From Employee to Employer

"A mans worth does not consist in the amount of his material possession but in the number of lives impacted" Rev Chris Oyakhilome


A friend of mine recently asked me a question: "when can we become a Boss and no longer employee?"

My answer to this was simple: 
(1) For an entrepreneur - when you own your own business. 
(2) When you earn enough to pay yourself, pay someone else and still have enough to run your buisiness ie pay bills & 
(3) When you are able to manage people to a point where they look towards you as a solution to their work challenges.

This my summary of what the evolution of a Boss should be.
What do you think?

Mr David Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka

The minds eye

The mind is like a door. When it opens up to a new idea, be diligent enough to look through it and take in sights into new frontiers (which you can explore).

Commit these visions to paper and pursue them to its logical conclusion.

David Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka

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 Berry group chat.
Permit me to do the same here.

You see the term 'agege bread' actually refers to a type of bread that is consumed in the South Western, part of Nigeria (Lagos). Agege is actually a city in the Metropolitan part of  Lagos and this bread was a very common delicacy during the early 1990's. Production of this bread was however limited due safety concerns that were raised by Nigeria's food & beverages watchdog (NAFDAC).

Little wonder why the name in the picture has generated a stir from Lagos residents. The reason for the stir is a combination of the name and the fact that there is even a website attached to it (www.agegebread.co.uk). The thought of the ".uk" implies that this local concept has evolved into something that can be consumed in the United Kingdom.

What many Nigerians have failed to realize is that anything can be packaged or re branded into something really awesome (all na packaging).

Just in case you missed it. The below are some silent messages that the above picture contains:
(1)  A delivery van - implies an organised distribution system
(2)  A website- means online publicity/self advertisement. Probably and organised method of ordering for the product.
(3)  Telephone number- means that you can reach the company for any queries or suggestions.
(4)  Personalized service- you can get the product at your doorstep.

As business fellows, we must open our eyes to see what others have missed, then cash in on it. We must open our minds to look out for human "NEEDS", then we must progress to meet those needs in a unique way. Don't just do something. Make it exceptional, make it different, make it the best.

Businesses are crumbling but you can be different, just keep re-inventing your business. Stop being myopic. Don't think small. Dare to be different.

Keep these thoughts in mind, please look at the picture above and tell me certain things even I may have missed. I welcome your comments.

Till we meet again, keep winning

David Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka

Dream, Create, Innovate

"@Leke_Alder: Every dream becomes feasible when broken down into tasks. And tasks become easier when broken into steps. And steps need dates to create motion"

For awhile now, I had gotten tired of my routine work. Things had become un-necessarily stressful, tensed, boring, and distracting. In other words, I had lost the passion for my work. The reason was simple. There was a leadership change and the new crop of leaders had no incline to the overall job functions of my group. They seemed to be more interested in mandating members of the group to gather irrelevant data. In essence, we did more data collation (which had no significant impact to our balance sheet) than our main work. Our jobs were suffering, Management didn't see any meaningful impact and our Group Heads thought it meant more data.

Little wonder, I thought about leaving my present job for something more fulfilling. My wife and I prayed about it and we got our note of affirmation it was time to go.

In one of my prayer times in the gents, God opened my eye to see a writing on the door- "believe in yourself, trust in God". Eureka, that was it. My final word of victory.

That same day, God sent me an idea. The idea burned in my heart so much that even when I shared the concept with the  person I thought was going to actualize this, his slackness put me off. I told him later that "if I don't do this thing that God has put in my heart, God will give it to someone else".

Well, through twitter, I met someone that could help. So I reached out to him, shared the idea and that was it. This person went out of his way to bring my God given idea to reality. So much so that we were offered N15MM for the idea that was at 70% of its completion stage.

In essence, what am I saying? When there is a will there is a way. Now whether I opt for the N15MM is another story for another day.

Till we meet again, keep winning.

Dave Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka

Moving Forward

"Greatness is not achieved by never falling but by rising each time we fall" - Confucius

I was previledged to accompany my wife this saturday to the Lagos Island market. She had been called up to do some supplies the day before. As we made our way to collect money from an ATM machine for the purchase of the listed items, I couldn't help see a convergience of different races all around me.

I was jolted into this realization when I observed a Chinese man on the ATM machine queue,  then I saw the Hausa fellows accross the street trying to buy or sell some foreign currency. This pressed on my curiousity to look out for what more I could find.

Then I saw the Ibo shop owners who seemed to know where everything we needed was. As we smiled and pressed through the market, Yoruba women beckoned o us to come look into thier shops. Who knows how many more people reached out to us (tribes unknown).

In all of this, I was inspired that besides whatever challenges these people may have faced the night or day(s) before, they left it at home and instead reached out to us for patronage.

I advise you that in all that you do today, be optimistic. look on the bright side of life. Hey! It could have been worse, but guess what! It can be better.

