Activity begins at the Nyanya Area C mini-market in the early hours of the morning. It is a market that has emerged over time along the street where food and fruit sellers with butchers ply their trade. It is, therefore, surprising to discover an open-air shop with hand-made foot wears sitting on racks with young men putting finishing touches to a number of them.
The open air workshop which also serves as the showroom gives the impression of a very small beginning – the single rack for foot wears, the rough work table, a stool and a bench. It is owned by two partners, Mark Gabriel and Attahiru Steven, both in their twenties. Two things unified them – the passion for shoe- making and their desire to meet their needs while they await admission into the tertiary institution.
Both men had learnt the craft from different masters, their coming together an act of fate that aligned their paths. Gabriel had started learning the craft way back in Junior Secondary School (JSS) Three. In the city of Kaduna, after his junior WAEC he had been bent on learning a handcraft that would keep him occupied. Hence he tried his hands at carpentry but soon discovered he did not have an interest in it.
“That was how he decided to learn how to make shoes,” he explains.
Gabriel gave himself a deadline. He wanted to perfect the craft within a year. But before the eight month he had started making foot wears on his own. However, because he was still staying with his parents he took the skill he had learnt for granted and thought it a mere hobby. He had no idea it would later become an important part of his daily activities.
“I would just make sandals or shoes for my mother and friends around, and that was it,” he admits. “To me it was simply a fun activity and a hobby.”
But after secondary school he travelled to Abuja to live with his brother. This was where everything changed.
“I looked around my environment and discovered that it lacked what I knew I could offer. There were fashion designers, but no one specialized in making foot wears. I knew then that I had found something to do with my brother’s back yard.”
The support Gabriel got to kick-start his business was minimal but enough for him to stop bothering anyone for finance. His father gave him the money he used in buying a filing machine. This was important because it served as the major tool used to give the final touch to the product. Then with a very humble amount of N1, 500, he and his partner, Steven, set off to the market where they purchased materials they needed to fashion out their first set of sandals.
“We started by making sandals before we ventured into shoe-making,” Gabriel explains.“The theory of innovation says that the ability to create new things in a modern way, either by the use of machines or not is important for the development of any business. So we discovered that it would be wise to make shoes that would go with different types of outfits, be it Nigerian or foreign.”
Their biggest break came between November and December last year when Gabriel gave about 15 pairs of shoes to his younger brother to sell in school and again some to a friend.
“We made over N50, 000 from those sales,” he reveals.
Both partners, who are also friends, reiterated their desire to further their education soon.
Gabriel wishes to study anything related to business when he gains admission, particularly economics, while Steven prefers to delve into Sociology.
“I want to study Sociology because I desire to have the ability to understand any society I find myself in and discover their needs. Just the way we started this business by keying into the needs of the society,” Steven says.
Apart from meeting their personal and family needs the duo seem to be rendering a great service to their immediate society with eight apprentices who later branch out to open their shops elsewhere after serving for a certain period.
“They sometimes pay as much as N10, 000 with a crate of soft drinks. Some of them are in higher institutions of learning.There are also two little boys, one in primary six, the other in primary four. After their school hours they come over after doing their home work. During the holiday they also spend their time here. I simply walked up to their parents and convinced them to let their children learn something useful during their spare time and they agreed,” Gabriel intimated.
The two handy men indicated they have plans to grow their business, employ hands they can pay for their services, get a shop and gradually evolve into a factory that could be reckoned with in the future.
