RESURRECTING MY PHONEBOOK

Is this silence, this silence is so unnerving; like the few moments just before the SWAT barges in on an unsuspecting marijuana cartel. So in reality the silence I speak of cannot compete with CSI Miami but it is nonetheless scary.

A business man is not one of the many titles I am known by and I am not too eager to be dubbed one yet. Still this is my fate because as I speak to you I currently owe someone some money and I am awaiting a call from a friend who in a few minutes from hence forth may become my lender and I his debtor all because I want to do business in Nigeria. So my silence, my wait is all about money, money, money.

Imagine the biggest multinational companies all over the world run on the wretched system of credit. The Western community started this ideology that you do not have to wait to get what you want; you can have it now, and the thing is this credit thing has crept into Nigeria. And I am slowly realizing that this is the way business works here. I can still feel the sting in my pride looking back four months from the time I promised to pay up the debt I owe and I haven’t even scratched the surface in trying to pay what I owe before, and I am already pursuing another loan.
I remember my secondary school and University days: I absolutely hated borrowing, I had seen my mother work hard to take care of myself and my three siblings and I witnessed firsthand the rugged nature of the banking system and I vowed to steer clear of credit cards, money lenders, lotto’s, etc. Fantastic, just fantastic that I didn’t last long enough because just five months in the fashion business and I am beginning to borrow and the interesting thing is all my debts are justifiable on paper but in my heart it feels wrong.

The tale of how AIT lost the bid to air the Premiership games to DSTV because they couldn’t come up with the funds blur reason out of my mind, driving me to make phone calls like crazy. It will amaze you the number of contacts you can resurrect out of your phone book when you want something bad but just as I make another frantic call with one hand whilst the others hits the keyboard, the wise words from a friend rings in my head-“do not confuse what is urgent with what Is important”-but that is easier said than done; is it not another wise saying that puts it that “it is he that wears the shoe that knows where it hurts”. Still, (shaking head) I can’t shake my friend’s words out of my head.

The end of this tale I do not know but just one thing is clear, the clothes for which I need the money for must be available before tomorrow and the models must be rocking them by this time tomorrow.
I guess this is probably the tale of many Nigerian entrepreneurs, so talent is not enough…see I am already picking up on the moral of the day (smiling). I pray it translates into “ego” by tomorrow evening, but till then who’s next on my phonebook? Let’s see…it could be you.