Business Lessons Learnt From Tobias And Titus Igwe

Hi hi people!
How’s you all doing? I hope there are no casualties from the season’s chop chop?(Casualty being loo things,hehe)
I have a post lined up that’s supposed to go live tomorrow but I couldn’t help but write about this.
I really didn’t want to write but I am still awake, tossing and turning from thinking about it so let me just go ahead and write it already.

Every time I ask God for inspiration,He always delivers. And today He delivered in the form of Tobias and Titus Igwe.
Tobias and Titus Igwe AKA the Igwe twins are 25year old co-owners of Speed Meals Mobile Kitchen. Normal business owners in Nigeria yeah? But no,they started their business in 2010 when their father died and it has being sheer determination pushing them on all the way.
I watched their interview on Moments With Mo and I was simply amazed!
I learnt priceless lessons from them and I’m not just sharing to encourage us all but I also hope to use as a reference post for myself in the future. I want to read and re-read this anytime I feel like “I can’t”…
So lessons I learnt already yeah?

(1) They were 22 years old when they started. Of course,they were basically seen as novices in the business as against the gurus in there.
But age is no barrier. You can soar when you really put your mind to it. What matters is the content you carry within you.

(2) They started the business when their dad died,no money was forthcoming and one had to drop out from Unilag with the other deferring.
“Life would hand us lemons,it depends on you to turn those lemons into lemonades.” I have no other phrase that best describes this.
It is not what happens to you but how you handle what happens to you that matters. You handle it really well and a miracle just might arise from a seeming disaster.
Still on lessons from the death of the father, you can never tell what you are capable of till you are pushed to the wall. We are stronger and capable of innovative ideas that can work than we imagine that we are.

(3) They started with #50,000 and had 1million naira in turnover in the first year. Today their budgetted yearly turnover is 80million naira.
Oh,God knew what He was saying when He said “despise not the days of little beginnings”.
When you plant a seed, you’ve got to give it time to grow, you’ve got to nourish it and when you stick with it, with all things being equal, grow it must.
And no matter what little cash you have right now, start with it, start small, bring anything you’ve got in your hand to God and let Him bless it. You’ve got nothing in your hands and there’s nothing for Him to bless.

(4) “We slept in generator house for over ten months because we had no money. From there we moved to a boys quarters to squat with a friend. It was one of the lowest points in our lives but we always remember what our late father used to tell us that: “good things doesn’t come easy, you have to make sacrifices’’. We persevered with hard work and determination to succeed against all odds. Today, our story is different. Hard work and tenacity has been our key to success.” (This speaks for itself)

(5) They currently feed a thousand people per day with their Speed Meals Mobile Kitchen business and hope to feed 10,000 per day soon. They dared to dream it, and they are still dreaming it and it will come to pass.
You’ve got to have a vision and work towards it. Yes,it may seem that its not feasible right now,but oh,dream it, dream it and God will bring it to pass.

(6) Their first cake was a disaster,the client actually said the cake looked like a shrine but they didn’t give up. They didn’t let the mistake make them crawl back into a hole but used it as motivation to do better.
I can’t sing about this enough. Yes,we may make mistakes when we set out on the path we want, our attempts maybe laughed at, but keep at it. Let that laughter be your drive. Tell yourself that you’ll one day turn the mock laughter into an applause, work towards it and so it will be.

(7) When asked what kind of woman they would want,they said,a woman that dreams big,one with innovative ideas,one with a vision for where she wants to be.
Ladies,this is for us. We cannot just sit by and be content with letting life go by. People-ladies like us are adding to the world, people are making waves,re writing histories, using their stories to uplift souls.
How can you be content with just sitting there?
Even the men don’t want nothing to do with such a woman.
Let’s dare to dream big and work towards it, let’s dare to dream the vision and believe that it will come to pass.
It starts with a dream, it begins with knowing that you are meant for a bigger purpose than being a wife and mother of kids.
Like Margaret Thatcher said- “I will never be one of those women, who stay silent and pretty on the arm of her husband. Or remote and alone in the kitchen doing the washing up for that matter. ONE’s LIFE MUST MATTER, Denis, beyond all the cooking and the cleaning and the children. ONE’S LIFE MUST MEAN MORE THAN THAT. I cannot die washing up a teacup.”
This she knew/dreamt even before she got into the house of commons.
It begins with a dream.

(7) In September, 2010 they established Speedmeals Academy and introduced the opportunity of a life time program- an initiative to train 1000 unemployed youths within one year.
They didn’t forget where they came from, but they are in their own way giving back to society.
They are lighting other people’s candles and giving them a chance to make their own room in the skies.
And we won’t lose anything if we do the same whereever we are.

(8) They actually made it in Nigeria!
The same Nigeria where reports say most people live under 1dollar a day, where youths complain of unemployment, they made it here!
Do I need to say more?
Yes,we can succeed!
And like I read on Ofilispeaks today (the second place I got inspiration from) be crazy enough to believe in your dreams, be crazy enough to believe that you can change the world and you just may really,really do the seemingly impossible (paraphrased by me)

I am so grateful that I stumbled onto this today, especially with the new year beckoning. Great way to start the new year with the knowledge that yes I can, yes we can!
Let’s believe in our dreams, let’s work towards them, who knows, you or I just may just be the next inspirational story I learnt from that I share on my blog…

Btw,you really should read that ofili’s article I read today,I was motivated I tell you! www.ofilispeaks.com/the-magic-christmas-socks/
And please google Tobias and Titus Igwe to know more about their story if you do not know them already and share lessons you learnt that I may have missed. I need it biko, thank you.

So till my next post which you should totally not miss, *hugs and kisses*

The Igwe Twins

Dear Lord, (my feelings about this are too big for words, please just listen to my heart) AMEN.

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