raumdeuter:


How many laptops do you think 200k which is $1k buy from source in the country it's coming from around 2015 before we add Shipping

Unless you are saying $1000 will buy 100 laptops that is at the rate of $10 per 1

You're looking at things as a "businessman", not as a hustler...a hustler would take crazy risks like buying laptops they don't have cash on ground to pay for, and before it gets picked, they've hustled buyers. Zero capital invested, loads of profit in the pocket.

Theflint1:
Phone/Laptop business are plug-based businesses, if you have a plug or access to plugs that you can control (these bastards never stay loyal for too long sha, but some can stay loyal for as long as a year ), that's your monopoly right there.

if not for anominnity,i suppose text you..in all these na just to get better 2-5 plugs and always deliver and your made

nihilistjnr:


With 200k?

That's the price of a single laptop.

You're talking about deals of 300 laptops a month.

You're saying your boy sold one laptop and became the Tony Montana of computer Village.

Your access to a solid plug is often more important than your access to capital

raumdeuter:


I'll like if they share their numbers and let's reason it together

We have over 50 to 100 guys reading this thread Has anyone done a successful business to share his model and the numbers

One guy did, one guy did. Chairman no be everyone go tell you wetin dem dey really do

Do you also believe Shina Peller just does night club business? Or emoney just dey do clearing and forwarding or Obi Cubana just dey do hotels or Tacha just dey sell cream for IG

many won't and would never say it.if i had known sef i won't have started that discussion.people making serious money will not come out and tell u how they do it,except their is something they want to get from you.

Theflint1:
Phone/Laptop business are plug-based businesses, if you have a plug or access to plugs that you can control (these bastards never stay loyal for too long sha, but some can stay loyal for as long as a year ), that's your monopoly right there.

Baba I will be Frank with u, this chief Ebuka story sounds so anecdotal .

Wetin the man actually do to become a multi-millionaire he never tell una . Make una go back go press his stomach say make he tell una the truth .

nihilistjnr:


Computer village in the early 2000s was tiny. My brother would park on medical road, and we would have to really walk for maybe 10 minutes to get to our guy that sold game CDs and floppies.

Maybe in that era, this guy could have done it....because that's what SLOT did.

But flipping one laptop to 400m in 2015 is an Adeboye-esque story.

In 2001 for 6months I lived inside computer village on Pepple street opposite the citizens bank. Pepple is next to Otigba Street where Fela shrine dey.
So I know the in and out of that area as at that time and trust me Ibo boys don dey sell floppy disk and assembled PC back then. Even laptops were not a novel idea in 2001 at computer village never mind 15yrs later

Theflint1:
You're looking at things as a "businessman", not as a hustler...a hustler would take crazy risks like buying laptops they don't have cash on ground to pay for, and before it gets picked, they've hustled buyers. Zero capital invested, loads of profit in the pocket.

But they will have to pay at the source of the laptop. I mean in America or wherever they ship the laptop from and with the $1k investment

If it doesn't make sense to you. It's probably because na zobo

Theflint1:
Your access to a solid plug is often more important than your access to capital

Unless the plug dey steal the laptops you have to agree that $1k won't buy much in 2015

The nature of businessmen growing from zero to a couple hundred thousand to them blowing is them making stupid leaps in growth, without these stupid leaps in growth at some point in their growth cycle, we'd never have small businesses grow to medium then large. Stories abound, across the world.

chidekings:
in 2015,you can get very good laptops at 50k each,thats 4 laptops for 200k,and you grew from there.when u get a bit big,u can now do many numbers and due to good name built over the years,people trust and do business with u without even seeing the laptops.you can even use their money to buy the laptops and take your profit.

Brah come on na.

What good laptop are you buying for 50k? Are you a thief?

Brah, they are advertising 2015 mac book for sale in electronics section for 320k

GChux1:


MacBook Pro 2015
Core i7 | 15 inches
16GB Ram | 512GB SSD
2GB Dedicated Graphics
320k

Granted apple products have a premium. Granted inflation.

But come on brah.

I bought a HP omen (direct from HP, no middleman) which wasn't even a top spec machine for £1k in 2016 ffs.

Theflint1:
This question should be directed at Oasis. I ask again, what's the nature of businesses growing from zero to blowing, is it by accumulating 20% year on year?

Answer that question, and you find your anwser.

The real question is why Tinubu didn't take you along with him to the COP28? Imagine you pitching these sweet financials with colourful infographics as confidently as you're doing now (rolled up sleeves too) to some Arab oil magnate? Throw an upperscale accent into the mix. Our FDI would be crazy.

