Managing Director of Hidden Treasure Bookstore, Mrs. Modupe Ehirim
The Managing Director of Hidden Treasure Bookstore, Mrs. Modupe Ehirim, in this interview with IFE ADEDAPO talks about the advantages of reading books and how to run a business without being there
What inspired you to start the business?
I never thought of starting a business
because I thought I was going to work and retire, and just enjoy my
life. I worked in Central Bank of Nigeria up until 1985; everybody knew
they would retire after 35 years of service, or at 60 years of age. Some
years down the line, our deputy director, after spending 35 years,
wanted to retire and he said to me that he was unprepared to retire. I
spoke with my friends and none of them could come up with anything on
what they were going to do after retirement.
I started reading books. I learnt that
what was happening in Nigeria was already happening in the United States
and United Kingdom that people were already being retrenched. I then
set myself a five-year target that I would start something even though I
didn’t know what I wanted to do.
In 2001, we were not promoted as we
should; so, the bank offered to retire anybody who was willing and ready
to take early retirement. I took early retirement and enrolled for a
Masters’ degree, and one day in the library, I discovered a book called:
‘Small business administration guide to starting your own business.’
The book is a guide on how to start your
business, how do you decide on the business you want to do and how to
choose the location, it was fascinating to me. I thought of opening a
library but it dawned on me that I would need external funding because
it costs a lot to run. So, I started a book store.
What fulfillment have you derived from your business compared with working for someone else?
The only difference between then and now
is that I take total responsibility for everything. No matter how small
your business is, it is a lot of responsibility because you have a lot
of employees and their salaries have to be paid; you have pay for rent
and ensure that your suppliers get their money in good time. You have to
pay your taxes, you have to do a whole lot of things that when you were
an employee, you never knew because, then, you only do what you were
assigned to do. The responsibility with all of these things lied with
people in top management.
And sometimes you can work your whole
life and never even get to that level. But once you start running your
own business, you can make your decisions. If there is anything running
my business has taught me, it is the fact that I sit down, I look at the
situation and I look at the ways to go about and even implement them.
That, probably, is the greatest joy I derive from running my business.
How do you run your business in Enugu from Lagos?
Most times, I wonder how the multinationals are not here and yet their businesses are running very well.
In Nigerian Breweries, to the best of my
knowledge, until the company celebrated 30th year of operation, none of
the members of the Heineken family had visited Nigeria yet, they turn
over immense profit from their operation in Nigeria. Also, I had worked
in CBN for about 15 years before I ever had the opportunity of being in
the same programme with the governor of the CBN. They had branches all
over the country and they were doing well. I just felt that there must
be a way by which you can run your business and not being there every
day.
In my store, I tried to replicate my
experiences in the CBN; so, I did a procedure manual for everything,
which includes how do you receive goods, what steps do you take, how do
you record sales, how is money transferred from one place to another? We
had procedures in place and the employees were scolded for not
following the procedures. Perhaps, if they wanted to buy detergent for
washing napkins used in cleaning the books, they had to write a small
note to request for the amount they needed. When they came back they
wrote a note that I bought detergent for an amount and here is the
change.
People thought I was crazy doing that,
but I felt these were some of the things that made the big organisations
who they were. In 2005, I was put a position that I had to leave the
store for three months without being there and the employees proved to
me that they could follow the processes without me being there. That was
an opportunity for me to see whether my presence was required.
How can reading habit be cultivated among Nigerians?
In cultivating reading habit, I will use
my own example. When I was in the primary school, the British Council
library came to our school every day and whenever they were there, we
were allowed to borrow a book, but we were required to write a book
report. A book report is not a very serious thing. It was just something
you wrote so that the teacher knew you read the book.
That laid the foundation for me because I
had the opportunity to read a lot of books. I was reading mainly
because the stories were interesting. We need to cultivate reading habit
and there has to be a way that reading is rewarded. The second thing is
that the way education was then; we were encouraged to find out things
for ourselves.
Really, if you were in the geography
class, the teacher just asked, ‘Have you read Around the World in 80
days’? It is in the library’. So, we went and found things out ourselves
and the teacher was there quietly helping us to understand that
information could be got in books.
We have to create that kind of
environment for kids. Many years afterward, it is not surprising that I
read a lot, I read for fun, to learn every time, and when I want to find
out something, I read.
What kind of books can eliminate poverty in Nigeria?
All books hold information on this,
including fiction. The primary thing reading does is that it opens a
door into a world of information. I am presently reading a book
entitled: ‘How to be a best friend forever’. Even though I am not
reading a book on money making, I am now conscious about the
relationship I have with people. Invariably, what it means is that
people who are in the position to take me by the hand and guide me to do
things better in such a way that I will benefit financially, I will
have better relationship with them.
There are books that are written
specifically about financial planning and literacy, they are good and we
should read them. But practically, every book has that capacity.
What are the advantages of e-books over printed copies?
As long as there are books in whatever
form, people will read. For people who are old school, they are still
attached to the printed text, probably because they are unaware of the
technology or they find it difficult to adjust to it.
The young generation read e-books. But in
truth, especially for us in Nigeria, the e-books are an advantage if
people can cross the hurdle of inertia. Now, I am beginning to read a
lot of e-books because there are books that I wanted to read but they
are not yet in Nigeria; but now, I can download them.
The main advantage it has is that people
have access to a lot more books. When you enter a small book store with
2,000 to 5,000 books, the books seem much and yet, that quantity is not
even enough. There is a limit to what people can stock. The limitation
of inadequate space to stock them is reduced when you begin to buy
e-books
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