₦airaland Forum

Theflint1:
Ebuka is like top 2% sha...

Top 2% in a market that was already saturated as at 2015?

I will ask again : Did he kill all his competitors and stole their market share?

GloriousGbola:
I was in pc village to buy an ssd on Saturday. Na all these guys that will say it is in my other shop, just wait. And then when you get there they will say o sorry I don't have nvme, but I have sata. Or the ones selling you something obviously dodgy.

I have to wonder where these hyper successful sellers are. They are definitely not on the pages of jiji.

Those that really make the money in computer village are those guys who stock up Phone parts, laptops, etc All those "bros we get for another shop" usually go to pick it from them, sell to u and remove their own margin. And those major sellers definitely didn't use N200k as startup capital.

These are people bank relationship managers dey go use loan facility beg for their shop. If that person tells u he started with N200k and has flipped it to N400m in 8 years, hes definitely telling an incomplete story with most important facts of the story hidden.

chidekings:
if u know the big guns very well,one day ask them how they started.

The ones I met are normal guys who have normal jobs and also make money buying and selling gadgets on the phone section. I met one in Ajah sometimes around 2017, he drives an EOD.

I met one in 2019, he drives one small SUV. He is an engineer who works a normal job and also imports phones from China and other countries. I think he has gone fully into importation of different goods from China.

These guys do not look like potential Chief Ebuka in the next 5 years sef.

I don't doubt the fact that Chief Ebuka may have grown a company that started with hundreds of thousands to a million-venture business, but the figures, line of business, inflation and exchange rate are not adding up in this particular story.

chidekings:
bro like i Said if not for privacy,i for call the person real name,their are people u know 100 percent..theflint is the only one that understands this because he has done the business too.this are normal things that happen.

I also know those who sell gadgets on nairaland phone section/technology market; I've even met 3 of them in the past. Honestly they don't look anything like people who have flipped N500k to N100m sef.

The more anecdotal evidence u bring up, the more the story keeps sounding unbelievable.

afrodoc2:
[/b]

I just weak

nihilistjnr:
Computer village in the early 2000s was tiny. My brother would park on medical road, and we would have to really walk for maybe 10 minutes to get to our guy that sold game CDs and floppies.

Maybe in that era, this guy could have done it....because that's what SLOT did.

But flipping one laptop to 400m in 2015 is an Adeboye-esque story.

Aswear ! For a business that uses naira to buy dollar before buying the gadgets itself , even Adeboye’s suspension of winter story sounds more believable than this Chief Ebuka story .

As at 2009-2010 I was frequenting Computer village Ikeja simply because one ajebutter in a private school I was hustling saw a phone with me and bought it. Then other students started giving me money to help them buy Bluetooth earpiece and phones .

As at that time sef the gadget market was already saturated and requires capital outlay of more than 200k to even start with .

Theflint1:
Phone/Laptop business are plug-based businesses, if you have a plug or access to plugs that you can control (these bastards never stay loyal for too long sha, but some can stay loyal for as long as a year ), that's your monopoly right there.

Baba I will be Frank with u, this chief Ebuka story sounds so anecdotal .

Wetin the man actually do to become a multi-millionaire he never tell una . Make una go back go press his stomach say make he tell una the truth .

Theflint1:
What is he renting shop for when he can sell most of the laptops even before arrival, and the rest he keeps in a small part of his 2-bedroom flat?
Utilities are his browsing data, less than some guys spend streaming 1hr of porn on a daily
Transportation/Shipping already factored in purchase cost and profit per laptop anywhere from between 30-120%.

Before business spoilt, 100% straight profit was pretty common. I'm talking too much already.

Doing phones is slightly easier as they're faster moving, and require less space to store them.

Shipping is on average 10 days...burn the midnight candle shopping for deals and he does at least 30 rounds of business across a year and in 8 years, 240 rounds.

The above is for a business I know, and I'm sure the scenario would play out for a lot other businesses, differently...as long as they have a competitive advantage.

This maths is not adding up one bit !

U are not even talking about a business in which he’s one of the pioneers/early entrants . U are talking about sale of phones and laptops that is a highly competitive market and u are telling us it’s possible to grow 200k to 400m ?

How ?

Did he kill all his competitors and stole their market share ?

raumdeuter:
With 200k did this include cost of renting shop, paying utilities, transportation, staff cost and buying the laptops.

What will be the cost price per laptop around 2015

I bought one 14'' Acer laptop for N135k in December 2015

chidekings:
gadget sales...laptops specifically.

