BY CHIKA KWAMBA / OGORAMAKA AMOS /RITA OYIBOKA/VICTORY VICTOR/TOBECHUKWU AKAEZE/FAVOUR KUKAYE/HELEN UGBOKO
Out of every 100 new small scale business in Nigeria, at least half will not make it past their fifth anniversary, owing to several factors. However, not all causes of these failures are external. In this edition of the Sunday Digest, The Pointer exposes how salesboys and salesgirls pilfer their employers, wrecking small scale businesses in unimaginable ways.
From stolen cash to missing goods to disappearing workers, small business owners recount painful experiences of betrayal at the hands of those they hired to help them grow. From Asaba to Warri, Port Harcourt to Agbor, our correspondents spoke with entrepreneurs who shared their true-life experiences and the lessons that have reshaped how they now do business.
A mother of two, Amarachi Nwogu, runs a busy provision shop along Mile 1. In a chat with our correspondent in Port Harcourt, she recounts the day she caught her salesgirl stealing from her, as if it happened yesterday.
“I treated her like a younger sister,” Amarachi recalled. “She lived with me, ate my food, and even joined me at church. I never suspected she could steal from me.”
At first, it started with a missing loaf of bread here, an unbalanced daily record there. But over time, Amarachi noticed that the profit margin was shrinking even though sales seemed stable. “Sometimes, she’d tell customers there was no change and ask them to come back later. When they didn’t return, she kept the balance. Other times, she would secretly reduce the price for her friends,” she said.
Her suspicion grew until she installed a small CCTV camera in a corner of the shop. “That was when my eyes opened. I saw her on video pocketing money and hiding goods in her bag, I was really shocked and disappointed, “Amarachi said.
“I no longer handle business blindly. I monitor everything, even when I’m not there. Thanks to the CCTV cameras I secretly installed in the store, otherwise my business would have crumbled. Trusting sales boys and girls is leaving your business in danger because you won’t see your profit.”
Kelechi Dike, a small business owner in Rumuokoro, where he runs two POS stands, has lost over ₦250,000 to his trusted sales boy. According to him, “All these sales people, fear them… I had a terrible experience with one.”
“He (sales boy) was a smart, polite young man. He handled customers so well that people preferred him to me,” Kelechi said, adding, “The problem began when daily balances started falling short, but the sales looked normal.
“I thought maybe network issues were delaying some transactions. Until one day, a customer complained that her transfer didn’t reflect, even though she showed proof. I kept wondering where the problem was coming from. To be honest, I didn’t suspect my sales boy at that time.”
“Upon checking, I discovered the boy had been directing some customers to send money to his personal account, claiming there was a system issue. He was doing double business with my machine; he would divert some to his account and send the rest to me,” Kelechi exclaimed. “Imagine, while I’m thinking we’re growing, he’s cashing out silently.”
Kelechi reported the incident but never recovered the stolen funds. “Now, I rotate my attendants weekly and reconcile accounts in real-time.”
He now advises other POS operators, “Don’t be deceived by smiles and ‘yes, sir.’ Watch your business like a hawk.”
Similarly, a restaurant owner simply identified as Mrs Ebere, who spoke to our correspondent, recalled her experience with one of her sales girls. “I trusted her completely,” she said.
“She (sales girl) handled cooking, serving, and sometimes cash collection.” It was only after Mrs Ebere noticed that the food finished unusually early that she began to suspect foul play.
“Customers would come by 2 p.m., and the food was already gone. One evening, I decided to visit unexpectedly and found her selling plates of rice at the back door; she was selling it cheaper and pocketing the proceeds. I was shocked and angry. It was the same food I cooked with my sweat,” she lamented.
Since then, she introduced meal tickets, assigned separate staff to handle cash and serving. “Every plate is now recorded,” she said. “I’ve also learnt a big lesson.”
Blessing Okorie, who runs a salon, said losing a sales girl was painful, but losing customers was worse. “I trained my girl for almost two years. I taught her everything, how to braid, how to treat customers, how to run the shop.’’
But soon, Blessing said she noticed familiar faces weren’t returning. Curious, she called some of them. “That’s how I found out she was telling customers that I had relocated and she was now handling their hair privately.”
