Re-evaluation of African Values and Culture in the Face of the Crisis of 21st Century

 

A Speech Presented at the Fourth Achebe Conference, University of Nigeria, Nsukka on March 9th, 2021 

There is a familiar joke that ever since the Niger Deltans were told that the solution to their problems is in the pipeline, they do nothing but drag and fight over oil wells and pipelines.

 Dating back to pre-colonial times, with reference to historical books and artifacts, it is obvious that Africans enjoyed a level of peace and unity, compared to this period of renaissance, after the ‘whites’ invaded the sanity of the ‘blacks’. Since then, our value system and culture have been under threat, and are gradually going into extinction. Chinua Achebe’s novel ‘Things fall Apart’ is a typical example of how the ‘Whites’ invaded the ‘black’ nations. Things fell apart ever since, and we are no longer at ease. A certain school of thought strongly believe that African values have become non-relatable and translatable, and therefore have no place in this age.

 Have we actually lost our place – value system and cultural heritage in the globe? Are there chances of regaining our space in this competitive world? Should we now say that white men are the root of our problems; that we don’t need their educational system, their science and technology, their mode of worship of the Supreme Being, and their social and digital life, that we have placed higher above ours? To set our priorities right and answer the above questions, we need to examine our values and cultures against that of our pre-colonial masters.

African Values

“He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.” – Jose Rizal. Africans are known for their rich values which, to mention but a few are as follows:

1.      Greeting – Africans, based on their various tribes have special ways of greeting their elders and superiors.  In some places, their males bow while their females prostrate to greet elders. Handshake among age groups is also common in most parts of Africa. Back then, elders raise their brows when youngsters greet in a weird manner, they even rebuke them for such a greeting. Youths then are conscious of their environment, and they are careful not to disobey or provoke the elders. But today, elders and youths seem to be robbing shoulders, the atmosphere of respect is gradually vanishing. We now hear greetings like hi mum, hi dad; with hands in the pocket, etc.

2.    Value for more number of children and large/extended family co-habitation: Men pride themselves in the number of wives they got married to and the number of children they have given birth to. That large/extended family system that produced strong and fearless men then is gradually phasing out.

3.    Hard work: During pre-colonial times, almost every African family has farmland, and wealth was measured based on the fatness or quality/quantity of one’s crop/harvest. Farming, hunting, fishing, etc were considered as jobs for real men while those who do nothing but sing or play music were seen as a weakling or lazy people, or better still, categorized as women.

4.    Respect and worship of a supreme deity: During pre-colonial times, Africans worshipped many things they called god, known to them as the mediator between them and the Supreme Being. Some molded their god, some carved wood and called it god while some others worshipped water goddess, trees, sun, moon, etc.  Those gods were valued and respected by them. They feared committing certain crimes in order not to incur the wrath of their god.

5.     Political Structure/Value for kings (Monarchs): The system of government then was mainly monarchy. They had family heads, village heads, community heads, and tribal heads and those were highly respected and revered. Some value their king to the extent of burying him with human heads when he dies.

African Culture

“Having a low opinion of yourself is not modesty, it's self-destruction. Holding your uniqueness in high regard is not egotism, it’s a necessary precondition to happiness and success.” – Bobbe Sommer

Aside from boundaries and color, cultural identity gave Africans a unique definition, which can only be accepted by others, if we accept and value ourselves. Some of African heritage includes the following:

1.      Food: Staple foods like yam, cassava, corn, millet, wheat, etc are common to Africans but different methods of preparation and eating apply. Some people turn up their noses at the restaurants when they see others eating eba, fufu, pounded yam etc. with their bare hands, but these same people stress themselves out while trying to eat same with fork and knife. Some people don’t even eat our local dishes anymore because to them, they are archaic. According to Chika Unigwe, when our bush meat crosses the borders of Africa to Europe and America, it becomes game, and most Africans who are ashamed to eat bush meat will take pleasure in eating game because the name has become civilized. Who did this to us?

2.    Fashion: We were proud of our local fashion before civilization. We pride ourselves in our jigida, wrappers, uli, etc before we got entangled in foreign dressing codes. Today, uli, used for body decorations and paintings have been replaced with tattoos. It is a good thing that our fabrics, like Ankara are making waves again.

