No Amount Of Money Is Ever Enough To Start Business - Eze
By Suleiman Ugbokhe
Eze James is an enterprising young man, who identifies his line of business early and wasted no time in going into it headlong.
He deals in agric produce, mainly grains ranging from rice, beans and maize to Guinea corn, millet, and groundnut. And gari – the only non-cereal item but one of the fastest selling in Eze's shop located Iyana-Ipaja market cum garage.
“It is a consumable business and the turnover is very fast,” the 28 year old Eze told Agbelonews in response to why he chose that line of business.
Getting to own his own shop wasn’t a walk in the park for Eze. He faced obstacles that would have made a lily-livered and unfocused young man to take a detour. But not this determined and committed aspiring business tycoon would let hunger, overwork and blatant discrimination derail his aspirations.
Where his colleagues were on apprenticeship for five years and collected one million from their masters to set up their own businesses, fate played a fast one on Eze. He served for six years and never got the bulk one million naira!
Please, read his story – his success story:
I started in 2011 as an apprentice and got my freedom in 2018.
It is a consumable business and the turnover is very fast. The faster the sales, the better the profit.
I attended Ansar-Ul-Deen Grammar School, Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria.
Apprenticeship in this business is the norm among the Ibos. You serve under a master for at least five years, during which time you learn how to sell and buy agric produce as well as how to know the quality of what you are buying to sell. You also keep abreast of daily prices of the items, in order to avoid selling below the prevailing price.
The problems I encountered during my apprenticeship were numerous, but the ones I can mention now are that I never did anything during the period to please myself but my master.
I was eating small meals twice in a day.
Even when things were not going well in the shop, I persevered in looking for ways to improve the situation.
I never had sufficient rest and sleep because I slept late and woke up early to do house chores.
I fetched water in the morning before going to shop. I pumped water in the night, after returning from the shop, mopped the house, clean the toilet, bathroom and the kitchen.
The only time I feel happy as an apprentice was at month end when sales records are checked and the result shows I made good profit for my boss.
There was nothing like payment of salary or allowance. The only thing I was entitled to was food – the meals referred to earlier.
The process of gaining freedom is that at the end of the five years of apprenticeship, the sales records are checked to know how much profit you were able to make for your boss during the period.
If your performance was very good, your boss would give you about 1.2 million naira for you to set up your own business
But if your performance was not good enough, eight hundred thousand naira (N800,000.00) is what you get.
However, the average amount is one million naira.
In my case, I did not enjoy this facility. Two years into my apprenticeship, my boss died.
The wife who was now in charge said I would serve for six years instead of the normal five years. In the sixth year, the monthly profit was shared on two to one ratio basis for her and me. Two thirds for her and one third for me.
So, I never got bulk money for freedom to set up my own business.
The business is good. Just make sure you sell your goods as quickly as possible to avoid some going bad if they stay too long in the store.
My monthly profit is not too bad.
No amount of money is ever enough to start the business. You start with what you have and complement with loan and goods on credit.
For those interested in going into agric produce buying and selling, they have to persevere and be committed. And success will come their way.
 |
| Eze James in his store with various agric produce on sale |
Eze James is an enterprising young man, who identifies his line of business early and wasted no time in going into it headlong.
He deals in agric produce, mainly grains ranging from rice, beans and maize to Guinea corn, millet, and groundnut. And gari – the only non-cereal item but one of the fastest selling in Eze's shop located Iyana-Ipaja market cum garage.
“It is a consumable business and the turnover is very fast,” the 28 year old Eze told Agbelonews in response to why he chose that line of business.
 |
| Eze at work |
Getting to own his own shop wasn’t a walk in the park for Eze. He faced obstacles that would have made a lily-livered and unfocused young man to take a detour. But not this determined and committed aspiring business tycoon would let hunger, overwork and blatant discrimination derail his aspirations.
Where his colleagues were on apprenticeship for five years and collected one million from their masters to set up their own businesses, fate played a fast one on Eze. He served for six years and never got the bulk one million naira!
Please, read his story – his success story:
I started in 2011 as an apprentice and got my freedom in 2018.
It is a consumable business and the turnover is very fast. The faster the sales, the better the profit.
I attended Ansar-Ul-Deen Grammar School, Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria.
Apprenticeship in this business is the norm among the Ibos. You serve under a master for at least five years, during which time you learn how to sell and buy agric produce as well as how to know the quality of what you are buying to sell. You also keep abreast of daily prices of the items, in order to avoid selling below the prevailing price.
 |
| Eze attends to his customers |
The problems I encountered during my apprenticeship were numerous, but the ones I can mention now are that I never did anything during the period to please myself but my master.
I was eating small meals twice in a day.
Even when things were not going well in the shop, I persevered in looking for ways to improve the situation.
I never had sufficient rest and sleep because I slept late and woke up early to do house chores.
I fetched water in the morning before going to shop. I pumped water in the night, after returning from the shop, mopped the house, clean the toilet, bathroom and the kitchen.
The only time I feel happy as an apprentice was at month end when sales records are checked and the result shows I made good profit for my boss.
There was nothing like payment of salary or allowance. The only thing I was entitled to was food – the meals referred to earlier.
The process of gaining freedom is that at the end of the five years of apprenticeship, the sales records are checked to know how much profit you were able to make for your boss during the period.
If your performance was very good, your boss would give you about 1.2 million naira for you to set up your own business
But if your performance was not good enough, eight hundred thousand naira (N800,000.00) is what you get.
However, the average amount is one million naira.
In my case, I did not enjoy this facility. Two years into my apprenticeship, my boss died.
The wife who was now in charge said I would serve for six years instead of the normal five years. In the sixth year, the monthly profit was shared on two to one ratio basis for her and me. Two thirds for her and one third for me.
So, I never got bulk money for freedom to set up my own business.
The business is good. Just make sure you sell your goods as quickly as possible to avoid some going bad if they stay too long in the store.
 |
| Taking stock |
My monthly profit is not too bad.
No amount of money is ever enough to start the business. You start with what you have and complement with loan and goods on credit.
 |
| Agbelonews on a working visit to Eze's store |
For those interested in going into agric produce buying and selling, they have to persevere and be committed. And success will come their way.
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