He was sitting next to me onboard an Emirate flight to Dubai. He appeared nervous on the flight. I assumed he was a first time flier. So I offered him assurance when we had light to moderate turbulence.
He was not a first time flier. He had been to many countries. I was going on holidays with a total budget of less than $2000 or less and no savings in the bank until my next salary. This was in 2007 or 2008.
My not well dressed seat mate was into second hand tyres. He was going to buy to stock his new shop in Abuja. He had started from Kano. He had travelers cheques of over $25k ( I can’t recollect the figures accurately). He was the one that explained the apprenticeship scheme to me.
Abuja Dubai is 7 hours. So we had a long chat. I have shared this story before on not judging from appearances.
The story came to mind today after a meeting I held with some furniture manufacturers in Kugbo. One of my team members asked a dealer a question on source of raw materials to analyze the value chain. The furniture guy was a regular traveler to Germany. His shop had high quality machines and other machinery.
He did not look like someone that had even visited Lagos. But he had traveled around Europe for business. My young team member was surprised. He commented on it as we moved to the next person.
I laughed. Again never judge a book by the cover.
©️ Ademola H Adigun
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