Thread by @iamjamesiroro

It is the little things that make the difference. If you ignore them today, you might be setting yourself up for disaster ahead. #irorospeaks

In the last four years, I have successfully incorporated over sixty companies with the corporate affairs commission of Nigeria. It is something I can do with my eyes closed.

However, I got shocked by a client's job one time. The fault wasn't mine but I had to pay for it at my expense. That served as a key lesson for me.

While processing registrations, clients are required to send their full details. In this case, the person I was interacting with was a middle man. I didn't have direct contact with the person who owed the client. In honesty, it didn't matter or so I thought.

I asked for the full name of the proprietor. The middle man sent two names. I didn't see the big deal. There are people with just two names and that's fine. I followed up with the registration as usual.

All was done and I awaited confirmation. In split seconds I got a notification that the application had been queried. I check and discovered, that the name of the presenter didn't tally with the name on NIN I uploaded.

Turns out, that the client had three names on his ID but I used two for the registration because the middleman sent me just two names and I didn't know better.

My first point of order was to update the profile name and it should magically reflect on the presenter's details, right? Oh, boy was I wrong. The portal is designed in such a way that only the commission had the power to rectify such errors.

I was left with two options. First, the client could send me an ID with just the two names I registered with. Second, make a payment of 5,000naira for the name to be included. At this point, I had used up the budget and I would be left with zero profit from this job.

I reached out to the middleman to update him, and as expected, the client is always right. He indicated I was on my own, indeed I was. Luckily for me, I got another registration at that point. The profit was used to fix this problem.

One would expect I had learned after that point. Well, I almost slipped a second time yesterday, while registering another project.

I had gotten to the payment page when I noticed only two names were represented in the presenter details. Could the portal be acting up again or was it my error? The event of the past hit me like a fresh hit at that moment.

I immediately abandoned the payment and check the profile details, lo and behold, I had included just two names. I quickly adjusted it. This time it was reflected because payment had not been made. I also discovered the date of birth was a date short.

I laughed out and said, "Not today CAC, not today". I had gotten so used to the process that I had given room for the little slips. It was a wake-up call for me. Paying attention to little details can save you a fortune.

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