ADVERTISEMENT
The Sun Nigeria
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation
No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation
No Result
View All Result
The Sun Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home Features

When one door closes, another opens: How we bounced back after initial business failures

2nd October 2021
in Features
0
When one door closes, another opens: How we bounced back after initial business failures
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By Kate Halim

After staying at home for eight years to raise three children, Mrs. Gladys Okenwa decided in 2016 to start a business. Her friend introduced her to one multi level marketing company operating on Nigeria. 

“After my friend explained how the business works and how much money I will be making from selling products and registering down liners, I was happy that at least I would start making good money to take care of myself and my family,” Okenwa said. 

But Okenwa revealed that things didn’t go according to plan. She said that after spending over 50, 000 naira buying the products she would sell to her prospective customers, she didn’t get her money back in many months. 

She said: “I was stuck with the products for over a year. I moved from one office of my friends and family members to the next, searching for people to buy the products. But they all complained about them being expensive compared to what was sold in the market.”

Okenwa added that she reached out to her friend who introduced her to the business and complained about not making sales. But the friend reportedly said she should try and get someone to register under her so that she could at least be paid a percentage amount of the money her down line would use to purchase their own goods. 

According to Okenwa, she struggled for months and later got a young lady who just finished her youth service and needed to do something to keep body and soul together. Okenwa introduced her to the business, and the lady promised to register the following week. But Okenwa noted that the lady did not keep to her promise. 

Okenwa told Saturday Sun that she became discouraged and complained to her husband. He told her, she recalled, to give up the goods she purchased which included toiletries, drugs and makeup for family use. He told her to stop wasting her time going up and down begging people to buy the goods. 

“I was so discouraged. I didn’t want to give up just like that but after months of selling just four items out of over 20 items I bought, I gave out the rest of the goods and went back home to rest. I didn’t know what to do next because I was feeling so down that I failed at my first attempt to do business,” Okenwa revealed. 

The woman told Saturday Sun that a day later, she started making natural fruit juices and smoothies for her husband and children, as, according to her, she wanted them to stop taking soda and fizzy drinks. That was when she got the idea to start selling fruit juices and smoothies. 

She said: “It was like a light bulb moment. I came up with this idea to start selling fruit juices and smoothies. I started selling to my neighbors and church members at first and when it became lucrative, I started advertising my juices and smoothies on my Facebook page.”

Okenwa said that it has been two years since she started selling natural fruit juices and smoothies online and at home and things are looking up for her. She added that sometimes, people book her juices and smoothies for birthday parties, weddings, reunions and small office events. 

For Okenwa, there’s nothing like being financially independent and having one’s own money to spend whenever one wants to. She said that she’s glad she didn’t give up on her quest to be an entrepreneur. 

Even though her current business comes with its own peculiar challenges, Okenwa noted that making money makes up for the challenges. She recently added barbecue chicken, fish and peppered gizzards to her business.

Ogechukwu Uzoagba is another businesswoman. She said she started a side business three years ago to complement her salary at an Abuja firm. She told Saturday Sun that she regrets starting that business because her employees made her go into debt. 

According to Uzoagba, she loves trendy clothes, shoes, bags and perfumes so she decided to open a boutique in her area. She noted that the idea was to go to the boutique at the close of work so that she could monitor what was going on there. 

“I got a shop close to my street. It was on a major road. I bought goods worth over a million naira and stocked the shop. I employed two sales girls to run the place when I’m at work, and initially things were going fine,” Uzoagba said. 

But months later, she said sales started going down and her girls couldn’t give her a reasonable explanation as to why that was happening. What she didn’t know was that they were buying their own clothes and selling in her shop while her own clothes gathered dust on the hangers. 

Uzoagba revealed that she borrowed some money from a microfinance bank to boost her business after a year but things didn’t improve. She said she even owed rent at a point. Then one day, she said, she decided to let the girls go and locked up the shop. She said two years of investment went down the drain. 

After giving it much thought, Uzoagba said she decided to do something else. She decided to go into another line of business. She rented a small space close to her house and started a car wash business. 

She told Saturday Sun that the reason she decided to go into the car wash business was because there was none close to her and she had to drive for over 20 minutes to get to the nearest car wash place in her area.