3.         Language: This is the worst-hit because we hardly use our languages these days. Parents these days rather raise their children using English than their native language. The funny thing is that most of them can’t even use English correctly, and their wards end up learning it the wrong way, all in the name of following the trend. Most Africans judge intellectual faculty based on the ability to use English fluently or not, as if English is all that we need to survive on earth.

4.    Festivals: The long-cherished African festivals are gradually submitting to foreign festivals. Take Nigeria for instance and Igbo in particular, Our New Yam Festivals, ofalla festivals, Igba Nkwu, Wrestling, music etc. are gradually turning to carnivals, cantatas, fiestas, etc.

5.     Native Names: Most Africans are ashamed of their native names, some take up English names of their choice for themselves if their parents didn’t give them any. Some prefer to answer names of European/American dogs rather than answer their native names, just to be accepted or recognized by the Oyibos.

6.    Informal Education: Formal education has taken over African informal ways of teaching their children proper manners, moral values, personal hygiene, and home tricks. Today, morality sounds strange, even in the ears of children.

7.     Folklores/Superstition: The culture of gathering around a tree to listen to folklores usually told by elders has gone into extinction. If at all some people still have that culture it will be very few African villages. What we hear about today is bedtime stories read to children by their parents, and most of those stories are mainly Disney land stories that don’t connect them to their identity and heritage. Most Africans believe that the position of the star on their birth date has an effect on their personality and therefore determine their fate, but found it difficult to believe their grandmother’s superstitious jargons. We can go on and on.

Having gone through African values and cultures, the question now is, should we go back to how it used to be? We already know that it is not possible. Another question is, Should we forego our identity and completely embrace the identity and cultures that stare us in the face daily through our TV sets, internet and social media? We have come a long way and there is no going back. Culture is dynamic, and there is nothing wrong with embracing foreign culture. But where a culture poses more threat or harm than good, the best thing to do is to sieve and take what is friendly to us.

An average African thinks he is inferior to the whites, and we tend to be gullible when we come in contact with the whites. That is why we place much value on foreign products, foreign schools, etc. The whites know this, and that it why they value their dogs more than Africans. They capitalized on our inferiority mindset and made us believe that we are worthless, and so is our thinking, language, food, mode of dressing, and everything that made us who we are. The result is that we are facing a lot of crises today that seem to be beyond our control.

21^st Century Crisis

There is no doubt that colonialism stimulated positive and negative changes in Africa and injected many vices that brought about an unending crisis. The fact is that civilization and everything it has to offer has come to stay but it is left for us to manage the situation.

Laziness: Civilization made us less creative and lazy because almost every activity has become computerized. A large number of us now sit in offices pressing computer to solve our numerous task.

Immorality: Due to the influx of culture through civilization, lesbians, homosexuals, and prostitute have become bold enough to defend their immoral activities

Violence: Colonial rule brought about greed, oppression, and capitalism. No doubt, corruption, cheating, violence etc. found their way into the African leadership system, kicking out the traditional setting that ensures morality and decency.

Abuse of Africans by Africans: Colonialism opened the eyes of Africans to the slave trade which abused the dignity of human value, making even Africans to hate themselves and treat their fellow Africans as worthless.

Political Rivalry: It was colonialism that taught Africans that with power, they can make laws that will enable them to commit crimes and also make laws that will exonerate them from such crimes. That is why African leaders commit all sorts of crime, including killing, embezzling of public funds, etc in order to rise to power and also when they are in power. The result today is rioting, protests, armed-robbery, kidnapping, etc due to poverty that is ravaging Africans. Need we say more? Terrorism has rendered many people homeless because the government that has brought so much pain on its citizens has failed to protect them. We can go on and on.

What should we do?

The worst is that these vices and crisis are gradually becoming our new norms and most of us are helpless in the situation, wondering if it will ever come to an end.

We always say that the only constant thing in life is change.  We swayed towards civilization without thinking, now that we are better-equipped knowledge-wise, we can also marry our cultural heritage with friendly foreign cultures and come to an equilibrium. Nobody can do that for us except us and we can start by adopting the following strategies.

1.      We should start by priding ourselves in our colour, food, arts, craft, etc because God has placed in our lands the kind of skin, food, craft, etc that we need for our survival.

