waooooh,i admire your dogged and resolute spirit. Come to think of it, many of your mates may still be roaming the streets of major cities in nigeria looking for 'white colar jobs', but here you are, trying to make something out of your life. I sincerely salute your courage. Next time i visit my state i will try and come there. Pls keep it up my friend. It may not be rosy but you will definitely get over it.

The knockout stage of the champions league commanded triple d population I used to have and it became a bit difficult for me to manage the crowd. They enjoyed the matches and the fans just kept on increasing. At the time, it would just take me 5days to recover the subscription fee for the following month.

The first place I was using was a room and parlour but at a very strategic place in d village. The landlord rented it for me twenty thousand naira per year. I made close to 5k on the afcon final between Zambia and ivory coast. It was a bonus anyway it's not everyday that u have nations cup taking place. On this day, the ceilings of the centre were destroyed as a result of jubilation and celebration. There was no ventilation cuz many people were left not having seat to seat. I made sure i collected my money to the brim. Even those standing at d window paid.

The following day, i started looking for a spacious centre. Luckily i got it so fast cuz everyone wanted it to be close to his house. So i was left wit alot of options. I stumbled upon an abandoned warehouse which was used by someone to show just d FIFA 2010 world cup. After this period he abandoned the business and went to town. There was wiring there. Two iron protector where the tvs would stand were already there as well.

So i continue using the place at least so that i can take d time to let them know that we would be changing venue on May 16 ahead of the champions league final match between chelsea and bayern munich. So i had taken time to paste it around the centre and also announce at half time break. Sorry to say, the illiteracy over here is much. I found out that many do not understand english and so i cushion this by attempting to communicate wit them using the local language. We would turn it to joke and laughs everywhere but at the end of the day it was understood that from may 16, 2012 i would not be there again- place we were ial s etc I concentrated on the one i wanted to teach plus integrated science. In the case of integrated science JS3 they were 400 scattered in 4 classes. I entered each of those classes and introduced myself telling them what i would be teaching them. I delivered a ten minute speech to them using their local language. They were so impressed and told me that no corper previously posted there could speak complex sentences like i did. I told them my name before i could realize anything it went round the school that there was a corps member that could speak d local anang language. Many of the students were eager to meet me. There was one nickname they gave me, "utoyen ekpo" which means typhoid fever. I caused it because when i discover one or two students sleeping in d classroom, i accuse them of having typhoid fever. Some weeks after i had started teaching,one of the permanent teachers, duff, introduced an int science workbook to me. He said i would sell them at #100 each but 40 for me and #60 for him.So i told them in the local language because some of them do not understand english (smh) that we would be using a workbook for our continuous assessment test. I told them the price and told them we would start using them the following week. In less than two weeks i had sold 300 copies of the books which meant i made a profit of 12k out of nothing at a time that our allowance was 9800 Whatever i tell them they do because i developed interest in them. I knew most of their names. The dull ones and the brilliant ones. At times i meet them here and there and they introduce me to their parents. When i go to the market they are there, so i ended up becoming very popular because i see one or two people that would greet me anywhere i go. For the senior secondary section, teaching them chemistry was not easy because their background was poor. I tried as much as i could to impart on them. It was only two of us that were teaching the subject in d school. Me and their permanent teacher. It got round that i could teach better and know the concept more than their permanent teacher so i started having very serious SS3 students coming in to join my class. They told me that they had problem in the subject so i decided to fix extramural classes for me to teach them free of charge. Their population increased and along the way i also discovered they had problem in mathematics and physics. So i met one copa longe who came in to teach them physics and biology. I was taking them chemistry and mathematics. At the end of the day, we agreed that quality education is not free that i went through a private school and paid a whole lot to be in this position. So the students agreed to pay 50 naira per head. At the time, we had about 50 students. We ended up wit pocket money everyday. The news spread to the school principal and he became jealous that we should teach them but for free. My copa friend could not do it and thats how we stopped it. My good relationship wit the people of the community started in the school and whenever i travel to lag i do buy one or two things from lag to sell. In d process something told me that i could be successful if I ventured into business. There was a time i decided to change my phone and buy nokia C3 and one express music 5230. I bought the latter from a fellow copa at two thousand after he bought one speaker mp3 i bought from alaba. I bought 10 of those at the rate of 1900 naira. Corpers were buying because d environment was quiet and boring. So i got referals from those that bought and i found myself supplying it to various people. I just would get a call and i would take it over to the person that needed it. The CLO bought one from me and since the guy was a music lover and a friend of mine, others started developing interest and i kept on selling. There was a time i sold 15 copies in one month equivalent to over 30k profit. At this time, i started thinking of business after service. I sold to teachers, corpers, students, indigenes and so on. There was a time one of the corps members accused me of overcharging him for the stuff cuz he found out a place they told him to bring 2.8k instead of d 4k i charged. I asked him to take me to the place in a bid to save face. We went there and it was true. During this moment i had ran out of goods. So i stopped for a while. It wasn't long i got request to bring in another. So i went to meet the guy d corper showed me. We talked extensively and he gave me at the rate of 2300 naira. I bought 5 copies and paid him cash. I supplied to my numerous customers and later came to buy 6 but i paid for 3. He agreed and later i came to balance him. From then on, he's been a friend of mine and we are doing similar transaction. Close to our passout day, we were lectured about self employment instead of going for white collar job. I was inspired from those talks and felt that i would do business in my PPA but i needed something that could guarantee a regular income and an avenue that i can use to market my products. That was how i decided to open a viewing centre. At that time, i was mocked by fellow corps members that i had decided to live a wasted life by choosing to stay back and do business here. It wasn't easy cuz all my mates were gone only me remaining in the jungle but i was determined to make the most use of the opportunity. As it stands now i had inspired several corps members brought to d community as one currently owns a viewing centre in his village in taraba state. He frequently call me seeking for advice and so on. Many corps members posted to the community just kept on asking about my experiences of which it was hard to relate. So i put it upon myself to post it on nairaland so that whenever i'm asked again, i would just provide the link to my page and they can read it as far as they want.

