Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part interview with our Next Nigerian Entrepreneur, the MD/CEO GoodDay Paper Mills Ltd. In this first part, he shares with us how he started and some of the challenges he faced. In the second part, he reveals some of the habits that made him a successful entrepreneur and how aspiring entrepreneurs could make their startups a success. See you at the top!

Introduction:

My name is Ezekpudoghu Chijioke. I am 31 years old. I’m from Anambra state. I’m the MD/CEO of GoodDay Paper Mills, a tissue converting company. We have 2 brands of products: GoodDay tissue paper and GoodDay serviette.

HOW DID YOU BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?

The beginning was not easy, although nothing comes easy because the world is not a bed of roses. I started GoodDay Paper Mills Ltd in July, 2010. I started with nothing. After my Youth Service in February, 2009, I was able to save only N18,000. I had some money in the stock market because while I was in school I borrowed money from my mother to buy some stocks. When the market crashed my stocks stock became almost useless and I lost a lot of money. But I never wanted to look for a job; in my heart I’m an entrepreneur. At the time, people thought I was crazy. How could someone graduate from school and say he’s not going to look for a job? I mean, why did we send you to school in the first place? (laughs). So when I wanted to start my business, I had no money. But I never believed that I could not get the money. That was my state of mind then; It was not an option for me. I believed strongly that once I was ready, the money would come. The question facing me was: what was I going to do with 18,000? I needed to raise a reasonable sum of money before I could approach anyone for funding. It doesn’t make sense to approach people to fund your business when you have nothing on your own. I knew I could raise money from farming so in 2009, I met my family and friends and told them: “I want to farm. Please I need money”. (Laughs). It was as if I had gone crazy. My people were like: What kind of rubbish is this? Laughs. But I have an amazing sister who always listens to me. I knew I could tell her anything. She encouraged me and gave me 200,000. Now I had some money but there was another problem: land. I went to Awka and met the then Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Mrs Chinwe Anowai. She took me to a director in the Ministry of Agriculture and asked them to make sure I got the land I wanted for my farming enterprise. The director called the people at RTEP (Roots and Tubers Extension Program) at Igbariam – It was a federal government program. Long story short, they leased out 3 hectares of land to me. That solved my problem; I had money and land. Then I used that money to plant maize and cassava.

You did the planting yourself or you hired workers?

Laughs…I no strong nah and I had not done any farming in my life. I hired laborers of course.

So in your experience, you started farming without any prior experience?

Yes. It’s possible. I never had any experience; I was a complete novice. I thought that farming was just to plant. That experience taught me that farming is science.

Ok, go on…

After the planting season, when I harvested my produce, I didn’t make much profit but I didn’t lose money either. At the end of the day, I got my money back. Farming is not easy; you need knowledge. There were obstacles: The site in Igbariam was not easily accessible and planting was done during the rainy season. So it made cultivation and transportation a nightmare. I also had to deal with middle men while selling my product. Some of them tried to rip me off. So I suspended farming for a while. When I made up my mind to suspend farming, I sold off my hectare of land to a friend and with the money, I thought of what next to do. I had options to go into polythene production or paper mills. I settled on paper mills. I sold off my stocks and with a little support from my family, I entered a partnership deal with my cousin. And that was how GoodDay Paper Mills Ltd came about.

LOOKING AT HOW AND WHEN YOU STARTED, HOW MUCH HAVE YOU GROWN?

Our growth has been exponential. We had our challenges but we have grown. We started with a team of 4 young ladies – O-level graduates. I was 25 then. It was a very young team; very naïve. We knew basically nothing about tissue production. But my team believed in me and I believed in myself. So we took off. We started with 1 locally fabricated machine that always broke down unexpectedly. We had no generator so we depended solely on NEPA. We once went a whole month without electricity and had to close down production as a result. It was very challenging. But I thank God, we were able to break even in our first year. That was when our product was accepted into the market. By June the following year, we were battling to meet demands. Business has grown exponentially. Now we have up to 70 staff on our payroll.

WHAT WERE YOUR MAJOR CHALLENGES AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO OVERCOME THEM?

