By Moses Nosike
President Goodluck Jonathan?s gigantic steps to improving agriculture in the country are getting a boost with the recent establishment of an Agricultural International Market in Enugu State.? The market which is a sole venture from a reputable industrial outfit based in Lagos, Eugene-Rose, will surely break the much needed barrier in the growth of commerce and industry in the south eastern part of Nigeria.
Coming at a time when clarion calls for such ventures by the enterprising and business-inclined men and women from that part of the country have fallen on deaf ears, the new International market will surely fill the much needed yawning gap created by negligence or abandonment. Chief Executive Officer of Eugene-Rose, the company pioneering the gigantic stride, Chief Eugene Ngozichukwuka Ibeaham spoke exhaustively on the project. Excerpts:
Background: I started manufacturing in 1994 after a stint in buying and selling in Lagos. During that time, I ventured into producing nylon, before I started processing water and toilet roll.? That was the two major things I was producing then, but because of the competitive nature of toilet roll, we had to leave it and faced water both in sachet and in bottle. After that, we went into? estate development. That is what we have been doing till date.
Secret of success in business
I have tried as much as possible not to engage in any shoddy deal while doing my business.? I always ensure that what we do is legal, no manoeuvreings and no faking.? We go for the best in quality.? People should avoid using other people?s wealth or ingenuity to make money.? We all know that God comes first if you want to achieve success but we must endeavour to avoid the temptation to get involved in criminal deals.
New stride
We have started investing at home, trying to encourage people especially Igbos to look inwards.? If you look around now, I can say our society, mostly in the Eastern region, we have been witnessing cases of kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminal acts which is inimical to the development of any society.
The once applauded economic prowess of the people from the East has gone down while criminality has taken over.? We all know that kidnapping is a curse and it is anathema for any society to be known for that.? It is just like dealing in slave trade in those days and we are all witnesses to the curse it brought to the perpetrators.
So, after thinking about all these ugly development, I decided to engage in meaningful ventures that will, to a large extent, checkmate the rising spate of these crimes in our area.? God has given us that commercial ability to progress in this country.
In the North, God gave them very fertile land; they cultivate any type of crop all year round.? In the east, what we have is commerce, we know how to trade.? Even when an Igbo man packs sand, he will sell it. So, we have to start on that line of market.? In realization of this fact, we decided to build a very big international market in the east.? The name is Agric. International Market.
It is situated along Enugu- Onitsha express way, Ugwu- Oba -Aniocha-Oji River in Enugu state.?? The land mark is very big. The plot we are using now is more than a hundred and fifty.? It is located in a very large expanse of land and we anticipate that in future, it may even extend to Ninth-Mile.
The good thing is that we have enough land for any kind of expansion and development. We are calling all Igbo sons and daughters at home and abroad to come, because as the saying goes, ?one man doesn?t stay in the bush?. So, we are calling on every one, both male and female investors to join us.
For now, the market has kicked off with my personal financial commitment but I expect all that have the good interest of the people of the South east at heart to come and invest there.? From what we are seeing now, it will turn out to be the widest and prosperous investment in the East of the Niger in future.
The first block was laid in 2012, around February.?? We are about one year plus now and if you go to the market, you will see a lot of structures on ground; blocks of shop, hotels, security posts and other things. People are even coming in, trading in a small capacity as they can, and I believe that more people will be coming.
How it all started?
Before we entered into the business, we advertized, shared and distributed fliers calling on interested people to come; we sold our forms for N10,000.00 and all that.? The initial problem we had was skepticism on the part? of would-be investors.
You know in the east, we have had such markets but they failed to flourish or develop well.?? However, we convinced investors by telling them the difference in our own which is that normal business will kick-start without delay and that we will not wait for the completion of the entire structures before swinging into action.
Our style is that if it is one shop we build, we start from there. If it?s two, we progress. We are not going to wait until every where and every bank comes over before we can start it.? Big markets like Alaba in Lagos started that way.
Initially, people thought it was a fraudulent venture but when they saw structures rising up in the market and activities started booming, they now realized that we are serious.? We equally assured investors that they can pay gradually until they are able to own the structures after completing their payments.
Sponsors
To be frank with you, up till this moment I am talking, no government has? asked us how we are doing or what we are? doing there?? only the Local Government Chairman came to see what we are doing and he commended us. We are planning to meet them because we have just completed the security post? inside the market which will be opened soon.
We want to hand it over to the army for now.? This will show you the type of efforts we have made towards securing the market.?? So far, I have been sponsoring the project single-handedly. It is very difficult to say the exact amount of money we have put into the project so far but I can tell you? it is quite enormous.
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/opening-the-frontiers-of-international-business-in-the-east/
