By Emeka Nkwocha
Imagine a girl of the tender age of nine with a pan balanced on her head loaded with an assortment of confectioneries—biscuits, sweets, and meat rolls (gala)—traversing the dusty streets of Benin City in the hot, sweltering afternoon sun.
She calls out, “Buy biscuit. Buy Gala. Buy sweet.”
Men seated outside their homes beckon her to come. They pick a few rolls of Gala and pay for their choice. Graciously, she does not fall prey to male predators who are wont to take advantage of her vulnerability. Again, she listened carefully to her mother, who constantly warned her about how to keep herself safe.
All her life, Isoken Nwabunka has been a business-minded, profit-focused, and results-driven individual. Adversity had come for Isoken quite early in life when suddenly, at the age of eight, she lost her medical doctor father and was left with a market trader mother and an older brother, Anthony. Even though she was not immediately financially strung up, her mother would introduce Isoken to trading as a way of preparing her for the intensity of life to come. And so, at that tender age, Isoken would hawk wares along the streets of Benin City and make financial contributions to the family purse.
Her early introduction to business by her mum would help Isoken’s journey through life be intentional and practical. From hawking wares, not only in Benin City, but on the streets of Lagos at 19, to selling fire extinguishers and hair products, then branching out on her own to sell printing products and supplies, to setting up her fashion house, selling motor spare parts, and finally, establishing a beauty salon and spa, Isoken was ardent at ensuring she made a success of all her endeavours. Talk about the ravages of business, the profits and losses, she has seen it all. She is of the breed that you can indeed ascribe the ‘been there, done that’ in business.
When she wound down her businesses to take up a fresh vocation – microfinance, she had garnered enough logical resources with which to help micro businesses start up and eventually succeed. She then moved to help establish Grooming Centre, a microfinance NGO, in 2006 together with her husband, Dr. Godwin Nwabunka. It had its first disbursement in early 2007 to 10 women. Today, it has empowered over 700,000 women traders and artisans through microcredit. It started in a small hall in Ejigbo but it has now spread to over 600 branches with over 3500 staff.
Her wealth of knowledge and experience is captured in a 132-page autobiography simply entitled, Isọkẹn. The book takes the reader on a journey through a woman’s life journey through adversity, enterprise, and fulfilment. The locations cited in the book are Benin City and Lagos where Isoken plied her trade and walked her life.
Inspired greatly by her mother, whose words have guided her, especially through particularly difficult moments, Isoken ensures that she drops nuggets all through the book, which a discerning entrepreneurial newcomer, and even the established, would find most useful.
As Isoken begins her book, she writes:
“Life is full of twists and turns, so from a young age, I learned that I could not let unexpected events keep me down or define me. When I look back, I see that many of such events shaped me and led me to succeed, but I also remember that what spurred me in the early days was not a self-cultivated desire for success. It was just about survival.”
Life did indeed have its twists and turns for Isoken. As she sacrificially tore away from her careworn mother to strike it out in Lagos, she did have her forlorn moments, but she chose not to dwell on them. On this, she jots:
“There were many times I felt alone, with all the responsibilities I had, but now I know that even if you feel alone, there is still a chance of success for you in this world. Don’t give up. If you keep going and you are determined to make things happen, they’ll happen for you. To God’s glory, I kept getting better jobs and eventually went into business myself.”
Lonesomeness would eventually be rewarded providentially. By a stroke of destiny, she would be met and be eventually married to Dr. Godwin Nwabunka, who not only visited her with kindness but played a key role in guiding her more deliberate but precarious forays into the times ahead
“A priceless guiding light for me in making hard decisions over the years has been my husband and the knowledge that I have a supportive family,” she writes. “It becomes easier to take detours or make key changes when you know that you have someone or people rooting for you. This is what family is all about — giving your best to your loved ones and also leaning on them for support when you need to.”
Of course, it was not all rosy for Isoken. She had her intense moments in business. Like when her clothing business was not making the returns that she would have found acceptable, or when her gold trade was wracked with credit to non-paying pretend-rich clients. To these, she surmises:
“From my mistakes and successes, I have learned the difference between a good business and a bad one, a profitable one and one that isn’t, a business that brings fulfilment and one that enslaves. Once I start having sleepless nights, I know it is time to sit down, consider how much I will lose now versus how much I will lose or gain in the future. That helps me to decide if things should be improved or ended to avoid prolonged suffering. “
Leaving the hard knocks of business behind and taking up the onerous task of grooming microbusinesses to succeed, she has been able to pass on great counsel to these aspiring women entrepreneurs. Among the many chunks of wisdom that she passed down to one of her mentees, she penned this:
“To me, a good business is one that you enjoy while doing it, one that makes you feel fulfilled, not one that makes you think and worry. If you have a passion for something, but it’s not working, think about the next step. It may be that you don’t know how to work through it at that time. Drop it, stay calm, strategise, and come back to it or move on to the next thing, Don’t be afraid to drop a business that is enslaving you because it might be your chance to move on to the next level and to the business that will work for you. Whatever you do, dream bold and dream big — take calculated risks. It is the only way to get ahead in life.”
Isoken’s life journey has indeed been one interesting thrill of a ride. But it is not just about the risks and how she has been able to surmount them, but the ways she has applied herself with purpose to each endeavour. Her book, Isọkẹn, is a bag full of astute precepts for the budding entrepreneur. It is so riveting it is hard to put down. She concludes appropriately so.
“My life has consisted of taking risks and committing my all to endeavours. It is an attitude that has worked out for me. Even when businesses closed, I still considered them as things that worked out because I learned from each of them. Life is worth the challenges. This is the greatest thing I have learned, and I hope that every person — especially every woman who reads this book — will learn from the ups and downs of my life, and they will know that there is success ahead of them if they just keep working boldly.”
- Emeka Nkwocha is an economist and management consultant who lives in Lagos. Isoken can be purchased from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3W9Tx6A or at https://isoken.org
