Ugo Obilo and Chidi Nwachukwu are two Nigerian-American business owners who have shown how grit, perseverance, and consistency can propel one to the next level. Their story is an inspiration, especially at a time when many African youths in the Diaspora are becoming disillusioned with negative stereotypes of poverty, misery, and squalor that surrounds Africa as a continent.At a time when many youths in the Diaspora shun their ancestry, to bask in the euphoria of life in developed climes, Ugo and Chidi refused to get carried away, they braved the odds, and moved to explore opportunities that abound in Africa.
They partnered and launched – Discover Gidi, a travel company which focuses on exploring and unveiling the African continent’s heritage and culture to the rest of the world.Running a travel agency business is a high-risk venture, yet Ugo and Chidi were not afraid to venture into this difficult terrian of entrepreneurshipFive years later, they have become successful businessmen. Their travel company, Discover Gidi, has also become one of the trusted agencies connecting Diaspora youths to Africa.The duo, while celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Discover Gidi, reminisced on the story behind their venture. Chidi reveals that the idea to start Discover Gidi was planted in their heads six years ago after they had a bad experience with a travel company that organised their trip from America. “I and Ugo have been friends since 2015, and we share similar passion for travelling to different cities. In 2017, we went to Costa Rica, and our experience throughout that trip was terrible.
The travel company that organised the trip did a shoddy job. We saw the loopholes and told ourselves that we could do much better, and package much more memorable travel experiences for clients if we have our company. “So we challenged ourselves and decided to start, and our niche was to take people to Nigeria and other African cities. Even with all the problems in our country, we are proud Nigerians, and we want to showcase the beauty of our nation. So we arranged to take people to Lagos, to show them the beauty and fun in the city,” he stated.According to Chidi, starting up Discover Gidi was fraught with several challenges that almost made to give up on their dreamd.
“We conceptualized the Discover Gidi idea in January 2017 and began to organise our first trip to Lagos in April 2017. We wanted Nigerians in the Diaspora to come back home because many of them when they come to Nigeria are not allowed to move around by their parents,” he narrated. “So we thought it would be great to market the idea to Nigerians in the USA. Although the feedback we got was encouraging, we noticed that they didn’t want to spend money on the trip. Some of them doubted us because the idea was new to them and they really didn’t know if they could trust us.”But we were undeterred, and we got only nine people to come with us to Nigeria. And we charged only $500 for five days, and four nights with two meals included. Our fee was quite cheap, and we incurred a huge loss on our first trip. “We almost felt like giving up, because we incurred over $3000 loss. The stress was so much that we wanted to drop the idea of starting up Discover Gidi.”But we noticed that as we were ending our trip, our clients were enjoying our services, most of them were Americans and they loved the experience we gave in Lagos.
That gave us some hope. So we sat down, analysed our mistakes, and turned them into business lessons.”Also, COVID-19 in 2020, also took a huge toll on the travel industry and it affected us yet we survived. Sometimes I’m shocked at how fast we were able to recover from that setback. And one of the business lessons we learnt from our challenges is that consistency is key to every business”, Chidi said.For Ugo, co-founder DiscoverGidi, their consistency in business did not only stabilise their company but also helped in building trust among clients. “We started a lofty mission to show the beauty of Africa to as many people in the diaspora as possible. Now our company, Discover Gidi, has grown from strength to strength, and we are thankful for how far we’ve come, and are looking forward to the future.””In 2017, we brought only nine people to visit Lagos Nigeria, but we were not discouraged by the number and the losses we incurred. So the following year, 2018, we had 35 people who came to Nigeria.
The following year, we took 150 people to Colombia, then in December went to Ghana. In 2020, we were hit by the COVID-19 lockdown, but right after the lockdown was eased we bounced back with our trips and we’ve been consistent. And every time we are getting new people on all our trips. “DiscoverGidi has grown over the years that we have been in business.
” I shed a few tears in the second year, after seeing the number of people that turned out desiring to come to Africa, instead of Instagram famous destinations. We’ve had over 5000 guests coming to our events in the United States of America. And since we started, we’ve taken tourists to Senegal, Abidjan, Accra, and Lagos. And we are extremely excited to continue with that mission and to visit as many African cities as possible. We remain focused on getting tourists to not only visit but have an exciting experience where they can have a good time, and get in touch with the culture,” Ugo pledged.Five years of running a business is a marathon, not a sprint. And, having progressed this far, Ugo and Chidi vow to continue evolving with the right strategy and support to ensure their company’s success and longevity. “We’ll keep travelling to new destinations and more African countries”, Chidi said. “We plan to explore other countries outside Africa like Panama, Portugal, and many more lovely destinations we would want to keep under wraps.”We have a lot in store, and our company, Discover Gidi will keep growing. We urge tourists to come to our trips and our events to be able to leverage on the resources we bring”, Chidi added.