Are u sure the N200k u quoted as his start-up capital is correct or he just gave a figure that came to his mind when he was asked?

Also, does he still own the business 100% or he has brought in investors who now co-own the business with him?

I know there are people who start busineses small, then when the business starts growing investors see potentials in it , pump money into it and turn it to a multi-million joint venture.

I find it difficult to actually believe he grew N200k to N400m in 8 years all by himself. I mean 8 years that has seen naira lose massively in its fight against the dollar and it is a business that requires him to use naira to buy dollars before importing.

chidekings:
their are many stories like that....i have someone very close to me,he started in 2015 with 200k,now his business is worth 400m....and their are countless examples,and this dudes are not even in lagos or abuja.....i beleive japa is never really about the money for most middle and upper class.its all about peace of mind.

I am interested in knowing the business that person invested N200k in 2015 that has now grown to N400m.

izzou:
[color=royalblue]Until the guy tells us the "How", there is nothing to dispute.

Nigeria has a lot of illegal, wayo formulas to cash out.

It is us here that is looking at bitcoin and Paystack. People dey wey dey pick millions monthly without any forex added.

I can never argue when someone says they made something. Just tell us how.

400 million in 8 years is 50 million a year.

Men wey dey act as front for Cabals and politicians can make that in one year.[/color]

Abi now.

Shebi na person be Akpobolokemi's tailor that had N546m NIMASA money laundered through his corporate account for a contract that was never awarded nor executed.

donjazzet:
You are still missing my point by a very wide margin and doing the exact same thing I'm talking about.


We're not arguing the merits and demerits of emigration (japaing). And indeed they are. But when you can accept the simple fact that not every single nigerian can or will emigrate out of the country, then perhaps you begin to see the point I'm making. Nigeria will always exist and there will be people here to make Nigeria whatever it will be.

The mindset that Nigeria WILL NEVER WORK is a hugely insulting fallacy to all of us. Because we have seen with our eyes countries that transformed from very poor nations to wealthy nations in the twinkle of an eye. India is estimated to be a 20 trillion economy within the next 2 decades, Singapore is the 12th richest country, South Korea has no natural resources but became very rich by technological innovation and industries. China used it's human resources to be the manufacturing hub of the world with a third of global industries having their factories there and lifting them out of poverty.

Also, there are soo many nigerians who have lived fruitful lives, I will use my own parents as example. I look at my parents and I see very comfortable people above their 50s who are living very comfortably. With a business earning them some millions and some landed properties. They live in an estate with constant light, they eat whatever they want and I'm sure they would tell you they have lived a blissful fulfilled life together. These were government civil servants who rose steadily through the ranks and pulled their resources together.

I think that a lot of nigerians are like my parents who have also lived relatively good and comfortable lives. The country is failing but it is not a failed state yet and can be turned around.


Stop inserting the discuss of japa when we talk about the state of the nation.
Japa could very well be a splendid advice but ultimately meaningless to the vast majority of nigerians who can't and those who won't japa.

It is not any insulting fallacy ; at least not to me.

I have seen enough of this country to know Nigeria will not work if things keep going the way it is. Nigeria has shown glaring evidence of a potential failed state. You have corrupt civil servants populating the civil service, you have government officials entering into unfavorable contracts on behalf of the country thereby exposing the country to serious judgement debt(Like the case of PI & D), tribalism, favoritism and nepotism is well entrenched in our system, there are individuals and corporate entities that are above the law, there's high crime rate, criminals practically escape from custody, police and soldiers shoot at each other in broad daylight in a battle for superiority, there is terrorism in some parts of the north and the east, there's economic sabotage in the south south where few people conspire to steal crude that should be for the benefit of all.

They say if a Sunday will be a good one, u will already have an idea starting from Saturday. If Nigeria did not work when the economy was relatively stable, shey na now e go come work?

There's nothing wrong in u being optimistic and hopeful things will turn around for the better, but one can also be realistic, wake up and smell the coffee. Yes not all Nigerians can japa but the wise ones with the means should plan their way and move . Nobody will force anybody to japa or stay, na personal decision wey get consequence whichever side u decide to lean towards.

nihilistjnr:
You're not raising 20m in seed funding to go and invest in phone charging, or okada spare parts business lol.

If you're operating at a level where you're either able to generate 20m in cash, or take 20m as a loan, you are not putting that into a hand-to-mouth business like fücking phone charging.

Recently someone I know in Nigeria went to apply for bank loan of 25m, the bank offered a 2 year loan term, at 25% interest per annum, meaning that he would be paying around 1.7m in monthly loan repayments, with the first repayment due the month immediately after the loam was disbursed...and this was a secured loan. Which of the businesses you mentioned is raising 1m a month within 30 days from launch?