2.    We need to start defending our good cultural values against any foreign threat.

3.    We should learn to preserve our cultural products and records for historical purposes. (even the whites treasured them when they first came to Africa) Such materials should be archived and used as educational materials.

4.    Our movie industries should project our values and culture, and tell our stories instead of confusing our stories with that of a foreign culture.

5.     Government of post-colonial countries should start sponsoring bills and making laws that will promote cultural research and defend cultures of their respective nations and not waste time on laws about legalizing gay and prostitution.

6.    Africans should start producing movies and books in their various dialects.

7.     Africans should start telling their war stories, love stories, legendary stories, etc for the world to hear.

8.    Africans should promote their own games along with the foreign games and sports.

9.    Africans should start teaching their children their mother tongue and let them learn English or French in their schools as their Lingua Franca or second language because a person without a native language is like one having no background.

Conclusion

“A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others throw at him/her.” – David Brinkley

We will never bring things the way they used to be, and even if we can, we don’t need to, because colonization brought much good to us than harm. The whites have opened our eyes to knowledge and we love their science and technology, craft, music, sports/games, etc, but we will be richer and stronger if we carry along our values and cultural heritage, i.e., if we don’t lose our sense of dignity in the face of modernism.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

For Sam Maduka Onyishi

Birthday Whispers 2019

We are created to continue the creation story, that’s why we have creative writers, innovators, manufacturers, explorers, builders, designers, etc. If you are not part of the creation story, then you are on earth to do otherwise. Life is sweet only when we devout our time to meaningful ventures that takes care of the many problems of man. 

We are created to give one service or the other and if we fail to give that service, we wallow in misery. Since I realized this, I’ve seen it as a duty to make my birthdays count. To me, a birthday without an added crown is not worth celebrating.

Though I’ve not been able to justify the years I’ve spent on earth, but I am happy that at least I spent those years not creating problems for others. 

December 7 is the day that brought me into this world and I vouch to make it remarkable.

It’s my birthday today but I have to specially wish happy birthday to Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and all my birthday mates all over the world.

Cheers from Olive

Enugu 2019 – ANA’s Homecoming

The 38th International Convention of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is set to take place in Enugu between 31st October and 3rd November, 2019 at Sunshine Hotel and Guest House Enugu and International Conference Centre, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu respectively with the theme ”Literature, Nationalism and the Poetics of Integration.”

ANA’s first convention took place in 1981 when the Association was established by the patriarch of Modern African Literature, Chinua Achebe and others in the University town of Nsukka, and ever since, the convention has never been held in Enugu State; and for this reason, the leadership of the association tagged the convention "ANA Homecoming."

The Chairman of ANA Enugu State Chapter, Zulu Ofoelue and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) headed by Hon. Ndubuisi Ene are all working hard to make sure that the convention which will feature an evening of palm wine, folklores, drama, cultural night, literary prizes award dinner, tour around Enugu, etc. is a success.

The association will also elect new National President during the convention to man the affairs of the Association at the National level as the tenure of the current president Denja Abdullahi and his team ends.

The Chairman of ANA Enugu State Chapter, Zulu Ofoelue on Monday the 14th of October, 2019, made it known to the public in a Press Conference that the convention which is an annual ritual of ANA will have in attendance the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Rt Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Gburugburu), as Chief Host; Prof E.E.Sule of the IBB University, Lapai in Niger State, as Keynote Speaker and Professor Ernest Emenyonu, a Trustee of ANA and Editor, African Literature Today who is coming as a Special Guest. He stated that over 400 of Nigerian’s best and foremost creative writers, literary critics, journalists, members of the academia and other stake holders have registered to attend the convention, adding that three new Fellows of ANA and distinguished writers and scholars will be inducted during the opening ceremony namely: Prof Zaynab Alkali, Prof J.O.J Nwachukwu-Agbada and Prof Remi Raji while the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr John Kayode Fayemi will be conferred as a patron of the Association also during the opening ceremony.

The national convention is aimed at promoting cultural values and encouraging creativity and will no doubt, promote nationalism via its poetics of integration.

Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo Co-Win Booker Prize

Photo Credit: The Guardian

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have emerged winners of this year’s Man Booker Prize. Deciding one winner must have been a tough one for the judges that made them settle for two. According to Peter Florence, the chairman of the Booker judges, they were told that the rules state that there will only be one winner. But they flouted the Man Booker strict rules and divided this year’s prize to celebrate two winners who were announced on Monday.

Photo Credit: The Guardian

According to BBC News, it wasn’t an easy decision by the judges to rebel and award the prize to two writers this year. The judges, including author Xiaolu Guo and Editor Liz Calder, spent over three hours trying to pick a winner before asking if they could choose both but they got no for an answer. Since they were given no better choice, and since they couldn’t tell which of the two books to award, they made it known to the Booker organizers that their final decision is for the two books to be awarded. Yet, their decision was unacceptable until their third attempt thirty minutes later that the Booker Prize’s trustees accepted the decision.

Evaristo, the first black woman to win the Booker Prize won for her novel titled “Girl, Woman, Other” while Atwood, won for her novel titled “The Testaments,” which is a sequel to her 1985 dystopian classic, “The Handmaid’s Tale.” She won in 2000 for “The Blind Assassin.”

Photo Credit: BBC News

Four other novels were shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize and they include Lucy Ellmann's "Ducks, Newburyport," Chigozie Obioma’s "An Orchestra of Minorites,"  Salman Rushdie’s "Quichotte," and Elif Shafak's "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World." 

The 50,000 pounds Man Booker Prize, one of the literary world’s most prestigious prizes, will be shared among Evaristo and Atwood. Past winners include Rushdie, Hilary Mantel and J.M. Coetzee.


Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

PMT Boss Returns N2.2b Wrongly Credited to his Account by FBN

Nigerians are not all corrupt after all.

The Chairman of Peace Mass transit, Dr. Sam Maduka Onyishi has returned a huge sum of N2,219,500,000 which was wrongly transferred into his account by First Bank.

In a meeting he had with his First Bank account officers, his Unity Bank Account officer, some media workers and some of his staff at his Emene office, Dr. Onyishi explained that he instructed that First Bank pay $3m into his Unity Bank account but discovered that $10m was paid instead by First Bank, which has an excess of N2,219,500,000.

Speaking to the gathering of media workers, his account officers and staffs, he narrated the situation as follows:

“I told my bank (First Bank) to pay money into my Unity Bank account that I want to take $3m but they paid in $10m instead. I called to inform them  that the amount they paid to me was more than the amount I requested but they told me that the ten million dollars was my money”.

“I sent emails to the bank to inform them of the wrong payment but they didn’t find anything. My account in First Bank was not debited so they did not see it. Unity Bank did not see anything because they just received the money”.

“The amount they paid in was N3,219,500,000 but my own money there is N1,000,000,000 so the balance is not my money and I can’t keep $7m that doesn’t belong to me. When they told me that it is my money that they invested, I asked them how come they went ahead to invest my money without telling me so that I can use my money and then I can know how much I have”.

“I told them that they have failed to give me a statement of my account even when I have demanded for it severally. I discovered later that the amount was even more than what we are talking about because there was another person I asked the bank to pay money to whom they even paid extra”.

“I made inquiries and they told me that I should wait until when it is time for banks to do reconciliation so that they can find out if the fault is from First Bank, Central Bank or Unity Bank. I waited for a whole month and no one called me. I told the devil that he is a deceiver and a liar. He knows that I need money now that is why he is setting this trap”.

 “It was for these reasons that I invited First Bank, Unity Bank and media workers so that I can hand the money over to First Bank.  If they find out that the money belongs to me, return it to me. If it belongs to Unity Bank or CBN give it to them, But if it is your own, keep it. So I am giving this money to you to keep on trust”.

He called on the management of CBN, Unity Bank and First Bank to look into the origin of the money because such leakages could come with dire consequences for any commercial institution. He said this could be a sign that people’s money have been missing everyday.

The cheque was received by the Business Manager, Commercial Banking, Mr. Kokelu Ben on behalf of First Bank.

This is simply a rare act of integrity.

Reported by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi.

Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Education: harvesting from the Cradle

Keynote Speech Delivered on the Occasion of the Faculty of Education 2019 Conference at Princess Alexander Auditorium, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Theme: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Education: harvesting from the Cradle

Introduction

Back in the days when we had only informal education, children learned from their parents how to do farm work, boys learned goldsmith, carpentry work, sculptural work, etc from their fathers while girls learned sewing, knitting, etc from their mothers – crafts and skills that kept them busy, and made them creative and productive. What really changed that culture? Could it be our idea and perception of formal education? We embraced formal education the wrong way; our wrong perception of formal education made us run away from what we call dirty and tedious work, so we embraced what we call white-collar job where we sit down in the office to do whatever comes our way, and get paid at month-end.

……..that explains why we have many graduates, including masters and Ph.D. holders who roam the streets looking for a job rather than looking inwards to know what they can offer and earn a living out of it. It explained why we cannot produce common toothpick or even harvest and process the cashew at our backyards.

Unemployment Facts

Nigeria is a country with a population of about 190.9m people. Economically active population is about 111.1m people but according to reports; four out of ten in this workforce population are unemployed or underemployed. What will be the fate of these unemployed people if we don’t talk about entrepreneurship or if we don’t encourage the young ones to be self-employed? Let’s not forget that as we battle as a nation on what to do with the currently unemployed people, we graduate students on yearly basis to join the list, while our children in primary and secondary schools are also coming up to join the queue. What plan do we have for them? Where will they work? Is it in the already crowded Federal government and state parastatals, already crowded oil companies or where?

Idle Mind is the Devil’s Workshop

We complain of insecurity because of kidnappers, armed robbers, yahoo boys, prostitutes, etc; if we continue to take things for granted, the future of this country is at stake. We need to start making amends now and we must start by redefining education because it is all-embracing – it embraces all aspects of learning; it could be skill acquisition, inculcating morals into young ones, going to school to acquire certificates, on the job training, etc. The younger generation needs to be re-orientated so that whatever legitimate business or job they find to do, they will be proud of doing that and grow with it. We need to teach the young ones to start harvesting from the cradle.

What Does the Future Hold?

Days are gone when students focus their mind to read their school books or study just to pass their exams. The result is that they are certified on paper but they cannot reason. That is why in reality, some people can’t even manage their little earnings, yet, they studied opportunity cost and scale of preference in school. Some things we learn or learned in school are not just to pass an exam; they are life lessons that should help us make a good living. This is the time to think – after exams, after school, what will I do with my life? This is the time for students to utilize their free times in school and engage themselves in meaningful activities that will pave their path to a balanced future. It is not the time to waste in cult activities or chase sugar daddies and mummies around for money; it is not the time to fight for girlfriend and boyfriend. Life out of school is so demanding and it requires more skills, wisdom, innovative and creative mindset to succeed. A certificate will only boost your personality because even some cleaners have graduate certificates, but the world will celebrate and value you because of your ability to solve problems.

Harvesting from the Cradle

Some people are very good with blame games. They blame their dead parents, their wicked uncles, and aunties, etc for not helping them get through life. I lost my father when I was 13 years old and from then, I have continued to hustle. I did all kinds of legitimate jobs while growing up, just to take care of myself and my siblings. Serious-minded people seek out better ways to overcome their problems and not sulk around and complain. Some students trained themselves in school by engaging themselves in menial jobs during their spare times, yet they graduated with good grades.

Early entrepreneurial endeavor will help young people to stay focused and build a culture of hard work and job creation that will give them an edge over others as they journey through life. If students cannot learn to create job while they are still in school, it will be difficult when they are out there as a graduate. When you engage in innovative activities as a child or a youth, it makes you creative and helps you build an entrepreneurial culture. That is how entrepreneurship starts – It is better and sweeter when harvested from the cradle. You grow with your business or art or craft, and when you grow rich and start enjoying your money, you will enjoy with peace of mind.

I make my children spend their holidays in the work environment, even those in primary school. They don’t just sit back and enjoy the money I worked hard for. I make sure they move from one department to the other, they work with the mechanics, welders, electricians, equipment/machine operators, ICT, Finance, Audit, Administration, etc – just for them to learn to appreciate how money is made. My children know that they can’t waste my money organizing and throwing parties because they are involved in money-making activities. I teach them to harvest from the cradle.