By May 17 the new location for the viewing centre was ready. I got it at a very affordable price of only 10k every year. This place in lagos, goes for over 60k. So it would have been difficult to do business on a shoestring budget. I called an installer to re-install the two dish(something i will like to learn) .He charged me 5k. I started constructing more bench. We transfered everything to the new place, see hardwork cuz i was actively involved and also paid people to help me.

May 19 came and i went to the shop by 5pm playing PS2 game. By 6pm there are already 70 fans seated and thank God i had made provision for plastic chairs at N10 each. Fifteen minutes to the kickoff, I had already 130 fans seated and over 100 fans outside. Where they came from i could not tell. Three corps members helped me that day and having charged 70 naira per head i was able to go home wit 8,500 naira
The story continues later....

Nas, this your story is very interesting and inspiring. But not appealing to the eyes.

Would advise you to paragraph it like this so people would have interest reading it on opening the thread.

boron10: Nas, this your story is very interesting and inspiring. But not appealing to the eyes.

Would advise you to paragraph it like this so people would have interest reading it on opening the thread.

Okay, I will do just that.

inwangobio: waooooh,i admire your dogged and resolute spirit. Come to think of it, many of your mates may still be roaming the streets of major cities in nigeria looking for 'white colar jobs', but here you are, trying to make something out of your life. I sincerely salute your courage. Next time i visit my state i will try and come there. Pls keep it up my friend. It may not be rosy but you will definitely get over it.

Thank you very much. Maybe God is leading me to an unknown place but i will be patient to get there. My place is not hard to locate. Just ask anybody in ikot okoro copa's shop. They will show u d place. Serve well.

boron10: Nas, this your story is very interesting and inspiring. But not appealing to the eyes.

Would advise you to paragraph it like this so people would have interest reading it on opening the thread.

Guy i tried it but it did not show d paragraphs

After the champions leage final, i decided that it was necessary for me to travel back to lagos perhaps i could get some reinforcement.

