The Winner In You: The Economic Impact of Ebola In West Africa

The Winner In You: The Economic Impact of Ebola In West Africa: Health is wealth ... Unknown I recently participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge over the weekend as I was challenged by my employ...

The Economic Impact of Ebola In West Africa

Health is wealth... Unknown

I recently participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge over the weekend as I was challenged by my employee (it also was his birthday).

After this exercise, a friend buzzed me up to ask why I am raising awareness to the ALS disease when the Ebola epidemic was not only ravaging West Africa but was having a serious economic impact.

Well after explaining that is was in honor of a birthday, in the spirit of fun & charity, I took out time to do a little research on the impact of the Ebola epidermic in West Africa.

Now the Ebola virus is not curable. The recent drug "Zmapp" is not 100% efficient and it is in its early test stages. This virus is only communicable in its severe state (fever-sweat, vomit, stool etc). It has recently infected over 2,000 victims out of which less than half have survived.

Several countries have closed its boarders to the West Africa infected areas - fact.
Several airlines have stopped flights to infected regions in West Africa - fact.
Even the government of infected countries have cordoned off high risk areas in their own country.
Food and medicine are in very short supply and people are not only starving but are dieing.

The economic implication of these actions are increased poverty, starvation, inability for foreign aid or Foreign Aid workers to move quickly or efficiently and an economic shut down of the highly infected West African states.

No doubt, Ebola virus is deadly and the level of deaths witnessed recently by this epidemic is quite alarming.

A certain doctor on CNN did say the secret to the cure of this disease may lie in the blood and anti-bodies that helped previous survivors recover. I think this is something Governments and Medical Research institutions need to look into and I think it is time we helped raise awareness towards the Ebola scourge and treatment.

So this is my way of raising awareness. When I come up with something similar to the ice bucket challenge & a research center to donate to, I will definitely let you know.

Thank you.

Mr David Chiaka

The Winner In You: Run, Stop, Think,Then Run Again

The Winner In You: Run, Stop, Think,Then Run Again: "Use your number six"- Nigerian maxim The Nigerian business terrain is a truly tough one. It is very importa...

The Winner In You: Run, Stop, Think,Then Run Again

The Winner In You: Run, Stop, Think,Then Run Again: "Use your number six"- Nigerian maxim The Nigerian business terrain is a truly tough one. It is very importa...

Run, Stop, Think,Then Run Again

"Use your number six"- Nigerian maxim

The Nigerian business terrain is a truly tough one.
It is very important that you stick to the basic rules of business like having a clear agreement (proof read by your lawyer), discussing the risks in your business before embarking on them, monthly review meetings etc.

The rules of business are as many as the different scenarios that we face while doing it. I have always been a strong advocate for aspiring entrepreneurs to have work experiences before embarking on their quest for world domination.

There is such a thing as work ethics and there is such a thing as having the need to prove (or stand out from the crowd) in quest for the next promotion (in the office work place). These traits are very important. 

Nigeria is a tough place and you have to continually “think out of the box” or your business aspirations will be relegated to the background. You must ask yourself:  “what next? What more can I do?”

You cannot afford to be sleeping in bed by 8am when opportunity is knocking at your office or prospective clients are waiting for you to resume duties. I work 24/7. I and my team are just a phone call away, anytime, any day.

You cannot afford to be lackadaisical in your thinking when innovate ways of doing your type of business is available. Guess what, someone else will take the very market you think is yours.

In course of doing business lately, I had to forfeit a major Corporate client in the oil sector. I handled their business travel and it was a very good account but they were not willing to commit to a signed agreement. 
As I processed their endless request, I had to re-assess my business and examine the risk involved. 

These people were making me incur millions in un-paid ticket sales so I had to freeze further requests till the previous bill was settled and until we had a duely signed agreement. You see, a friend had referred me to this company but that didn't mean I had to be stupid.

Like my former MD would say “you cant have more money than you have brains”. Simply put, “use your number 6 (brains)”


Guess what! My bill was paid short of some thousands of naira and when I asked for the balance, the liaison said “I am even lucky the MD paid me”.
POW! That got my Spider sense tingling.

In summary, they refused to commit to an agreement and after several unsuccessful attempts to get me to purchase air tickets for them, they threw in the towel and abandoned ship. The risk variables were enormous. What if I don't get paid? How can I seek legal redress without a binding agreement? ETC. Better safe than sorry.

