Ajiboye
| credits: File copy
| credits: File copy
The
Managing Director of Sans Frontiers.com, a travel management company,
Tejumolu Ajiboye, 26, speaks on the fears of most young graduates in
business and how she conquered hers. She spoke with MOTUNRAYO JOEL
What did you study?
I had my first degree in the University
of Ilorin, and a postgraduate degree in Environmental Management and
Pollution Control in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife.
How did you get involved in business?
I became an entrepreneur by learning
from other people’s experiences. Nobody taught me business formally. I
just developed the interest and picked it up. I’ve seen people that are
dear to me lose their fat salary jobs; they suffered and their families
suffered too. In fact, it’s not something a family should experience.
Because of these real life threatening experiences, I had to do a lot of
thinking and exploration. I settled for the business that best suits my
lifestyle. And with God on my side, I am now making progress. Secondly,
my friends with their 9am to 5pm jobs hated Mondays so much that they
prayerfully wished for Friday to come quickly. I didn’t want to be
scared of Mondays. So, it became an economic necessity for me to do
something on my own. I just took the bold step and sincerely, I love my
Mondays.
What was your first entrepreneurial experience?
I remember going to the orientation camp
of the National Youth Service Corps in Lagos State with a popcorn
popper. I went there to make popcorn. Anytime I look back now, I can’t
help but laugh. Four other persons also came to pop popcorn at the camp.
But it was just me who sold in a pack; the others sold in nylons. I am
sure you know who sold the most. I had a helping hand. While he was
popping corn, I interacted with the corps members. A week to the end of
the orientation programme, one of the popcorn sellers started selling
with packs too. But it was too late. I had become friends to almost all
the corps members and they actually preferred to buy from me.
What are the new business skills you have discovered on the job?
I have realised that being an
entrepreneur is much more than making money; it is more about sacrifice.
People like to dream about what you are worth when you are an
entrepreneur (with an exciting lifestyle, the freedom to travel, passive
income and some others). But what about what you have given up. You
can’t wait to quit your 9am to 5pm job; but you will realise that you
are most likely replacing it with a 6am to 6pm job and in some cases for
six or seven days a week. You are ready to take more vacations and work
from anywhere. But if you haven’t spent enough time working before
hand, you won’t have the income for it. Even mobile phone application
programmers and developers, which are in one of the fastest growing
industries around, know that it is not as simple as ABC. You’ve got to
sacrifice something. I haven’t met a single entrepreneur that didn’t
sacrifice something when they first started out. As a start up
entrepreneur, it is also hard to give yourself time off because if you
aren’t working, then you aren’t getting paid or moving any closer to
where you want to be. In fact, you have to force yourself to stop
thinking about the work that you do, largely because you enjoy doing it.
Also, it is much harder getting a loan when you are a start up
entrepreneur than if you are a typical pay employee. Underwriters want
to make sure you run a proven and profitable business over a couple of
years.
What difficulties did you encounter at the beginning of the business or did you achieve instant success?
Being an entrepreneur is not as exciting
as people think, especially for startups. You’ll need to give up a lot
of things you enjoy doing. I had always thought that being a CEO is a
good way to gain respect and authority. When you are the CEO of a
startup, it is like everybody is your boss; your customers, friends,
everybody is your boss. Don’t expect fame and prestige. The life of a
startup entrepreneur is indeed that of humble.
I also thought I would have more free
time as an entrepreneur. When you are the CEO of your own company,
especially startups, you can work for 24 hours in a day. So, you have to
do a lot of thinking and planning to get yourself out of the 24 hours a
day work. Being an entrepreneur is also about meeting people’s needs.
It is about making a difference. It is people-centered. It is about what
you can give. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must think less
about yourself. I have also seen that creating a company works mostly
for people that have passion for the job. That is the only thing that
can make one go through the experience and survive the downtime.
What has been your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement has been giving
my clients something better, faster, cheaper than what the nearest
competitor offers. My happiness is my ability to help people with their
travel needs, answering their questions and following their dreams. As
long as we can continue to do that, everything else is just icing on the
cake. Knowing that what you are doing is ensuring that someone will be
having the trip of a lifetime gives you a soothing relief. Anything we
can do to help people get out and celebrate this wonderful world of ours
is a good thing.
What is your most memorable experience as an entrepreneur?
For me, getting my first client has
remained the most memorable moment. There seems to be an unusual quality
to the first deal where you feel that all your hard work has paid off.
It wasn’t an easy thing, because I didn’t have contacts. Landing my
first client, I felt my dreams were fulfilled. I felt like bursting out
with joy and my heart was pumping fast. When I got home that day, I
celebrated it. I felt really good.
What do you think is the reason for your success?
Well, I have come this far being an
entrepreneur because I have built a top- notch business team. No one can
build a business alone. It is a task that requires a team that is as
committed as you to the business and its success. In today’s world, it
takes a team to get the work done, whether we are talking about a
startup or a large conglomerate. The potential of any team is defined by
its members, not just individually, but collectively.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
I love what I do a whole lot. I get to
meet people; a lot of people; good people, sad people, cheats, happy
people and angry people. There are also people who can’t be satisfied
easily; people who you would break your neck for and they won’t be
impressed. It doesn’t stop; you just go on meeting people. It is so
interesting.
What is your least desired part of being an entrepreneur?
Once someone gets a 9am to 5pm job, at
the end of the month, the person expects to get paid. But it doesn’t
work that way as an entrepreneur. In fact, you might actually forget
your way to the bank for the first few months or more. Now, that isn’t
funny, but it’s the truth. In fact, if you think that becoming an
entrepreneur will bring you loads of money easily, you are just bad at
mathematics. That is the unexciting part of being an entrepreneur.
Will this not scare unemployed graduates from going into business?
My advice to all unemployed graduates is
that they should learn a trade and read widely. There is a story of a
man who entered a restaurant and sat down in one of the chairs, waiting
to be attended to. He waited for quite some time and nobody attended to
him. Someone later came to tell him the mode of operation of the
restaurant. Life doesn’t really give us what we deserve. It only gives
what you demand. Never sit idle. If nobody employs you, do something. In
life, you don’t need to wait to get served; you go out there, pick up
your tray and take your turn.
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