I am glad I made an impact on them.

When I lost my last job during the lockdown, I felt really sad and happy at the same time because I gave hope to some people through the job. I was a mobile sales supervisor with an oil brand and the job was great, my team was fantastic even though we had lots of issues, some problems are just inevitable when you have people dealing with money.

Another brand joined the group of companies and they had to pick out workers from other brands to hit the road immediately, I was chosen and knew it would be challenging.

My boss was an expatriate and he asked the new team how we can grow the brand quickly, one of my sales strategies is targeting the rural settlements and it has always worked but the resources on the ground wouldn’t do the work so the brand bought bikes for sales.

It is difficult getting loyal sales riders, some of my bikers in the former brand were keen on joining me but I turned down the offer because it would affect the other brand. I went in search of riders and finally employed about six riders to the job in my route. There were two other supervisors like me on other routes and we started the job immediately.

Sales were slow, it was impossible to impose products on people but we didn’t give up and one thing that got me angry is that my boss didn’t have any understanding of sales, he just wants results immediately, and he couldn’t handle the demands/pressure of his boss so he kept transferring the aggression to the team. It went on like that for some time and I told the team I would be returning to my old brand, I can’t work with a boss who doesn’t give a listening ear to his worker.

*Part of my team working while raining.*

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From the conversation I had with them, I felt their sadness because their family survival was hanging on the peanuts we were earning as salary. I told them to tell me what was running through their minds and they opened up, most of them were secondary school graduates and it would be difficult to get a better job. The sales job comes with salary and incentives, they didn’t want to lose it and if I drop the job, there is a 70% chance of them losing the job because I and the other supervisors recruited them on demand that we needed them to boost sales. They were 18 in total and I couldn’t have peace of mind knowing that quitting that brand might make the six bikers lose their job so I decided to step things up.

The first thing I did was make my team resume before the normal resumption time, we tried to stay ahead of our brand competitors and some sellers didn’t have a choice but to patronize us. I bought fuel from my weekly conveyance fee for the bikes from time to time so that we can cover more grounds, the need for growth was inevitable but it was draining.

The company is so terrible that they wouldn’t give you more than the usual resources and I didn’t want to ask because the more the support they give, the higher their demand. I didn’t have any selfish interest with my effort; I only wanted to make a life for the riders because I knew the company wouldn’t drop me cheaply.

The first two months gave the results we aimed at; I took up the task of mapping areas. I met customers and even gave gifts from my pockets, I was able to contain the pressure from my boss, and in the fifth month, we broke the team sales record.

In a nutshell, the other supervisors were sacked and I was given their role. The growth in my team made them believe I could do the job, I damaged my left leg muscle in the process and the company tried replacing me immediately but the team also stood by me throughout the treatment.

My riders became one of the pillars of the brand success and then covid19 came a year after, the company had to drop supervisors and I was part of them. I got a call while on the field and I got to the company hearing stories of how much I contributed to the team growth, this and that but they have tried everything possible to save me but it didn’t work.

I was sad but seeing my team happy made me happy, I broke the news to them on Whatsapp and it was a terrible day. I encouraged them to move on and we all hang out over the weekend. Today, three of them are now supervisors after Covid19, and the team keeps bagging awards, they are always sharing their success stories with me.

To date, we still communicate very well and I am happy I did my best to give them hope of a future they weren’t dreaming of. There is so much joy in making things work and spreading happiness in the life of others.

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