Three Weeks, Little Sales: How Unplanned Break Affects OAU Studentpreneurs

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                 Sofiat Yusuf


Damilola was settling down into her room in Moremi hall on Monday night, when she received a text that her goods had arrived in Ile-ife and were ready for pick-up. 

Almost immediately, she got another notification stating that the students have declared a peaceful protest over the transportation crises.  Her thoughts  immediately were the mode of how OAU students are known to protest by blocking all cars, buses and bikes from going in and out of the campus gate, with all academic activities suspended. 

‎‎Ordinarily, Damilola would have gone to get her goods the next day, but that couldn't as a result of the protest, hence, she postponed the trip to Wednesday. 

However, on Tuesday afternoon after a few hours of protests, the university management announced a 3-week mid semester break effective immediately, in which the Dean, Division Student Affairs (DSA) released a memo instructing students to vacate their respective halls of residence by 7 a.m. on the next day.

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‎Damilola was immediately thrown into a state of panic and worry. She not only had to get her goods to a safe place, she also needed to figure out how to sell them outside of campus, since her customers were mainly students.

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‎Damilola's experience was not an isolated case. Several other student entrepreneurs struggled as a result of the sudden break. It's no secret that student-run businesses mostly depend on fellow students to survive. Hence, as students gradually vacated campus for their respective homes, student entrepreneurs faced an obvious slowdown in their businesses.

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‎"I had to stop for a while. I live off campus but most of my customers were fellow students, and since they had travelled, sales were reduced significantly." Abbie explained. 

‎Others shared the same view with Abbie.

‎‎"This break really affected my business. On a normal day I sell my chocolate mostly and faster in class, I was unable to get that do during the break. Although, people still patronize me online but the sales are low. And I was also running Salah sales on scarves. Assuming school were active, I would have gotten more customers." Another student, Faridah complained about how the break affected her. 

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‎Some student entrepreneurs who survive with the profit they made from their business felt the effect of the break on their finances. 

Responding to a question, Itunu added; "I will say I was affected by the break because I collect weekly allowance but it's not enough. So I support myself with my little gain, but the break forced me to manage my weekly allowance like that because I have no choice."

‎Damilola had eventually packed her bags and goods and headed home hoping she'd sell a bit and make back her capital. Unfortunately, after the three weeks, she couldn't sell a single item from her cloth business.

‎The break may have only been for just three weeks, moreover, it exposed the fragility of most student-run businesses and how the management’s decisions affect the lives of the students. Some fear the financial setbacks might linger for a while even after resumption, as some of the students will likely resume after the Salah celebration.

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