We missed a chance with you.

nihilistjnr:


Computer village in the early 2000s was tiny. My brother would park on medical road, and we would have to really walk for maybe 10 minutes to get to our guy that sold game CDs and floppies.

Maybe in that era, this guy could have done it....because that's what SLOT did.

But flipping one laptop to 400m in 2015 is an Adeboye-esque story.

Aswear ! For a business that uses naira to buy dollar before buying the gadgets itself , even Adeboye’s suspension of winter story sounds more believable than this Chief Ebuka story .

As at 2009-2010 I was frequenting Computer village Ikeja simply because one ajebutter in a private school I was hustling saw a phone with me and bought it. Then other students started giving me money to help them buy Bluetooth earpiece and phones .

As at that time sef the gadget market was already saturated and requires capital outlay of more than 200k to even start with .

chidekings:
many won't and would never say it.if i had known sef i won't have started that discussion.people making serious money will not come out and tell u how they do it,except their is something they want to get from you.

Chairman you sef go know say something about this story sounds like church testimony which in most times made up

All those Na God oh just do am, most times are hiding the real business they are doing

afrodoc2:
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I just weak

raumdeuter:


Unless the plug dey steal the laptops you have to agree that $1k won't buy much in 2015

If I don't ask, you don't tell (and I won't ask). My money is good, your product is good, business gets done.

You guys are too fixated on the money, look beyond that to the other parameters that make business possible...product, and market, if you get a guarantee on a product, even if you're not backing up with your money personally, and there's a market, you make bank.

raumdeuter:


Chairman you sef go know say something about this story sounds like church testimony which in most times made up

All those Na God oh just do am, most times are hiding the real business they are doing

This is the kind story that makes men to doubt themselves. By the time they hustle their own 200k and after 8 years they are no where near 400m they will start thinking that something is wrong.

Ebuka no try at all.

raumdeuter:


Chairman you sef go know say something about this story sounds like church testimony which in most times made up

All those Na God oh just do am, most times are hiding the real business they are doing

bro like i Said if not for privacy,i for call the person real name,their are people u know 100 percent..theflint is the only one that understands this because he has done the business too.this are normal things that happen.

chidekings:
bro like i Said if not for privacy,i for call the person real name,their are people u know 100 percent..theflint is the only one that understands this because he has done the business too.this are normal things that happen.

I also know those who sell gadgets on nairaland phone section/technology market; I've even met 3 of them in the past. Honestly they don't look anything like people who have flipped N500k to N100m sef.

The more anecdotal evidence u bring up, the more the story keeps sounding unbelievable.

BlueRayDick:


I also know those who sell gadgets on nairaland phone section/technology market; I've even met 3 of them in the past. Honestly they don't look anything like people who have flipped N500k to N100m sef.

The more anecdotal evidence u bring up, the more the story keeps sounding unbelievable.

if u know the big guns very well,one day ask them how they started.

200k with sure odds can make you millionaire or zeronaire

Theflint1:
You're looking at things as a "businessman", not as a hustler...a hustler would take crazy risks like buying laptops they don't have cash on ground to pay for, and before it gets picked, they've hustled buyers. Zero capital invested, loads of profit in the pocket.

Who are the buyers?

Schools? Corporations? Startups?

I am wondering who the lined up bulk buyers are. Because what you are saying is that the guy has his buyers already lined up.

There is only one way I can see such a scenario and that is if a local govt wants to buy pcs. That is the only platform where I can see an unknown quantity being engaged to supply laptops with no due diligence.

No large org will buy large numbers of devices without any support

As an aside the so called zinox made in Nigeria laptops are rebadged. I am trying to remember the name. I got a few some years back and I needed to change the batteries so I had to figure out the exact origin of the laptops.

They Def cleaned up selling poorly supported devices at high grade price points

chidekings:
bro like i Said if not for privacy,i for call the person real name,their are people u know 100 percent..theflint is the only one that understands this because he has done the business too.this are normal things that happen.

Privacy and anonymity are the easiest cloaks to adorn.

Nobody made #400 million relying on a #200 thousand seed fund selling just laptops in just 8 years.

If you have to state it privately, it's because there's something else to it and that claim can't be verified.

Even if he got awarded government contracts to supply to schools, the initial capital wasn't #200 thousand.

Let's look at it this way

If you wholesale 8,000 laptops at N50k profit a piece, that's your N400m

So the question should be, is it possible for someone to get a plug that would allow them wholesale that over 8 years - average of 1,000 laptops a year? With of course most of the sales weighted toward the later years

I no dey doubt anything again however unrealistic it may be.

My reasoning was that money exchange/crypto would have to be involved in such exponential growth, but few Igbo boys have still done it outside those areas from nothing.

