, my 2013 resolutions included learning all that interests me via Coursera (you'll be amazed by the huge collection of online courses there)

Below are the snapshots of the courses I enrolled for (completed some already) on Coursera.







And I immensely enjoyed Principles of Macroeconomics, A beginner's Guide to Irrational Behaviour, Introduction to Finance and Introduction to Psychology.



Have you heard of Toastmasters International?
Been wanting to join a Toastmasters Club in Lagos?
Problem Solved!

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations.
Through its thousands of member clubs, Toastmasters International offers a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help people learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking.
Headquartered in USA, the organization has more than 280,000 memberships in 13,500 clubs in 116 countries.
Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience.

Well like they say - One million births is a statistics, one birth is RSVP (Rice + Stew + Very + Plenty). What impact has joining Toastmasters International had on me? 
I used to be a very shy person, and extremely shy amidst people all suited up and way older than me, and worse when they all work in those companies/organizations I only dream of. Now, levels don change. I'm still shy, but not in front or in the midst of professionals even if they are thrice my age and own fortune 100 companies. On the contrary, I'm most bold before such people. I simple dazzle them. Don't just take my words for it. Know any business meetup? Invite me and watch me leave jaws hanging (I hope my mentor is reading this).

I didn't have a Blackberry or these many female friends before joining; now I have a Blackberry and these many female friends (don't ask me how many). And for people who knew me, this is definitely a brand new Michael.

My social life used to be entirely in the cloud (a true pioneer of cloud-based solutions to life issues). Now, I'm out nearly every Saturday and Sunday. You might say: what relevance has that with joining Lighthouse Toastmasters? Ordinarily, none. But in my case, all! Meeting regularly with forward thinking people and business professionals, and in a semi-formal relationship building environment will change anyone's life for good. The changes will even look unrelated to other people.

Best part is I now have people I'll ordinarily need an uncle to connect me with as my mentors. I have been taking up leadership roles that make my head swell. Roles that build me up, change my reasoning and forcefully move me forward. I have become a very good communicator, an excellent conversationalist and a competent leader. My organizational skills (nearly non-existent before) are becoming enviable.

I could go on and on...
But I won't just want you to take my word for it. Come as a guest to one of our meetings and see for yourself.

Lighthouse Toastmasters, Victoria Island. We meet first and third Saturdays of the month. Mail Us at info@lighthousetoastmasters.org to join or visit. For VIP treatment as my blog reader, mail me michael@olafusimichael.com and I will go as far as to arrange a red cab to pick you (offer has expired).



Now you can add an extra layer of security to your twitter account login process, to prevent anyone from hacking your account. 
Once you enable this added security, anytime you are logging in from a new device (computer, phone, tablet, or browser), you will be prompted to provide a verification code that will be sent to your phone. This way its (nearly) impossible for your twitter account to be hacked.

So below is a detailed how-to -

Log in to your twitter account, and go to Settings


Scroll down to Account Security 




You'll need to add your phone, so click on add a phone

Then you'll fill your country/region, phone number and network carrier



You'll see a screen asking you to send GO to 40404 from the phone you entered. Do that and voila, your phone will be linked to you account.


Just one more step. By default, twitter sets it that you'll be getting sms alerts for nearly everything that happens on your twitter account besides the tweets you post. And that is crazy annoying. I'll recommend you deselect them all.


Now, it's done.

Try logging in from a new browser, your Internet Explorer might be useful now. You should get a login verification notice.

You can read twitter's official news about this on Getting started with login verification


Thanks for checking out my blog. Look around on the top right for posts you may benefit from, and click to subscribe and receive useful tips via e-mail.
Love Linux Live Linux (c) www.sahipasand.com

I primarily use Linux on my laptop, I have both Ubuntu 12.10 and OpenSUSE 12.2 running on the laptop. I have always had at least 2 Linux distros multi-booting laptop since 2009.