So keep your smile up and reach out to make that sale.
Till we meet again, keep winning

Twitter: @MrChiaka

Cash is King

"Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated." -Lou Holtz

For some time now, my wife has been trying recruit an office assistant for her business. This hasn't been easy at all. The reasons range from having applicants who can't express themselves to applicants that do not know what they are applying for.

Strange isn't it? Well, I believe the most valuable asset in any firm are not the equipments or furniture that adorn the office, it is the staff (competent staff).

A competent staff is one that is ready to learn, knows what to do, when and how to do his/her work.
The worst thing you can do to me is put me in a work enviroment along with incompetent personnel. It will amaze you at how intermittently I transform from a viscious warewolf back into an eloquent gentleman.

You see, am alergic to bullshit. I am unrepentantly fast, patient to learn, think outside the box and give my work 100%. Most staff that I term as incompetent are:
1. very un-willing to learn (apparently, they know it all but produce no result) and

2. they amazing don't know what, when and how to do anything. The reason being that their minds freeze and their default answer is "I don't know".

It has commonly been said that "a good hand is hard to find", I strongly believe this. The right ingredient to getting the right staff are: good remuneration and welfare packages, great work enviroment and so on.

When these are in place, the right staff will be pulled into your gravitational sphere and if the wrong ones come, they will know they are in the wrong zone (especially when they have a result oriented boss).

In all of this, my advise for Entrepreneurs and Business owners is this: get your office up and running and 2ndly how much are you willing to pay for a good hand.

And if you are an applicant, the first thing you need to do is
1. Be determined. There is no such thing as "I don't know". If you don't know, find out.
2. Be proactive. Nothing is impossible. You can't say "it is not possible", task your mind and find out how it can be done- think outside the box.
3. Be teachable. Learn to listen more and talk less. Try not to be overtly defensive, you cannot justify your ignorance.
4. Escalate. When you have difficulty in completing a task, ask questions. If you have a challenge, escalate (report to your immediate boss). Do not keep quiet.

I do hope these tips have been helpful. As for my wife, well the outcome of her search may have to be communicated to you latter (smiling mischieviously).
Till we meet again, keep winning.

David Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka

A place called Nigeria

"Your attitude is an expression of your values, beliefs and expectations." Brian Tracey


With the spate of incessant bombings, reprisal killings, assasinations, kidnapings, continous fall in education standards, deplorable state of power supply, corruption hearings and counter corruption allegations, it has become expedient for Nigerians to sit down and think of the implication of our present state of affairs and what this implies to the future of our children.

I did have a good laugh when a colleague of mine hurriedly packaged his Schengen visa application with a warning that "I had better get my visa ready, cos the nation is about to explode". He was amazed at my calm disposition and left me with a warning that "well, when it happens, I will remember that I told you so".

I did have another round of laughter about this, but I had a rethink later. Now, consider this, is it not amazing that many parents are sending thier children out of the country for a better education? Which parent does not want the best for his or her child(ren)? This is not brain drain, it is 'parental preservation instinct' at work. The enviroment is not safe any more.

I did have a chat with a very intelligent Director of a finiancial institution and he warned me to start saving in dollars and pounds for my childrens education. He was upset because we were trying to get a new Nigerian passport and the level of racketeering was appauling. He quoted a bible scripture to me "righteousness exhaults a nation" and He was of the opinion that a nation fails when mediocres and the un-intelligent people are at the helm of affairs.

This Director gave an example of the likes of Bill Clinton, Obama and David Cameron who finished from top class universities like Yale, Havard and Oxford while many of our past Presidents had little or no education until very recently.

I have great respect for this Director so I asked him, if he was to become the President of Nigeria today, what would he do to make things right? And he gave me the below 3 points:

1. Infrastructure: He would invest heavily in infrastructure- roads, water et al.
2. Power: The government has no business in the power generation business. What they need to do is open it up like they did with Telecoms. Get private investors to bid for power generation and supply in all the states.
3. Education: Revive the education sector by getting the teachers re-educated and re-certified, then increase thier salaries, welfare and also invest in the education sector ie schools etc.

This was interestingly too simple so I asked him if he had not forgoten the insecurity challenges. Guess what he said; "look, some problems are symptoms of greater problems. If you solve the power problem, jobs will be created and people will get busy."
I was impressed.

Things may not look good, but atleast we can hope for a better tommorrow. Beyond prayers, we must now act. If you love this country, then rise up and demand for accountability, stand against 'block headed mediocratic leaders' that adorn the high echelon's of power. Enough of 'politics of sentiments'. If he or she is not good enough, then they have no business leading us. 2015 is near by and the election songs are being hummed. My fellow country men. Arise oh compatroits! Nigeria's call obey... lets salvage what is left, atleast for our children's sake.

I do hope somebody reads this and implements these ideals. I refuse for this country to explode. I love my country and I hunger for an oppurtunity to do something to change it.
Whoever is reading this, please get an education and make up your mind to affect the Nigerian nation possitively cos there really is no place like home.

Till we meet again, keep winning.

David Chiaka
Twitter: @MrChiaka