By Betsy Ramser Jaime
‘I am Benjamin Olaitan Owolabi, married with four children. I have a B.A. degree in History and International Studies from Lagos State University in Nigeria. I am self-employed.’
Benjamin owns a company called ‘Tab International Links, Limited’ where they focus on wood processing, construction and small-scale gold mining. The wood processing side of the business operates out of Kwara State and the gold mining part is out of Niger state. In addition, the corporate office is located in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Benjamin joined the Zidisha community in September 2019, and has raised 14 Zidisha funded loans in the past year.
With two initial loans of $14 and $22 he used the funds to help with school fees for his children. With these loans he was able to show his lenders his strong ability to re-pay which has allowed him to continue to increase his loan amounts over the months. Today, as of October 2020, he is able to raise funds over $1,000.
Benjamin has used the majority of his loans for a few primary purposes as he explains, ‘it will be used for buying of fuel for sawing of processing wood and transport of wood to the load point. This will increase my production which will equally increase my net profit.’
In addition, Benjamin has also used his Zidisha funded loans to cover labor costs and government required fees. Even with the difficult economic climate as a result of COVID-19, Benjamin is thankful that his business has not been affected as he shared in September 2020, ‘the current economic climate did not affect our business. This rain period our woods are in high demand. Our buyers are on standby waiting for the wood at their factory in Ogun state, payments are made immediately.’
Describing his growth over the past year with Zidisha, Benjamin took to his discussion page and wrote, ‘My lender I appreciate your support to the growth of our business. Since I joined Zidisha my business has witnessed growth in the work force and our standard of living at the family level equally improved.’
Would you like to make a difference in the life and community of an entrepreneur like Benjamin? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to read about inspiring Zidisha business owners all around the world.