BlueRayDick:


I also know those who sell gadgets on nairaland phone section/technology market; I've even met 3 of them in the past. Honestly they don't look anything like people who have flipped N500k to N100m sef.

The more anecdotal evidence u bring up, the more the story keeps sounding unbelievable.

Ebuka is like top 2% sha...

BlueRayDick:


I also know those who sell gadgets on nairaland phone section/technology market; I've even met 3 of them in the past. Honestly they don't look anything like people who have flipped N500k to N100m sef.

The more anecdotal evidence u bring up, the more the story keeps sounding unbelievable.

I was in pc village to buy an ssd on Saturday. Na all these guys that will say it is in my other shop, just wait. And then when you get there they will say o sorry I don't have nvme, but I have sata. Or the ones selling you something obviously dodgy.

I have to wonder where these hyper successful sellers are. They are definitely not on the pages of jiji.

Ibime:
Let's look at it this way

If you wholesale 8,000 laptops at N50k profit a piece, that's your N400m

So the question should be, is it possible for someone to get a plug that would allow them wholesale that over 8 years - average of 1,000 laptops a year? With of course most of the sales weighted toward the later years

I no dey doubt anything again however unrealistic it may be.

My reasoning was that money exchange/crypto would have to be involved in such exponential growth, but few Igbo boys have still done it outside those areas from nothing.

You won't have one plug, that guy supplying the 150 units is one of say 15 plugs (some supplying as little as 1 laptop per time) , and these major plugs often have a life cycle of 6 months (generally, the more the volume, the shorter the life cycle), so while you're eating his volumes, you're shopping for the next plug that can supply such volumes. If you're lucky, you can have two of such at a time...by the time you're moving such volumes on a steady, your bread would have grown significantly as well.

chidekings:
if u know the big guns very well,one day ask them how they started.

The ones I met are normal guys who have normal jobs and also make money buying and selling gadgets on the phone section. I met one in Ajah sometimes around 2017, he drives an EOD.

I met one in 2019, he drives one small SUV. He is an engineer who works a normal job and also imports phones from China and other countries. I think he has gone fully into importation of different goods from China.

These guys do not look like potential Chief Ebuka in the next 5 years sef.

I don't doubt the fact that Chief Ebuka may have grown a company that started with hundreds of thousands to a million-venture business, but the figures, line of business, inflation and exchange rate are not adding up in this particular story.

Theflint1:
These ones sef dey.

And there's always enough to go round as long as you don't get greedy... Navy, Army, NSCDC, Police, Customs, Immigration, politicians, cult groups everybody benefits as long as you don't cross your boundary. When you cross then you hear arrests of vessels etc

Ibime:
Let's look at it this way

If you wholesale 8,000 laptops at N50k profit a piece, that's your N400m

So the question should be, is it possible for someone to get a plug that would allow them wholesale that over 8 years - average of 1,000 laptops a year? With of course most of the sales weighted toward the later years

I no dey doubt anything again however unrealistic it may be.

My reasoning was that money exchange/crypto would have to be involved in such exponential growth, but few Igbo boys have still done it outside those areas from nothing.

when one keeps their mind open,they will learn more.many are making money.my best friend has flipped 4k dollaes to 38k dollars this year in crypto even before the bull run.he bought some gems of a coin and to him those coins has not even started.but if ur not in the crypto space you won't believe him.many are making legit money and they will never tell you how they do it.who sells his secret.

GloriousGbola:


I was in pc village to buy an ssd on Saturday. Na all these guys that will say it is in my other shop, just wait. And then when you get there they will say o sorry I don't have nvme, but I have sata. Or the ones selling you something obviously dodgy.

I have to wonder where these hyper successful sellers are. They are definitely not on the pages of jiji.

Those that really make the money in computer village are those guys who stock up Phone parts, laptops, etc All those "bros we get for another shop" usually go to pick it from them, sell to u and remove their own margin. And those major sellers definitely didn't use N200k as startup capital.

These are people bank relationship managers dey go use loan facility beg for their shop. If that person tells u he started with N200k and has flipped it to N400m in 8 years, hes definitely telling an incomplete story with most important facts of the story hidden.

Theflint1:
Ebuka is like top 2% sha...

Top 2% in a market that was already saturated as at 2015?

I will ask again : Did he kill all his competitors and stole their market share?

Back to the original question, life is a game of chances. If you have N20m, your most reasonable investment is Japa because within 2 or 3 years, you will make that money back depending on your Japa reason

That doesn't mean there isn't a 0.1% of people that could flip that money into stratosphere, but are you willing to roll that dice?

Life is a game of chances and it is prudent to always take the one with the most certainty of reasonable return.