Business
Despite the challenges confronting small businesses, especially women in business, Madam Chinwe has demonstrated that any person who is diligent and focused can make a success of any enterprise.
By Christabel Ejenike
TODAY Madam Chinwe runs a successful wholesale shop along Balogun Street in Anifowoshe area of Ikeja where she also retails bottled water, soft drinks and fruit drinks.
Obviously, she did not start big. “Initially I was not dealing with water or drinks. I was selling kerosene for cooking, but over the years kerosene was becoming outdated and people started using cooking gas and the number of my customers started dropping,” Madam Chinwe told Realnews in an exclusive interview.
According to her, she couldn’t venture into the cooking gas business because it was not quite popular then with some consumers and housewives as some landlords did not allow their tenants to use gas cookers in their houses for safety reasons.
She was forced to search for another business line. “I actually started with only two parks of soft drinks and my customers were the only persons who buy them to quench their taste. But the business started picking up gradually.
“I bought a fridge to cool the drinks because people need something to cool down after working under the hot sun,” she explained.
But today, her business has expanded and she engages in wholesale business and many hawkers patronize her by buying chilled drinks and water from her to sell to their consumers and people held up in traffic.
Madam Chinwe explained that although the annual profit does not run into millions of naira, but she is able to record good turnover in the business, which is critical in that type of business.
“I am able to sell off immediately after buying and the business also covers the annual rent for my shop, my utility bills among others,” she said.
She, however, laments the negative impact of power outages to her business. For instance, Madam Chinwe disclosed that “once there is constant electricity the business thrives more, but in a situations where there is shortage of power supply I resort to the use of my fridge at home where the drinks are chilled and brought down to the shop”.
She advised the youth, especially young girls to always engage themselves in useful and gainful activities and avoid buying every good thing they see and focus more on savings.
She also urged them not to be ashamed of what they do for a living as there is dignity in labour.
Madam Chinwe was quick to narrate her personal experience with a young girl. who buys bottled water and soft drinks from her to hawk.
“She is a student in one of the institutions of higher learning in Lagos and she came to me, saying that she wanted to buy from me but that she has no money so we agreed that she will drop her phone as collateral for the goods and she did and after that day she continued to come. She makes at least ₦3000 to ₦5000 gain daily and that depends on how hot the weather was.
“With the little money she saves from the business she is able to return to school and during breaks and holidays she comes around to sell drinks,” she said.
First published on- May. 17, 2022 @ 16:52 GMT | C.E
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