I realise that a lot of guys on this thread generally have no idea of what it means to be a legit hustler, and how much more life has to offer, and that is reflected in us being called "wicked abroadians"

That's how in a conversation about generating profit on 20m, someone could actually talk about selling water to aböki vendors, starting a grinding machine business, starting a viewing centre...you simply can't see beyond what you know.

Hence some of us taking the time to paint another picture, and give an alternative view. Imagine a top Graduate thinking that his path in life involves phone repair.

But when we point out what is possible in a different dispensation, a child that literally opened a thread to ask who is more handsome between him and Neymar, could only interpret my post as gloating or bragging....a wicked abroadian doing notice me again.

The bold is a fact. Some of these guys don't have an inkling about how the business world works ; I bet some of them don't even know how the "successful people" they see outside groan under loans with interest rates that are double digits.

Early this year I had a conversation with a man who owns about 5 filling stations in Akure, Ondo state. When he was telling me how little they make selling a liter of PMS, AGO,DPK ; yet they will have to pay back the loans they got from the bank, pay for insurance, pay staff, security and even DPR; yet he still has a double digit interest rate to battle with. Things got worse with the subsidy removal because he now has to compete with NNPC, Mobil and other bigger marketers who sell for a cheaper price .

I just laugh at the idea of putting 20 million into petty business like phone charging, selling water etc

donjazzet:
My uncle, my mother their last born, who resides in mushin is basically who I call king of small businesses. Earning from multiple small streams that basically became an ocean of millions per year.
He really mastered the art of making money from small businesses that built his wealth from the ground up and has been a man I truly admire in terms of personal discipline and hustling spirit.
His business sense was unparalleled.

He started as a small scale electronics dealer, then made it a bit "big" in Lagos dealing in electronics, radios, TV's, DVD's, fans etc.

Now this is where his foresight then paid of big, when building his first house (which he now rents out), he constructed 2 small shops in front of his house. One was used to for petty trading, normal satchet milk, detergent, mineral and the rest. The other was used for charging phones and batteries.

He was also using his borehole for selling and supplying water to the neighbours and these "meiruwas" that push jerrycans of water in trucks and sell to people at their homes. So his generator at home was used to power the borehole, fridge in his house, another in his shop and then charge phones. His wife was handling all these ones at home.

Few years later, lucky for him here, there was an undeveloped land close to him, undeveloped as in; where the owner bought and abandoned. He negotiated a tiny rent amount with the owner and set up a small batcher and put football viewing centre there (later adding a bet shop) also selling cold drinks, beer, biscuit etc and, next to it, a big grinding mill machine for those who wanted to grind bags of corn, okpa (Bambara nut), beans and the rest. (This last one was basically his brightest idea that fetched him lots) because he was the only person in that vicinity with this big machine.

When my family visited him, we were awestruck with the range of his businesses and activities around him.

All these became much bigger than what he was initially doing. He basically abandoned his electronics sales, leaving it in the hands of his boy. His businesses had all evolved bigly over the last 13 years. They basically own a small supermarket now. They have 3 large grinding machines.
He even grew bigger than the area he was in but he was very reluctant to leave that place because of all he had there. He married a Yoruba woman and trained their 5 children, all with these.

Seeing you guys ask what 20 million would do for someone sent my mind straight to him.

Every single small businesses he has was started with just a tiny fraction of that amount. Let me not even talk how he basically opened a palm oil processing mill for their siblings widow, my aunt in the village and solarized the borehole at our village house that is practically minting small cash for said widow.

Foresight, Discipline and patience are the key factors for wealth building.

We literally saw him go from nothing to MULTIPLE STREAMS of wealth.

Phone charging.
Water selling and distribution.
Grain grinding
Football viewing centre and bet centre.
Mini supermarket.
All small scale businesses in their own rights but which fed off each other and became very big sources of wealth for the owner.

lol..... Uare comparing apples to oranges. A business he built over 13 years when Nigeria was still good and our naira had value to someone seeing 20 million now.

I'm sure If u ask the man's son to take N20m to either use it to start small like his dad or japa he will definitely choose the latter.