But euro 2012 was in the corner and thought to myself that it would not be good if i don't expose them to this competition. So i drafted the fixtures, groups and the squad of each participating country. I even drew possible formation and squad members. I pasted them at very strategic points. So atleast before d competition they knew what to expect.

When d competition started, we watched the opening ceremony and i offered the first match for free. Poland v Greece. They enjoyed the match.

Subsequently, they were happy to pay and watch the remaining games. Honestly, d turn out was poor and they only got interested at the quarterfinal stage. I just got peanuts money but my major aim was to expose them and i'd achieved that. The highest i got for the final was 3,500 at the rate of N50 per head.

It was unfortunate that at the end of the football season i was not able to save because i use the chunk of the money to improve d business. Plus i paid rent and constructed benches. I was only left with about 6k. I travelled home after one year in business.

I was somehow ashamed that at the end of the season, no money on me except that i had improved. I got a word of encouragement from a corps member who said a 14 inch tv was used to show matches and only single view in his village. He in fact commended me for the quality of service.

Three days after euro final, i went home. My dad owned a supermarket so i helped out a bit and told him my plans. So he supported me wit some cash(making it 3 separate occassions).

Many factors were responsible for lack of savings. Among them is fuel price. At times, i buy one litre of fuel for 180naira. Again things are expensive in akwa ibm; one plate of food sells for N150 with one yeye meat. Because i was the only working on my own, i had no time to cook and made sure the shop was opened at all times.

There was no electricity mid this year. So it meant that i would run my business on fuel and would lead to generator maintenance which cost money.

Subscription fee made it difficult especially now that dstv had decided to charge 11k for premium subscription.

There were several electrical faults with the tv and other equipments that had to be taken care of. This money is in thousands.

Cost of transportation has been a hinderance to progress. Whenever i want to pay subscription fee, it cost #800 from my place to uyo. To and fro.

There's this problem of LNB. At times, the lnb would not respond and i had to provide almost 2k to get another one on several occasions.

When i started i accumulated alot of debt which should have took me out of business. But as God would have it, i was able to pay back the ones i owed d indigenes . This effect affected my growth significantly. I had spent months servicing debts incured running the business.

The ones i didn't pay back were the ones from my parents and some of his friends since i knew they were not in a hurry to get it. And then the debt i owe friends. Among the ones that bothers me so much is a 20k I borrowed from friends to buy two pieces of ps2 game but couldn't make money from it. Boron 10's is also there but i find it hard to pay back but i have d hope of paying them soon and with interest. I must mention d one provided by umar jankola cuz he lost his dad not long and he's facing the challenge of taking care of his siblings. It came to a time i couldn't pick his call cuz he needed d money and i couldn't provide it. It hurts me everyday and night and purposely I wrote it so he would know how much i would love to pay him.

As usual my dad rendered assistance as he always does. So i got some money to buy phones and some electrical gadgets. I only got about 70k. This amount was small but i was able to use it to buy few products.

I came back to akwa ibom around july 20 in time to show pre-season friendlies.

I came wit one of my old time friend thats passionate about business and somehow was not enjoying his work. So we both came down to akwa ibm. I took this step so as to increase my mobility and would be able to preview more opportunities than if i were to be d only one.

So at the moment, abbey had been managing the viewing centre while i move around searching for more opportunities.

The viewing centre is now fully matured and we record about 36k monthly. Although that money is small considering that i would part wit 6k for him, pay subscription fee now 12,800 plus fuel. But i had made it known to him that when i settle wit other businesses we were going to negotiate how much he was going to pay me monthly. I'm thinking of 12k monthly. He will take care of every expenses. It is only in that way it will pay me. While it will pay him during competitions like nations cup, world cup, u20, u17, olympics etc. At this time he might get 50k for that month and i will be contented with the agreed amount.

Ofcourse it will not work now cuz i use d business for survival and also looking to save money to raise funds for other businesses.

I will return to talk about the opportunities i observed while moving around. They are so numerous and i hope corps members wil take note of them. Be right back.

