As they come in droves…

Still counting,  the current population of Nigeria as I write this is 188,432,425 says the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs! Phew!

I say still counting,  because even as I write someone is being born. And of course someone dies as well.  But no doubt if figures are something to go by, Nigeria no doubt has grown in leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades.

And that probably explains why a lot of countries seek to or are already courting her for marriage of various sorts.

Despite her many travails the nation still holds a pride of place in the committee of nations.

This is not a treatise about Nigeria’s population,and I’ve not veered off the topiç of this website but like I promised as time goes on I would be sharing the names of MLMcompanies that have come into the country.

So here is an update. Please note that many of these companies are not truly Network Marketing or Multi Level Marketing companies, they have just a semblance of it.I’ll treat the difference at a later post,  in the meantime you can read the book 45 Seconds Presentation by Don Faila:

RainSoul

Touching Lives International 

Melisfon (Meridian Life Support Foundation )

ICharity

Eagle Aurum Company

PIUNI

UNO

The weather’s never gonna be perfect!

When I decided to ‘retire’ from my job in the newsroom *winks*(not yet three score and ten), to embark on my network marketing business, I didn’t have the money to start, a very good excuse! I was unpaid for my inability to meet the target at the office. Asking hubby was a ‘no brainer’, because he didn’t buy my idea of leaving ‘suddenly’ as he saw it then, and it would have taken forever for him to budge.

So what did I do or more aptly, what did I not do? I couldn’t sleep as I had to keep thinking on how to raise the funds. Thankfully,my mum came to mind(oh God bless her and keep her for me.Mum I’ll take you on a cruise one of these days iJn!), and when I discussed it with her, oh my, it was like she had been waiting for me to ask. She even went out of her way to bring it to my house(something she rarely does)!

So what’s my boring gist about?When there’s a will, there’ll always be a way. Textgramfoto

 

UBIQUITOUS UBER

I first learnt of UBER from Linkedin, when the discussion was about the grievances of some UBER users. The topic of the gist was how UBER was ‘falling hands’ (disappointing) of customers. An UBER driver had raped a female passenger (a foreigner) in India.

Rape! ‘Tufiakwa’!(God forbid). That incident just ‘wrote off’ UBER in my subconscious.

‘Thou art inexcusable oh man’! The four letter word is one I don’t take kindly to. Although India had become notorious for RAPE incidents in recent years (maybe it’s been there for long ‘sef’), thanks to new/social media that has reduced thousands of miles to a few minutes and has shrunk the whole expanse of Creation into the palm of my hands into my little outdated, Nokia(I think they call it Windows phone now, since the Big guy Microsoft (abeg nothing micro for this company o, and nothing soft at all)  decided to acquire the veteran die hard German concern).

Some made a case for the company, while others gave it a serious, ‘thumbs down’ in the Linkedin thread. I didn’t even know then that, UBER was as ubiquitous as an app on your phone. Whether good or bad o, I had written off, judged, condemned, buried UBER in my subconscious. And as far as I was concerned, it was a DOA (Dead On Arrival) prospect for me.

And when I learnt the company had landed in Naija (Nigeria, my beloved country), I welcomed it with a sneer and looked the other way, hmm…my yellow cabbies would always do.  And to further ‘cement’ my reservations, another incident involving UBER happened close to home.

Sometime in April (7th April 2016), my younger sister had decided to ‘jejely’ (do a low key) celebrate her birthday with a day out with a few ‘personal persons’ (close buddies)   and their ride of choice was UBER.

They were to get their ‘baptism of fire’ that day, as the UBER driver decided to take an ‘unnecessary route’ to their destination despite their reservations. And they were robbed! Dispossessed of their valuables and tools of trade, phones, laptop, tablets, money etc. However, from ‘sis’ account, the driver wasn’t robbed of his own phone and he was a bit calmer than should be after such an incident.

Hmmm…UBER! To say that nailed the service’ coffin with me would have been an understatement, until I found myself in the Rainbow Nation.

Good roads, clean air, no smoking vehicle in sight (at least in all the areas I traversed). I didn’t get to the townships though, so I may not generalize. But I was assured by my resident friend that’s it’s for real. Lord, when will Naija or at least the acclaimed Centre of Excellence get to this Eldorado…hmm.

