In a bid to create wealth and reduce unemployment in Nigeria, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) have become major sources of economic growth. In fact, there is massive economic diversification going on in Nigeria as the economic base is being shifted from oil to Food and Agriculture. ADA DIKE writes.
Before the end of 2015, the Federal government asked Nigerians to be prepared for challenging times in the New Year.
As predicted, Nigeria almost went into economic recession in 2016. Many people lost their jobs as a result of the recession. While the government worked tirelessly to ensure that Nigeria surmounted the recession by developing the agricultural sector and gave it its pride of place, some Nigerians dusted their certificates and went to search for a new job while many others went to the drawing board, did research and set up Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME). Some are into furniture making, clothes and shoes designing, plastics production, beverages production, computer training centre, repair and sales, cement selling business, blogging, cooking gas sales, transportation, cleaning services, online marketing, jewellery making, photographs and video production, hairdressing salon, makeup artistry, arts and crafts, house painting and so on. Others are into catering, food distribution, baking and farming (yams, cassava, corn, rice, fishery, piggery and poultry) among others.
Meanwhile, the World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, during a recent chat with some journalists urged African nations to prepare itself for the next phase in economic development.
 |
| Mr. Olutimehin |
“I think we still don’t know that, but the one thing we know is that better health outcomes, better education outcome will be critical no matter what the global economy looks like,” he added.
Presently, different small scale businesses are springing up on a daily basis in different parts of country which has help tremendously in creating employment opportunities for job seekers.
Revealing what motivated him to start his business, the Chief Executive Officer of Treasures Bakery, Mr. David Olanrewaju Olutimehin, said it was actually a dream that he nursed and followed up for some time.
While working in the bank, he had a dream and knew he could fulfil it in the bank, so he decided to set up his own business.
While he was in the bank, Olutimehin researched and met with people who have made it and asked them how they started and how they had fared. He told The Economist that all the people he contacted almost gave him the same answer.
“They told me that they started hustling on the street, within five years, God help them to succeed. It motivated me that if it will take three to five years for me to sacrifice and then enjoy the rest of my life, it is okay,” he explained.
The Ondo State born entrepreneur that lives in Ijaiye Ojokoro Local Government Area, Lagos State, decided to leave the bank.
“I then registered the company in 2007 while I was still in the bank, but I resigned in May 2008. It wasn’t rosy when we started with a laundry outfit. We washed and iron clothes by ourselves and worked sometimes till 2.00 am. The bakery idea came up while we were doing that. The bakery business started fully three years ago.” He said.
According to him, “It is story of grace. There is a God factor in everything. My wife left her work in 2009 after a year, I left mine. Between 2009 and 2012, things were very rough for us. There was a particular time that we were selling doughnuts and kept it in front of people’s shops. We were frying doughnut worth N1, 000.00 because my wife knows how to bake cakes, egg rolls and so on. We did research and training for about one and half years before we set up our bakery.”
Presently, the Treasures Bakery, which bakes bread, cakes, meat-pie, burns, doughnut and ice cream five branches all in Lagos. They have about 25 staff. “We are indirectly helping 25 families,” he added.
In the past, bread was made with charcoal, but some people use different methods these days. The Treasures Bakery uses modern equipment. “We use gas oven and the mixer (a machine that mixes the flour with other ingredients).”
Olutimehin has been able to maintain a standard for three years, that is why patronage has increased.
In the next five years, he is looking forward to setting up a bakery in every Local Government Development Centre in Lagos, having a spot where they can operate. “It was after we started baking bread that I knew that God actually saved us from the junk called bread we were eating. Most of the breads being sold on the roads are junks. Some bakers keep some bread on the road for three days and still sell it. All our beads are fresh. We don’t use preservative. It is a daily bread. We know our customer base so we produce bread for them. Our family loaf is N200.00, while Sardine bread costs N300.00 per loaf.
“In the next five years, I see us spreading into other communities that we have not reached.”
Every business has its own challenge. What are the challenges you are facing in your business? He was asked. “Number one challenge is lack of electricity. We run on diesel from 5 am to 11 pm. The amount we spend on diesel takes almost what I have been labouring for.
“Number two challenge is inability to get trusted hands. The moment someone sets up a business, some people will think he or she has money printing machine and may want to steal from him or her. Another one is the local government officials.”
Olutimehim advised the government of the day to give tax-free period to any new business.
He suggested that new small and medium enterprises should not be taxed. “As I am talking to you, I am still indebted with over N7 million. I don’t have resources to buy the machines I am using but God granted me favour in the sight of a merchant who gave them to me on loan and asked me to pay back instalmentally. As I am struggling to meet up with the cost of diesel and staff salary, the government officials are haunting me. There is no rest. They just feel that you are making money. If there is a way the government can give a moratorium of about three years to allow small businesses to stabilise, I will appreciate it,” he implored.
Even though he has eyes for other businesses, he said: “We are already there, we can’t quit. We are working towards expansion because we sell retail. We don’t supply other sellers. You can never see our bread being hawked on the road. It is a community based business so we are establishing it in communities and we are praying that we will be able to reach out to more communities.”
He advised whoever is holding money and thinking of the business to invest in to do so without fear of failure.
“By the grace of God, I am also a pastor in a church. I keep saying that before we started, there were no bakeries from Ikeja to Ijaiye. The closest was in Ikeja. But shortly after we started, there are many bakeries springing up every week and every month. And I am happy because people who used to waste their resources before now invest it. I am happy that God has used me to be a blessing to people. I have inspired people to be productive and we are taking people off the streets.
If there is anybody willing to set up a bakery, the sky is big enough for all the birds to fly. We have banks in Nigeria. Some of them set up branches and every bank has their costumers, so for me as a person, nobody can disturb me. They should do it properly and not do copy and paste because behind every glory, there is story. After going through training, we paid for a shop but did not start immediately because we needed the right training. Despite the training, we made mistakes in the past and corrected them and moved on.”
Indeed, there is an opportunity for everyone to discover their talents and start a business or career no matter how small it may look because, little drops of water, as the saying goes, makes a mighty ocean.
I am looking forward to setting up a bakery in every Local Government Development Centre in Lagos, having a spot where we can operate. It was after we started baking bread that I knew that God actually saved us from the junk called bread we were eating. Most of the breads being sold on the road are junks. Some bakers keep some bread on the road for three days and still sell it. All our beads are fresh.
No comments:
Post a Comment