In this post I will share with you, some very useful Linux commands -

man any_command  the manual for target command>
pwd 
ls files in current directory>
ls  –a maximum information about all files, including hidden>
mv source destination  a file or directory>
rm target
cp source destination  file or directory>
mount /dev/device_name /media/device_name filesytem>
umount /media/device_name <Unmount>
df –h filesystem and available disk space  in KB, MB, GB>
du
ps – ef all running processes, with full details>
top system monitor showing a more extensive view of all processes and system resources>
nohup command & a process in the background and have it keep running after you log off>
~/  user's home directory>
ifconfig  network interfaces>

iwconfig  wireless network interfaces>
ssh username@ip_address  to a remote server>
ping ip_address  to see if target is online and responding>
traceroute6 ip_address  network route to target>
netstat 
iptables –L  firewall rules>
adduser a new user>
usermod user privileges (be very careful with this one)>
deluser 
chmod <# Change privileges over file or directory >
chown user_name:group_name directory_name owner of a file or directory>
su username  become a different user>
users usernames of logged in users>
Infact, you can administer your mysql database directly from the CLI
CREATE DATABASE databasename;
CREATE USER username@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password'; a new user>
show tables;  database schema>

Know other useful Linux commands? Please share via the comment box.

Working as a switch configuration engineer, in addition to being a network performance analyst and handling service delivery, has been stressful and fun.

In this post, I'll be sharing with you my most used EWSD commands.
As an intro, EWSD (Electronic Digital Switching System) is one of the most installed telephone exchange systems in the world manufactured by Siemens, and is believed to be switching for over 160 million subscriber lines in more than 100 countries. Though, it's no longer produced nor actively supported by Siemens, my boss says they don't die. They are one of those German products that are nearly indestructible and highly reliable.

Here are my most used EWSD commands. Unfortunately, I won't be saying too much about them.

DISPDN:DN=9999999;
To display the directory number data.

DISPSUB:DN=9999999;
Display subscriber data

DISPPBX:DN=9999999;
Display PBX data

DISPPBXLN:DN=9999999;
Display PBX line data

TESTSUB:DN=9999999;
Test DLU analog and digital subscriber lines

DISPDLUPORT:EQN=X-X-X-X;
Display digital line unit port

TESTDLULC:DLU=X,LC=X-X-X;
Test DLU line circuit

CANSUB:DN=9999999;
Cancel Subscriber

DISPCHRGFEA:DN=X,LAC=X;
Display charging features

STATPORT:LTG=X-X,LC=X;
Display status of port

DISPPAFAULT:LTG=X_X,LC=X;
Display PA fault

STATDIU:LTG=X-X,DIU=X;
Display status of digital interface unit

These are my most used Siemens EWSD NetManager Administration commands.

I use several other commands - CRSUB, MODSUB, CANPBXLN, CANPBX, CRPBX, DISPCHAREC, ACTOUTDIV, CANJOB, CANKEYWORD, CATFILE, GETTRAFILE, CONFDIU, CONFDLU, CONFDLUMOD, CONFDLUPORT, CRCPT, CRDN, DELFILE, DIAGDIU, DISPCHAREC-IACAMA, DISPCONN, DIAGDLU, DIAGDIU, DISPCPT, DISPPA, DISPPBXDDINO, ENTRKEYWORD, MODPBX, TRANSFILE...

If you've got an interview and might required to know these, or you're new on a similar job and can't seem to understand how most of these commands work. Ask me via the comment box.




Wow! Samsung, in a post yesterday, informed the entire world that a milestone has been achieved. The Samsung S4 is currently the fastest selling smartphone in the world - over 10 million sold in less than a month, statistically equal to 4 being sold every second.



Below is the cut of the post on Samsung Official website



"


The GALAXY S4 sets a new record for Samsung, generating sales quicker than any of its predecessors. Sales of the GALAXY S III reached the 10-million mark 50 days after its launch in 2012, while the GALAXY S II took five months and the GALAXY S seven months to reach the same milestone. 

