Show love, just because!

If you follow Lagos Inspiration FM’s presenter, Chaz B, those words would be familiar. Last Saturday, I heeded Chaz B’s call and showed love and it felt good. I did a good deed by investing in IK’s business. IK always wears a smile but on that fateful Saturday, his smile was bigger than I had ever seen.

IK is a fine cobbler who operates a small one-man business here in Lagos. I supported IK financially to purchase a work tool which should improve on his efficiency and grow his business. You may wonder, why IK? And why support a stranger at all? Well, something about IK struck me and Chaz B’s other mantra came alive, “If each one could reach one, then the world would be a better place”. I'll tell you what struck me about IK.

I came to know IK by chance. Seated at my salon about two years ago, I overheard two ladies talk about this gentleman who does amazingly with fixing their shoes. He was especially fantastic with expanding those new undersize shoes which we females force our feet into, and go ahead to buy being very aware that they are tight and not a perfect fit. But because of how pretty they are, we buy them anyway and hope they'll expand over time. Truth is, most of them never really do. For those ladies, buying undersize shoes was no longer a biggie, because IK did a wonderful job at expanding them. Being a culprit, I approached them and asked for his address and sought to try him out. The testimonials turned out to be true, but that wasn’t all I discovered.

IK has a great temperament. In his little corner, he understands customer service. A man of his words; if IK says your shoes will be ready in 48 hours, you can be sure that they will be. If you are a Nigerian, you will agree with me that that’s hardly the case when you engage the service of an artisan around here. I have had nightmares dealing with my tailors, male and female alike. But IK stood out of the pack, so I chose to show love, just because!