Ubong King
Ubong Thompson King was a Nigerian Entrepreneur, Security Expert, Business Consultant, Philanthropist and Motivational Speaker. He was born on the 22nd of August, 1972 in Obanikoro, Lagos Nigeria to Mr and Mrs Nseabasi Thompson Idionkanta. He hailed from Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. He attended Maryland Convent Primary School, Mende, Maryland, Lagos and was admitted into Federal Government College Ijanikin, Lagos in 1983 and proceeded to study Agric Education at the University of Calabar, after several failed attempts to gain admission into the University. In Secondary School, Ubong wasn’t very good in English. He was more mathematical than comprehensive. He got a pass in English. He first got admission to the University of Benin but was dropped at the point of registration because of his low score in English. He had to write JAMB again, got into the Lagos State University and was dropped again because of English. It was his third attempt that got him the admission into the University of Calabar.
While Ubong was growing up, he was very close to his father. He often refered to his father as his best friend and role model. His father catered for he and his siblings and made sure they lacked nothing. At the age of 7, his father moved the family from Obanikoro to Mende, Maryland. Everything was going well until his father died at the age of 39 while he was just 13 years old. He was in JSS 3 at the Federal Government College at the time. It was at the point of his father’s death that the family realised that his father had a second SUCCESS SATURDAY and it tore the family apart. His mother had five children while the other woman had four. His mother and stepmother did not always see eye to eye. The only asset his father left behind was a car which was sold to cater for the nine children in the house. The money was not enough so he and his siblings were split to different families to be raised by them. After his father died, his nephew, late Jackson Ekaidem stepped into his father’s responsibility of taking care of he and his eight siblings plus his own eight children. The loss of his father at the tender age of 13 was a huge blow, and the subsequent hardships that accompanied that tragic event, molded his outlook to life.
From his father, he learnt certain things; some of which was giving his life to others and developing himself. His father read books every night for a minimum of 1-2 hours on business and relationship management though he was not a graduate and would invest time in helping people that needed help especially widows and vulnerable people. Learning from his father, he decided to
personally develop himself everyday by reading books to improve and seeing to help others find purpose in life.
Getting to the University of Calabar, he began to do part time jobs to fend for himself. He had to squat with an Uncle who treated him like an houseboy. Sometimes he would sleep at work. This affected his studies so much, he graduated with a Third Class Degree and had an extra year with his name missing from the National Youth Service Corps list. Because of his result after his first year, he was disowned by his family. When he graduated, he didn’t have anywhere to go. He started taking care of the farm animals and pigs of people just to get anything to eat. He also volunteered to work in a church “Power City International Church” as a security officer. He had to squat at a friend’s house until one day, the father of his friend sent him away saying Ubong was a bad influence to his children. This was because the children always put sand in the food of their father as punishment for him sending away their mother and marrying the househelp. Ubong was blamed for the actions of the children. Because he had nowhere to go, he would sleep in an uncompleted building. His life took a new turn when he had an accident involving a Bishop. The Bishop told him his father died through diabolical means and that they had also planned to kill him. Ubong as a result of this, gave his life to Christ. The Bishop took Ubong under his tutelage and taught him the Bible.
This experience gave Ubong a positive outlook about life. He stopped looking at his circumstances and instead, fed his spirit. He served God fervently and would lock himself for hours praying to God for favour. God told him these words, “it is not good”. He didn’t understand the words and went further to do a Bible research. He came across the passage, “it is not good for man to be alone”. Ubong said to God, “I am asking you to favour me, you are telling me to look for a woman. This does not make sense”. God showed him the passage, “he that findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtains FAVOUR from the Lord”. He prayed and God further told him, “one will chase a thousand, two will chase ten thousand”. He was motivated to get married. At the time, he liked a lady in the church where he was serving as a security guard but the mother of the lady didn’t want him to have anything to do with her daughter. His mum too, did not like the lady. The pastor’s wife was also not in support. They would tell the lady, “Ubong cannot buy you a bottle of coke.” but the lady was determined and loved Ubong. She didn’t listen to her pastor’s wife and her mother.