Our challenges were much. We started business at a time when Nigeria was labelled as one of the worst places to start a business in the world. For example, registering a business name should not take more than 24 hours but in Nigeria it could take up to 1 month at times. We dealt with all that. Access to loan facility could take up to a year. In organized countries, it should not take more than a month because time is money.
Our major challenge was electricity. At times we would not get up to 4 hours of electricity in a day. But because power always came on at night, we introduced night shifts. My team was exceptional. Night shifts! And none of them said a word. We worked with locally fabricated machines and they always broke down. You could have electricity but the machines would adamantly refuse to work.
My staff were basically inexperienced. They could neglect things that could cause a lot of damage. But I’m going to hand it to them; they were committed. These were women who would work till late into the night and never complained or demanded overtime. And they did it with all their heart. Their commitment was 100 percent plus one. They were young and naïve but their loyalty was more important to me than their work rate because work rate could be improved but loyalty could never be forced.

Source: http://www.nextnaijaentrepreneur.com/my-entrepreneur-story/
The second part and completion of the interview: http://www.nextnaijaentrepreneur.com/my-entrepreneur-story-2/

Wow


SME is the future of any ECONOMY
I like this

Wow! Dats awesome

if all Nigerian can think this way. Though the problem some of us face is the starting point, after that you are good to go. as for me, I just started my Education centre business, is like tutorial but I called it education centre in case of future reference, we sell all exam scratch cards, register all exam, tutor for waec, neco jamb, adding jss1-sss2 soon, and we also have adult education, school of elocution (public speaking). etc. is a joint business with a colleague and our starting capital was 3M, less than 6months we already got back our capital. God is great, money too plenty for education.

This is just amazing..big ups man..the sky is your limit..

Nice one

wonderful. God help me oo.
lalasticlala, pls elevate this mission.

Ok

brunofarad:
Wow


SME is the future of any ECONOMY
I like this

You're correct my brother

DONMAYOR19:
if all Nigerian can think this way. Though the problem some of us face is the starting point, after that you are good to go. as for me, I just started my Education centre business, is like tutorial but I called it education centre in case of future reference, we sell all exam scratch cards, register all exam, tutor for waec, neco jamb, adding jss1-sss2 soon, and we also have adult education, school of elocution (public speaking). etc. is a joint business with a colleague and our starting capital was 3M, less than 6months we already got back our capital. God is great, money too plenty for education.

More grace, bro. Taking action is the best thing anyone can do for himself.

Make I park here.

KELVIN086:
Make I park here.

Park wella!

Very inspiring interview. This country needs more entrepreneurs like this one. Bravo op

I am also here to stay.. Let's GO!

Pls do u train people on acquiring similar skill?? Email me pls on jerryokpeh@gmail.com

jpride:
Pls do u train people on acquiring similar skill?? Email me pls on jerryokpeh@gmail.com

I interviewed CJ for my blog and posted it here but i believe training you would depend on your location. He's resident in Anambra state so if you are close, you might get to come to an understanding with him.

Yes i'm in Asaba. Pls help me connect CJ. My number is 07036728499 Jerry

wow.. nice one.
.
.
.
am also looking forward to getting an investor, grants or a partnership for my Cassava Processing Idea.
.
..
. I also don't wona work for any body..
.
.

funsho75:
wow.. nice one.
.
.
.
am also looking forward to getting an investor, grants or a partnership for my Cassava Processing Idea.
.
..
. I also don't wona work for any body..
.
.

That's a brilliant one. I'll compile a list for you.

delivite:


That's a brilliant one. I'll compile a list for you.

I will be very happy.
thanks.

funsho75:


I will be very happy.
thanks.

Not a problem mehn

Please how do I meet CJ?

jpride:
Please how do I meet CJ?

Would depend on your location.

Good

I've told u earlier i'm in asaba

Inspiring!

jpride:
I've told u earlier i'm in asaba

Ok. Please let me have your email. I can make that happen. Just had to confirm from him.

delivite:


Ok. Please let me have your email. I can make that happen. Just had to confirm from him.

I sent you a PM. Thanks

Amazingg:

I sent you a PM. Thanks

I'm sorry i did not get your mail. I saw the PM alert and a request to check my mail but no mail from you or about this. Please email me mrwhistler316(@)gmail(dot)com.

Thank you

Amazingg:

I sent you a PM. Thanks

Did you get my message?

jpride:
Yes i'm in Asaba. Pls help me connect CJ. My number is 07036728499 Jerry

Sent you a PM

Wonderful