IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO BEGIN
Perhaps you have now made up your mind to take up a responsibility but you are confronted with a discouragement arising from not realizing these facts earlier or starting too late, I can assure you have got nothing to worry about. Time favors everyone whenever he/she is determined to take on a challenge regardless time slot. It’s never too late. You are never too late to begin.
There is a popular adage that ‘the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, another best time is now’!
History had taught us enough to know that all champions face one fear or the other irrespective of time, but they rode on the back of their fear to fortunes. Fear is a mirage; it holds no water.
The fear of timing has eroded many of the opportunities to fulfill their divine purpose but not Taiwo Abiri, an economics turned millionaire motor mechanics.
Nigeria’s auto mobile industry like other sectors has been plagued by challenges for decades. Majority of vehicle users are dissatisfied about the standards of mechanics repairing their vehicles. A recent Independent survey by a group of businessmen in Abuja show that more than 70% of people in both the urban and rural areas who patronise the services of motor mechanics are dissatisfied with high-cost, low-quality repair and maintenance works from manual handling mechanics.
Beside the problems of low quality, there were problems of poor time delivery. You can be sure that if a Nigerian mechanic promises you three-hour delivery, it might take thirteen hours. Similarly, due to trial and error mode of troubleshooting, you may be forced to pay for replacement of parts that are not faulty. You can also be unlucky to have your car issue more complicated as a result of use of fake parts by the mechanics.
Added to these problems of unprofessionalism is the wide gap created by lack of mobile mechanics. An average busy ‘big car user’ prefers a mobile mechanic workshop service whereby a mechanic can come and render home services or timely emergency service should motor breakdown on the road. All these were the missing links creating frustration in auto mobile industry.
The Nigerian university education system should have provided a reliable alternative by producing quality graduates of mechanical engineering department, but unfortunately, the mechanical engineers and their lecturers also get frustrated and complain too. They are only armed with theoretical knowledge and can hardly hold a spanner.
Growing up, Taiwo had probably experienced the mechanic frustrations directly or indirectly and longed to solve the problems someday. His desire hit a brick wall as circumstances surrounding him made him study economics in the Obafemi Awolowo University. He could have studied mechanical engineering to actualize his dreams but condition denied him.
Upon graduation from university, still consumed by his passion to address auto mobile challenge, he wanted to go to a technical school in the U.S. with a view to learn vehicle repairs but he couldn’t because his parents disapproved. They preferred he pursued a Master in Business Administration to earn him a good job. With the parent’s refusal to sponsor him, he lost the admission and the time again. They cut short his dream because of the way society looked down on road side auto-mechanics. He appeared to have lost the dream for ever.
Frustrated, he initially resigned to fate by picking a job at a real estate firm after completing one-year national service under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Not deterred by the loss of times and opportunities to contribute to solving one of the nation’s problems, he took to YouTube to learning how to repair cars. For years he continued to watch YouTube videos on vehicle repairs and tried some hands on many times on those technical procedures learnt on YouTube. In fact, Taiwo reported that the first engine oil he changed for a car was done following step by step procedure learnt on the YouTube videos. The video streaming played the most critical role in his life as it provided him a cheap platform to boost his chance of realizing his long and almost aborted dream. Many years of watching the videos coupled with reading a lot of books about how automobiles work and repaired increased his interest in vehicle repairs. Therefore, he abandoned the MBA his parents opted to sponsor for his passion of problem solving.
After a few years, Taiwo resigned his good job and enrolled for mechanic’s apprenticeship at a garage owned by some Lebanese on the Lekki-Epe axis, Lagos. He hid his identity as a university graduate in order to be treated and trained the crude way like anyone else. Though he had earlier lost reasonable time, he remained focused approximately for another two years at the Lebanese apprentice school, where he learnt and worked without any pay. Taiwo graduated from the apprentice school, registered and opened his auto-repair company, Motomi.
Rather than complaining about frustration encountered in the hand of manual road side mechanics and reluctance of the government to do something to standardize auto mechanic industry in the country, he personally championed the course to free people of Lagos state and Nigeria at large from the shackles of unprofessionalism of road side mechanics, even though it came later than he had intended. Unlike the road side mechanic services, Taiwo’s company offer accurate and quality repairs with total regards for clients’ time, dignity and money.
Although he began the car repair business with friends and families as clients’ base, Taiwo is now a CEO of a young company, Motomi, that can boast of several reputable corporate clients including: Century Energy, Four Points, Sheraton, Falcon Gas, AA Rescue, Structon Construction Company, Computer Warehouse Group, among many others.
The long expectation for an all-times servicing will soon be met as Motomi plans to launch Express 24/7 to ensure clients are served round the clock.
He once told reporters ‘Clients can invite us and expect us to get to them in record time to fix their vehicles; whether their cars broke up on the highway or the fault happened while they were at home.”
In the year 2015, the company, while providing solution to the problems of the society, made a revenue of N25 million ($126,000) at his makeshift shop. He later moved to a bigger place towards the end of the year as a result of expansion.
Taiwo’s story above demonstrates that though time is important, it is never too late to start, never too late to complete, just do something positive, the world is waiting for you. Start with what you have now!
To be continued Tomorrow, don’t miss it.
Excerpts from the Book “You Are Born To Make Your Nation Great”. #DSABOOKS
This book can be found on dsabooksplanet.com and Amazon.com
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHURCH AND NATION
By Pastor Sunday Adelaja.