So take my advise, assess risks as you do your business as an entrepreneur. Your business is as big as you can envision it to be.

So till we meet again, keep winning.

Mr David Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka

The Winner In You: Chance Favors The Prepared Mind

The Winner In You: Chance Favors The Prepared Mind: Chance favors the prepared mind... (Unknown) When I left my luscious bank job in June 2014, I did not go on a holiday. I hit the gro...

Chance Favors The Prepared Mind

Chance favors the prepared mind... (Unknown)

When I left my luscious bank job in June 2014, I did not go on a holiday. I hit the ground running. I went after the social media channels to advertise myself, and my products. I started a recruitment campaign, and I told everyone that cared to listen what I was going to be doing.

Believe it or not, this paid off. I got a call from an old client who had just been promoted to GM status in a hotel and she wanted me to come inspect her hotel, review and recommend areas of improvement.

I did the review, prepared a detailed report, submitted and I got a call to implement my recommendations. Trust me, it was quite rewarding. As happy as this was to me, it wasn't enough, I went through my contacts for links to manage corporate accounts.

You see, its not about the now, but the future. I look forward to having a constant flow of traffic and the only way round it was not just through the seasonal retail market, but a constant patronage from the corporate market.

This paid of also as I got 2 out of my targeted 3 corporate accounts for the month.
Now, you may think I am ecstatic about this, but to be honest, I'm not. I want more.


I want to be the biggest Travel & Tour Company in not just Nigeria but West Africa and beyond.
Now if you think, this is impossible, then watch me.

I have the vision, and this is backed by a strategy and lots of prayers.
I am taking it one step at a time but every week and every month has just got to be better than the next.

I celebrate each achievement, but am not there yet. I am nowhere near where God wants me to be.

Well, till we meet again, keep winning.

Thanks and God bless.

Mr David Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka

Working Smart

Tick says the clock, tick tick. What you have to do, do quick.

My first month as an entrepreneur has been quite interesting.
From dealing with diverse kinds of customers to attending top level meetings business, conducting recruitment exercises and so much more.

A lot of the skills I had acquired over the years not only saved me from blunders but helped in making my work, more productive.
My greatest challenge was staffing.
In fact, I had no personnel to work with or to delegate tasks to.

I had to relay on my internet connection, laptop, smart phone and my note pad.
Try using the below tips, it just might help improve your work efficiency.

(1) Take notes:
Every single meeting, idea, pending tasks etc was written down,
This helped me to be more organized. I was really overwhelmed with work at some point and putting down tasks helped me sort out things in an hierarchical order of importance.
As I resolved each task, I ticked it off and moved to the next till my daily task was completed.

(2) Be Mobile:
40% of my work was done on the move.
I had to attend meetings, got stuck in traffic and so much more.
The implication of this was that I had to rely on my mobile phone to send emails, follow-up on pendings, transfer funds and so much more.
This typified the term, "working smart".

(3) Time Management:
Trust me, the concept of multi-tasking is not an efficient way of getting things done.
The best way of accomplishing work is through "crunching".
This time management skill is such that you allocate a period of time to accomplishing certain tasks in you busy schedule or notepad..
For instance, devoting 1hr to finish on yesterdays pending, reading up an agreement or organizing a list of meetings in a particular location so you can attend to most (if  not all).

These applied skills not only rewarded me financially, but they made me more efficient.
I currently recruited some passionate staff and I look forward to an even rewarding future.

Till we meet again, keep winning.

Twitter: @MrChiaka

The Winner In You: Who Am I?

The Winner In You: Who Am I?: "Man, know thyself!' - Greek Proverb I have recently launched into the entrepreneurial market and this has caused me to r...

Who Am I?

"Man, know thyself!'- Greek Proverb

I have recently launched into the entrepreneurial market and this has caused me to reflect greatly on my life and times.

It just struck me that I have been helping Multinationals in starting-up certain segments of their corporate structures.

Permit me to give you a run down of what I have been doing since I got my Ba in the University since 2001:

My NYSC was in 2003 in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state of south eastern Nigeria.

In 2005, I worked with British Airways town office in Lagos, Nigeria. I worked as a Check-in Agent and I was charged with the goal of migrating customers towards the use of online check-in.
Today, BA customers can now purchase tickets online, select seats, check-in online and fly.

