The very harsh effect of the ubiquitous economic global melt down continues to take an incredible toll on the social and economic life of the people worldwide with the attendant consequences of job loss and financial insecurity while the only option left for any right thinking person is to find another means of securing a better means of livelihood and this is in no other area than business.
Setting up a business as a means of survival is, today, no longer a child’s play and this is the reason why all available legitimate avenues must be sought for one to make a remarkable breakthrough in the effort. One must not jettison the idea of moving ahead just because of the Herculean task of sourcing the needed loan from the bank, personal savings or the existing financial institutions but should always apply the workable ideas and personal attributes. A good case in point is that of a young man in downtown Lagos who started his career life as a banker and later on a computer engineer by exposure. Today, he earns additional thousands of dollars as income through his affiliation with a Blue Chip Furniture Company that he single handedly set up with a zero capital.
This is a testimony of how a business idea can metamorphose into a reality in spite of the normal finance sourcing challenges. Right from the onset, he was quite aware that getting a loan facility from bank or any financial institution has never been a piece of cake since the first thing they normally ask for is collateral before securing the loan which must be paid back with a cut-throat interest. In some cases the rate is around 25 per cent and if one does not have adequate customers to make good sales during the lending period, the pressure to pay back the loan can be quite worrisome.
Immediately the young man graduated from college in 1992, he was employed by an audit firm from where he moved to a computer company as an accountant. It was while at this company that he got the idea that one might not need a huge capital to start a service providing company and so in less than a year, he had acquired all that he needed to know to set up a private Information Technology company of his own.
With a very strong conviction and determination to succeed, he started with a table and chair, converted one of his two rooms into an office. All he had in his possession is just one laptop computer. He started by moving from school to school to sell the idea of Information Technology to the proprietors. This is with a zero capital and within three years, he became popular in the education sector of the environment. The first Information Technology program he conducted for schools in 2005 embraced more than 100 participants while he used the income so generated to acquire more furniture, computers and other vital tools to enhance his work.
Just in six months of operation, his IT center grew astronomically and that afforded him the opportunity of getting a building of its own and also a number of vehicles. Now, the business has over 40 schools as clients some of which pay an upfront fee of 50 per cent with the balance paid fully after the program. Some new clients might not be willing to make the initial deposit but once they see what had been offered, they feel happy and pay up immediately after the program. The most important factor here is to build confidence in clients and everyone on your way; this is an inevitable determination of the lifespan of a good business venture.