Just dey play

iamoyindamola:
We are just losing controversially
The ball touched cash hand first before Kai
It’s not fair jare

We no supposed dey depend on ref's decision. Na we no take our chances and we lost jare

Trossard needs to come in for Martinelli in the second half early . If we don’t take the chances coming to Martinelli wing we will lose this match

raumdeuter:
Many organizations and leaders in Naija do this. In my former place of work on last Fridays we used to have business unit meetings and someone will pick a topic and teach others. You do see manager dey teach topic na so Oga just dey dey Waka pass hear manager talk something wey no gell instantly manager don begin collect in front of everyone else. Who made you manager, how did you become a manager, and you are chartered? Who is your coach, what does IFRS standard say. I am sure you are a PURE(Previously Unrecognized Recruitment Error)

Na panic attack everyone dey till the meeting is over

There was also one story that people avoid entering elevator with Subomi Balogun because of experience like you shared he can start quizzing you immediately, one of my colleagues a consultant to FCMB didn't know and entered elevator with Subomi she did well and Subomi was actually impressed

All those owner/chairman dey always worry . They micromanage their senior management and don’t hesitate to point out their errors anytime the opportunity presents itself.

With the japa wave now Nigerian employers have reduced their toxicity in the work place sha .

obainojazz:
Na wa…. Men life no easy

Awon weyrey

Dem don increase cut-off mark for who be man again ?

afrodoc2:
E dey easy. Na why i shock as people dey drop lengthy epistle to debate am.

Shifu! We failed u ☹️

We for jump am pass

afrodoc2:

E be like those boys never really work in corporate private sector in this country .

They talk like people wey dey street dey hustle in Benin , Warri , Delta , etc . Person wey don work in corporate private secto ur moving from one end of the cut state he resides to another go know say na cap dem dem cap

izzou:
[color=royalblue]Talk true..

It was the handwork of God, shey?[/color]

Na private Uni he go ; most of the people wey attend private Uni served either in Lagos , Abuja or PH . How their schools dey pull am off I no know

GloriousGbola:
My guy dey vexxx

And today with email and WhatsApp it is even worse. My old ceo na real crazeman. Guy will be sending out emails at 1am. Sometimes WhatsApp messages.

I heard adenuga used to schedule meetings for 2am. Where you go find time do pp in that scenario when he has taken over your knacking time

Adenuga no get any good reputation at all in the corporate world thanks to his former employees. There are wild stories of Adenuga going around even till this day.

I've heard a version of how ur encounter with him in the elevator can either get u sacked or promoted.Guy man can just meet u in the elevator, ask if u work there, what department do u work and talk about what u do there. He can either be impressed, ask u to take a walk with him while engaging u further and later have u promoted to a higher role. OR He may have u fired by ur superiors chastising them for employing a wrong fit for job in his organization.

Abeg make una organize an award before the year runs out and let those two up there battle with Don J and that female moniker for the troll of the year award in this chatroom thread

iamoyindamola:
Blueraydick still subscribing

https://www.nairaland.com/7935571/multichoice-hikes-dstv-gotv-prices

I still subscribed N12,500 for the compact package this November after the international break cos I just don't have any stable alternative for now. That score 80 8 no dey stable during EPL matches, only weekdays during the UCL e dey stable. If person share IPTV level with me wey stable I will ditch the thieving DSTV

GloriousGbola:
Also someone is likely collecting 30% from that money. The facilitator. I thought these things only happened with government. In 2019 we needed a guy in Abuja at short notice. My friend who I called gave me someone and insisted I pay through him. My friend was basically taking like 30% of the guys salary. I was weak. And this friend na full blown alfa.

If you are negotiating salary and you tell the interviewee to give you figure you will see for yourself that rates vary. Someone in lag will say 100k +, someone in abeokuta will say 80+.



I did my NYSC in a factory. The Chinese and Indian run factories are complete deads end and dangerous to your health. You are barely keeping body and soul together.

Outsourcing is one terrible thing that happened to the labour market in Nigeria. They now outsource cleaning jobs too; the company u are deployed to thinks they are paying u well for a job that requires only primary 6 certificate, but ur outsourcing primary employer has chunked off as much as 30% of their income as "finder's fee" or a more refined "consultancy fee ".

Most times na the humane permanent staff of that company go just dey reason u small cash once in a while based on say u loyal and dey respectful to someone that can even be ur younger brother's mate.

izzou:
[color=royalblue]One fact about Nigeria is that your pay is not determined by your certificate. It is determined by what the employer can afford.

Teaching job is not easy to come by. Some schools use one teacher for 3 subjects. A guy i know was a teacher and a school bus driver (He collected that one to boost the salary to about 50k)

Everything is possible here oh. Some primary schools are like kiosks. Na that one go fit pay 20k per month?[/color]

At my former place of work, one baba used to work as security guard for the bank(his primary employer) during the day and then work as night guard for the owners of the entire property once it's night time. I learnt from our cleaners that the man's family stays at Gberigbe, Ikorodu. He only goes to see them weekends before u even leave ur house on monday morning he's back on the island.