However, moving around became almost a hassle as I discovered I couldn’t just get to the road and hail a cab. It was either I called one cab company or the other, even their neat buses. Just couldn’t get a hang of it and my friend was almost useless in this regard, she has taken public transport only once in her ten years sojourn in the country! So she couldn’t really tell how to get around with public transport.

And oh my, were they pricey! You can bet your life on it, especially for a hustler like me that had to keep calculating what every cent, every Rand translated to in Naira. And the prevailing, CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria, our apex bank) restrictions on forex didn’t help matters, as one just couldn’t spend given the spending cap. I had not thought of that and how to get around it before leaving home because the trip was rushed. Was I stranded? Yes, severally. I could only use my main card once!

Talking about being pricey, when I calculated how much it cost us from the airport to our lodge cost about a whopping 15k! Agreed, it was a bit of a distance, but back home, from mainland to Lekki wouldn’t cost that much now, abi?

So given my card ‘wahala’ and my shoestring budget, I just couldn’t move around much because of my two ‘gentlemen’.

Although we had missed the Forever Living Products Global Rally (FGR) that brought us to the country in the first place, we still have to go somewhere now abi? And UBER surfaced again! Hubby’s friend (now my friend too) whom he asked to check on us told me it is UBER o! They are reliable, more pocket friendly than the other cab services, that’s what she uses when it’s late and she can’t drive, and she went on and on…

Ok o, I get choice now?(I don’t have a choice now), then came the snag, my antiquated (just two years, don’t mind me) phone wouldn’t download the app. So hubby did that on our behalf, from back home and shortly after got my (our, me and the boys) first UBER ride.

The car was fine (can’t remember what brand now) and neat, had this fancy device like a phone displaying maps and giving instructions to the driver. Made small talk with the driver, learnt a bit from him about his country and I think he learnt about mine too. Then we got to Fourways, he kept asking me for directions…shuo! See me, see wahala o, na me be the JJC now, abi? And I told him that much, so he contacted his fancy device again and eventually we landed in the sprawling mall. Hmmm…finally, after about some 20, 30 minute drive.

Since we were there to mostly look (kudi, yawa mi now)and I had briefed my two ‘ogas’ on the situation of things, just told the guy to drop us at the entrance of the first shop. And Fourways became ours to explore and discover. Fortunately or unfortunately, Mr. UBER dropped us at the entrance of ‘TOY R US’.

‘Chai! I don enter am today, no story’, they just dragged me inside the store and raced ahead excitedly. My smaller oga’s shrilly voice announced us into the store.

‘Remember, no touching!’ I kept repeating myself sternly.

‘Mummy. Can you buy this, can you buy that’, they kept chattering and I kept telling them to note the toys, that their dad would buy them when he comes a week after.

But men! Even if I had the money and wanted to splurge, I would be spoilt for choice. Thankfully after some eyes feasting we bade goodbye to the store.

Not to forget the main reason we had come to the mall, to get a SIM card, checking out every shop in our way, I kept looking out for an MTN or PEP shop as our friend Sandie has told us. None in sight yet, we found our way into a book store that was doing sales (trust me now). We looked around and they kept requesting to buy and I kept reminding them about ‘our agreement’. Fortunately, we were able to pick some books, one of which was ‘Cool Ways to teach Kids How to Make Money’, of course they were excited about it and they kept asking me for their business cards, one of the things which the book taught. It was from here that we discovered that the mall wasn’t our destination after all.

‘This is FOURWAYS CORNER’, FOURWAYS Mall is down the road’, the goggled cashier in the bookstore explained.

Kai! These UBER people again!

Thankfully, from the directions, it was walking distance, but we’ll have to cross roads. With these tots? God help me. And there is no ‘Keke NAPEP’ in Joburg! Because I dare not contemplate a cab!

Before proceeding, we were getting famished, so we settled in a restaurant for breakfast, where I got myself a ‘won’t forget in a lifetime’ smoothie, it had over ten fruit servings!

Done, we headed to Fourways mall. There was a crossing indeed, thankfully it had lanes not too wide and an intersection, which kept the vehicles in check.

