I lost my parents at the age of four and life became so tough even up to when I was in the university and by the grace of God i made the first one million naira when i was forced to start my first business with #200 (Two Hundred Naira) in my year two and I grew the business from #200 to #500,000 sales per month and #2,000,000 sales (#2million) per semester. I employed at least six people as managers. I was able to move from being a beggar to someone feeding others. But it wouldn’t have been possible if not because of the two muslim women who took me as their son despite the fact that I was christian.

If you are conversant with Obafemi Awolowo University, Central Market, you will probably know the two of them Iya Yemisi and Iya Quadri, the other man is the husband of the old woman that I used to buy groundnut in bulk from, she couldn’t make it to my convocation last year but she asked her husband to represent her. To make one million naira was not a magic as they are part of my success story as far as my graduation from OAU was concerned.

The business success story cannot be complete without appreciating these women and many others who on many occasions sold crates of egg, tomatoes paste, salt, groundnut, pepper and many other things for me on credit to support me.

Apart from these women, many of my room mates who were muslims several times looked after the business for me whenever I was not around. We lived as a family despite our religious differences.

I learnt a lot as the CEO of that business, in fact I became the most popular in ETF Hall and in Central Market. It also helped me to emerge as Accounting Students President for a whole session. My room was the most frequent room in the hall, we ran for 18 hours everyday. I was the seller of last resort especially for those who have gone to read overnight.

My best moments in OAU was with these women and many others in the market. Their distance smiles anytime they see me coming from far to buy the goods I sell from them is forever sticked to my memory. The surprising thing was that religion never brought any disagreement between us but instead we cherished one another and shared a lot of things together even personal issues. They took me like their son. We ate together on many occasions in the market.

As at today I am the CEO of my company Seravision Brooks and I also run an NGO call Sera Schools Initiative with the goal of helping indigent students to have access to quality and we have impacted both christians and muslims students across the country through our various activities.

I am sharing this story again as a result of the recent religious issue in Osun State where students wore church garments to school because the State High Court legalized the wearing of hijab by muslim students to schools including missionary and schools owned by churches.corper education

I keep asking myself where we are heading to as a nation. What type of future are we building for our children? When we are meant to be teaching them religious tolerance, unity and love for another, we are inculcating into them hatred and hostility toward other religion.

Christians and the muslims has always live as brothers and sisters especially in Southern part of the country for many years.

So I still find it difficult to understand why the issue of hijab in schools in Osun State is gradually been allowed to generate unnecessary tension in the state.

Governor Aregbesola is only trying to use the issue as a political tool to divide the people of the state so as to continue to suppress them in poverty and shift their attention from the economic issues of the state that need urgent attention.

We all know issue of Hijab should not be the priority of Osun State at the moment. The state is in a mess economic wise and the continuous fall in standard of education in Osun State for some years now requires sober reflection. Aregbesola is building mega schools in major towns whereas the teachers and students in the buildings are hungry because salary had not been paid for the past six months.

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Away from the mega schools in the towns, schools in smaller towns and villages are nothing to write home about. You can visit Ijeda, Moro, Erinmo Ijesa and some other small towns to verify what I am saying.

We as a people must take our destiny into our hands and resist every strategy of our failed leaders to set us against one another so that they can have way to perpetrate their evil acts.

Governor Aregbesola had failed the people of Osun State and posterity will never forget his unprecedented failures as a governor. He is a confused man who have no interest of the people in mind.

I will encourage the religious bodies leaders both MURIC and CAN to settle this case out of court. Muslim students should be allowed to wear hijab but not to missionary and schools owned by churches as christian students can’t be allowed to wear church garments to schools owned by Islamic Institution.

We must unite our voice for religious tolerance and unity. It is either we live together as brothers and sisters or we perish together as fools. We must not allow the way issue of religious bigotry lead to terrorism in the North East to happen here in South West.

If we allow this issue to get out hand, Aregbe doesn’t have much to lose. We the masses will bear the consequences while Aregbe will be in government house heavily protected. Let unite our voice towards a better Nigeria. Let unite our voice for quality education for every Nigerian child. Education is our future!

Vincent Adeoba,
Social Entrepreneur.

Source: http://corperdiary.com/how-these-muslim-women-helped-me-to-make-one-million-naira-from-200-naira-business-back-on-campus/