For comfortable shelter, Abiola sold shoes and sundries

''I had always wanted to do my own business,” she begins her story. I started on my own initially with the money I had saved from my NYSC; I actually was making and selling shoes, straight from school. By the time I was going to camp, I was carrying shoes to sell that I had made myself and those were one of the proudest moments of my life, because I sold shoes in camp that I made myself. I use to go to Tejuosho market and supply people what I made myself. I was happy that somebody could even copy my style when I see them in the market. Eventually, my parents felt you can’t have a child who is a shoemaker when many of her peers were bankers, they wanted something more sophisticated and somehow they mademe stop''

By Tope Templer Olaiya
Listening to Abiola Afolayan narrate her story and sitting down to watch a soap opera, both provoke the same sensation of excitement, intrigues and suspense. For the moment the narration lasted, you are forced to stay glued to your seat and hear all of it reel out in interwoven lock of adventures. Yet, the dazzling hardworker insists she is not there yet.
“It is not a success story because I am still struggling and trying to create my own path,” she submits.
From being hurled off to the University of Ibadan by her parents, to read against her wish, a course she had no interest in, to coming out of the premier university and finding love in making and selling shoes, which she spent her entire National Youth Service exercise about, to hanging her Ajuwaya khaki and fantasizing on wild dreams before she was again, against her wish, dumped into the corporate world of banking, where she spent only 14 months before taking the daring and daunting step of jumping out of her comfort zone to be herself, live her life and become a young budding entrepreneur. It is indeed, a sweet tale that has had its fair share of bitter turns.

Now, Abiola eats, thinks, and dreams Beryl Shelter Limited, a real estate consultant firm of her own creation. In all her journeys through life, Abiola has carried along her individual trademark — the longing to be different.
“I have always wanted to be different, it is easier when you are different, when everybody is wearing black and you decide to wear white, even if it is cheap white, you will still look different, because when you are different, you stand out.
“I had always wanted to do my own business,” she begins her story. I started on my own initially with the money I had saved from my NYSC; I actually was making and selling shoes, straight from school. By the time I was going to camp, I was carrying shoes to sell that I had made myself and those were one of the proudest moments of my life, because I sold shoes in camp that I made myself. I used to go to Tejuosho market and supply people what I made myself. I was happy that somebody could even copy my style when I see them in the market. Eventually, my parents felt you can’t have a child who is a shoemaker when many of her peers were bankers, they wanted something more sophisticated and somehow they made me stop.
“When I stopped, for a long time I didn’t know what to do, it was like being jolted out of a dream. I now drifted into many things before finally moving into banking. I knew I was entering the bank to get money to start off something. I said to myself, I was going to work for six months and then do what I want to do. So, I entered real estate, after staying in the bank for a year and two months. When I registered my company, the joy of being by myself could not be compared to anything else that I had.”
“But weren’t you scared of the unknown?” Abiola paused, took a deep breath and with a knowing smile said: “I am an adventurous person, I get joy from trying things out, more joy sometimes than even the end of it. The fact that I did it makes me more excited than even the money part of it. So, when somebody tells me this is not company policy, I say to myself, ‘it is either I do my own thing and create my own policy the way I like it’. I try my ideas because that is what makes me happy. I make my mistakes but there is fun in making it, at least I tried and I learned.”

A lot of youths can’t go into their own businesses because they are scared of failing, but not so with Abiola, who was able to master her fears. “You fail to be successful, you need experience because it is from those past and painful experience that defines who you are going to be. Yes, by that time, I was growing older and the fear had started crippling me, it was not that I wasn’t sure I could do it anymore. But I wasn’t as strong as when I was young and just came out of school. Young people always think they know everything, so when you meet them at that point, they feel like conquering the world. I could remember then I needed people to encourage me but they were all saying it’s going to be rough out there. I wasn’t as young anymore and the fire wasn’t as hot, so, there was a bit of self-doubt but what steeled my resolve was that in my life I have seen it rough before. When I started selling shoes, I was always at Ojuelegba Barracks police station because all the Ibo boys I supplied shoes to would not pay me money, so I knew a bit of that.
“Also, by the time I started, because I didn’t know anything about real estate, I had to work with someone. Though I had registered my own company, I was learning about the profession with someone, and I wasn’t a staff. The reason why I didn’t allow him to pay me was because I wanted my freedom and; to do my own thing. So I can’t imagine collecting someone’s salary and then doing my own thing, it is not possible. I came under him and brought in transaction. That was the arrangement: bring in transaction and share it on a particular ratio. You know how real estate is.
“I started first month, no money, second month it was the same thing. I was going everywhere and spending the little money I had saved in the bank. When I run out of fuel, I would go and beg a friend. There was a time I went to a friend to beg for money, she said, ‘what’s wrong with you? Is it that bad? Go back to the bank.’ I told her God forbid. I knew it wasn’t going to be for a long time, I could see people who had told me you don’t suffer for a long time if you are on your own. I knew it was not going be for long, I will only be in this cloud for a while. It was more beautiful to know I was doing my own thing.
“By the time, it was the 7th month, still no money and meanwhile then, I was dry, all the steam had gone down. I remembered I went with the guy I was working with to meet a client at Mobil, I later found out after meeting with him that he was not ready to buy, he was only playing me all the while. By the time I came out, I broke down and started crying because I said to myself, I have been in this business now for eight months and nothing! That was the first time I said: was it a wise decision leaving the bank?
“To cut the story short, my trainer looked at me and said, ‘what is wrong with you, this is not an easy business, you will make something but it is not easy. It took me 13 months to make my first transaction and you have just spent only seven months’.
“This was the person I looked up to, so when he said it, it was like somebody giving you Panadol and I got energy from it. I always share this because when you have young people come into the market for the first time, you need to let them know that property is not like selling biro of N10. It is a big decision and heavy transaction, nobody will just drop N10 million to buy a property because your face is fine or your suit is the finest. People buy because they are ready for the decision, and sometimes it takes a long time. For God to compensate me, the following month, I made a cool money and the third month after, I was in my own location.”

What a happy ending to a soul-stirring story! The journey of faith, belief and courage, which started seven years ago, is now the success story of Beryl Shelter Limited. After wading through the initial staggering stage and she found her rhythm in real estate, Abiola is setting her eyes on the bigger picture, quietly re-engineering real estate and bringing sophistication into the business, just what GTB did to banking. She is launching this with a Beryl Shelter project.
“The project is about rewarding patronage, for people who patronize us, we will give them free Lufthansa international return ticket to a select destination. The project is to say to our customers: “thank you for using us’. If you come to us to rent an apartment or buy an apartment or anything that has to do with property — land, house, building or you want to sell your property. The fact that you have contacted us and engaged our services, at the end of the transaction, we would give you a Lufthansa return ticket to almost any of the over 40 Lufthansa destinations across the world, and it is for every transaction. It is not a lottery or a lucky dip; it is automatic for every transaction. It is a flooded market and I want to let people know that I actually do care about my customers, making someone happy for doing business with you. We are not just saying it, we are showing it, that we care.”