Schoolboy Business

Even though he was in his final year in high school, James never liked school. Ever since he was a kid,his interest was always in the market rather than in the classrooom. His mom was the one forcing him to go to school.James father was a highly successful trader who never saw the four walls of the classroom.

James mom was more impressed and admired her husband's brother who was a medical Doctor even though her own husband was far richer. She would say to her son, James: "i want you to study very hard so that one day you can be a medical doctor like uncle Ben". But James never cared about uncle Ben or about being a medical doctor,he admired his own father more and would want to venture into the world of business one day.

But his father was hardly available to mentor him, he was always traveling for one business trip or the other but James and Mom never lacked anything as his father made sure they had everything they wanted.

James mom would say: "your father is a wealthy trader, he can afford to sponsor you to the highest educational level. He could even send you outside the country for studies. All you have to do is to get more serious with your studies."

" I would really love you to be a doctor one day, like your uncle. if you don't like the idea, you could choose to be a pilot like your young cousin jerry. You could also be a lawyer like George, the son of Mrs Helen, my closest friend", his mom said

As a matter of fact, James mom didnt really care about what James wanted for himself. She was just after the credit and prestige that came with being the mother of a respectable professional. Whenever she meets a son or daughter of a rich friend who have achieved the status of a Doctor, Engineer, banker or lawyer, she always feels envious and can't wait for her own son to complete his university educatio so that she could show him off too,just like the way the most women do. James knew this and he felt sorry for his mother. He was determined to choose his own path and his mother wouldn't stop him.

During school holidays, James would go to one his father's shops in the market. He would remain there all mornings and afternoons and watch how the sales boys attend to the customers. He was always swayed by the marketing skills of boys. Sometimes, When they had successfully persuaded a difficult customer to purchase an expensive goods, James would always applaud them for their spectacular business strategy . He found this more fascinating and satisfying than the boring lessons and notes he had to copy in classes.

When he comes home in the evening, mother would ask him where he was coming from. As soon as he replied that he's from the market, his mom would be furious and yell at him, telling him that he was not needed in the market .His mom would always want him to go out with other rich kids to see a movie, play basket ball, attend birthday parties, or clubs. That was the kind of kids that his mom preferred him to be hanging out with, and not "illiterate" sales boys.

As school resumed, the students met a with an awkward situation. They discovered that the Price of a particular chocolate which was their favorite had been increased by fifty percent at the school's shop. But the price of the said chocolate was still the same outside the school.

The student were really not happy about this, but they had no choice than to continue to buy at the new price from the school, since they couldn't go out to get it since it was against the school's rules for student to leave the school premises before closing time. James too was not happy with this unfortunate development. One night, an idea occurred to him in bed.

The following morning, James woke up very early. Before going to school, he rushed to one of his father's shop where he collected three cartons of the said chocolate. Somehow, he managed to bring them into his classroom. During break, he sold them directly from his desk to his classmates at the original market price. The students became joyous again and regarded James as their savior.

After school school hours, he returned to the shop. From his sales he paid the money for the chocolates to the sales boys, and he also made a profit of thirty percent for them. The boys were very happy and proud of him. James decided to start selling biscuits too.

This continued for almost three weeks before he was caught. The cashier who was in charge of the school's shop noticed that sales had dropped considerably for a while now. She observed the the students in James class who were her biggest customers as they had the highest population more than any other classes had suddenly stopped buying chocolates and biscuits from her.

On further investigation, she found out that there was a student in their class who had been snatching her customers. She became very furious and decided to report this little criminal to the principal.

The principal was a very strict disciplinarian who was reverred by all students and staff. When he was briefed about what has been happening, he was so infuriated that he called for an emergency assembly.

On the assembly ground, James was called out and he was made to stand in front of the students. The principal immediately launched into a series a discourse about morality and corruption. James was projected by the principal as a corrupt young man who instead of facing his lessons which were the reason for his coming to school, was rather engaged in sharp practices. He accused him of smuggling illegal items into the school. He was also accused of defrauding the school management and also extorting money from his classmates. The principal warned the rest of the students not to be like James as he promised them that james would be punished for his unruly behavior. The principal declared a two weeks suspension for James

On his way home, James was morose and gloomy. He knew he didn't do anything wrong, he knew that he wasn't a bad boy. he had never gotten into problems with the school authority or with any of his classmates before. He remembered how the principal had condemn and humiliated him in front of everyone and he began to weep.

His mother was very mad at him when she heard what had happen . She was now screaming at the top of her voice

" Did me and your father send you to school in order to study or engage in business? Did me or your dad ever denied you money or anything you wanted before? Dont you know that other students would now think that your parents are poor and thats why you had to engage in such illegal business to cater for yourself. Why do you choose to bring shame and disgrace to your family,you wicked child?! She exclaimed and storm out of the room in a dangerous fit of rage.

When James father returned home, he was told by his wife that his son had been suspended from school and she quickly explained the reason for his suspension. James father looked at him for a long time, then he told his wife that he wanted to have a private discussion with his son, James mom reluctantly left the room.

To his surprise, james father told him that he was very proud of him. He tried to convince James that he did nothing wrong. "My son, you were able to identify a problem in your school, then you made use of your creativity and brought about a solution to this particular problem for your classmate".

" This shows that you have an entrepreneurship spirit and you would be able to solve bigger problems in the society by the time you have come of age. And there's absolutely no doubt that you would become a great man tomorrow".

James father promised to mentor and guide James in business as soon as he had completely his secondary school education. After all, his son would be the one to take over his business empire when he's no more

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