-JK Shin,

The GALAXY S4 was developed to enhance the meaningful moments in our lives through its innovative features and superior hardware. It has the world’s first Full HD Super AMOLED display that showcases images at their very best on a 5-inch screen with 441ppi. Equipped with a powerful rear 13MP camera, the GALAXY S4 also boasts a Dual Camerafunction that allows simultaneous use of both front and rear cameras. The GALAXY S4’s new and innovative software features include Air View and Air Gesture for effortless tasks, while it also keeps users up-to-date with information about their health and wellbeing using S Health.

Samsung GALAXY S4 is available in more than 110 countries and will gradually be rolled out to a total of 155 countries in cooperation with 327 partners.

Samsung is planning to introduce more color variations to meet various consumer tastes and preferences. In addition to the currently available White Mist and Black Forest, new color iterations will be added this summer, including Blue Arctic and Red Aurora, followed by Purple Mirage and Brown Autumn.


"

I really wished Nokia would stop killing itself, making windows phones and android phones shouldn't be mutually exclusive. 


Thanks for checking out my blog. Look around on the top right for posts you may benefit from, and click to subscribe and receive useful tips via e-mail.


We all know people whose thinking is obviously warped. Think of all the reasonable actions/decisions to take in any situation, and you’re sure they will not take any of them. Think of all the stupid things anyone can do, write them on a sheet of paper and number the sheet “Page 3”. Because what they will do will be more ridiculous than what you have on that sheet. Whenever you take a very stupid decision, you feel relieved when you think of them. I could go on and on…

But the truth is, we are all unreasonable (individually and collectively). And below are quotes from renowned men, commenting on this -

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” ― Albert Einstein

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” ― George Carlin

“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

“Stupidity isn't punishable by death. If it was, there would be a hell of a population drop.” ― Laurell K. Hamilton

“The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.” ― Harlan Ellison

“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.” ― P.G. Wodehouse

“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” ― Margaret Atwood

“Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference.” ― Jim Butcher

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.” ― Frank Zappa

“Beauty fades, dumb is forever.” ― Judy Sheindlin

“When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. ― Jonathan Swift

“Nowadays what isn't worth saying is sung.
(Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante.)” ― Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

“If your brains were dynamite there wouldn't be enough to blow your hat off.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

“A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.” ― Bertrand Russell

“I doubt you can understand the magnitude of the stupidity in your statement” ― Robert Jordan

“I have defined the hundred per cent American as ninety-nine per cent an idiot.” ― George Bernard Shaw

"Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and higher education positively fortifies it." - Stephen Vizinczey

"Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything." - Frank Dane

"Against stupidity; God Himself is helpless." - Yiddish Proverb

Got any interesting relevant quote? Use the comment box. Thanks.



There are 3 people I work extremely hard to emulate – Leonardo da Vinci, Andrew Carnegie & Steve Jobs.

In this post, I’ll be talking about Andrew Carnegie.

Andrew Carnegie was a self-made man, and his life depicts a true “rags to riches” one. His wealth in today’s currency is more than the combined wealth of all the top 20 richest men in the world (Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, Warren Buffett…)

He was born into a very poor family, so poor they shared a room with a neighbouring family. He didn’t enjoy a proper education, started working at age 13 for 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. And through self-education, immense hardwork, honesty and a thoughtful lifestyle; he built a business that created wealth enough for him to fund a record number of schools and libraries.

You can read more about him on Wikipedia.

My real aim is to share with you the principles he lived by  (all his own words) –

My hopes were high, and I looked every day for some change to take place. What it was to be I knew not, but that it would come I felt certain if I kept on. One day the chance came. (In his teenage years, while working in a boiler room adjusting the boiler settings to avoid overheating a steam powered engine. A typical dead-end job, and very stressful)

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.

Aim for the highest.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.

Do your duty and a little more, and the future will take care of itself.

All honor's wounds are self-inflicted.

The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.

Now, in my own words, all I have learned from Andrew Carnegie can be summarized as –
Hard-work, honesty, determination and self-education will always produce extra-ordinary results and a remarkable person.





