From Joe Effiong, Uyo
He glides round the Udotong Ubo-Oron Road junction traffic light so effortlessly and fast that our reporter practically ran to catch up with him. It is amazing how easily he pulls the cart that carries a lot of goods
Loaded in the cart are various goods, including footmats, footwear, plastic buckets, enamel pails, aluminium pots, kettles, plastic scoop, packers, sifters, filters, funnels and brushes. Even a small world receiver radio was spotted. A passer-by jokingly asked: “Are you sure you don’t have a jeep (SUV) in this your load to sell?”
Welcome to Uyo’s mobile supermarket owned and operated solely by Joseph Mkpafu, a 22-year-old native of Izzi, Ebonyi State.
Mkpafu said he arrived in Uyo in 2018 through the help of one of his brothers, who assisted him with a soft loan to start hawking goods and other wares at traffic light junctions.
But in 2019, he upped the game by constructing the cart and decided to transfer the load to the manual vehicle.
“The money I started the business with in 2019 was N250,000. Now I may not know the total value of the goods, which I source from Aba, Abia State; but I can estimate it to be between N750,000 and N800,000.
“Like any business, there are good and bad days. On a good day, I can make sales of between N25,000 and N35,000.”
Mkpafu said he schooled up to Junior Secondary 3 at Angel Michael Secondary School, in his native Ebony State, but had to stop because of lack of funds. Hence, the need for him to relocate to Akwa Ibom.
“My brother brought me here in 2018. He gave me money to start a business. I have since paid back his loan,” he disclosed.
For him, business is good. The only challenge is that, sometimes, the wares break and would amount to a loss.
He said: “Another problem is that it is hard to pull this truck around. Sometimes, when I pull it all day, I cannot stand up well, as such, sometimes, I would suspend it for a day to rest. As it is now, I am very tired. I am rushing to park it. The place I park it overnight at Nyong Essien is very secure because there is a security man there. Nothing gets lost when I park it and nobody steals anything. Now I’m very weak. I’m trying to push it to where I normally park so that I can go and buy drugs.
“I pay N100 every day to park it at Nyong Essien near Etuk Street here. The local government taxes me N1,000 a year and I have been carrying the receipt along to avoid being harassed by their officials or agents.
“If I see money, I might own a shop and pack the goods into the shop. That one would be easier for me. But money is the problem to pay for the shop.”
Until he rents a shop, the mobile supermarket will continue to roll.