No too long ago, I was in a meeting with a man (Dr. Godwin Nwabunka. PhD) I have great honour and respect for. This is someone that, as at 2016 his micro lending organization (Grooming Centre) has a total of 410 branch offices, total number of 510,225 active clients, total number of 540,676 savers, total savings balance of N6,926,539,405, total loan outstanding balance of N22,422,976,560, recovery rate of 99.49% and over 2,300 staff. I don’t know what the figures are now.
What thrilled me the most yesterday, was the story of how all of the above started from an office space that his wife rented. He said, “the first time I got into the rented space, as small as it was, I was complaining that my wife wasted the money I gave her in renting a big place”. With all his educational background (PhD), his international job background and exposure, he had to subject himself to dealing with market women in Ejigbo. He said, “My personal motto is, little drops of water, makes a mighty ocean”.
Today, that same dream that started from a little office space in Ejigbo, now has a super edifice of 4 story building, with the finest finishing you can ever imagine. The luxurious touch of excellence and the super ambiance of all the office space within the building, is second to non.
Here are the two lessons from my encounter with him.
1) Everything in life starts with a beginning. Often times, beginnings are usually very small and that is why a lot of people do despise it. What most people don’t realise is that; for anything to be great, it has to be started. How you handle the start will determine your acceleration to the next level. For instance, It is true that number two is greater than number one, but it is also true that number one comes before number two. And if you don’t maximise number one and use it up, you will never get to number two which is a higher number.
A whole lot of people are in abject poverty today, not because of the fact that there are no jobs out there, but because they feel they are too big to start small. What most people fail to realise is that; the only place you start digging from the top is the grave. Don’t dig your own grave with your own hand, go start small. Some would rather do nothing than start small. But what they don’t understand is that you can’t really do nothing in life, because nothing means non-existence. So how can you do a thing that doesn’t exist whilst you exist. In order wards, when you choose to do nothing, it is not nothing you have choose to do, you are really doing something. Is just that what you are doing is passionately working toward your own failure in life.
2) Create your world where you are, even if you are with the masses. Most people have great business concept that requires number to enable the business thrive, but they believe that the only place it can be established for it succeed is on a highbrow location (VI, Ikoyi Banana Island, Ikeja GRA etc…). But what they don’t realise is, it is not every business that requires a highbrow location to succeed. In fact, some good businesses have failed and are failing, simply because they are located in a highbrow location instead of a very low income location. Stop fooling yourself by knocking off of your head brilliant ideas because you fill that the profit margin may not generate the money required for you to locate your office in a highbrow area. The truth is, if you cater for the masses, you will dine with the classic.