Ubong relocated to Lagos and was squatting with friends at Jakande, Lagos. He was working with a security company. The mother of the lady conspired with the boss of the company to chase Ubong away if he would not leave her daughter alone. This was something he couldn’t afford to do so he left the company and hustled on his own. He was able to get some money and did his court wedding with her on the 20th of August, 2013 with four people present (the two people who squatted him, her brother and a friend). He couldn’t afford a suit so he wore a waistcoat. Two days later after the wedding, he clocked 30 years. He cried like a baby because the white wedding was drawing near and he did not have money but Ubong kept the faith. A friend offered to do the invitation card for him. He had a laptop which he sowed as a seed to church. Two days later, he got a miracle of #300,000 which he used to take care of some things. He signed a post-dated cheque by faith for purchase of the cow used for the wedding. He borrowed a friend’s car and drove himself to the venue at Akwa-Ibom State, married his wife and they both relocated to Lagos.
Ubong said “if a man cannot provide for his family, he is worse than an infidel. When I remember that God guaranteed favour to me through this woman and with the faith that I had in God, I went to look for a job at a security company because security was my passion. I used to buy magazines on security under the bridge in Oshodi and I would devour it. I worked in several security companies such as Perhead, Alarm, Hallogen and finally, Excel Security Service and grew to the rank of General Manager in one of them. I resigned from Excel and started my company, Protection Plus Services Limited from my bedroom. I began to read about the best security company in the world, G4S. I read their annual reports, scope and products and applied the principle, “copy till you become”. So I copied everything G4S was doing till I became it. I did not listen to any negative news about Nigeria or the world. I just minded my business and fed on God’s word. Whatever you eat and you continually eat will eventually eat you up. That was how I rose and my story changed. I eventually started googling meetings happening outside Nigeria because I wanted an International alliance. I would attend those meetings in my Kaftan. I looked different from others so people will end up asking who I am. I would say, “I am Ubong King from Niger Delta and I do this and that”. Through this strategy, I started signing alliances with International Companies. If they needed a company in Nigeria to partner with, they would contact me. I applied principles from the Bible in my business. The four rivers that watered the Garden of Eden, I likened it to four sources of income which is the minimum that every believer should have.”
Ubong also studied the rich men in the Bible, calculated their possessions in monetary terms and decided in his heart that if men of God can make it, then he would not be an exception. A man with a heart for God and a life lived by faith, which had been his backbone for taking the risks he did with his businesses and today, he has hundreds of staff spread in 6 countries – a feat he constantly attributed to the grace of God.
He served as the chairman of The American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS) International Chapter 206, Lagos, Nigeria and was also the President of the Ubong King Foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation targeted at training young people towards leadership. In 2018, his foundation convened the maiden edition of ‘Thinkation’- a platform to encourage productivity among the youth demography in Nigeria.
He was the President of The Kings’ Men World, a mentoring platform, which is poised to address the absence of strong role models for Business, Leadership and Relationship. It also seeks to transform lives and push people to achieve more. Kings’ men seeks to drive a motivation for change and hunger for success, inspire, challenge and equip people and businesses to operate at their maximum potential.
Ubong was called the Apostle of the Market Place. He believed that God was his senior partner in the business arena, and was a most prolific speaker, who had spoken at business and church platforms. Deeply passionate about the industry he operated in, he had a relentless commitment to raise the standards while creating better values in his industry, and developing human capital in his country of birth, Nigeria. He called himself “The troublemaker”, He gave the reason for the name as frustrating the comfort zone of people, helping them to level up.
Ubong King was passionately committed to his family and wass married to his wife of 14 years, Amb. (Mrs.) Unyime -Ivy King, a co-builder with him in the home and in business. He was blessed with 4 children: Adora-Edima, Jamon-Mfonabasi, Atara-Uyaiabasi and Sarah-Mbuotidem.
On the 26th of December, 2020, Ubong King died from what was reported as Covid-19 complications.
May his soul rest in petfect peace.
Source
UbongKing.com
Vanguardngr.com
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