A lot of us wait for the “perfect opportunity” to do certain things in life. We wait for “big money” to finally start that business. But we have to realise that manna will not fall from heaven.
Vincent Adeoba knows something that a lot of us don’t, which is that there’s no such thing as a perfect opportunity. We have to use what we have to get what we want.
Starting a business with just 200 naira, in a hostel room, while at Obafemi Awolowo University, Vincent has grown his business to over 2,000,000 naira a month!
I started my first business with #200 (Two Hundred Naira) because these market women supported me. If you are conversant…Posted by Vincent Adeoba Joytohumanity on Friday, January 8, 2016
Read his story:
I started my first business with #200 (Two Hundred Naira) because these market women supported me. If you are conversant with Obafemi Awolowo University, Central Market, you will probably know the two women in this picture Iya Yemisi and Iya Quadri, the other man is the husband of the old woman that I used to buy groundnut in bulk from, she could not make my convocation but she asked her husband to represent her. They are part of my success story as far as my graduation from OAU is concerned. I always share the story of how I started my first business with #200 (a dozen of groundnut and a bag of purewater) in my room in ETF Hostel in my year two because things was so difficult that semester. I have no other alternative than to start something to sustain myself because I was tired of borrowing money from friends to feed and I don’t want to keep pressuring them at home. With determination and hard work, staying awake in the night sometimes even though I have 7am class the following day I grew the business from #200 to #500,000 sales per month and #2,000,000 sales (#2million) per semester. I employed at least six people as managers that I paid their salaries and fed. I moved from being a beggar to someone feeding others. I discovered during that period that we may never discover who God want us to be until we go through tough time. But the whole story cannot be complete without appreciating these women and many others who on many occasions sold crates of egg, tomatoes paste, salt, groundnut, pepper and many other things for me on credit to support me. Also my wonderful room mates especially Seun Adesida, Adewunmi Tolulope, Monday, Isaac Chima and many others who assisted me whenever I wasn’t around. I learnt a lot as the CEO of that business, in fact I became most popular in ETF and Central Market. It also helped me to emerge as Accounting Students President for a whole session. My room was the most frequent room in the hall, we have to run 18 hours per day. I was the seller of last resort especially for those who have gone to read overnight. My best moment in OAU was with these old women in the market. Their distance smiles anytime they see me coming is forever sticked to my memory. The surprising thing is that they are muslims while I am christian. But religion never brought any disagreement between us but instead we cherished each other and shared a lot of things together even personal issues. They took me like their son. We even ate together on many occasions in the market. Sometimes I always wish we can live together in this country without turning our religion differences into a basis for hatred. I believe our differences should bring us closer because it is a strength rather than the weakness we see it as. Our differences should harmonize us rather than tearing us apart. Progress is easily achieved in an atmosphere of love and harmony. My friend life may be tough for you now, but you can be tougher, you can turn your difficulties to opportunities and make something worthwhile out of your life. As at today I am a CEO of my company today “Seravision Brooks Business Solutions”. Although we are still small, my vision is to become like microsoft and provide employment for millions of people all the world. Even if you are from a rich home that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t develop yourself, you can start a business or learn something not because of money as your case may be but because it will serve as a way of developing yourself. You will be able to learn a lot of things that will be useful for you in future. You don’t have excuse for not succeeding. I know your story may be so pathetic and you see it as a reason good to accept failure. Let me tell you something, greatness is in you already, but you have to work hard to bring it out and I know you can. I wish you success in all your endeavors and whatever may happen along the way, never, never, never, never give up and don’t forget to always appreciate people God used to make you who you are. #support Sera Sandals Project with just #500 and impact a student life. #IamVincentAdeoba: I-Lead, I-Inspire, I-Impact. #seraschoolsinitiative #shununemployment
