I know most of you are already wondering what the title is
all about. Seriously wetin ‘consign' 100 naira with million? You have to look
beyond the physical Awolowo, use your spiritual eyes. LOL, I play too much I know.
For this article to make sense to you, you have to believe in
compound effect and little beginnings. Everyone has grand ideas, multi million Naira
business ideas etc, which is not bad. It is really important to dream big. The only
problem is that most of the time, there is nobody to support these dreams. You
are fresh out of the university, no
money in your account and no bank wants to loan you money so the dream dies. Then
you begin to question your ability and before you know it you are depressed or
you start living with regrets. Trust me, that’s not how to live.
All my life, I knew I wanted to be a boss, the idea of
spinning around in my chair, inside my all white office with a touch of red was
so appealing. Of course that kind of
office doesn’t come with an anyhow kind of career, it had to be something big,
not a ‘joking sturvz’. I had a lot of ideas, I studied food Science
and technology, so I decided I’ll major in nutrition. At least when someone
enters my white office, if they were
always eating pounded yam and ogbono soup, for the fear of messing my immaculate office up,
they will switch to apple. Lol. The point is, I was thinking about the fancy
stuff which I couldn’t afford at the point because firstly, I will have to further my education which
needs money before I finally get that office.
Sometime in April, I was in a taxi in Lagos, the cab man
bought plantain chips and offered me one. It was beautifully packaged, each
flavor had a different color. He told me to always buy the red one that it
was the best. The chips were awesome, but what hit me was the fact it was
100 Naira. All through the journey, I kept watching the boys in traffic selling
pack after pack to people, I ended up buying more too. As an Igbo girl that I am, I was busy
calculating their daily turnover, no be here o (Nna this is serious money o!) .
It just struck me, that while I was busy dreaming about a white office, someone
was busy frying ‘kpekere’ for the people and making millions.
It is okay to dream very big, but instead of getting
frustrated over funding, why not start small. Think about what one hundred and seventy million Nigerians can
afford, trust me “kpekere’ lovers out number the sushi people in this country.
Dangote knows this, he produces for the people and has used our hundred Naira
to build an empire and now he is a billionaire in dollars. What I am trying to say in essence, is that you should brainstorm and come up with a product or service you can provide that almost everybody can afford.
After my plantain chips encounter, I decided to start making
yogurt, its also something I learnt from Food Science and technology. The
money I make from it, I’ll use it to make my other dreams come true. That white
office has to happen.
Start with what you have, from where you are, you might be
the next 100 Naira millionaire.
P,s: You don't reach millionaire status overnight, you have to be patient and enjoy the process.
Adanna Elechi.