Getting there, it was a huge construction site with a lot of fancy stores, cafes, restaurants calling for your purse. Got my SIM and used the remaining hours to discover and explore FOURWAYS mall.

Time to go home, came time to trouble, how do we get home, by what?

By then, I had little change that could hardly cover cab fare (imagine me, learnt the hard way! Always keep more than enough cash with you in a foreign land) to take us back home.

Got in touch with hubby, who tried to book UBER but alas UBER refused to budge on his phone! My card refused to dispense money despite the fact that money that could cover the fare was there (BUHARINOMICS suffer me o!). Another card, that was a DOM account where hubby had dropped some money the previous day was yet to clear (not too surprised, the bank is of the old guard). So for the next three hours thereabout, calls went back and forth with hubby, with no solution as we tried every ATM in sight! Eventually hubby got hold of another friend who helped us book UBER. Unfortunately, for the next two one hour or more UBER driver couldn’t locate us and we couldn’t locate him. The mall was a sprawling concern, and major construction work was ongoing. It emptied gradually and I was left with my tots in the dark (it was nightfall by then and I noticed that the streets usually empty fast in Jo’burg).

Scared shit, as I continuously prayed in tongues. Though I had the UBER driver’s number, just couldn’t reach him. And he couldn’t find me. The calls went back and forth to no avail. Putting my faith and fate in God’s hand, we found our way to another level of the mall where there was a car park. Found three men who from their appearances looked like guards, I explained my plight and asked them to help me call the driver’s number since they were using their local number (na roam I  dey roam). They also could not reach him, and hubby informed me that the driver said he was tired of searching and was leaving!

Well, what choice have I? None! One of the guards has a car and I asked if he could drop us off (by then thankfully, we had gotten money),SA is not the best in terms of security and safety but by now I just handed over everything to God, not sure if I will become part of their statistics or make the news the next day!

Just as he went to bring his car, a car showed up at the entrance of the park and one of the men ran to find out if it was the UBER driver. Thankfully he was!

Tears came to my eyes and I knew it was just God at work, watching over me and the boys. That night He used that UBER driver as one of his ministering angels.

Thanking those guards profusely, we ran into the car, me thoroughly shaken, the boys exhausted, as the driver eased out of the expansive lot that was by now ghostly in appearance.

As we drove out he gave me the phone to speak with Linda our benefactor who had booked the cab on our behalf, but could barely hear her as the phone went off.

I told him that I had been trying to reach him even as he was looking for us. He told me that the way their app was structured, it was only the person who booked the ride that the driver could communicate with, hence the reason why I or the men at the parking lot couldn’t reach him.

As I sank back into the comfy backseat grateful for the turnout of events, he tried to make conversation asking me how far about the Boko Haram girls.

I told him that a change agent was in charge now. That the girls were not all back home yet, some have been rescued. And the new administration had already set ‘things’ in motion to bring them home. Things like equipping the soldiers better which was not the case before now (in fact the military bosses stole the money!). He exclaimed when he heard that. Did I talk too much? Guess I did, that revelation probably cemented and confirmed the impression out there about Nigeria as a corrupt country! Next time, I would be more economical in what I’m blurting out to foreigners, I’m supposed to be an ambassador now, abi?

Don’t mind me, I was just glad that I found a savior in an UBER driver!

Though I’m yet to experience UBER in Nigeria, given my experience in Jo’burg, I’ll recommend the service, why? The cars are neat and fancy, so you can always be assured of a smooth and pleasurable ride, their fares are more pocket friendly. However, you might need to be your own map/compass as I discovered that most of the drivers don’t have ‘Jo’burg sense’, as we say in Naija, ‘no Lagos sense, no sabi road be dat!’

It’s been a while since I’ve been here, but it’s for good(sharing my testimony soon(iJn).

The last time I spoke on MLM companies in Nigeria, today I’ll be adding two that I have noticed recently: Helping Hands,Alliance in Motion and Healthy Lifestyle.  Know little about other MLM companies in Nigeria, however I’m proud to be associated with my partner company Forever Living Products. Proudly an FBO♥.