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my eyes to the funding
opportunities that Nigerian
entrepreneurs were finally
starting to get. I knew at that
point that I had to do business.
I had to find a problem to
solve,” Muna said with a slight
chuckle at the end.
But the Coventry University
graduate was not going to
have easy fan support back
home, at least not from
the beginning. In a bid to
gain more experience as an
engineer and deviate from
the norm, Muna wanted to
take a ‘year-in-industry’ but
his father objected on the
ground of ‘timeline’.
we have to realise this bit.
It is this love that makes it
difficult for them to accept
life choices that they have no
experience with. It takes away
their power and need to guide
and they begin to feel left out,
causing them to ‘despise’ your
dreams. Don’t be distraught.
Your dreams are strange paths
that they are honestly afraid
of exploring. Yes! Parents
can also be afraid. They are
always afraid.
Dissecting
this
problem
caused a big question mark to
stare us in the face – How do
you get your parents to support
your entrepreneurship or
career journey if it does not fit
their ideas of ‘work’? Muna’s
answer – work and succeed.
Success is the best validation.
For him, his major validation
came in 2017 when he won a
five thousand dollars ($5000)
grant from the Tony Elumelu
Foundation (TEF). His parents
began to really acknowledge
that he has a real business
and root for him. It became
clear that Hubbon NG is no
fluke, it is a multi-billion
dollar company in motion.
At this juncture, we diverted
the discussion to African
parents and how they have
subtly positioned themselves
as the major problem, apart
from funding, that the Backtracking to the ‘timeline’
Nigerian entrepreneur must objection raised by his
have to face. Parents love us, father when he attempted
28 | blueink.ng
to take a ‘year-in-industry’,
Muna shared the questions
his father asked in between
chuckles and reflective smiles.
His father had asked – “don’t
you want to graduate with
your mates? Do you want
to do NYSC after your mates
have long forgotten that they
did it?”
Muna told me, “I reasoned
with him and just went on
with my course timeline.
But now that I think of it, it
doesn’t mean anything. In the
real world, there are no clear
cut timelines because you
can be unemployed for ten
years and someone else can
get a job few months after
graduation.”(Where is the lie?)
He
continued
schooling
and was on the lookout on
problems to solve and build a
business around. In between
several scribblings, research
and more brainstorming, his
dissertation happened. A
major incident in the course
of writing his dissertation
brought the light bulb
moment.
He said, “I became certain
that I would start a tech
aided delivery company when
my dissertation materials got
missing after my parents sent
it to me through NIPOST.
“The mail ended up in the