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PAGE 18, SUNDAY VANGUARD, AUGUST 18, 2019<br />
I copied ‘hustle<br />
spirit’ from my<br />
mum – Ejiro Agambi<br />
Ms Ejiro Agambi, CEO/Founder of Jeovil<br />
Cleaning Services and Luxury Vox, is<br />
a multinational businesswoman with<br />
the passion to reduce<br />
unemployment in countries<br />
across Africa. The outfit has won<br />
the hearts of many as she is seen<br />
as a mentor to people from far and<br />
near. In furtherance of this, she<br />
recently extended her frontiers to<br />
Ghana, in determination of her<br />
belief that this year would not<br />
end without gaining footholds in<br />
several African countries.<br />
Agambi spoke to Sunday<br />
Vanguard. Excerpts:<br />
Tell us about your background<br />
I’m from a humble home, a<br />
family of eight, where I’m the<br />
second child and first girl. And this<br />
has prompted me to work hard not<br />
only for myself but also for my<br />
younger ones who look up to me as a<br />
role model. For example, my mum is a<br />
business woman and, having helped her<br />
run her shop while growing up, that<br />
helped me to develop the ‘hustle spirit’<br />
which is very vital for every Nigerian<br />
entrepreneur.<br />
You are into diverse businesses. How<br />
do you cope?<br />
Being a multinational<br />
businesswoman takes a lot of<br />
persistence, self-encouragement,<br />
commitment and trust because every<br />
business you want to venture into is<br />
a risk, and you need determination<br />
not just from within you but also<br />
from people who<br />
work with you.<br />
And, of course,<br />
you need a role<br />
model; someone<br />
you look up to,<br />
like, for example,<br />
my mum is my<br />
first role model.<br />
As far back as I<br />
can remember,<br />
there is no<br />
business my mum<br />
has not done.<br />
Although on a<br />
small scale, my<br />
mum literally did<br />
80% of the<br />
businesses that<br />
exist in Nigeria<br />
while I was<br />
growing up. It<br />
takes guts,<br />
decisiveness and<br />
creativity, you<br />
have to be<br />
creative and<br />
innovative, follow<br />
I can still<br />
remember<br />
vividly when I<br />
was the whole<br />
company. At the<br />
said time I was<br />
the CEO,<br />
manager,<br />
project<br />
supervisor,<br />
customer care,<br />
delivery woman<br />
and accountant<br />
the trend; wow your audience and,<br />
above all, the grace of God.<br />
What motivated you into<br />
embracing self-employment?<br />
I never did a salaried job like the<br />
usual ‘9 to 5’. I never thought of it.<br />
Although at a point I wanted to but<br />
the zeal to be creative, and venture<br />
into business has always surpassed<br />
any idea of looking for a<br />
job.<br />
People going into<br />
business often<br />
encounter key<br />
challenges like finance.<br />
How was it at the<br />
beginning?<br />
Well, at the<br />
beginning, I would<br />
say financial<br />
challenge was a big<br />
problem. For<br />
example, it was<br />
difficult securing<br />
funds. As you<br />
know, sometimes<br />
the people or<br />
businesses which<br />
need these funds<br />
more are unable to<br />
get them. Why?<br />
Because the questions<br />
are<br />
sometimes too complex for<br />
them to answer or the<br />
proposals they submitted to<br />
institutions that provide funds<br />
are not good enough but if<br />
you actually give these<br />
people funds, you will be<br />
amazed about the outcome.<br />
And then there are financial<br />
problems with family and<br />
friends, they want your<br />
service but will not pay for it.<br />
Other times they pay for same<br />
services or patronize<br />
outsiders. Things like this<br />
could be frustrating and<br />
discouraging...you know. For<br />
me back then it was really draining<br />
and challenging but God pulled me<br />
through. I started out with virtually<br />
nothing.<br />
When was the turning point?<br />
I’d say it was from the very day I<br />
decided to step-up my game. I decided<br />
I won’t let challenges weigh me down,<br />
because, as my Sapele people would<br />
By Josephine Agbonkhese<br />
08054650907<br />
Email: jossynovia@gmail.com<br />
say, “Because rain falls and the road is<br />
not good does not mean you will not<br />
leave the house to look for work”. Ever<br />
since I made that decision, a lot of<br />
things changed. My perspective and<br />
reaction to situations changed. Through<br />
this, I learnt to maximize every<br />
opportunity, making good use of every<br />
situation, be it good or bad.<br />
Describe how daunting running a<br />
business in the country is?<br />
Doing business in Nigeria is very<br />
challenging because no one tells you<br />
the pain and battle you will go through<br />
as an entrepreneur, the hard work you<br />
need, the losses you are likely to incur,<br />
the sleepless nights that will come, the<br />
tears that will roll down your cheeks, the<br />
numerous trying times before success<br />
comes, no one says anything about all of<br />
these but you have got to keep believing<br />
and moving.<br />
Career women like you often<br />
encounter special challenges especially<br />
when they are in big time businesses<br />
like you. Share your experience with<br />
us<br />
Ẇell, sometimes we go through<br />
challenges which tend to be very<br />
personal. Take for example when<br />
you’re bidding for a contract and you<br />
have to deal with the opposite sex and<br />
they start asking for things that do not<br />
align with the business and which you<br />
cannot give. And then there are<br />
financial challenges, when the<br />
customers are not coming in as<br />
expected, a little short on budget, you<br />
need to pay salaries, wow! It’s draining<br />
sometimes dealing with these issues.<br />
How profitable is the cleaning and<br />
gift items outfit?<br />
A clean space is a healthy space. So<br />
far the feedback we’ve been getting<br />
from our janitors has been really good.<br />
We’ve been able to train our janitors to a<br />
world class standard, thereby raising the<br />
cleaning standard in Nigeria and, so far,<br />
our janitors have been good<br />
ambassadors of Jeovil and I know, for a<br />
fact, that this has prompted a lot of<br />
people who have come in contact with<br />
or heard about Jeovil to strive for<br />
excellence. And as for my gift outfit... I<br />
would say we have changed the game.<br />
Any regrets since going into<br />
business?<br />
Not at all! All thanks to God Almighty<br />
Rate the size of your company now<br />
and when you started?<br />
The difference is massive because I<br />
can still remember vividly when I was<br />
the whole company. At the said time I<br />
was the CEO, manager, project<br />
supervisor, customer care, delivery<br />
woman and accountant. I was literally<br />
the whole company! And now... what<br />
can I say? I give God the glory.<br />
What advice do you have for young<br />
business women?<br />
I advise every young woman going<br />
into business to be focused, decisive,<br />
dream big, be willing to work hard, be<br />
persistent, set your priorities right, turn<br />
your goals into prayer requests, be<br />
organized, like my daddy always says,<br />
“if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. But<br />
you must know that “failure is the<br />
stepping stone to success” because if<br />
you don’t fail you’ll never know what<br />
you’re doing wrong<br />
Assess Ease of Doing Business in<br />
Nigeria?<br />
Regarding the authorities on the Ease<br />
of Doing Business, they should try to be<br />
lenient with entrepreneurs, young, new<br />
and old. They should make the laws<br />
conducive for starters.<br />
What are your future plans?<br />
We are planning to dominate<br />
Africa as a whole in the nearest<br />
future by the grace of God.
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