“I didn’t know why I didn’t think about this the first time I decided to become an entrepreneur. I am making money from the car wash business. I get patronage from different men. They tell me they deliberately patronise me because I am a woman,” Uzoagba said. 

Today, the lady said she was now happy with her decision to start all over again. She said that even though being an entrepreneur could be tough, she was happy with the fact that she would soon be opening a second car wash place.

Mrs. Adesola Emmanuel opened a provisions shop some years back so that she could stay closer to home and take care of her children. She stated that at that time, it was the perfect thing to do. Her husband gave her some money and rented a shop for her two streets away from where they live in Lagos. 

Emmanuel said she was determined to be successful in her business but her children and husband obviously had other plans for her. She said that her kids were between the ages of two and seven at that time and they contributed to the failure of her business. 

“I tell any woman I see these days that if you have kids between the ages of two and seven, don’t open a provisions store. Otherwise, they will finish the provisions and leave the shop empty for you to cry over,” Emmanuel said. 

According to her, her children were always taking things from the shop and her husband refused to pay for them. She added that many times, when the family ran out of provisions and toiletries, her husband would tell her to bring from her shop and he would pay her later but he almost never did.

Emmanuel said she and her husband fought a lot because he failed to pay her for the provisions they consumed at home. When it became too much for her to deal with, she said she sold out everything and handed the key of the shop back to her husband to do whatever he wanted with it. 

Three years ago, Emmanuel said she paid a fashion designer to teach her how to make trendy clothes. She said she put her best foot forward and learned everything she needed to learn about sewing, beading clothes and making fascinators. 

“I love the fact that I do my business from home and on social media and still make money. It hasn’t been all rosy, but I am financially comfortable today compared to where I was in the past, Emmanuel said.

Emmanuel said she has three young ladies who work with her now and she doesn’t pay fashion designers money to make trendy clothes for her and her children anymore. She added that being an entrepreneur teaches one to be very patient, creative and agile. 

After completing the mandatory National Youth Service two years ago, Francis Nwachukwu decided to start fish farming pending when he would get a job. He said that was the greatest mistake he made in his young life.  

Nwachukwu said that he started fish farming by buying fingerlings but they died in a couple of weeks. He said he shook off the initial discouragement and bought more fingerlings. He fed them for weeks and it looked like things were looking up. 

“I was happy that I would make money from the new set of fingerlings but I guess fate had other things in store for me. One day, I woke up to see that some of the fishes were dead,” he recalled.

Nwachukwu said he kept hope alive by focusing on the remaining living fishes. But a few days later, more died. He just fried the remaining fishes and ate them before his money would go down the drain again. 

According to Nwachukwu who has three sisters, last year, he started selling hair attachments, wigs, weaves and hair accessories. He said he got a shop in a busy market and has been busy making money ever since. 

“When I was complaining about what to do next, my sisters suggested that I start selling hair attachments, wigs and weaves. They patronized me all the time and got their friends to start patronizing me too. I bounced back from my initial business failure,” Nwachukwu added. 

Tags: another opens: How we bounced back after initial business failuresWhen one door closes
Rapheal

Rapheal

Related Posts

We must integrate medical practice with other modalities to improve health sector –Osawaru, holistic health specialist
Features

We must integrate medical practice with other modalities to improve health sector –Osawaru, holistic health specialist

31st January 2023
Peter Mbah salutes Enugu citizens, Ugwuanyi, on state’s 31st anniversary
Features

Peter Mbah’s new deal for Enugu youths

31st January 2023
I neither saw nor touched $1b security fund –Ex Army Chief, Gen Buratai (retd)
Features

I neither saw nor touched $1b security fund –Ex Army Chief, Gen Buratai (retd)

30th January 2023
Next Post
CAF women’s Champions League: Rivers Angels spy on ASFAR FC

