By Umo Eno

My presence here today underscores the importance we place in this Entrepreneurial Leadership Development training.

I came here today as one of you, someone who started a small hotel business in 1996 with five rooms in Eket and by the time I joined the public service, we had expanded and owned many hotel apartments, moved into Uyo, owned properties in Abuja, worked with International Oil Companies, IOCs and became the second largest employer of labour in this State, next only to the State Government.

I could have sent somebody to read a speech and inaugurate your training but I came here personally today to say that you can start small but grow big. I came here to say that, the only thing you start from the top down is digging the grave. Every other thing starts from down and grows up. It’s not about the amount of money that is placed in your hands. It is about the zeal, the conviction, the passion and the discipline that will multiply what is given to you.

The other day I listened to a young man who was literally sleeping in his house when I woke him up to place something very wonderful in his hands. He was given an appointment.

Today I look back thanking God that that happened and he was sitting down in one bar and badmouthing me and saying, how can he think that he can give people just N500,000 to go and do business. What kind of business would he do with such money?

I laughed. Why will he not say so? Because he was woken up from his sleep to be given an appointment. I bought him a car that he didn’t work for and so in that same car, he drives to a place and sits down to drink and feels that life is stress free, a bed of roses.

But when you read Dangote’s biography, his uncle, the late Dantata, gave him a loan of only N500,000. And Dangote today, is the richest man in Africa with a networth of $23.9 billion.

So it’s not the amount of money you get, it is the passion you have for what you’re doing. For over 20 years, those of you who live around Eket will know that my business, my house, and my church are all in one location till this day. I go to church in the morning, do my morning prayers in the same spot, go to work in the same place, get back home in the night in the same spot.

I shunned everything, paid my attention to my business, and grew the business. Anything you don’t have passion for, no matter how much money one puts in there, will not make sense. Everything begins with you.

And when we were growing that business in Eket, we didn’t have any help from the government, not even a local government support. The only help we got, I must confess, was patronages from several people. And then later, the government came and supported us. They patronized us. What I mean is that, they got value for the money they paid us. Did that help us? Yes.

But we didn’t have to beg the government for money. They came at a time when Obong Victor Attah, the then Governor, was to host the global Conference of Mayors in this State. There was no hotel that could rival Royalty Group at that time. And so, the government had to move from Uyo to Eket and made use of that hotel. For one week, we were working 24/7 for a global audience. I worked.

And up to the last day thay I left the Royalty Group for public service, I worked. I go to work in the morning, stay at work, serve, enter the kitchen, understand what’s going on. And I took a special interest in my business. I came here personally at the onset of your entrepreneurial training just to see whether I can inspire you.

I am talking to you without looking at this speech before me because this is a true story. This is a testimony…Modesty will forgive me, I had my own house in the US running my own business. Almost all my children were trained in United States before I came into government. Friends, no one will make it in business without his or her personal efforts.

All of you sitting in this hall and the previous batches that have gone before you, are blessed to have a State, where today you cannot only be trained, but have a seed money handed to you. It is a blessing. It has not always been like this. And so, I encourage you today not to take this for granted. Not to see it as an entitlement, but to see it as an act of God that has made grace available to you. And not to abuse that grace.

I believe N500,000 can change the course of your life for good, if only you are diligent about it. And that’s why we bring you to this development center to be taught how to use money, what to do with the money. A knife in the hand of a doctor will heal, but a knife in the hand of a madman will kill. So, when you are handed money, it depends on who you are and what you do with the money.

Today, in our State, we are very proud in the last two years to say that we have judiciously used the money available to us as a government. I’m proud to say that in the last two years we have not gone to the bank to borrow money, not because borrowing is not good, but because there has been no need for it.

And we have done projects in this State, and we challenge any other State to show us what they’ve done, we’ll roll out what we have achieved. It is because we are prudent. And I understand that some people may not like it, but… today, I have just signed off a supplementary budget of N1.6 trillion. Never in the history of this State have we heard that, and all of that budget is backed up by cash already for projects.

But make no mistake, the money we are using to execute those projects could have gone with overinflated contracts. Road construction have always been the bane of our contracts, but today our contractors know that we’ll scrutinize every quotation they bring. We will match it with quotations from our quantity surveyors. We will tell you why we cannot give you that contract at that rate.

And so we can save our money for Akwa Ibom people, and we can take that money and put it back in your hands, and train you, and start you with some seed fund that we believe can help you. All that I am saying to those who inflate contracts and my appeal to those is power is: Let the poor also breathe…

I had determined in my heart beforehand, before I came into the office as governor that if God gave me the privilege to campaign, and by the support of Akwa Ibom people become the Governor that I would look back at the poor background I came from and ensure that I stand up for them and speak for people like you… So today, I’ve come here to say to you, we’re not just throwing money away. I am saying: Let the poor breathe.

I’m happy with the testimonials I have heard and seen so far. Someone took N500,000 in the last batch and increased the sewing machines in his fashion business? Someone took N500,000, bought a palm kernel cracker to improve his business. Someone took N500, 000 and expanded his farm and someone else expanded his small trading business…

Friends, listen to me, I feel for you. All of you here could have been my children. Each time we go out there for events, it will rain. Everybody will run for cover. But you will remain there under that rain in your orange, purple and other colours, waiting to be paid just N2000 at the end of the event.

I feel for you. You are my children. I could be the father to some of you. I could be the uncle to some of you. And then, I feel in my heart, when you go through these things, so after all of these, after all these drumming and dancing for politicians, what next? Should you not have something that you call your own, that you go back to?

And that’s what inspired me to begin to bring you set by set, under this entrepreneurial training… And that’s why we felt we should be able to make sure you are trained, have some skills in your hands, give you N250,000 to rent shops, and then another N500,000 to stock up the shops. So, please, please, please, see this help as a lifeline.

Invest in the business you are passionate enough to do and enjoy…Friends, let us stop this attitude of believing that people owe you. Life does not owe us anything. Life itself is a struggle. It is only the grace of God that make the difference and stands us out.
And as Apostle Paul said even that grace was followed by hard work. Even with the grace, Paul said he laboured more than all of the Apostles and disciples. So grace is for labour at your work. This is my invitation to you to work hard…This is an opportunity God has brought your way. Take your destiny, your own destiny, in your own hands, friends…

Don’t use your business money to pay tithe. You pay tithe out of your profit… When you can use one Naira well, you can use 10 Naira well. I see millionaires here. But it’s only if you work hard, stay disciplined, deny yourself of some luxuries, stay focused and make some sacrifices that you can breakthrough…

People say politics is tough. I say, politics is not tough. To do business without government money and succeed is tough. Business is a hard thing. There are things, principles you must not falter. You will be taught all of that during your training here…

Try. Move your life up. Pray to God to teach you what to do with this little support from the government. Then you invest it. Before you know it, it will be expanding. God will give you more clarity. God will help you.

Friends, I pray God to lift you up.

• Being the speech of Governor Umo Bassey Eno of Akwa Ibom State during the One-day Business Concept Note Workshop & Opening Ceremony for participants of the fourth batch of Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme in Uyo.

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