Thread by @yinkanubi

I had a plumbing problem and called my plumber. He came, fixed the sink and on his way out, told me he wanted to show me something. Dude opened his phone & showed me the project he just delivered - 4 duplexes, fully sold. When he told me his profit, I was stunned and speechless.

I was stunned but proud of him at the same time. You see, he is an intelligent guy, good at his job and knew a lot about construction obviously from experience of working on many projects. I had always encouraged him to scale up because I believe therein lies the big pay day.

Apparently, he took my counsel seriously and decided to partner with some people to do a real estate project. They pitched to someone who had cash and they were able to deliver. The investor made a good ROI. A return that made the investor commit to another round of the project.

I was stunned because to all intent & purposes, he was now a "big boy" but he still came to fix my sink. It didn't make sense to me. He said he just wanted to use the opportunity to show me what he was doing. I cldn't be more proud of him for his humility. He didn't have to come.

I promised myself to share his story on SM because I know there are a lot of people who feel they have limited opportunity. The moment you open your door to get out of the house in the morning, you are confronted with despair and it is very easy to get sucked into that negativity

1. Be deliberate abt what you consume. Be careful who you associate with. Filter what you read & watch everyday. When your mind is filled with negativity, it's likely that negativity is the only thing you'll see. You'll not recognize opportunity even if it stares you in the face.

2. Develop the capacity to scale up. I was at a friends place and by the time I was leaving, a young man had washed my car in & out in a way I've NEVER seen a car washed in my life. I immediately told my friend that we shd set-up a company to do home car wash and employ this guy.

We'll discuss with estates and have contracts with them. They'll include it in their service charge which means guaranteed income. This young man will train other young men how to wash a car. We could even offer him equity in a ESOP. He washed a car, but we saw an opportunity.

Scaling up is the guy thinking the way we think and pitching for investors. There are people with cash looking for opportunities to invest. Many are looking for double, triple or even quadruple digits ROI & are willing to wait years. All they need is Trust + Viable business plan.

This is where the FG & States can help, by creating a one stop shop - a business clinic to help individuals & SMEs scale up. It starts with simple things like the registration/incorporation process, to legal support, to access to financing and basic business governance education.

The average Nigerian is hard working and entrepreneurial. He doesn't need govt. In fact, he wants govt to just provide the enabling environment and get out of his way. But because govt is not doing this and even when they do, they are in his way, he is full of despair & sadness.

Nonetheless, IMO, the alternative to despair cannot be more despair, it must be a conscious effort to create around you a consciousness of possibility and positivity because the alternative is pure anarchy of the mind, the body and the soul.

You and I will succeed regardless. 🙏

This is the long form version of the thread.

yinkaogunnubi.medium.com/the-alternativ…