Hon. Mudassir Ibrahim Zawachiki is the member representing Kumbotso constituency in the Kano State House of Assembly. In this interview with Daily Trust, he speaks on his journey from tea vending to lawmaking. Excerpts:
Please, can we know more about you?
Well, my name is Mudassir Ibrahim Zawachiki, I am the member representing Kumbotso Constituency in Kano State House of Assembly. I attended Rumfa College in Kano and later had a Diploma in Mass Communication from Kano State Polytechnic.
I was first elected as a Councilor representing Panshekara as well as head of council members in Kumbotso Local Government. I was later elected member in the Kano State House under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019.
Before joining politics, were you into any business?
Well, Alhamdulillah, even when I was small, my father used to be a businessman at Singer Market in Kano and is into the business of foodstuff (specifically grains). So, I used to learn from him.
Later, things changed then I decided that I can’t just continue to remain idle. Then I ventured into tea business and still followed my father to buy grains. In fact, even after becoming a lawmaker I still follow him to Taraba, Gombe and Adamawa states to buy grains like groundnut, maize and rice.
Many people will be surprised to hear that you once sold tea considering your current position. What lesson did you learn by venturing into tea business?
Alhamdulillah, God always looks at ones’ good intentions. And I have always been a business oriented person right from my childhood. I have always thought of how to convert N1 to N10. My father has been taking me to his shop since when I was so small that I couldn’t even count money. We buy up to 200 bags of grains but he still keep me in the shop, till it reached an extent that he will just send the goods and I send him the money.
In life, wherever you find yourself, you just have to be grateful. When things later changed in my father’s business, I just decided to switch to the tea business. In fact, I have been doing it since when I was in secondary school. I do my business and then go to school.
But the key is, any successful person you know doesn’t look down on any business. My principle is that I never underrate any business as well. Even when I joined party politics, some will just look at me and say, “Sai Mai Shayi” and I proudly answered them, because I am proud of my business.
Of all my colleagues, there are about six of us, some of whom are even civil servants working as teachers, but, surprisingly they all come to me to borrow money courtesy of the tea business. Even the house I presently live in was built from the gains of the tea business.
If as a civil servant you earn up to N150,000 monthly salary, you can’t compete with me then. I can make a sale of N70,000 to N100,000 daily. That time, I can conveniently buy anything of between N1,000 and N100,000.
I got a very strategic location, people were patronizing me and I had many people working under me. I thank God that He blessed the business for me. It reached an extent that I didn’t have to go to the business premises because people working under me handled everything.
How many people were working for you then?
There are up to six people working under me.
Do you still maintain the place despite your current position?
Of course, it is still functioning. Even before I left the place about three of those working under me have now opened their places, but the main place still operates. My younger brother is the one in charge of the place. And, Alhamdulillah, he has been running it like that, he even completed his NCE recently courtesy of the place.
Now that God has blessed your hustle, what advice do you have especially to the youths to emulate from you?
I am appealing to them never to underrate any business, most of them have ‘get rich quick syndrome’ but don’t like some businesses. Entrepreneurship likes patience and perseverance on how to maintain your customers and even the business.
Don’t just look at a rich person without looking at his struggles. You don’t know how he strives to get to where he is. One has to exercise patience.
There are two things I observed in our youths; that if they start any business today, they will want to be rich tomorrow and there are many rich people who want to set up businesses but are afraid of who will run it for them with trust. Most of our youths will prefer buying expensive clothes and phones. So, one has to estimate his gains from his profit, to know what one would spend. If your expenses are more than your profit, your business is going nowhere.
But with patience, you can reach where you are dreaming. Our youths should emulate the likes of A.A Rano. I once heard when he once said in an interview that he sold palm oil among other businesses. Now, see where he is. You can’t escape from what God has planned for you.
I am appealing to them to tap from the potential of our city, Kano, as a commercial centre not only in Nigeria. Almost everywhere in Kano is a marketplace. They can start from something small and then change to something they are dreaming of one day, God will bless it one day. God is always looking at good intentions.
As a living testimony, is there any effort to empower similar youths to follow same pattern?
Virtually every day, our political ideology is all about empowering people. We always empower people to be self-reliant. My principle has always been to see people succed. My dream is to always see people taking over from where I left…
But, the bottom line is, one must follow due process and be patient. I am here today, tomorrow it would be someone else. I am proud to say that whosoever played any role in assisting us should be assisted too.
