A lot of people dream to become rich and to make money but only few make the money.
If you want to make money, you must have ideas, exploit opportunities as they come and be sensitive to such opportunities.
All business billionaires have one thing in common. They have abilities to exploit opportunities. So, is Omenuta Philip Emil-Inyáng from Cross River State. Like many of his peers, they wanted to make money but he understood this principles.
Every good business man must develop nose for business and once he smells business in any environment he finds himself, he goes ahead to exploit it.
Emil-Inyáng then a student in the University of Port Harcourt had this propensity. He watched butchers kill cow in abbatoir. He thought aloud that if he could buy a large quantity of the cow meat from the owner and sell to customers, he could make a lot of money. He saw business in what many could look at as dirty. Boom! the business moved very fast and money was coming in. The much money made from the business affected his studies because where a man’s treasure is, is where his heart is. The father realizing that, sent him abroad to Liverpool in United Kingdom, where he obtained Business Management with specialization in Oil and Gas.
Unlike many people who wished to live in abroad on completing their studies, he felt there are opportunities in Nigeria that need to be exploited.
As he was nosing around which business to do, he went to withdrew money from an ATM centre and perceived the smell of confectionery and traced the smell to a bakery. On arrival at the bakery, he pleaded with the manager to be given the opportunity to learn bakery business. So, he learnt baking under the man but not without a fee. He paid one hundred thousand( N100,000) naira and started on a small scale with four(4) employees. He later became a beneficiary of Central Bank of Nigera empowerment scheme where modern equipment and capital were injected into the business. Today, the bakery business has grown and he could boast of more than 94 persons under his employ. He is the proud owner of High5 Confectionery in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
” When I started my own business, I went to ATM. I was with one clearing and forwarding agency. They were paying me very little with all my qualifications. I studied Business Management in Oil and Gas with Masters in U.K. I was very frustrated. My father keep telling me that I should wait that it will get better. So, while at the ATM centre, i started perceiving the smell of bread, I followed the smell of that bread to the bakery. When I went there, the manager asked what do I want. I told him I want to learn this business. He said that I have to pay him. I agreed and asked him to follow me to the ATM machine. I paid him that money I wanted to go and withdraw. I paid N50,000. He said I will pay N100,000. After making the payment, he started singing like bird about the industry. I went home, I could not sleep, I was thinking about the business. Bread is a staple food. The rich and poor eat bread.
”I went to work one day, I packed my load , I said I am not working again. I left the clearing and forwarding office. I called my father to tell him that I am not working again. He said what is the problem, I said no problem. I called him again that please calculate all the money you want to dash me this year and send to me. He asked me what I want to do with it. I told him I want to start a business. He laughed and cut the call. I called him another day that I want to sell the car he bought for me. After graduation, my father bought a car for me for coming out with a good grade. He asked me to come to Calabar. I went to Calabar with public transport. When he saw that I came to Calabar with my leg, he knew I was serious. Along the way, he gave me some money which was not enough. I went to Alaba international market in Lagos to buy few equipment”.
I started with only 4 workers. Today, I have over 94 workers I pay salary every month. This is an idea that started from smell of bread. I slept in my office on the floor, for two years I didn’t go home because all I wanted is that this dream must come to pass. I lost all my friends. They saw it as a dirty job. I use totravel to Oyigbo, Aba and other neighbouring towns at mid night to supply my bread. Today, I thank God Almighty for making my dream a reality”, he said in an interview with Metronetworknews.
The life of Emil-Inyáng can be of emulation by many Nigerian youths who are loitering about without any business purpose.
