See why this Nigerian graduate prefers frying, selling Akara to white-collar b

Chinenye has an accountancy degree from the University of Abuja. But rather than pound the streets and knock on doors seeking a job that agrees with her academic honours, the 26-year-old has turned to frying and selling Akara, not just to earn a living but more as a fulfilling way to be self-employed. Her story is an unusual but inspiring one, as Daily Trust found out.

It started like a joke, that is, a joke to the gentlemen.
Chinenye Sarah-Mary Odili was throwing enquiries at the Zangon Daura estate roundabout in Kado, Abuja. She looked dapper in a suit; her physique was cute; and she spoke Queen’s English. So it must have been a joke that she would be asking for space-where she could settle down to fry Akara (bean cake) for sale.
One day in January last year, Chinenye had left home with N3,000, chartered a Keke NAPEP and instructed the driver to driver her round some areas of Abuja metropolis. Her mission: scouting for a vantage location to start a trade, selling Akara.
Selling Akara? The gentlemen she approached would have been more bewildered if they had known right away that the figure before them was an accountancy graduate of the University of Abuja. Her appearance gave away substance-of sorts.
Your average Akara seller is not considered well educated or even literate. The stereotype is that of a woman, at best a secondary school dropout, without hope of landing a high-paying office job, without the finance and intellect to start a meaning small-scale business.
Intending entrepreneurs will first conclude selling Akara is dirty and degrading than ever consider its promise of profits. So this lady uttering impeccable English can only be a joke. But 26-year-old Chinenye is not. It was a career aberration, but she had it all figured out.
From 2010, the Anambra State indigene swotted for her accountancy degree, with time to spare for extracurricular activism. She was vice-president of the National Association of Anambra Students, director-general of the Nigerian Federation of Catholic Students and then a chapter vice-president before graduating in 2014.
After graduation, Chinenye, naturally hyperactive, began to dread life of boredom at home before youth service in 2015.
“When I finished my project, I felt I could not just stay at home doing nothing while I waited for my youth service to start. I could not really get full-time employment without the NYSC certificate, and November 2015 seemed too far away. I could not wait that long doing nothing,” she told Daily Trust.
She was unsure exactly what she wanted to do, but she knew she had to do something.
She couldn’t imagine just idling away her time at home where she resides with her parents, earning no income and constituting somewhat a burden.
Frying Akara was unlikely, but the idea began to take shape and grow. At a point, in search of counselling, Chinenye visited her matron at the University of Abuja. When she tabled her Akara idea, the matron was shocked and asked how Chinenye would come across in society, engaged in such a “demeaning” trade. But she was quick to reply, “It’s not about who I am but what I need and what I want to do.”
Chinenye also spoke of how she visited a former governor of Anambra State in his office in Abuja seeking financial assistance to help launch her Akara business. But the ex-governor would have none of her “crazy” idea, and so no help came from that quarter. Rather, he advised her to proceed for her youth service when she is called up after which a good job would be arranged for her, as he promised.