Homeless, not jobless… story of an ‘IDP trader’

As the Nigerian economy began to experience a hard hit at the turn of the millennium, calls began to intensify for the emergence of entrepreneurs who would run small and medium scale businesses capable of driving economic progress.

Young Nigerians were advised to expunge the culture of waiting on government for a job, but to use their own hands to create jobs for themselves as budding entrepreneurs.

However, long before this time, a young man from Kabba, Kogi state, had taken upon himself the appetite of moulding his own destiny as a true ‘entrepreneur’ before the word became a trend.

A wise man once defined entrepreneurship as embarking on a venture without proven financial systems of market success. Forbes puts it as “a drive to succeed against all odds”.

Despite unproven successes in the field at time, Tony Oloruntoba left Kogi for Michika, a local government in north-eastern Adamawa state, in the 1990s to set up a printing business.

He flourished for years, until the advent of computers, which gradually phased out the traditional printing of the day. As expected of visionary entrepreneurs, Oloruntoba diversified.

“I was in Michika for over 20 years; I had become one of them,” he told TheCable.

“I’m a printer, I set up a printing press. At the time, there were no computers. When computers came, the traditional printing press started to fizzle out.

“I diversified, I did printing, then building and also some other businesses by the side.”

With a successful business to call his, he got married to a native of Michika, who bore him four children. Sadly, his then flourishing business became history when the evil called Boko Haram stuck the northeastern state, crippling his family and means of livelihood.

“The day the evil struck, I left there (Michika) with only one trouser and one shirt, likewise my wife and children,” he said.

“It was only the clothes we had on that we left Michika with. All of my business is gone.”

He was fortunate to have fled with his entire nuclear family, but his resolve “to succeed against all odds” is now under threat.

The now-displaced entrepreneur, who has found a temporary home at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Malkohi, has continued his business by selling odds and ends in the camp.

“When I started the business, I started with less than N1,000 but now the whole business is worth about N7,000,” he said.

This may a negligible increase if one only considered the monetary implications. However, for an entrepreneur, Oloruntoba has had at least a 600% increase in his business, despite sometimes allowing goods to be bought on credit at the IDP camp.

“You know, I’m in need, so when I see people in need too, I would help them. It is not until you have everything before you can give out,” he said.

He says government has a role to play in creating an enabling environment for small businesses to grow, and this was the driving force behind his resolve to vote in the just concluded general election.

“I voted at the governorship election. At the presidential election, there was a vehicle that they were to bring to take us for voting, but the vehicle came late. By the time we got there, they were done with accreditation.

“I voted in Yola town, Aliyu Mustapha secondary school.”

Like most Nigerians, he has a message for the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

“I want Buhari to wipe out corruption, insurgency, and let there be security. Let him come down to the grassroots, to the masses to see what they need.”

Against all odds, Oloruntoba, who gets his goods from Jimeta market, some 20 kilometres away from the IDP camp, believes he is one of many Nigerians with high business drive, but says their potential to succeed will yield no fruit if the government fails to provide the social amenities that will stimulate the growth of small businesses.