BOWFT:  Semifinals: Edo Queens , Rivers Angels in titanic battle

Iwobi nominated for Everton’s player of the season award

Man U vs Everton: Iwobi doubtful for Devil’s clash 

Cannavaro, Finidi laud Napoli on Osimhen’s move

Osimhen: I grew up in Lagos slum

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Highlights

Tinubu in Anambra promise to industrialize, checkmate erosion 

Elections: CCGI Group urges Nigerians to vote right to save Nigeria

World Bank calls on Nigeria to increase broadband penetration

Lagos: 2 dead, 4 rescued as fuel tanker rams into rickshaws

Naira redesign: Depositors’ funds intact-Emefiele

Kebbi seeks army’s help to secure villages deserted in wake of bandit attacks

Trending

3 family members burnt to death in Benue
National

The true story of the explosion that shook Azare town on Sunday

31st January 2023
0

From Paul Orude Bauchi Residents of Azare, the headquarters of Katagum Local Government Area of Bauchii State,...

Plateau: CAN cautions governorship candidates against negative statements

Plateau: CAN cautions governorship candidates against negative statements

31st January 2023
Banks refuse to load new nairas as CBN imposes sanction 

CCSGs threaten to shut banks over dearth of new naira notes

31st January 2023
Zamfara promises 100% votes for Tinubu /Shettima presidency

Tinubu in Anambra promise to industrialize, checkmate erosion 

31st January 2023
2023: Lagos-based businessman commends Nigerians’ interest in presidential election

Elections: CCGI Group urges Nigerians to vote right to save Nigeria

31st January 2023
ADVERTISEMENT

Follow us on social media:

Latest News

  • The true story of the explosion that shook Azare town on Sunday
  • Plateau: CAN cautions governorship candidates against negative statements
  • CCSGs threaten to shut banks over dearth of new naira notes
  • Tinubu in Anambra promise to industrialize, checkmate erosion 
  • Elections: CCGI Group urges Nigerians to vote right to save Nigeria
  • World Bank calls on Nigeria to increase broadband penetration
  • Lagos: 2 dead, 4 rescued as fuel tanker rams into rickshaws
  • Naira redesign: Depositors’ funds intact-Emefiele
  • Kebbi seeks army’s help to secure villages deserted in wake of bandit attacks
  • Lagos deputy governor drums support for Obanikoro as he flags off campaign
  • Kwara hosts 250 tech ecosystem builders to ease govt businesses
  • PWDs task aviation stakeholders on inclusion
  • Nigerians advised to learn foreign languages before travelling abroad
  • Police comb Nasarawa environs, arrest kidnappers, armed robbers, others
  • 2023: Gov. Ishaku charges INEC on use of BVAS for credible polls
  • Udom begins winding process, appoints transition committee
  • Nigeria: QNET records growth after successful business operations in 2022
  • Chukwudozie dedicates Sun Award to husband, industrialists
  • South-South business summit rates Obi high
  • Ikonne’s death: PDP NWC visits Ikpeazu

Categories

  • Abuja Metro
  • Anambra Watch
  • Arts
  • Broken Tongues
  • Business
  • Business Week
  • Cartoons
  • Citizen Joe
  • Columns
  • Cover
  • Culture
  • Duro Onabule
  • Editorial
  • Education Review
  • Effect
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Events
  • Features
  • Femi Adesina
  • Food & Drinks
  • Frank Talk
  • Funke Egbemode
  • Gallery
  • Global Square by Kenneth Okonkwo
  • Health
  • Insights
  • Kalu Leadership Series
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Letters
  • Lifeline
  • Lifestyle
  • Literary Review
  • Marketing Matters
  • Muiz Banire
  • National
  • News
  • Offside Musings
  • Opinion
  • oriental news
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • PressClips
  • Public Sphere
  • Ralph Egbu
  • Shola Oshunkeye
  • Sideview
  • South-west Magazine
  • Sponsored Post
  • Sporting Sun
  • Sports
  • Sun Girl
  • Tea Time
  • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
  • The Sun Awards Live
  • The Sun TV
  • Thoughts & Talks
  • Time Out
  • Today's cover
  • Tola Adeniyi
  • Travel
  • Travel & Tourism
  • Trending
  • TSWeekend
  • Turf Game
  • Uncategorized
  • Updates
  • Views from Abroad
  • Voices
  • World
  • World News
  • About Us
  • Paper Ad Rate
  • Online Ad Rate
  • Change of Name
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.