Seeing the meteoric rise of the new Industrialist of the year from the bottom to the top

Hello! Good afternoon sir! I answered, still in a state of drowsiness.

‘Chukwudi! What is wrong with you and where are you?

” I have been calling you since 5 minutes after 6 this morning. You know how special today is and you are not available to answer my calls”

“You are meant to have been here since morning. Your room at Eko hotel has been booked since yesterday, you are nowhere to be found, you are not picking my calls” the caller at the other end bellowed.

It was the chairman of Seahorse industrie (makers of Seahorse Lubricants) and the newly minted Sun newspaper Industrialist of the year on the line.

I offered my apologies, told him I will join him shortly, he then dropped the calls at that point.

It was Saturday afternoon, the time was 12: 45 p.m, I was exhausted, knackered having been working non-stop on multiple projects since Thursday, have not slept more than 3 hours since that Thursday.

So I needed the sleep, coupled with the fact that the drug I took before I hit the bed to sleep around 5.00 a.m did not help me in any way.

After the call ended, I lay down for a few seconds to recollect my thoughts.

My iPhone notifications were scary to look at. I had over 100 missed calls with over 10 of the missed calls from the star boy of yesterday, the rest from Visage media’s clients I still report to plus friends and my parents, multiple WhatsApp messages to respond to and then emails too.

On the other hand, Somto, my cousin I’m living with, was knocking at my bedroom door.

” Bro Chukwudi! What time are we leaving for the Eko hotel” he asked.

I told him very soon, with an inquiry if my driver was around now.

With that confirmation sorted out, I quickly returned important calls and WhatsApp messages I could return and respond to within the shortest possible time with a mental note to respond to the rest at my convenience.

As I came downstairs to leave for Eko hotel with my crew, the venue of yesterday’s Sun Newspaper event, I got another shock.

According to the Google map, the road that leads to the Eko hotel from my residence was blocked because of traffic.

it would take us approximately 3 hours or more to get to Eko hotel, it was a Saturday afternoon, you know Lagosians love their Owambe.

Instead of spending 3 hours on the road, thereby incurring the wrath of my chief and boss, the second time, It is better I took the risk and jumped Okada to Eko hotel, Somto and the driver can come and join me at the venue with the car

I informed Somto of my decision, waved them goodbye and then looked for Okada to take me to the Eko hotel.

“3,000 naira to Eko hotel”, Samuel the super-efficient Okada rider from Adamawa told me when I mentioned that I was going to Eko hotel, I did not have the luxury of time to haggle price so I told him to take me to Eko hotel but please, don’t over speed.

My life and existence are important to so many people so I can’t afford to have anything happen to me

The Okada ride to Eko hotel was super fast and smooth. I was at the venue of the award, less than 30 minutes after I left my residence and on my way, I confirmed that the Google map was right, the whole road was blocked.

On arrival at the hotel, I went straight to the venue the event is scheduled to hold, to arrange the cameraman and the media crew to cover the event for my boss and to make sure that the seating arrangement for his guests was in order and secured.

This task took me 2 hours if not more to accomplish, the time was 6.00 when I was done. I had a Visage media staff on the ground to assist me.

Guests were tricking in, taking their seats inside the venue of the event.

I then went outside with the media crew and the cameramen, to await the arrival of the big masquerade, the newly minted Industrialist of the year, the Ogwodogwo 1 of Ihembosi, Eze Igbo of Benin republic, he deserves nothing but a royalty entrance, we pulled all stops to make this happen

While we were outside, waiting for his arrival, I was working on my phone, responding to texts, fielding phone calls and intermittently looking up to see the spectacle of arrival of the awardees and the colourful delegation they arrived with.

One man stood out for me, a deputy governor of one of the states in the north. The man arrived in the company of very beautiful women who were all fair, have big nyash and gorgeous to look upon.

While other deputy governors and governors arrived in the company of praise singers, aides and sycophants milling around them, the young deputy governor chose to do the opposite by arriving with fair gorgeous women who had their boobs exposed as his guests, as his own powerful delegation.

Different strokes for different folks! Isn’t it?

The newly minted Industrialist of the year arrived at exactly 7.00 p.m, as we were making our way to his seat designated for him, my mind went back to how we met and started working together.

It was a cold Miserable Tuesday for me that day. The year was 2018, I left my window open to go and eat only for rain to start falling, Unfortunately, I did not close my bedroom window, the ferocious rain destroyed my Spectrant internet modem that was outside, my Macbook that was close to the window, my bed was fully soaked with water.

Amid this gloom and chaos, I came across this brand on Linda Ikeji, I checked it was a new business and a viable prospect for Visage media, I did my investigation to know who the promoter of the business is and then got my man Obi Trice Emekato send me the number of the Industrialist of the year so I can pitch to him.

Whatsapp messages were exchanged and that gave birth to the business/mutual relationship between myself and Eze Ndi Igbo in Benin republic.

As we sauntered into the hall, Onuoha Ukiah, editor of Sun newspaper was reading his opening speech, I told myself we came at the right time.

The billionaire industrialist took his seat while I stepped back to make sure that the cameraman was doing his job, getting good pictures of the awardee.

Obi Cubana came in after Eze Igbo was seated with his friends and hanger-on.

The event was already in full swing when he came in with his beautiful wife Ebere.

And then here comes the moment we were all waiting for, the moment we have looked forward to.

The glorious moment of a man who has touched so many lives, mine inclusive, is to be honoured.

He was the second person to be honoured after Amasco boss and when I climbed the platform to join him to receive the award, I remembered where we started, where the Seahorse industry was in 2018 and where the company is today under the able leadership of the new industrialist of the year.

As Dr Ebuka Onunkwo was giving his vote of thanks after dedicating the coveted award to his dear beloved wife who stood forth for him, taking care of the home front when he was at the battlefield and then his staff who believed in his transformative leadership, what the Seahorse lubricants boss did not know is as he was speaking, he was speaking for millions of kids in Nigeria, kids born without a silver spoon, aspirational kids born to a poor family, kids determined to change their story without doing Yahoo yahoo.

Just like those kids, he was born in 1970 without a silver spoon but he changed his story on his terms without waiting for anybody’s permission.

His story resonates with those millions of kids all over the country and at that moment, he was a poster boy and a symbol of their aspirations in life.

Kacee’s performance was the highlight of the day, seated guests had to stand on their feet, dancing to his legendary, timeless Cultural praise hit song.

To be honest, the event dragged more than necessary so I hope the management of Sun Newspaper will look into this to see how they can make the subsequent awards, a good experience for the guests and the awardees.

Staying hours before receiving your award is not cool and not good enough.

I stayed back to join my madam and Ondo state first lady Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu to receive her award before joining Dr Ebuka Onunkwo’s guests at Eko hotel penthouse for the after-party.

As I retired to my room at Eko hotel around 4.00 clock yesterday morning to sleep, i I replayed the events of what was a beautiful day but very hectic in my head but one thing stood out for me.

Seeing the meteoric rise of the new Industrialist of the year from the bottom to the top, one thing is certain:

Anybody can be anything in life, nothing is impossible and no matter who you are or the family you were born into, the truth is this:

“ Your dream in life is valid”! Keep pushing.

Once more,

Congratulations

to Eze Igbo, the King of igbos living in Benin republic.