What planet are we on? Send your answer to 33012 and win N1,000,000

What is the color of the White House building? Send you answer to 30023 and stand a chance to win Blackberry Q10

Chelsea beat Manchester United 1 – 0, thanks to Juan Mata’s late goal. For more sports news, send SPORTS to 30123. Free for 7 days

Shell is recruiting fresh graduates. Send JOBS to 30123 for job alerts. Costs N30

The world is going to end tomorrow. Send MAYAN to 30986 to get timely updates. N100 per month

Weather forecast: It will be dark this night. Send WEATHER to 30785. You’ll never be caught in the rain without Umbrella again.

Obama will sleep over at the White House today. Send WORLD to 39276 to get global updates.

Nokia 3310 is now N2,500! Limited stocks!! Send DEALS to 301367 to get crazy deals

Please share the ones’ you've received, let’s make an exhaustive list.



Two days ago I had a training appointment with a client, so about an hour to the appointment I called him. Guess what? He suddenly wanted the appointment shifted to the next day, without prior notice and without calling me.
Again, yesterday I had another appointment with my most valuable client. Well, due to the illusion of communication between us I met an empty rendezvous.
Had these happened last year, when I hadn’t taken my Coursera course on Corporate Finance, I would have felt really bad like I had wasted two days in a row. But thanks to my knowledge of Corporate Finance theories, especially that Promised return is hardly Expected return and you have to figure out the default risk. So, right from the start I knew every arrangement with my client is the “Promised” and I have to (over time and interactions) determine the “Expected”. So, I have been expecting a day when one of us will breach his own side of the agreement, temporarily.
Now that is one simple example of how knowledge of Corporate Finance concepts helped me in my day-to-day living.

Also, I have been trying to get secondary income sources that have zero beta relation with my day job and one another. In non-finance terms, getting secondary income sources that won’t be affected by job loss and issue with any one of the secondary sources won’t affect the others. And the fact is that I have even managed to get a secondary income source whose beta is negative in relation to my day job, if I lose my day job, the income from that source will soar.
That’s another cool example.

In Nigeria, inflation has been hovering above 11% for years now. And the risk free rate (rate I’ll get if I invest in Nigeria T-bills) is just above 10%. Meaning without doing any hustling or brain work, I can grow my savings at 10% annualized rate. In 7 years, 1 million saved this year will become 2 million (if the 10% rate stays so throughout those 7 years). And that’s more profitable than Total Nigeria PLC, Julius Berger PLC, Mobil Nigeria PLC and Cadbury have been in many years now. And they have several MBAs, expatriates and industry veterans working there. Heck, I won’t mind working their too.
This just shows that running a biz isn’t as easy and profitable as we all think. We see the big money splashed here and there by companies, and think the owners must be minting cash. The truth is, most of those monies were borrowed cash – from shareholders, retail banks, investment banks and bondholders. It doesn’t mean that they can double those monies faster than a street smart guy like me.
Hence, my knowledge of Corporate Finance has helped me make better money (investment and spending) decisions

In Nigeria, the middle class has been aggressively expanding and lots of foreign direct investments are pouring in. I believe that my generation will be Nigeria’s baby boomers – enjoying the post democracy boom. I know that this boom won’t be forever. I see lots of people who have a single income source (working for one big multinational) and they go on vacation every year; they know very little about personal finance, business cycles, retirement plans and life insurance/annuities. They act very pompous, spot the latest gadgets and change cars frequently. Sometimes, I wonder if they are not conscious of the fact that they are that rich just because they are working in that particular coy, which to me is like putting all your eggs (and your children’s eggs) in one basket. The very people how will have bank accounts in 3 or 4 banks, just to avoid being stranded when one bank’s ATM card is non-functional, will not consider building income sources that will prevent them (and their family) from being stranded if the company downsizes them or their pay.
For me, armed with ample knowledge of Corporate Finance & Macroeconomics, I am living a financially well planned life.

Oh no, not again!
I’m experiencing a writer’s block now. I might continue later, but if you have something wonderful to share, please do.