Despite the man's industrious spirit he still struggles to pay his bills. Some of us give him stipends ocassionally just seeing his struggles as a man. (Well, the tips paid off cos he was one of our surest cash plugs during the cash scarcity when he was always helping us arrange cash when they load cash at night when everybody has left work)

Itsrm:
You'll be surprised how difficult it is getting those cleaning jobs for those who even want to do them.

Graduates in my hometown in Abeokuta can't even get teaching jobs of 20k. Who wan pay you 15k to clean. What are you cleaning?

Some companies pay cleaners as much as 50k in Lagos but be rest assured more than half of it will be spent on transportation and feeding daily . If u work in V.I for example , it’s either u are coming from the mainland or all those places after Lekki/Ajah cos ur salary can’t even afford u to pay 5 days rent in V.I

I don’t know if it’s just me but I noticed the media has been trying so hard to boost the morale of Aston Villa ; skewing stats to portray their invincibility , and making it seem like beating them or not beating beating them will determine the trajectory of our season .

GloriousGbola:
In 2015 I got some cool PP. But I was under serious pressure and stress. As I enter house 8pm.na to sleep to 10 then get up and work to 3 or 4am. Sleep to 5.30,then get up and prepare for work. One night I don't even think I slept at all. I resorted to taking 1 hour sleep in the restroom. Sometimes I would fall asleep during meetings.

Multiple Jobs are hard, moreso when you have to factor lagos commute.

I was in vi on Thursday for a meeting. We finished late and I was debating with myself. Do I go through third mainland bridge (longer trip) or through orile (shorter but with multiple potential robbery choke point) in the end I went through 3mb. Even then I still entered hold up here and there and was cutting eye. Watching out for traffic robbers is stress in itself. And then oke way okada, trailer danfo, siren. I got home and went to sleep straight

U get ! The stress u face doing one job alone in Nigeria is enough to cut one’s life expectancy short .

Talking about menial jobs , There are people who work 6am to 6pm in factories like Wahum at Oba Akran road Ikeja Monday to Saturday for paltry sums. How people like that wan take 3-4 jobs at once ?

Even some artisans sef who learn more than one skill , the whole skills are not as rewarding as making them breakeven . An ex-secondary school mate has a bachelors from a university of agriculture , he learnt house painting and tiling both of which he uses to hustle with a little knowledge of plumbing . We still engaged him on a construction project earlier in the year .He does all of those jobs and yet he’s still struggling to make ends meet.

Obviously if he goes abroad , holds 3-4 jobs and makes good money somebody up there will refer to him as a lazy bozo while he was in Nigeria .

Godx:
The most baffling thing is all these Nigerian who travel abroad and starts working 3 to 4 different jobs at once just to meet up while in Nigeria they lazy about doing only one thing. The work ethic this bozos put abroad, you won't ever see it in Nigeria.

I guess someone who leaves Alagbado for 5am everyday to lekki and comes back 10pm for a sum of N110k per month is also a lazy bozo for holding on to that one job while in Nigeria .

Nigeria operates a monthly pay system that will suck out the living light out of u and make it difficult to hold more than one job except in rare cases when ur job is remote or hybrid .

If Nigeria was a country that rewards labour , a graduate will not be earning $110 for a whole month in which he has put in at least 160 hours of work and spent almost half of it on transportation .

Is it that u people don’t know the actual value of money or it’s just blind and delusional patriotism that makes u say some of these things like the one up there ?

iamoyindamola:
I get the point but like someone said if 20m can't be used for investment and getting long time income
They should just sell the country

It’s not a case of selling the country or not . N20m is not a money that should make u not to travel to a place like Canada , USA or Austriala if u have an express entry/student visa .

I have a close family friend who retired from a private company in his early 50’s around 2018 or thereabouts . I honestly don’t know how much he got as lump sun for retirement benefits , but I know it ran into millions .

He tried his hands on some business but he noticed the after effects of the 2016-2017 recession was eating deep into his savings . He was most likely going to face longevity risk ( The risk of outliving one’s income ). Baba follow visiting visa enter America around 2019 having gathered his remaining savings , sold off his business assets to take process japa .

Today he has been granted asylum , living a decent life and taking care of his family with his fear of longevity risk gone.

N20m is not as much as most people are seeing it on paper today .