In 2006, I was selected amongst a team of 6 to start up the Kenya-Airways office in Lagos, Nigeria. I was also in a select team of 3 that test run the migration of our old reservation system to a customized Altea-Amadeus application. I can remember clearly, the night we all kept watch as we watched over the smooth migration by our "techies" and kept tabs with Corporate Head Office personnel in Cameroon to see if all was going well. Those were interesting days indeed. It was also this year that I first traveled out of the country on a course.

Between October 2008-2010, I was sent out to pioneer a satellite church in Surulere and in 1 year we grew from 2-98 members. The church still stands even as I assist my Pastor today in a Group church in Eric Moore, Surulere, Lagos.

Also in September 2008, I joined a renowned Nigerian Bank. We were a 2 man team. My first task in this bank was drawing up an international & local travel budget for the 2009 financial year. This task can only be likened to what is called "the baptism of fire".

I had to liaise with the Technology team to spool expense reports, then I had to project what the expenditure for the new year would look like. The budget was not complete till I kept vigil (yes, I slept) in the office. It is my nature to get things done at all cost. I paid this price the next year also, till I got a hang of it. 

I had an amazing time in this bank as I had to come up with ways of keeping costs at its barest minimum (each year). In 2011, I designed a request system where staff could request for local air tickets and choose from over 82 hotels in Nigeria. This was epic. We were able to reduce travel cost by 22% bank wide and it earned me a promotion in 2012.

I got married to my heart throb (Rejoice) in 2010 and she has brought me un-imaginable grace from God plus 2 beautiful kids.

In 2013, I had to join the Bank's 24/7 call center and this was quite interesting. With my call center experience in the Aviation industry, it was easy to blend in. I came to terms with another side of this unique bank. With the millions of retail customers the bank was enlisting, came the challenge of managing account related issues. You see, the banking halls could no longer manage the crowd, so we had to push customers towards the use of e-channels. We were charged with the function of managing the vast array of Customers bearing in mind that each customer was unique and very important.

I resigned in June 2014 to jump start my own business.

I had to write this all down this down because, it dawned on me that if I could do all of this, then I can make a profitable difference in the travel and tour industry.

Funny thing is, I had been test running certain aspects of my business to see its profitability and the response was quite encouraging. Visit www.chronussolutions.org  for more on what I will be offering.
It may not be easy, but am sure its going to be worth it.

So lets go make that money!!!

Be inspired.

Till we meet again, keep winning.

Twitter: @MrChiaka

The Evolution of Change

"Change is the only constant thing in life" - Anonymous

The concept of change goes beyond terms and definitions. Its a driving force that is embedded in our very DNA's. Whether we like it or not, from the time we are born, the change effect kicks in. We cry, eat, excrete, stretch and grow.

This force governs everything we come in contact with. From our education, politics and even business. Our very syllabus is evolving. Previously established educational concepts and propounded theories et al are being changed. The worlds very socio-political landscapes are changing.

The rise of the middle class and the freedom of speech and association started the "arab spring" that culminated in the famous #Occupy movement.

I hear people in Nigeria complain that "talk" on the social media has no effect but I disagree. We did not have this level of freedom in the time of IBB and of course Abacha. Imagine the likes of Omojuwa & El Rufai talking this much and replicate the events of missing journalists and Saro Wiwa. Get my point?

The level of freedom to speak and associate has indeed changed. We saw it gradually ease off from the civil tenure of President Obasanjo all through to the advent of President Goodluck Jonathan. Remember the stand-off of the #OccupyNigeria campaign? Who would have thought that it was possible for the people of Nigeria to bring the economy of Nigeria to a standstill and stand up to its President at the same time?

Change has hit the Nigerian business scene. From the reduced prices of GSM telecommunication, to competitive internet services. Now, we can see a rise in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) firms. People can now search the web, get new ideas for their businesses, advertise through facebook and other social media channels and even work from home.

Even the banks are not left out of change. The CBN's initiative under Gov Lamido Sanusi has reduced the excess cash flow in the economy and helped drive the use of cashless alternatives. The international economic community have even accepted our payment cards for cross border trade.

What this means is that, I can sit in the comfort of my home, login to my internet, purchase items from far away, US, London or even China, pay with my bank's Master or Visa card and have my items delivered to my home.

Now, to refuse to accept change will be our greatest undoing. Not to embrace the freedom of the social media to air our views will be to do ourselves a great evil.

