On the first Sunday of 2014, at around 1:00pm, we were chilling in my house and suddenly there was this shrieking, bellowing and all round commotion from a church just beside my place. I won’t even go into how much these folks have terrorized the neighborhood at all hours with banging band practices, loud occassional quarrels and many other activities that can be measured in decibels. On some days, the members who reside in the church will gist and argue loudly from late night into the wee hours of the morning about issues like KWAM1 and Pasuma Wonder who was richer, Funke Akindele and Ronke Oshodioke who was the better actress, et al (honestly I am not kidding). The issue of their generator noise is another matter. Anyway on this first Sunday they started their normal service in the morning and by the time most of us had gone and returned from our own services around 12:00pm, my good neighbors were still on. Having gotten used to them, I somehow seem not to really hear them most of the time now. However, as we were gisting around 1:00pm that fateful Sunday, they suddenly raised their game by many decibels as if to remind us who was the king of the castle and one of us lamented -
“Abeg, not this 2014 again! This people no they tire ni? Church no de dismiss?”
We started laughing and she launched into this very interesting story of another church in her former neighborhood, enjoy -
One day they woke up to discover that Baba, their landlord, had decided to start a church in a wing of his very vast compound and in no time people were thronging to the place. The title ‘Baba’ was dropped and he became ‘Daddy’ (of course it follows that his wife was now Mummy). Observers watched the church grow in a matter of weeks. Daddy started service in the morning and kept firing till 6:00pm in the evening. Normally, at say about 2:00pm, Daddy will give a lunch break and maybe thirty minutes to one hour later everyone would be back, firing on all cylinders once again. However, the real drama started for observers a few weeks into the life of the new church when on a beautiful Sunday afternoon they heard Daddy ask everyone in the congregation to get a sachet of pure water and carry on their heads. Suddenly Daddy had an epiphany.
Over public address system, the narrator said they suddenly heard Daddy shout in an inspiration laden voice -
“Mummy! Mummy! Se awon oni pure water yen supply wa la anọ?”
“Beeni Sir!” Mummy shouted back.
“Oya sa re lo gbesi ita!” Daddy instructed.
“Tosin, Bolu, Shalewa, Gbenga, Bisi! Oya gbogbo yin, e lo gbe omi si ita!” Mummy went into action.
Sorry, did I mention earlier that Mummy had a shop in the compound as well? A shop that was always open with someone manning it even during service when all other members had to leave their own concerns unattended to be in church. Occasionally Mummy would step out from service to go check on business. Well, now you know. If you don’t understand Yoruba like me, please find someone who does ASAP and let the person interpret for you, because that’s what I did when the narrator reenacted the exchange. Her delivery was so hilarious I knew that she had to give it to me in English so that I could really grab what had everyone rolling on the floor (or perhaps some Yoruba brethren in da house could kindly interpret in the comment section for all to comprehend). Anyway, it basically has to do with Mummy supplying the needed pure water from her shop. Members lined up thinking Daddy and Mummy were graciously providing them with the pure water. It was when Mummy instructed Shalewa to take charge of collecting money from whomever collected water that church peeps realized that it was only Jesus that distributes food to a multitude free of charge. They all bought, they had no choice because somehow you needed to be carrying pure water on your head to catch the blessings Daddy was about to unleash.
That, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of so many good things. According to the narrator, the following Sunday Mummy was up extra-early and before service began she had three steaming coolers of rice, moi-moi and other orisirisi ready. During lunch break that day Daddy banned everyone from running around in traffic and risking their lives in search of lunch, he encouraged them to go straight to Mummy’s shop and see what Mummy could do for them. From what I heard, the rice sold out, moi-moi too; let’s just say the first outing was a resounding success. Customers, sorry church members even discovered that apart from sachet water, Mummy had been so thoughtful (perhaps having perceived the financial plight of some people the previous Sunday) to package some water in ordinary nylon which sold for much less than the sachet water. After the break they all returned to service and testified that Mummy had made service and the day as a whole a lot easier and more fun for them. People didn’t have to trek long distances in search of food and drinks (we all know how Sundays can be with most shops closed). Anyway, Daddy and Mummy were glad that everyone was glad. Daddy encouraged them to inform Mummy about things she needed to stock to make life even better henceforth.
Daddy and Mummy were remarkable strategists. For instance, if it seemed their stock of candles had over stayed without selling, it meant next Sunday every member will need to rush out and get a candle because that would be the medium through which Daddy will minister blessings for that Sunday. How lucky the members were that they didn’t have to even leave the compound to find candle. When the drinks had to move, sachet and nylon water were suddenly not available at all. Being that one was so thirsty and having been banned by Daddy from leaving the compound (moreover the nearest shop in operation could be miles away) one just had to make do with chilled soft drink, malt, Viju, anything that could just alleviate the thirst even if not as effectively as water. Love feasts meant Mummy had to really stock up biscuits, bread, drinks, please fill in the rest of the blank spaces yourself, after all this is meant to be an interactive class.
I hope you have learnt how to grow your business. Remember, do not just search for the market/demand, create the market/demand.
