Furniture making can give you the wealth you have always longed for
There is no doubt that the economic situation of the country is unfavourable to a larger population of Nigerians- looking at the growing rate of unemployment and unfriendly business climate. But, those who have taken advantage of the situation to start something on their own, no matter how little, are better placed, economically, today than those doing nothing, and this explains the reason for the growing rate of small scale business initiatives all over the place.
Mr. Henry Martins Ejere, who is in his early thirties, owns one of those small scale business ventures located along the road, beside M.K.O. Abiola Gardens, Ikeja Central Business District (CBD), Alausa in Lagos State. The story of Ejere, who has been in the business of making furniture, tomb stones and pulpits (with marble and granite) for four years now, could be described as a dream come true.
Right from his school days, the teenage Ejere had dreamt of becoming a furniture maker of repute. So, at the completion of his secondary education in the early nineties, he enlisted as an apprentice to learn the art of furniture making for three years. At the end of the three years’ training, he decided to work for about one year with his former master before setting up his own furniture business with the name: ‘Hens Marble and Granite Works’.
Hear him: “I have been on my own for about four years now. Before then, I worked for about a year with my former master. Actually, I started dreaming of becoming a furniture maker right from my secondary school days. I came across furniture making for the first time as a student and picked interest in it immediately. So, as soon as I completed my secondary education, I started learning the work. This was in 1993. My apprenticeship lasted for three years.
“What we do, basically, is to make tomb stones, counter tops (as we have in banks), dining sets, side stools, centre tables, wall clocks, photo frames and flower pots with marble and granite materials, using equipment such as filing, cutting and puffing machines as well as marble gum for the finishing of the products,” the young furniture maker said.
Ejere, who noted that he decided to specialize in furniture making using marble and granite products, added that he does not want to go into common-place furniture making using fabrics, wood and others, pointing out that his products are targeted at the rich in the society, considering the high cost of the finished products.
“Some of my products costs as much as N250,000 each. The products are expensive because the raw materials used in making them are very expensive. Our targets are the rich in the society who can afford them. Our products are unique, and whoever knows about products made with marble and granite materials knows that such products are in vogue now,” Ejere enthused.
The furniture entrepreneur, who noted that business patronage has been encouraging, added that he gives God the glory for the encouraging sales being recorded on daily basis. He explained that clients bombard him with orders which delivery dates, sometimes, he is unable to meet. Corroborating Ejere, his sales girl, Miss Seyi Oloye, told this reporter that if he had come the previous day, he would have met a dining table which a client bought at the cost of N250,000. She added proudly that their products are hardly finished before they are purchased by customers.
On the prospect of the business, Ejere said its future is very bright, explaining that more people are becoming aware of furniture made with marble and granite materials. “So, the market for the products is growing bigger by the day, which means more business for us. The only thing we have to do now is to introduce innovations that will endear our customers to us. You know in a world of competition, only new ideas can make one survive it,” he said.
However, the major constraint facing the ambitious furniture maker is money with which to set up a standard factory at a permanent site equipped with sophisticated industrial machines and also have a modern show room where to display his products. “You can see that we are at the road side. This is a temporary site. You can equally see that we display our products on the ground at the mercy of dust and rain. But if there is money, we would like to operate at a good factory site and also display our products in a modern show room.
“If there is money, we would also like to purchase industrial machines to enhance our business. But now, we depend mainly on manual labour which slows down production capacity”, he explained.
For a prospective entrant into the business, Henry said such a person who must have learnt about the trade for nothing less than three years, must have, at least, N2 million as take-off capital. According to him, the N2 million will be for renting a space as site for a period of time, buy the basic equipment such as filing, cutting and puffing machines as well as raw materials.