Refuse to be left behind. That phone  (Black Berry, Samsung, Apple, Techno etc) is not just for talking. You can connect to the world, air your views and even trade. So don't just stay there. "Get cracking". Get internet access and hit the world wide web (www).

Search the web, find out new ways of doing business. Get an education and above all, add value.

I look forward from hearing your views after reading this piece.

Till we meet again, keep winning.

Twitter: @MrChiaka

The Winner In You: All Na Packaging

The Winner In You: All Na Packaging: The above picture has stirred up a lot of thoughts in me and I even shared the indirect messages that is being communicated in a Black B...

The Winner In You: Business Life Pt 2: Be Calm, Stay Focused

The Winner In You: Business Life Pt 2: Be Calm, Stay Focused: I was privileged to invest in a friends business (against my wife's advise). I did it because it was a brilliant idea and I saw a n...

The Winner In You: The History of EGBU. in Owerri, Imo State.

The Winner In You: The History of EGBU. in Owerri, Imo State.: History According to oral tradition, Egbu existed over a thousand years before the advent of the Europeans. The settlement dates as fa...

The History of EGBU. in Owerri, Imo State.

History

According to oral tradition, Egbu existed over a thousand years before the advent of the Europeans. The settlement dates as far back as the 9th century A.D. From genealogical reckoning the great grand father of Egbu was OFO AKURU, the proto - Alaenyi progenitor, who according to records of ethnological studies of Ndigbo, lived in the 6th century A.D. in the forest lands of the present Umuorii Uratta in the Obibi Uratta autonomous community .. Ofo Akuru’s first son was called Ome. According to oral tradition Ome was a polygamist and had many children which included ENYI, EZELUKWU and NNEORIE. Ome according to history was a tactful and peaceful man. His strong control over his large family however marked him out as a strict disciplinarian. 

Enyi became the head of the family after Ome's death and he had five sons namely: IHITTA OGADA, AWAKA, EGBU, OWERRI and NAZE. It must be mentioned that there is another legend that places Owerri as part of Uratta. According to this legend Owerri fled from Uratta having taken the heart of the cow which he bought for his father’s funeral which by tradition belonged to Alum. When his other brothers conspired to kill him, he fled to Ugwu Ekwema to escape the inevitable consequence of his wanton action. 

Enyi’s five sons are called ALAENYI. The five towns that make up Alaenyi have similar traditions and customs which served them as a bond of unity. Enyi like his father Ome maintained the unity of his family. It was after his death that internal rancor hit the unity and solidarity of the sons. Enyis’ children separated and moved to new settlements with their respective children. In spite of geographical movement the said cultural and political affinity was maintained. The early settlement of Enyi and his five sons was at a place called "APU OTU OBO" of Egbu. The tree 'Apu' gave a wonderful shade and provided a rallying centre for relaxation and social entertainment. Houses were built around the Apu tree. The houses were made of sticks, palm fronts, 'Uga' and"Etere”. Egbu, the third son of Enyi was dynamic, witty and highly industrious. He was a polygamist and had three sons; OKOCHI, UBA EZE and UBA. Okochi the first son of Egbu was the father of Ayalu and Okweke. Okweke had a son called Ofeuzo. As a result of the blood relationship between Ayalu and Okweke one can understand the indissoluble ancestral affinity between Ayalu and Ofeuzo till this day. Uba Eze the second son was the father of Mpama and Ofomeje or Umuofo (Umunwahu and Ugama were also kindred’s in Mpama). Uba the third son of Egbu had only one son called lshiuzo. 

Egbu and his large family lived peacefully but after his death sporadic misunderstandings and quarrels led to the dispersion of some members of the family to other lands. These emigrants still maintained close relationship with their kith and kin at Egbu. They continued to attend the famous Egbu cultural festival. "Mgbugbuzo" for a long time. Every Egbu person in Diaspora observed the "Afor" market day which agreed with the "Afor” market day at Egbu. The migration thinned down the population of Egbu and left her with five villages. 

Many factors were responsible for the emigration of some of our people but the dominant factor was the Ihitta Egbu incident. According to oral tradition, a group of Ihitta Egbu people killed one Nwagwu by accident. Embittered and incensed by the incident his brother Oformeje retaliated by killing Odogwu Onyikiri and his pregnant wife. This led to fighting and unrest which eventually caused the emigration of some of our people to distant places namely Egbu Ozuzu, Egbu Oguta and Egbu Nzam.

BY Obioha Egere