^^^Good... I think you should go back and modify the others...

the story continues shortly

Front page please. I will be sending you a private mail, I have seen your desire to work and want to help out big time. I hope you have an internet enabled device. You will surely get there in Jesus name.

blink182: Front page please. I will be sending you a private mail, I have seen your desire to work and want to help out big time. I hope you have an internet enabled device. You will surely get there in Jesus name.

THANK YOU BUT I'VE CHECKED MY MAIL BUT NO MAIL FROM YOU. I WILL REALLY LIKE TO READ YOUR MESSAGE. MY AIM OF WRITING THIS STORY IS TO SHOW CORPS MEMBERS THAT THEY CAN HANDLE DIA FUTURE IN THEIR HANDS INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR JOBS THAT MAY NEVER ARRIVE.

nas4q:
THANK YOU BUT I'VE CHECKED MY MAIL BUT NO MAIL FROM YOU. I WILL REALLY LIKE TO READ YOUR MESSAGE. MY AIM OF WRITING THIS STORY IS TO SHOW CORPS MEMBERS THAT THEY CAN HANDLE DIA FUTURE IN THEIR HANDS INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR JOBS THAT MAY NEVER ARRIVE.

I have replied your messages. It is hard work o but I believe you can cope.

The environment we live encourages those that are determined to succeed. If you sit back and let circumstances determine your faith, you become more disappointed than when u actually get involved in one or two things. What happens to the saying ''heaven help those who help themselves."

First I started with owning a viewing centre with the hope that after my service year i would atleast have something that would fetch me the run around fees. My initial idea of putting in someone to manage it was not successful because the income was very low at the start. So I had to manage it personally to an extent. Then i discovered I can actually go all the way without actually bothering about job search. In the process of this i actually stumbled into more profitable businesses than I have actually started with. I had made alot of friends that support my initiative. Some of those are the local graduates in the community. There are many of them around here and it even made me look at my certificates with scorn. I decided afterall there's nothing much your certificate can do for you. I met some of the indigenes and they would tell me oh i served in Kano, ondo, katsina and so on. when i look at the level of poverty in their system at times i feel like weeping for my country. Many would come begging me to allow them watch some matches, Many times i do, but it's at my own detriment. The local business owners will come in and pay their regular money to watch. In the area my business is located, I personally know about 15 graduates rendered useless roaming the corners of the village (not even city). I see many in beer parlours perhaps whiling away their frustrations. The horrible state of poverty i see in them plus those comments and posts i read on nairaland about tooto decay and co goes to show that many are in this condition. I had advised many of them and some of them actually started something. Many of them considered themselves foolish for not been able to survive where I had. Even in their poverty they still patronize me in business.

Since I came with a friend to enable me move around and assess other opportunities, it means things have been alot easier and cash a little bit tight because this person i came with is getting paid monthly atleast that will keep him loyal and motivated for the task ahead. So what he does is to show matches and record the amount realized for each matches and then the expenses. So at the end of the month we remove the subscription fee and see how much profit is realized. The highest ever was 38k without deducting the subscription fee. I will pay him a token and then put 14k for subscription. At the end i myself is left with a token.

Since I have to save, take care of body and soul, it means this alone will not make me successful. So i accepted a teaching job in uru anwa area of oruk anam local government. Did i hear u ask how much? 6k. Exactly the amount i paid my friend that is managing the viewing centre for me. Because i didn't go for the salary but to see what businesses i can introduce while guaranteeing pocket money, i had happily accepted it. I was given accomodation. I was also given a space in the busy market junction to develope for the purpose of a viewing centre. I had made alot of friends there because I had some of them that do watch football in my viewing centre in ikt okoro. Out of the friends i met, one owns a phone retail outlet. His company name is Itiabros communications. He sells china mobile phones, mobile phone accessories, recharge cards and so on. I had known him since the time i came newly cuz we have transact business before. There's another friend i made who is into graphic design,photocopy, exam registrations and data download. His name is endurance!
Even as i don't have enough money to establish more businesses just yet, I have been using one or two tricks to at least get small money without tempering with the income from the viewing centre.

