A young Nigerian CEO son Twitter has used the social platform to share
his grass to grace story with a businesss that many have under
estimated.Read his story below:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Gemdeconq7/status/1375177987260350465
Let me tell you a story.
A story of how I became a millionaire with wheel barrows.
In 2015 I was living in Delta as a houseboy in the Igbo
apprenticeship system. One of my duties every weekend was to buy and
have processed two old layer hens at abraka market asaba.
A thread..
There was a man, Boniface, who sold polythene there. He had a small
kiosk & I’d often buy the bags to package my already cut up chicken
from his store.
I had no idea the man has been admiring me. One day he opened up. He told me he just liked me and that he wanted to be friends.
I was wary at first but I thought, what could possibly go wrong? So I gave him my number and we became friends.
Every saturday I’d sit at his shop as my hens were cut & we’d
talk. He looked poor & ordinary, but mentally he was a genius. A
treasure trove of MONEY MAKING IDEAS!!!
He was way older than me but we developed deep respect for each other.
During our discussions we talked about converting the many
opportunities that abound in this country, but the nearest to attainable
one was starting a small scale barrow rental business around onitsha
markets
We wanted to help people out and of course also make money to
better our lives. Being the trader amongst us, I did my research. Ran
the numbers, sought & got permission from my then master and thus we
went into the business of making & renting out barrows.
I registered and became the youngest member of the Anambra state barrow
owners & pushers association – yes thats an actual union that
regulates the barrow business and it cost quite some money to sign up
into.
We started small with 6 barrows. I owned 5. Boniface owned one. We
charged our employees; The barrowmen 200 naira (51 cents) per day for
renting the barrows. It seems small but it’s tiny, consistent drops of
money like these, if properly channeled that creates oceans of wealth!
For people who just left prisons, okada riders who were banned
from operating, poor farmers from rural areas, young people without
jobs, wheel barrow pushing is somewhat of a last resort. It doesn’t
require much skill. With just strenght & stamina a person can make
money daily.
Alot of these people go on to raise capital from this job to buy
tools or vehicles or machines for other labour intensive jobs and thus
improve their standard of living and rise a step higher in the ladder of
society and above poverty.
We marketed them as polite, professional pushers to the market to
encourage people to always patronise & them in particular and It
worked!!
“GEMDECONQ” barrow men started getting more jobs and started making more money than they did before.
Truth is Nigeria has too many problems. Problems create a need for
solutions. Providing solutions creates value and value is simply what
makes people wealthy.
You don’t need juju.
Look for problems & needs around you. Solve one or two. You too will count in milli milli.