Banks still discriminate
against female entrepreneurs
By NJOKU ONYEKACHI JET
Monday,
November 13, 2006
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•Okwu
Photo: The Sun News Publishing |
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Mrs. Rhoda C. Okwu livestock farmer and proprietress, Career
Comprehensive Secondary School, Okokomaiko, Lagos is a woman
of substance. With a Royal Society of Arts (RSA) certificate
at the Pitman’s Institute, London, she proceeded further
to earn the National Certificate of Education (NCE). Propelled
by her love for children and the desire to provide qualitative
education at an affordable cost, Okwu subsequently opted for
a Bachelors degree in education at the Lagos State University.
An educationist of great repute, administrator and manager,
Okwu has nurtured what hitherto was a lesson room for three
relatives into an institute of high standing. For a woman
who has her tentacles widely spread, tending to an animal
farm alongside her career as an educationist is but a way
of life.
Starting up
The school first started as a commercial institute with just
one typewriter. It was a typewriter, which was part of my
dowry when I got married. So on getting to Lagos, with my
husband’s consent, I commenced a mini commercial school
with 3students of students. By the year 2000 when the school
has achieved a remarkable height, and the demand for science
subjects was in high demand. There was the need to change
the orientation. So I converted it to a science oriented subtitute
hence the change of name from Career Institute of Commerce
to Career Comprehensive Secondary School.
Initial capital
My starting up capital was from savings from my husband and
I. Starting my businesses have always been self help projects.
Before setting up the school in 1984, I worked with the African
Continental Bank (ACB) for fifteen and a half years. Besides,
it all started as a lesson for three. One a nephew and the
other two distant relatives.
The name Career
The name is a brainchild of my husband. It came after several
months of thought. The career means profession, endeavour
or what a person is engaged in to earn a living first it was
conceived out of the fact that whatever one becomes in life
stems from his or her chosen career. The name borders more
on the future of a person who passes through it, helping the
individuals who pass through the school to create an insight
beyond the walls of the institute. This is why the name was
chosen so that the students would become career oriented.
Why educational business
Investing in education means investing in life because education
is life. It is a life wire to ones success in life. However,
the first and foremost push that made me venture into educational
business is to help the less privileged. At the onset, I did
not look at the profitability. Maybe this is why even till
date, my fees is still one of the cheapest in the whole of
Lagos when compared with the quality services the school renders.
Again just like in choosing the name, going into school business
has a lot to do with my husband. The cold hands of death snatched
his dad away during his first year in primary education. So
going through school was like a camel going through the eye
of a needle. How he was able to attain the height of ECOWAS
accountant today remains a mystery, which only God can reveal.
We believe there are a million and one persons who maybe in
such dilemma and truly needs education.
But on the other hand, as at the time I set up the institute,
the public school was not faring well. Hence the urgent need
to compliment the efforts of the government. This is in view
of the fact that the private school operators of whom I am
one are known for providing better facilities and qualitative
education. The urge to help built an institution devoid of
cheating in form of exam mal-practices and institution with
quality teachers who are always available. Unlike what is
obtained in public schools where the teachers are not paid
and equally not willing to work?
Difficulties
I should say that the first and indeed the greatest difficulty
facing educational business are land acquisition. It is often
difficult to acquire large expanse of land, such that can
be enough to meet government requirement. There is still discrimination
in securing bank loans, even when you have the necessary collaterals.
Even from a bank such as WEMA, which I have used for years.
I have submitted letters, tended the required collaterals
well as C of O, applied twice, yet was all disappointments.
You would wonder for what amount, loans insignificant as #1m
or #2m naira. Except of course the banks are saying we are
still in the era of man-know-man, ethnicism and tribalism.
Sincerely speaking, the problems are hydra-headed. There is
also high cost of science laboratory equipments. The prices
are very very expensive. For a private school to adequately
equip her laboratories, such a school must have gone through
difficulties occasioned by high cost of these equipment’s,
some are not readily available. Getting dedicated teaches
is another stressing to contend with. You may find teachers,
sometimes not those who are committed. I am grateful to God
for being able to have dedicated teachers, many of whom have
been in my services for six seven eight years and are really
doing well. Parents are our greatest undoing in this business.
Some of the after accumulating unpaid school fees would withdraw
their kids to other schools.
Lastly, government harassment’s is one hell of a difficulty.
The local government would come, even for the signboards.
The state government would come I tell you even when they
don’t any reason to come. Sometimes maybe to distract
the activities of the private operators. They come to poke
nose even in terms of the facilities, which they don’t
even have in their own schools. Too many policies yet not
form of assistance. The governments are themselves difficulties.
The piggery
I started my piggery in 2005 with 3 pigs, 2 females, and 1boar.
Today, the number has risen to more than 200. The same applies
with the goats.
Love for animals
It will not be right to say I have special interest in pigs.
Generally, I am in love with animals, domestic animals so
to speak. Right from my early days as a child, I reared domestic
birds. Outside commercial reasons, I love having them as companions
especially when I am lonely. I watch the way they behave and
why they behave the way they do. At one time or the other,
I have reared turkey, dogs, rabbits, and goats. In fact, almost
all animals you can think of to be domestic. Yes, indeed they
can be a good source of revenue.
Inspiration and role model
This inspiration comes from my father. He was an in livestock
farmer and had them in great numbers. Then, we the children
had the duty to fetch the palm fronts and the cassava, which
we shredded, into pieces as food or the animals. This was
how my love for animals grew. However, sometime ago, I read
in The Sun newspapers of an ex-teacher who
invested in piggery after retirement. Though I have commenced
my piggery before then, that piece further increased my zeal
to boost the farm. So I said to myself, if this person can,
why not I who is already into it.
Clients
Pork sellers from around Lagos State make up the bulk of my
customers, from Badagry, Agbara, and beyond. And then from
outside Lagos such as Ogun state and Ibadan. I have had some
customers from Edo State.
Cost of running a pigery
In honesty, it is quite expensive not as easy as it might
seem. You have to care for them medically and otherwise. At
birth, there are certain injections the piglets require. The
mothers too, need attention just like a nursing mother. There
are injection and oral therapies too for the mothers, which
they need to remain in good health. Their meals are equally
expensive. Then you also talk about the healthy environment
for their comfort. At the end, what the buyers are always
willing to offer is nothing compared to the cost of caring
for each from birth to maturity.
Government assistance
There is none. All my life, and through my years in business,
I have always heard of government assistance on the pages
of newspapers, radios and televisions. All we encounter is
harassments and extortions.
Virtuous woman
I regard as a virtuous woman, one who is a mother, wife, and
sister in the real sense of the word to her children. A woman
who would arise early and know what is lacking in the home
and make provision for it. A home builder that helps put food
on the table. A vitreous woman is one who is judicious, who
can adapt and make the home comfortable not only in midst
of plenty but in as little as can be. A virtuous woman is
an industrious woman and above all, God-fearing
Vision
I have a high taste for the school. Though lack of financial
assistance has made my efforts seem like the building of Ajayi
Crowther’s hut. He was a man who used 25years to build
the hut he lived in. Nonetheless, I am grateful to God for
the height the school has so far achieved. If there is anything
like heighest height, that is where my vision for the school
is. To be one of the best schools in Africa, if possible the
globe.
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