Abraham Great, a successful Nigerian entrepreneur in his 40s is the founder of Straight Record Limited, a USA, UK, and Canadian immigration consultancy firm and founder, Great Magnis LTD, a company with subsidiaries in freight forwarding, shipping logistics, LED display applications and light solution. He is also widely known as a business partner of famous footballer and former skipper of the Super Eagles, Austin J.J. Okocha whose logistics firm was engaged in haulage business across Europe until Britain opted out of the European Union and the business was adversely affected.
Great while talking about life in Nigeria and his business deals with Okocha among other interesting issues, stated that the best decision he ever made in business was to start his own business, adding that “from childhood, my mum would tell me a story of how at the age of seven I would buy chickens or hens, they would breed and I would sell them. Or how I would go into the bush and get the materials to make cages, use them to trap birds which I would eventually sell. As a teenager, I would go into the bush, catch monkeys which I would eventually sell. Then I would breed Alsatian dogs and sell to people. I realised that by nature, I’m more of a pioneer. I like to start things. And when I was working for people, I couldn’t conform properly.
“The worst decision that I have ever made in my life was to take money for investment from very busy people. For example, I had a business idea and that business idea required half of a million pounds. I called J. J. Okocha and a few others. We put money into that business. The business was viable but we did not foresee Brexit happening. Secondly, I was being sabotaged in that industry. Thirdly, I was doing a degree in Law at the same time. The adverse effect was that because other people invested in the business, I had sleepiness nights because of their money that was involved. I had to take personal loans to service the business so that I could keep that relationship intact.
“There are people you work with that are wonderful; like J. J. (Okocha) He would say, ‘Everything will be fine. Don’t worry, it is the business.’ There were other people that were difficult that did not want to hear anything and would threaten you with police. On this particular occasion, J. J. and a few others stood by me. But from that point until now, I don’t go into partnership anymore. I go into joint ventures. I don’t go into partnership when you give me money and you go into the back seat and you expect me to run the business, which was the case.
“There are also other people you work with. You start with the best as friends, not as business partners. When you come together, things would not just work. They may be going through something in their own lives,” he said.
Speaking about the condition of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, he said, “I don’t think the government should just improve the state of the airports; they should just build brand new ones. No matter how you try to amend what is bad, you are only ameliorating mediocrity. How can the largest economy in Africa have the poorest airport? Let me tell you what I think should be done at the airports: Number one, Lagos should have nothing less than three or four airports. Secondly, Lagos is one of the five biggest cities in Africa. I’m not even talking about population yet; I’m talking in terms of size. The size of Lagos means that if you are coming in from the Lagos Airport at Ikeja, there are still many destinations you are still going to in Lagos alone. That is too much. In Nigeria, there should be nothing called a local airport. We should just have airports, and the government should dictate the category of flights that land at the airport,” he said.
(Story adapted from The Nation)
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