For one to succeed in life, failure should not be seen as a challenge but success in disguise.
Mr Christopher Abara, Founder and Chairman Omega Consortium stated this during an exclusive media chat with CEOAFrica Online TV programme ‘Meet you African CEOs’ a platform that identifies and celebrate great entreprenuers on Saturday 13th January 2018.
Narrating his journey into the business world, the Republic of Benin based business man said
“The idea of Omega consortium was bore out of my passion to satisfy a need, which was to discover myself and that made me choose business over other white-collar jobs.
“I left Nigeria for Republic of Benin with little or no money on me but today it’s a different ball game.
“French which is their official language did not pose so much barrier to me because determination was the driving force and with the little knowledge of French I had in my school days I was able to cope,” he added.
L-R Mr Cletus Ilobanafor and Mr Christopher Abara, CEO OMEGA CONSORTIUM
Explaining further how he was able set up his business, the CEO said that he started by carrying out a research on their business terrain and in the course of his research, I discovered that there where many business opportunities untapped because the people of Republic of Benin are not business minded like Nigerians.
Getting their needs to their doorsteps which is more like hawking was my starting point. I am into big time Electronics business today because I was able to identify so many rich men and women who had the money to purchase a television set but was comfortable going to watch in a neighbourhood or village square due to their level of socialization.
Having been able to identify these categories of people, I take television sets to their houses without asking for money till after some weeks and I found out that collecting my money was never an issue because they have realized the comfort enjoyed when one has a personal television set is his home.
Asked about the risks and challenges faced while building up his business, Mr Abara said “life is all about risks, for one to succeed in any business, you have to focuse on planning and strategizing rather than bottling on risk that will occur. He emphasised on having objectives and engaging in visibility studies to overcome the risk.”
L-R Mr Cletus Ilobanafor and Mr Christopher Abara, CEO OMEGA CONSORTIUM, Flanked by other Journalists
Speaking further, the CEO said that business thrive more in Republic of Benin because they have better working system than Nigeria. He also identified consistency as his unique selling point that has made him stand out among other competitors in his business line.
He encouraged young entrepreneurs not to see failures as the end of the world but should keep trying and not give up on their dreams as failure could be success in disguise.
WRITTEN BY SHOBUKOLA TEMITAYO .O