Since i like anything about phone, i would go to my friend that deal with phone and collect some phones from him paying over half of the total fee. Then obtain memory cards and download as many songs as possible. Whenever i go back to my viewing centre in the other village, I will move around marketing the phones telling them I sent a friend of mine to buy them for me from Lag. Trust me I sold two phones that day. Ofcourse 1k profit from each.

i am impressed. please do everything you can to pay back that your friend who lost his father, even if it is in bits. how much do you owe him?

by the way, are you typing with phone or computer? try and copy and save all you have typed so far. you will need this storyline in future, trust me. God bless!

arbitrage: i am impressed. please do everything you can to pay back that your friend who lost his father, even if it is in bits. how much do you owe him?

by the way, are you typing with phone or computer? try and copy and save all you have typed so far. you will need this storyline in future, trust me. God bless!

Arbitrage, I will pay him soon by God's grace. To answer your question, I woundn't want to post it here. Again I've been typing this using a nokia 6680 phone. I know i would need it in future so dat atleast my children would get to know that their father was hardworking and perhaps that could be enough motivation for them.

Nice posts OP. I'm a fan of this page.

More power to your elbow bro. Your story iz a motivation for we awaiting corps member. Luckly for me am even thinking of influencing my posting to Awka ibom, i hope to meet you soon. I pray God will connect you to that business dat will pay u big. By the way, which business can someone do in camp. Sowe to divert ur attention frm d aim of this thread.

log1: More power to your elbow bro. Your story iz a motivation for we awaiting corps member. Luckly for me am even thinking of influencing my posting to Awka ibom, i hope to meet you soon. I pray God will connect you to that business dat will pay u big. By the way, which business can someone do in camp. Sowe to divert ur attention frm d aim of this thread.

That is nice. The place is really fantastic. I'm enjoying it but some won't. I have thread for that purpose. Read it here www.nairaland.com/1144340/how-start-business-corps-member/2#13620246

Intereesting read.

This is interesting.
I like enterprising people like OP . I wish more people are like this and we will have less problems in this country.

Many at times I used to be discouraged by the predicaments of the local people most especially the graduates in the location. As time wore on, I knew better than to be discouraged. There were some funny aspects of owning and managing a viewing centre which along the way frustrated me but somehow I would manage to get the solution to those problems. Most of these experiences had really toughen me up and made me a better person.

I started my viewing centre in a really small way just the way one would get a tv and a decoder for home use. I did bought a small tiger generator to serve the purpose of providing electricity. At times I would go to the viewing centre some minutes before the kickoff time of an important match. Starting the generator maybe as difficult as hell. So I would quickly take it to a generator repair who would fix it for me. This engineer has his shop located a couple of distance away from my viewing centre. I would just lift the generator and trekked all the way to his shop. I had never been in this situation in my life and never even imagined it one single bit. I would meet some corps members along the way and their look and all that, I knew they would be going through different thoughts in their mind just the way i would if I had never been in that situation. The challenge came and i had to deal with it immediately not even hesitating a single bit. This part of generator fault has really taught me a lot of lessons that maybe i wouldn't have been able to experience anywhere in the world. Because of this, I had learnt to repair generators in emergency cases most especially when it falls on a sunday that no generator repairer would be available to help.

The next time I travelled back to lagos, for sure, no one told me to get a spare generator for my viewing centre as a result of my experiences. This even introduced another me to a business i never thought of. I now deal with the sale of generators as a result of my experiences. I would buy a small belgium used generator at 3500# in lagos and place the price tag on it. I would find buyers at 8k or even more. Even having a spare generator does not guarantee that the issue of generator faults would not develop. It occurs when u really need it badly.

There was this day i came to the centre to show the euro 2012 match between England and Italy. I took one of the generator set out. In trying to return the choke, I discovered that it had detached away from the carburettor. I brought out the tools of the generator to see if i could fix it: no way! Meanwhile customers were there cursing and hissing and saying some annoying statements that really got me pissed off. I brought out the big Generator set as an alternative. It really did start but did not supply electricity. Not again! I tried to fix it, no success. No one was willing to help but then they kept on taunting me and I became emotionally affected. Thank God the big generator finally worked and I was able to show the match but about twenty-three minutes late into the match. They came in and watch. I apologized from the time wastage and went ahead to tell them that I wouldn't reduce a kobo from the normal fee as a result of the delay. Some protested, but I told them the door was opened if they weren't ready to watch. Formally, i used to be soft on them but immediately after that incident, i had gained a form of autocratic attribute that i was hitherto lacking in my life. I still feel that if tomorrow I become the head of a very big organization, my experiences in the viewing centre is enough for me to manage people in whatever capacity that i serve.

