The Genesis
Growing up, my grand-mother sold rice and fire-wood. I observed the way she raised her children with the profit she made from the business and that was all the motivation I needed. I started my first business at a very young age before entering the university. After graduation from Benson Idahosa University, Benin, with a B.Sc in Computer Science, my business still remained a top priority.
My Entrepreneurship Journey
I ventured into the clothing business in 2003 after leaving secondary school. Back then, I would buy used clothing items from students and sell. By the time I was in the university, I was far-reached in the business as I was trading and studying side-by-side. I didn’t allow the business to affect my studies because I knew education was very important. I also believed that a good education would provide added advantage to succeed in business. After seeing the success of my clothing business, I decided to venture into other businesses. Today, aside from owning a boutique, I also sell cars and I am into real estate. Although our head office is in Benin, I do worldwide delivery of my goods and services.
Setback/Challenges in the Business
The road leading to our former office where we had our boutique became very bad and this affected my business as we weren’t getting as many customers as before. Also, my dealer abroad for the car business started giving me problems and was causing delay in meeting delivery deadlines and was affecting the brand and my reputation. This forced me to take it upon myself to apply for visa and I started traveling out to make these deliveries myself.
Due to the foreign exchange challenges in the country, we are having serious problems in sourcing money to buy goods. This is a major setback for me because I do a lot of travelling. I travel to mostly Turkey and Italy to stock up my boutique and then Germany and the United States of America for the cars.
My take on Entrepreneurship
My take on entrepreneurship is that every young person out there should start up something no matter how small. It is very important to start out when you are young because you will tend to achieve more as you grow your business also grows with you. If Nigeria has a lot of young people who are educated and doing business, we would be in a much better place right now. Young people especially fresh graduates should stop hoping on the government for jobs but rather should create one for themselves
Advice for future Entrepreneurs
My best advice for future entrepreneurs is for them to believe in themselves and never to give up on their dreams. If you believe you can succeed, you will find ways through different obstacles/challenges that will come with the business, because there would always be challenges. If you don’t believe in yourself, you will just find excuses and eventually give up. You are your own motivation.
Future plans
My future plan is to own several franchise with big fashion brands, have the best car mall in West Africa and be among the major players in real estate in Africa.
Email: etekglobalresources@gmail.com
Tel : +2348078779666
