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Utang Ambe-Bassey
SENIOR LEVEL - CHANNEL MANAGEMENT - - SALES - - MARKETING - - BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Professional Background
Utang Ambe-Bassey is a highly accomplished Senior Level Channel Sales Manager with two decades of extensive experience in enhancing brand presence and managing business relationships across various industries. With a focus on channel ecosystems and partners, Utang has demonstrated an exceptional ability to elevate market share through strategic sales management and innovative marketing strategies. As the current Systems Channel Sales Manager for Central and West Africa with IBM, Utang is responsible for overseeing a diverse business partner ecosystem for the hardware business unit, delivering exceptional value and service that drives revenue growth and profitability.
Throughout Utang’s notable career, she has succeeded in exceeding revenue targets, consistently demonstrating a strategic mindset and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Her remarkable achievements include surpassing her revenue target by an impressive 211%, which led to her recognition as the recipient of the prestigious IBM Global Business Partners Shining Star Award for the Systems Channel Team in IBM’s Middle East and West Africa region. This recognition showcases her leadership and the significant impact she has on her team and the organization as a whole.
Utang’s dedication and talent were further acknowledged when she earned her place among the top 10 managers for IBM Middle East and West Africa in 2017. Additionally, she has received multiple IBM Manager's Choice Awards, recognizing her contributions to fostering client relationships, sharing expertise, and her passion for re-invention and innovation. Her strategic acumen was instrumental in increasing the marketing revenue contribution from a modest 4% to an impressive 40.6% in the first six months of her tenure at IBM, underscoring her ability to drive results quickly.
Education and Achievements
Educationally, Utang Ambe-Bassey holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree in Public Relations, graduating Magna cum Laude from the Midrand Graduate Institute in South Africa. In addition, she has acquired a Higher Diploma in Secretarial Administration from Speedwriting International College in Lagos State, Nigeria. Her academic accomplishments laid the foundation for her expertise in public relations and marketing strategies.
Utang’s professional affiliations reflect her commitment to continued professional development and industry involvement. She is an Associate Member of the Public Relations Institute of Nigeria and a Global Affiliate Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the United Kingdom. Moreover, she is an active member of the IT Marketing and Digital Marketing Associations, which speaks to her breadth of knowledge and her proactive approach to staying current with industry trends and advancements.
Notable Contributions
In her role at IBM, Utang has played a crucial role in coordinating the marketing strategy for the transformative “Smarter Computing” project. This initiative, in collaboration with the extended Central East West Africa (CEWA) and Middle East Africa (MEA) teams, achieved remarkable success, grossing millions of dollars in win revenue. For her innovative contributions to marketing execution and strategy, Utang was honored with the “IBM Forward Thinkers Award,” solidifying her recognition as a forward-thinking leader in her field.
Utang's leadership is characterized by her ability to foster strong relationships with business partners, ensuring that both parties achieve their objectives. Her strategic vision and relationship management skills have been essential in navigating the complexities of channel sales while driving growth in the competitive landscape.
Early Career
Before her current position at IBM, Utang held several key roles that contributed to her comprehensive skill set and understanding of the market landscape. As the Sales Transaction Support Leader for East & Central, West Africa (E&CWA) at IBM, she developed strategies that enhanced operational efficiencies and customer support. Her previous role as Marketing Manager for the Central East and West Africa, Systems and Technology Group at IBM further solidified her expertise in channel marketing and sales strategy implementation.
Utang's career began with impactful experiences, such as her time as Group Head of Client Services at CMC CONNECT (PERCEPTION MANAGERS) LIMITED, where she skillfully managed client relations and delivered exceptional services. Lead by her passion for empowering others, she took on roles that included serving as a Public Relations Liaison/Manager at New Jerusalem Children’s Home as a volunteer, indicating her commitment to community service and social responsibility.
Conclusion
Utang Ambe-Bassey stands out as a distinguished professional with a wealth of experience and a record of excellence in channel sales management. Her strategic foresight, coupled with her proven track record of exceeding performance expectations, positions her as an invaluable asset to any organization. As she continues her journey with IBM and in the broader industry, Utang remains dedicated to fostering growth, innovation, and strategic partnerships that generate impactful results for her business partners and the communities they serve.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.