I heard of a man who sent his son to the site where they are building his house, for him to join the laborers. He made his son go there during holidays until the house was completed. The contractor paid his son the same way he paid other laborers based on the job they were able to do. That’s another example of harvesting from the cradle.

Most of you, students may not have got the required orientation and push to engage in some entrepreneurial activities while in primary and secondary schools, but you can still build that culture and develop yourself now that you are still in the higher institution, it will make you indispensable, responsible and independent after you graduate.

Conclusion

I have two children whom I sent to wash my dresses while I go somewhere. One of them smiled and said yes daddy but the other one frowned and left. When I came back I met the one that frowned washing the dresses while the other one was busy watching movies. Who is the obedient one among the two?

It will do us all much good if after this conference, we will go out there and put to use what we have heard and learned from this conference, even if we have frowned at the way the speakers spoke and how badly organized the conference is.

Thank you.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

For Sam Maduka Onyishi

August 2019

Enterprenuership: The Path To Grace From The Grass

A speech delivered at the Annual Student’s Entrepreneurship Summit for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Development Research, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Topic: Entrepreneurship: The Path To Grace From The Grass

The road to wealth is not paved by gold. Every wealthy entrepreneur labored from scratch before they rose to stardom, except those who are entrepreneurs by inheritance.

I was born into a poor family and my father died when I was 13 years. After his death, the pangs of poverty became unbearable, and being the first child of my parent’s 7 children, the mantle of taking care of the family fell on me. From then, I dedicated my life to doing all sorts of jobs that came my way, to take care of myself and younger ones. Even when a man of God prophesied to my mother that God will send him a helper, I decided to work very hard because I saw myself as that helper.

Hustling started when I was in primary school; I had to climb mango and cashew trees until the trees knew me by name. When I pluck the fruits, I sell them to support the little money my mother gives me.

I was pushed to the wall when after my secondary school; I lost a teaching job I applied for because I didn’t have N2.00 to bribe a messenger for him to allow me to enter the zonal commissioner’s office for my appointment letter. Challenges and humiliations should build us and not destroy us – We ought to see them as a push to prosperity and not an excuse for failure or an excuse to engage in illegal activities.

Afterward, I became a bus conductor and later became an apprentice to an electronics dealer. But after the apprenticeship, I had no money to start my own so I traveled to Kano and joined a construction company as a laborer. Along the line, I had to quit laboring job because they don’t pay me a full salary. Fortunately for me, my mother gave me the N1, 200.00 that the University of Nigeria paid as compensation for our cash crops and I used it to start second-hand clothing business in Kano. With enough savings in my account, I decided to learn motor spare parts trade; afterward, I decided to go back to school.

When I started school in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, I noticed I had plenty of time that shouldn’t go to waste so I went and withdrew the N260, 000.00 in my account and purchased two buses. I gave out one of the buses to someone to drive for me while I drove one myself after classes and on Saturdays. Before my graduation in 1999, I already had 45-second hand buses and I kept nurturing the business until it became a household name. Today, Peace Mass Transit is one of the foremost companies in Nigeria that has given birth to other companies.

I will not fail to share one of my major keys to success which is prayer. My mother taught me and my siblings how to fast and pray when we were little. She helped us to develop faith and trust in the almighty God and I have never left that path, as prayer has been my foundation for success.

Unlike our own time, this generation is blessed with the generosity of information technocrats. Anybody who claims to be in the dark in this age is not saying the truth because even if you don’t have access to information through internet resources, someone around you who have such access must share useful information with you. If I could do it back then, you can do better now but you have to start early.

The solution to unemployment, which is the major problem Nigeria has today, is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is the act of initiating or financing new commercial enterprise; creating a business idea and nurturing it to reality.

My Entrepreneurial Ladder

I started small – with whatever I can lay my hands on; even in the transport business, I started with just two buses, then it grew into a medium scale enterprise and today it has grown into a large scale business or conglomerate. Start by doing what you can and with what you have. Start small and grow rich.

How I navigated into the World of Entrepreneurship

I started by trying my hands-on different petty businesses before I stumbled on the business that I fit in most. You can start by venturing into petty money-making activities, especially now that you are still in school so that before you graduate, you must have discovered your abilities. The more you engage yourself with petty businesses, the more you also expose yourself to the world of business.

