On a Thursday morning, as the sun begins to rise over the Oja’ba area in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, Akinbo Adesegun set up his big umbrella, dusted off his four Point of Sale (POS) machines, and carefully arranged them on a table set to begin the day’s work, as he usually does every day, long before the bustling Oja’ba market in Ibadan reaches full swing.
Contents
A business within business
‘Living life on N100 charges’
POS biz: Scammers, robberies, and ‘self-scamming’
ALSO READ: How to Request a Refund from a Failed POS Transaction in 24 Hours
Cash scarcity boom: ‘Who benefited from Nigerians’ pains?’
POS business in the face of new policies
A 50-year-old married man with three children, Adesegun also runs All in Bulk Enterprise, another business away from POS, where he sells nylons and packaging materials. But since he became popular with POS business around the Oja Oba area, the 50-year-old man said daily patronage and visibility in the market forced him to hand over the other business, focusing squarely on gains from his beloved terminals.
In this piece, Tribune On The Street spotlights Adesegun who spoke to our reporter about survival on daily POS earnings, the risks involved in the business, and how a costly mistake could have put his business in danger.
A business within business
Unlike many operators who ventured into POS after losing previous jobs or businesses, Adesegun entered the industry from a position of stability.
Responding to our reporter on whether he quit or was relieved of a job before venturing into POS, Adesegun said, “I was a business owner before I started the POS business in 2010. I started because I did not want to limit my income to only selling nylons, so I started it as a subsidiary to my other business.”
While POS operations have become the face of his business, the father of three also owns a packaging materials business that sells nylon products. “I am quite known as ‘Iya Oba POS Enterprise’ in the Oja’ba area,” he said.
According to him, recognition from his POS business pushed him to employ workers to oversee his packaging business.
‘Living life on N100 charges’
Like anyone miles away from the business, this reporter was curious about how Adesegun, among other POS operators, makes ends meet with as little as N100 or N200 charges per withdrawal daily. Responding to the question, Adesegun said ease of survival depends on the business location.
“The least charges of N100 or N200 are the nature of this business, but it all depends on the area,” he explained.
“Like now, I am in a marketplace, so the patronage is mostly high as people will buy something and first want to withdraw money.”
On average, Adesgun said the business earns him about N15,000 daily income, noting, however, that the income alone is not enough to support his family.
“I manage it well because I have another business to support it. I am not depending on this POS alone,” the father of three told Tribune On The Street.
POS biz: Scammers, robberies, and ‘self-scamming’
To many passers-by, especially those with stalls and shops around Oja’ba market in Ibadan, Adesegun is simply the familiar POS operator they trust. But behind the convenience his business provides lies a daily battle with financial risks, fraud, robberies, and costly mistakes that many customers may not get to see.
Adesegun told Tribune On The Street that fraud is just one of many devils that POS operators wake up to dare every day. “There are so many risks, I cannot really count. As long as you do this POS business, you should just put your mind at it that risks would abound.”
According to him, scammers are there, but there are other dangers, including costly mistakes like erroneous transfers that usually look like self-scamming and an unwanted present on a bad day.
On his birthday two years ago, Adesegun got one of those painful presents; he experienced a robbery incident not as a spectator but a victim of one of the popular risks that lurk late for people dealing with cash.
“I went to the bank to withdraw for my business, but unknown to me, I had been trailed from the bank.
“When I got to the Gege Area, they blocked me, and I was robbed in broad daylight. All the funds I had on me were taken,” he recalled. However, he believes the robbery could have been avoided if operators had easier access to working capital.
“If I had enough cash then, I wouldn’t have gone to the bank. I would have been in my seat giving cash to customers.”
Unlike the robbery incident, Adesegun escaped the painful experience this time. He had mistakenly transferred N100,000 to the wrong person, but was lucky enough.
“I recently made a mistake of transferring ₦100,000 to a wrong account but immediately I took action and with the support of the operators, my money was recovered,” Adesegun recalled.
“After I lodged a complaint, they quickly switched into action and got my money recovered. There’s a high possibility of retrieving your money when you quickly discover your mistake(s) and report it.”
The incident, he said, reinforced one of the biggest lessons every POS operator must learn.
“POS is a risky business, but you have to be very careful. Although you cannot do without getting scammed at times or making mistakes, when you’re careful, you look at your figures on the machine, look at what you do, and let your heart be there one hundred percent,” he added
