26/08/2018
A Case Study For Identifying The Key Success Factors And Entrepreneurial Traits In New Business Startups.
This is the story of a young man named Paul Davies who left his home country, Nigeria, for England in pursuit of the proverbial golden fleece, but got turned back because he could not pay his way through college.
Back home in Nigeria, he could not find a job. Sitting down at home one day, it suddenly occurred to him that since he returned to Nigeria, he hadn't seen any garbage collection trucks in his neighborhood or the areas around it, except for a few young men wheeling wheelbarrows ladened with refuse which they collect from people's homes for a fee and which they take to the central dump sites.
A thought hit him! "I could start my own garbage collection business and make it a unique one."
So, Paul Davies borrowed some money from his relatives and bought some wood, nails and rubber car tyres and set about constructing a large wooden wheelbarrow and in a short time was in the refuse collection business.
He became a titan amongst the corps of refuse disposers serving the slums of Mafoluku, at a location hidden behind the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
He gave himself a new name.... His business name.... Alhaji Sokole. The moment the name, Alhaji Sokole sounded in the air, little children and housewives would come rushing out of their houses to join the garbage collector in singing and dancing as he packed their refuse into his self-made wheelbarrow.
"So-ko, So-ke, So-ko-sile, So-ko-sotun, So-ko-so-si...." they sang in a responsorial chorus to Alhaji Sokole's singing. The merry singing of the Sokole tunes echoed in the air as little children trailed after the refuse collector down the streets of Mafoluku
How did Alhaji Sokole rise to become a man of the people?
"When I started this business of collecting and disposing my clients' refuse at the central dump site, only a few people patronised my business," he said. "Then I thought of what to do to attract more people.... A gimmick that would send them coming in large numbers. I decided to sing; to use music as a means of announcing my arrival from street to street in the whole area of Mafoluku. This, I thought, would make them know that I was around.........
"That was it! That gimmick won me the game. Soon the "Sokole tune" caught on like the wild Harmattan bush fire! I became very popular. So popular as Alhaji Sokole that only a few people knew that my real name was Paul Davies. People loved to patronize me. They kept their refuse until I came on my rounds in Mafoluku. Within a short time my customers had grown in number. The sound of "Sokole" told the folks that it was time to dispose of their refuse. The little children would run to their mothers at the sound of my voice to demand for money to pay for refuse disposal. The women in nearly every household in the neighborhood would be in front of their houses to beckon me to come pick up their garbage. Alhaji Sokole sent out good cheers! Even when their dustbins weren't full, and didn't need to be emptied, people would still want to have them emptied just because Alhaji Sokole was around. From behind Concord Newspaper premises through Beesam Hotel area, to Ewu-Tuntun and Oja Mafoluku, Alhaji Sokole was a household name. They knew him as they knew Naira and Kobo! He became the most popular, the most loved and the most successful refuse disposer in the whole area of Mafoluku."
How did Paul Davies come into this business?
"In 1986, when I returned from England, I found out there was no job. I couldn't find a job", said Davies. "I was determined to live; not on charity, not by borrowing or begging anyone.... not even from my siblings or other family members..... But through my own effort, hard work and my own sweat! I soon found out that the only way to do this was to create a job for myself. I had to become self-employed, period! That was how the idea came about from my observation that there was a need in the neighborhood that I could take advantage of in order to both create a means of livelihood for myself while at the same time, serving the community by taking care of the need to collect their refuse and keep the neighborhood clean."
Paul Davies wondered why most Africans shy away from doing what they refer to as "doing dirty jobs" in their own countries, but did all sorts of these same jobs they call dirty or odd jobs while they are abroad. Jobs like washing toilets, washing plates in hotels, being waiters in restaurants and scrubbing floors.... Jobs that they would not do back home in their countries in Africa. Back home, they put on the arrogant attitude and label some jobs as dirty while chasing after the so-called white-collar jobs all over the place!
"So, we are willing and able to do the so-called dirty jobs for the white man but not for ourselves?" Asked Paul Davies.
He said, there were certain people who looked down on you if you were a refuse disposer, especially when they knew you've had some level of formal education after Highschool. They'd make cheeky comments so as to embarrass you and make you look like an outcast.
"Some people called me all sorts of names. Names like "Omo Ghana" (meaning Man from Ghana). "Won't you go back home to your country?" they would shout at me. "These folks forget that there may be Nigerians in Ghana doing this same type of jobs they call dirty jobs," Paul said.
Paul Davies is not a Ghanaian. He is a Nigerian from Warri in Delta State. Those People who called him so, thought he was a Ghanaian because of his very dark complexioned skin. Also, most of the refuse collectors then were Ghanaians.
"Because these folks haven't travelled and seen other places, that's why they have this mindset", he said, as he dismissed the issue with a wave of his hand.
"The trouble is that we fail to see the dignity of labor, that is why we think this way. We fail to see that some people must do the menial jobs, while others must do the so-called white collar jobs. The scavenger is just as important as the accountant. If the farmer does not do his work, how does the doctor feed? Can the doctor or the lawyer feed on their stethoscope or law books?" he asked.
Davies is not giving up the struggles. He explained that he was in this business of refuse disposal in order to keep body and soul together. "Besides, I'm saving up some money to go into the merchandising business. This work I'm doing now is like a ladder, a kind of stepping stone. I'm setting out to be a millionaire. I want to turn my lemons into lemonade. This is a matter of the future", he said.
For now, he is contented with his job. He goes about his business in high spirits. He smiles at everyone and enjoys singing his Sokole tunes.
"The money I earn from doing this work does not stink", says Paul Davies.
He pushes his truck of garbage along the untarred streets with an air of gaiety, an aura that sends out good cheer and he receives cheers and thumbs-ups from his happy and satisfied customers. He looks like a champion bestriding the streets of Mafoluku after a victorious duel against the job that he is doing.
THE END
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