How I managed my Cross Roads

The blame game could not have led me anywhere - When we focus on reasons why we should not do what we are supposed to do, it kills the ability in us. I did not blame my dead father for not living to carter for us, neither did I blame my uncles and aunties for not looking out for us; instead, I made a move and did whatever my hands find to do in order to help my mother with our family financial difficulties.

I saw a need and focused on that - Before I ventured into the transport business, I saw the need to convey people, especially students to their destinations. I also noticed a void in transportation which is the absence of an affordable mini-bus that will save people’s time. For a business to thrive, make sure you are solving a problem.

I chose the right location for my business - My headquarters is located in Enugu and I first established in South East before spreading to other states because I discovered that south easterners travel more than others. The wrong location can cripple your entrepreneurial zeal. Before setting up a business, you need to know those that will benefit most, and then start in the area where your customers are most likely to be found.

I targeted a particular audience and focused to meet their needs - Every business venture is competitive but if you come up with something unique and of value to a certain category of people, and continue to develop technologically, you will never lose their patronage and trust.

I focused on the glory and not the challenges - Economic climate of Nigeria is harsh for start-ups, but remember that some people still worked hard and succeeded. I have always focused on what I stand to gain and not the numerous economic pitfalls, and today I have nothing to regret.

I looked within and started from somewhere - Insufficient capital should not be the reason why you cannot go into the business of your choice. If you have parents, siblings, uncles or aunties who are willing to give you capital, you can approach and discuss with them but if not, start with what you have. If you don’t have at all, there are petty businesses that require no funding to start, like hair making, home laundry services, etc. – you can raise money from them and go into a business of your choice. You can as well opt for borrowing from the bank but I will advise, it is not a good option because I never borrowed to finance any of my businesses.

The Secrets that Kept me Climbing

I don’t joke with budget and I buy the things I need and not all that I want. I didn’t just discipline myself on how to make money; I disciplined myself to manage it.

I don’t waste my time fooling around because I understood that time is money.

I don’t gamble into any business without proper study and consultations.

I didn’t do a big boy by wasting my money in expensive restaurants; Okpa and the likes were my best food when I was starting because those were what I could afford.

I am passion driven when it comes to running my business.

I didn’t answer CEO in the early years of my business; I was then a driver, then a loader, a manager, etc. and my wife was the cashier. I started answering CEO when my business grew.

I learned to save and I made sure I disciplined myself to save.

I made mistakes along the line and I learned from them.

I focused on the businesses that I can do best.

I don’t just stumble into any business; I draw my plans before I make a move. No matter how small the business is, it requires planning. You need to strategize.

I followed God’s guidance and never failed to pray – prayer has been my secret code.

In conclusion, I didn’t waste my mina, I hope you will not waste yours

In Jesus' parable of the ten minas, a master gave his servants some minas and told them to occupy until he comes; then, he left to a faraway land. ‘Occupy Till I Come’ is translated ‘Do business till I come’ in New King James Version.  That means we are here for a very serious business delegated to us by someone higher than us. Occupy means take charge, inhabit, take possession of, take care of, live in, make use of, put something to work. As in Luke chapter 19, two out of the three servants traded their minas or money or talents, etc and raised extra income for their master, while the servant who received one mina hid it and when his master returned, he brought it out as it is and gave him. Jesus is telling us today to occupy until He comes. We shouldn’t waste our mina, gift, talent, etc., like the stingy servant in Jesus parable, because those minas are God’s investments that shouldn’t go to waste – if they are not important to God, he wouldn’t give them to us. God has endowed us to serve Him and man and we need to make Him proud of us.

Don’t be a doubting Thomas. Think Smart, Think Entrepreneurship. If you are bent on getting a job to make a start from there, then train yourself in such a way that employees will find you employable. It doesn’t matter if you are on salary – who says you cannot work for salary and still manage a small business that you can fall back on if in any case, something goes wrong with your paid Job.

Remember! God said He will bless the works of our hands, not our fasting and praying. Prayer controls the spiritual, but the works of our hands control the physical. Pray more but work harder.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

For: Sam Maduka Onyishi

July 25, 2019