<div class= "text-justify">


![pexels-photo-6872120.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/mrenglish/23w2gwxtK7QELW2eKvxjCjCjzBjcFfZykUNZFCcz2YQj3JBqUt9GWiGLfzu5Qn6Yfiioa.jpeg)
[Quang Nguyen Vinh](https://www.pexels.com/@quang-nguyen-vinh-222549/)


Tomi was hopeful that all the early morning rush would be over in one day. The only time she gets to wake up after a comfortable sleep is on Sunday when she wakes up by 7:00 am to prepare for the morning mass. On other days of the week, she has to catch up with the only *pakurumo* bus that will be leaving *Abule* by 5:30 am. 


Her workplace was the fish pond near the natural swampy boundary at *Ileko*. She founded the pond business with her savings from the one-year compulsory youth service. It was her only hope to have a life. The government has over the years stopped employment in the civil service. 

At the technical school Tomi attended before progressing to service the country for one year, she chose fisheries from the list of compulsory vocational subjects. While her other classmates were selecting web design, sound production and many other lucrative subjects, she opted to do fishing. 

The only space available to run this fish pond business was the swampy lands at *Ileko*, a suburb of *Abule*. It was a far land but she was ready to do anything to ensure she started. The land was the only incentive the government had for whoever wanted to do fish pond business. 

Tomi accepted the offer to start up the pond. She employed masons to dig up the measured land space. She was going, to begin with just a pond. She invested everything she had in the business. After a few months, she harvested the fish. They were so huge. Probably, she over-fed them. 

One of her trying times in doing this business was when there was no one to buy the fish. And that was her only hope to reinvest whatever proceeds she made from the sales. 

> What should I do now? Tomi asked herself.

She was not able to find a solution. She had contacted all the big hotels in town to know if they would try out her catfish but they all turned her down. 

Out of sheer discouragement, Tomi resulted in smoking the fish. It was her only option. This method of preserving fish is local and only local people cherish it. 

Everything became bleak to her because there were no more funds to run her pond. So, she decided to go to the local market to display her huge dried catfish. 

On the market day, she spread a sack and displayed her wares. Customers lurked around, buying the fish and in no time, she had sold more than half of the dried fish. 

One customer,  Lina, came to spend the holidays with her parents from Europe and decided to see what the local market looked like. When she saw the huge dried catfish Tomi was selling, she decided to ask her how she could get more of the fish exported to Europe for her African restaurant business. 

Tomi saw that as an opportunity to narrate what she does and how she would ensure that she sends six thousand pieces of dried catfish to England for Lina's restaurant. 

They spoke at length about the procedures and what they would cost. It was the greatest moment of her life. Lina paid seventy percent of the total amount for the first six thousand pieces of fish. 

Tomi was overwhelmed with joy. She knew that it calls for more work. Quickly, she dug up more heathen ponds. Her pond business grew to such an extent that she even hatched the eggs and sold fingerlings to other pond owners around Ileko and beyond. 

On the day she was to export the first set of six thousand pieces of fish, she couldn't believe her eyes. Now, she has become the employer of labour and her business has grown so much that it became a household name around Ileko and other major cities around. 
</div>