ARE THE IYALAJE’S STILL TRENDING?

 Long before narcissistic individuals invented selfies, and naughty boy’s where caught searching for ‘jumai’ on jumia and  impersonating ‘kongi’ on konga, shopping in Nigeria was championed by ‘iyaloja’s and inspired by iyalaje’s.

Fortunately for Alhaja Alake, she was the ‘trending’ iyalaje whose business acumen was as inspiring as her generous heart, she sold some of the finest and most expensive fabrics high society has ever witnessed, bargaining was a reflex action to her , and so was  her trademark gap-tooth  smile, blessed with a robust stature synonymous with ‘yoruba mother' (including my mother), high networth clients could not resist her charm at the famous gbagi market in Ibadan.

However , on this fateful Friday ,as she finished  her jumaa’t prayers , funke her shop keeper ran to tell her that the market was burning  due to a visible naked wire that caught fire on their side of the market,  she thinks her shop is also burning, with pandemonium everywhere, and a multi millionaira investment gone down the drain, iyalaje broke down in tears starring at her bleak future with her jaundiced eye and no insurance covering, all she had left was a will to try again,  and a retinue of emails from financial institutions ready to monetize her goodwill.

A year after mourning and putting herself together, she  was ready for her next project . She has shortlisted three potential investors  that should support her new project in lagos, but she needs the advice of you readers to make a choice on the best financier to revive her medium scale business.

She learnt that the BANK OF INDUSTRIES has a competitive lending scheme valued at 19.8billion naira which is  available to  15 states in the country in which oyo is a part of them. At an average rate of 5 percent. Another  option is to capitalize on the funds for women which is in excess of 90million naira, or better still get a group of investors to access the 100 billion naira available for new acquisition in the textile and garment industry at an interest rate of 6percent per annum and a tenor of more than 5yrs ,afterall she has 25yrs of experience in the  trading of textiles in Ibadan could not resist her charm at the famous gbagi market in Ibadan.

However , on this fateful Friday ,as she finished  her jumaa’t prayers , funke her shop keeper ran to tell her that the market was burning  due to a visible naked wire that caught fire on their side of the market,  she thinks her shop is also burning, with pandemonium everywhere, and a multi millionaira investment gone down the drain, iyalaje broke down in tears starring at her bleak future with her jaundiced eye and no insurance covering, all she had left was a will to try again,  and a retinue of emails from financial institutions ready to monetize her goodwill.

A year after mourning and putting herself together, she  was ready for her next project . She has shortlisted three potential investors  that should support her new project in lagos, but she needs the advice of you readers to make a choice on the best financier to revive her medium scale business.

Her second option is to capitalize on the  strong wealth of expertise of  DIAMOND BANK PLC in terms of finance , marketing  and human resource management. For SMES by opening a DIAMOND EXPRESS ACCOUNT to forster a more inclusive approach which could be mutually beneficial to her, this is quite different from just getting finance. The bank promises to develop her business through capacity development, access to market, and access to finance. Finally her account would attract zero COT, with a modest fixed income monthly that can be re invested back into business.she also has the following benefits.

-          Access to business development seminar

-          Fixed monthly fee as low as 1750 naira.

-          Personal credit cards.

-          Access to her personal website at a discounted price.

-          Access to a diamond business club

-          Networking.

3. The third option is an opportunity to capitalize on the buzzling e-commerce market and get a portion of the 115billion  dollar retail market  in Nigeria. The bank is  GUARANTY TRUST BANK, they are trying to convince her  to upload her  new product on their   portal www.smemarkethub.com.  

She was told it opensher world  to business and her business to the world.

She was told all  she needed  to do was  to open a corporate account and come to the bank with valid proof of her  business registration document. Then  begin to enjoy the following.

-          Access to unique ,markethub ewebsite address.

-          A personalized online storefront.

-          A shopping cart with no consignment fee.

-          Online payment getaway

-          Inventory management tools

-          Messaging services and a member of the directory.

So, my readers,  I don’t know which she should choose between The BOI, THE DIAMOND BANK,AND THE GTB offer, share your experiences as a customer, or a consumer, and lets start a conversation.