How I’ll create 1000 jobs in 48 months – Shell LiveWIRE entrepreneur

I am Mercy Ikeji from Delta State. I am 32 years. I am married with two children. I stopped at the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Accounting. Because of Financial constraints, I learnt a trade to make some money to help complete my university education.

I had interest in sewing and learnt to sew cottons and bedspreads to help myself. In searching for a job, I spotted a Shell advert asking those who had business ideas to apply. I did and went for the test in Delta State, my state of origin. I was invited for training after which Shell LiveWIRE funded my business to start up in 2010. In January 2011, I opened my first shop and took off.

As it was going on, I enrolled in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (UST) for a part-time degree programme in Accounting from the proceeds of my business, which was my dream.

I got the business training and entrepreneurial concepts from Shell, though knew about sewing. I did not know about writing business plan, principles of business start-up, critical steps in financial management, etc. It was from LiveWIRE scheme that I learnt those things as criteria for getting sponsored. I got N250,000 seed capital from Shell and I opened my first shop. I kept expanding from small to bigger shops. Later, I expanded beyond interiors based on the teaching we got that multiple streams of income were key to business success and sustainability. I realised that people do not order for blinds everyday; some do once in 10 years and I realised I needed something that keeps money streaming in regularly. I looked around me and found cleaning jobs as a good business. As we go to install blinds in people’s houses, I saw that most homes needed cleaning. So I did e-courses to fortify myself with professional knowledge, and thereafter opened my cleaning business.

I can tell you today that the cleaning business is one of the major sources of income for Dizionite International. When I started it was just me but in cleaning, you need many hands. You can see many young fellows around me. This business has helped in growth and turnover as we help people to get jobs and to survive in this city (PH). Now, we are fully into commercial cleaning services. We do post-construction cleaning, move-in cleaning jobs for those moving into new houses, maintenance cleaning for those who cannot clean their homes well. We have monthly customers, weekly, etc. Our income is no longer once a year. Our workers are going to work every day. This has also boosted our interior business because as we clean homes, we project our interior business.

When Shell LiveWIRE saw that we were doing well, they asked if I needed international connections and exposure. I said yes. So, they had opportunity, a scheme called ‘Let’s Go Trade’, which takes people from their country to other countries. In that competition, I won the award and got $3,000 (N600,000) and I went to the UAE (Dubai). I went there and looked around, made contacts, etc. I learned new concepts in interior business and cleaning services. I can now sew to international standards. I can buy from foreign sources just in three daysand get it delivered here. All I need is to snap them and send out.

It has also helped me to create an international concept in my business. I saw new designs, concepts, etc. I met international cleaning companies and visited their locations in Dubai. There, I saw how a manager was watching all his staff in different locations through a Wi-Fi camera system. I acquired that technology to my business in a country like Nigeria where there is a high sense of insecurity. That has given us an edge in the cleaning business in Port Harcourt and Nigeria as we make our clients comfortable by making them to watch us while we cleaned. Most persons do not have that technology, but I have it and we are doing well.

We recently expanded to Lagos. We are at number 32, Stella Solanke Street at Ajao Estate. We have a manager and three staff members there. In total, we are up to 13 at the moment, and this is reducing unemployment in Nigeria. We are steadily creating wealth and spreading opportunities in Nigeria.

Yes, we old LiveWIRE participants were invited to the last edition of the scheme in Port Harcourt last year under an alumni association and cooperative society. I am an executive (exco) member. There, we met the manager of the Tony Elumenu Foundation and they encouraged us to apply. I did. This year, my name was listed as one of the 1000 out of the 45,000 that applied in Africa. Right now, I am on training.

There is a big difference the way I look at things. First, I have imbibed the unique idea of not looking for jobs, but for opportunities. I feel I am contributing to the economic growth of this country and I employ Nigerians. I have trained over eight persons and imparted what we learnt in LiveWIRE; especially business planning. To graduate in my place, you must learn how to plan and grow a business, not just the skills of sewing. You must register your company; you must have a corporate account, etc. I now look at businesses from point of economics. Shell has also taught me how to add to the society. I have Dizionite Helping Hands as an NGO, an outreach. Some people have many things they do not have. I encourage them to donate them to us and we donate them to the less-privileged.

I feel very important now. I now have a degree (BSc. Accounting), and I am pursuing my chartered. We are always being exposed, going outside the country, international business connections. My attitude to life has changed from what can I get to what can I give. There is a big difference.

That is the aspect that struck me most. I am from the Niger Delta (though I grew up partly in the north) and I used to hear about this Niger Delta thing and say, well, I have not benefited anything from my region. I was like — this Niger Delta is just for mouth. Shell must be about ‘who know who’. I did not know anybody and I just applied, just like that. Later, I heard from people that my name was out. I did not believe it. I just said, okay, let me just go and see. That was it. I never knew anybody. Lo and behold, they organised an interview. They later called me. It was after the programme that they began to know us. It was when some of us were doing well that they started to visit us, to monitor us. I have now registered as a Shell contractor.

What Shell is looking for is, do you have something to offer, do you have sound business idea? We did a business plan. They allowed us to spell it out and break it down in a practicable way. I had a sewing skill and that was why I went in with something to present. Look for skills not for contacts. If you are prepared, when the opportunity comes, you make something out of it. If opportunity meets you when you were unprepared, you will miss it.

Yes, that’s what I keep telling them.

I always do my best, telling them my own story. It’s left to them to believe me or not.

Yes, I said earlier that we have an association, an alumni, a cooperative society of persons that have benefited from Shell’s LiveWIRE. Together, our voice can be heard. I alone cannot make all the noise. Part of what I am planning to do is a television programme but basically to tell about youths building businesses, about the Shell business story. So many people do not know the lot Shell is doing, lives they are changing, the opportunities they are creating, the people they are helping. I want to tell my story and show them, to show people that knew me before who ask me how I changed. For now, it is just around my neighbourhood that I am talking to.

We have our milestones. The Lagos branch apart, we want to have six branches around Nigeria, like in Owerri, Abuja, Calabar, and in a part of the north. Basically, we want to expand and our vision is to create a sustainable institution that will not end, just like MTN, whether the owner is there or not. We want to employ a minimum of 1000 in the year 2020.  So, I need to expand, get new branches, more customers, etc. We need to get 500 cleaning clients. I have it as a daily routine. That is why we have marketers working daily to create a new clientele.

As I said, after setting up my sewing centre, we moved into cleaning and to do so, one needed machines such as scrubbers and industrial vacuum cleaners as well as a vehicle to convey equipment and men to site. It is no more about broom and parker to go clean people’s houses.

I approached Shell and tabled my plan, the viability of the plan, etc. They agreed and connected me to their Aspire Small Fund in partnership with Groffin. It is for businesses that are thriving and want to get better. That is how we got some of these machines you see here and the vehicle to convey them. When we also got the job with Shell, Groffin also supported us with funds without collateral.