Ofcourse I'd met different kinds of people in my life that ordinarily I wouldn't have been able to come across. I could be able to motivate a crowd of say three hundred people to go in my way of thinking. There are times that the cost of production would go up and I had to announce an emergency increase in my prize. At first, I find this very frustrating because one will meet various negative responses during this time. But today I've learnt how to calm tension and convince people to cooperate with me and do my wish. Perhaps prior to acquiring my business experience, I would struggle in a job interview but I couldn't imagine that in this stage of my life. I have learnt to look for solutions instead of taking time to explain why decisions didn't work. I had learnt to be an action man instead of waiting for miracle to happen. Many at times, i will have troublemakers who pretend to come to watch match and look for every opportunity to make trouble. Prior to my experiences, i probably will fall for them but as time goes on i discovered methods to deal with such kinds of people. My ability to downplay issues has really helped me alot in combination with my ability to communicate in the local dialect. With the magnitude of experience i had dealing with these kinds of people, i had the believe that if i mistakenly stumbled in a midst of criminals i would somehow find a way to elude their plans to harm me. I could go on talking about the experiences i had gained which really had gone a long way to help me in crowd management.

Ofcourse, I had ended up acquiring an additional nigeria language that I found so interesting. The indigenes automatically fall in love with you just for this singular reason and it made my work even easier as I'm good with learning languages fast coupled with the enthusiasm to learn . I had completed my service since june 2011 but till present i am still called a corper everywhere i go. I had tried to explain that i was being demoted for being called such as I had crossed that huddle some years back. In fact, many new corps members get to even know about me before meeting me personally as a result of the willingness of the members of the community to talk about me. Most of these corps members posted here were amazed with my popularity because the people kept on seeking my attention for one thing or the other. At times some corps members wouldn't know me; that i would be in a bus stop waiting for a bike along with them. We would strike up a conversation and the next thing i would hear is that they've heard of me and were hoping to meet me. I have met as many corps members as possible and have alot of them as my friends on social networking sites. Many have finished and some still serving. So far i continue to be in this locality i will continue to meet a lot of them. This networking may also help me in ways i can never imagine as I like travelling a lot. I might decide tomorrow to have viewing centres spread around the country and these corps members that were posted here every year will surely help me realize that dream. To be continued shortly...

Lest I forget, happy new year to you all!

nas4q: Lest I forget, happy new year to you all!

Same to you

An0nimus: Nice posts OP. I'm a fan of this page.

I'm glad to know you liked it. Please Sit, Think And React to this thread. I do read the posts and many at times I feel like weeping cuz even as i have written it, it still touches me.

Scooby1: Intereesting read.

I'm flattered! Thanks for the comment.

Brand_new: This is interesting.
I like enterprising people like OP . I wish more people are like this and we will have less problems in this country.

It's the fear of tomorrow that really led me to this part. If i wasn't bothered, this path wouldn't have presented itself.

Brand_new: This is interesting.
I like enterprising people like OP . I wish more people are like this and we will have less problems in this country.

It's the fear of tomorrow that really led me to this path. If i wasn't bothered, this path wouldn't have presented itself.

nas4q:

It's the fear of tomorrow that really led me to this path. If i wasn't bothered, this path wouldn't have presented itself.

@nas4q

Seriously, I really need to talk to you about taking this business to the next level. I had this business I just shutdown in Lagos where I had restaurant, sports centre and night club. I shut it down because I was being ripped off by incompetent and greedy brother in-law. Please, send me your phone number and I will call you immediately for serious discussion.

Let's talk as soon as possible.

There is no need to be hiding people's comments at this crucial moment.