It turned out that the assistant rented a small cubicle close by, using Blessing’s name to attract her customers. “She even charged less. It took me months to get my clients back. Every client now books appointments directly with me,’’ she said, adding that the incident made her wiser.
According to Mr Victor Okon, a Poultry Farmer at Igwuruta in Port Harcourt, “I had two boys who helped me feed and clean the birds. Somehow, I noticed the birds were fewer, but my workers always had an excuse. It was either sickness or something that killed the birds, or they escaped,” he said, laughing.
“Until one evening, I was driving out around 9 p.m., and I saw them loading chickens into a bag to sell to local vendors; the same chickens they claimed to have died. I was so shocked. I reported them to the police, but later withdrew the case after their parents begged.”
“I lost over 30 birds in total. Now, I keep a daily logbook and take pictures of the flock every week. I still believe in employing youths, but not without control. Trust must come with systems,” he said.
For Janet Ndukwe, a young POS operator at Choba Junction, her experience was like a bad movie. “I went to attend a burial in my community. Before leaving, I gave my girl ₦180,000 float money,” she recalled.
“When I came back, both she (the salesgirl) and the money were gone.” Janet discovered later that the girl had provided a fake guarantor and address. “The phone number she gave to me for the supposed uncle (guarantor) was even another friend of hers pretending,” Janet said.
“Trust sales boy or girl at your own risk. They will smile and even eat with you, but what they want to do is more deadly than the smile. That incident broke me. I had to start again from scratch with help from my brother.”
Today, she insists on guarantors with verifiable identity cards and employees to sign agreements. “Even if you’re my cousin, you must fill the form,” she said. “I learned the hard way.”
Meanwhile, a business consultant, Mr Emmanuel Amadi, believes that these measures are the only way to sustain growth. “Many small entrepreneurs start with emotion. They employ relatives or church members without structure. But every business, no matter how small, needs systems,” he said.
He also suggested some strategies for business owners. “They should use technology, documentation, and stronger accountability to safeguard their investments.
‘’Business owners should consider installing CCTV cameras and motion lights. I know there are cheaper ones that can easily be purchased. They should conduct daily sales and stock audits; they shouldn’t just leave their business in the hands of people without checkmating sales.
‘’Also, before employing anyone, they should demand verified guarantors and employment forms. At times, as a means of encouraging the morale of staff, employers can offer incentives for honesty and productivity,’’ he said.
In Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, Mrs Joy Emegha, a dealer in building materials for over two decades, shared her experience managing sales assistants.
According to her, “Currently, we have no salesperson, but over the years, we’ve had about six. Many of my fellow traders still employ salesboys and girls. Some of them (salespersons) prefer shops where there’s only one boss who goes out often.
‘’In our case, my husband and I run the business together, and we never leave the shop at the same time. That tends to discourage some of them, especially those with questionable motives.”
She recounted several unpleasant experiences. “We once had a salesgirl who sold 20 bundles of ceiling sheets but recorded only 15. We only discovered the discrepancy when balancing the books. Another time, one sold zinc sheets worth over ₦65,000 and never mentioned it. The truth came out when the buyer, a trader on our line, came to pay and told my husband that our salesgirl had sold zinc to him. That was how we realised she’d been selling off the books.”
She added another story involving a colleague. “Her (sales girl) boss had kept ₦150,000 in the shop and told her to lock up. She took the money, and when he asked about it the next day, she denied any knowledge. He took her to the church to pray that the thief be revealed, but still, she wouldn’t confess. When he finally said they’d go to the shrine, she broke down and admitted the theft. By then, only ₦50,000 was left; she had spent the rest on a wig.”
Mrs Emegha also recalled an incident during the cashless policy period. “One of my colleagues gave his salesgirl about ₦1.6 million to deposit in the bank. She returned, claiming she’d been robbed. The man took her to the army, where she eventually confessed she’d given the money to her boyfriend to add to what he needed to travel abroad. They later found out the boy had fled with the money,” she said.
While affirming that there were still good salespersons around, Mrs Emegha noted that over half of them had intentions to exploit their employers.
Another trader, Mr Ifeanyi Odikagbo, who deals in electrical fittings at Okpanam in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, shared a similar sentiment but with a touch of resignation born from experience.
According to him, “These sales assistants can make or break a business. I’ve had both kinds, the diligent and the dubious. My first sales boy, Godwin, was a good one. He ran the shop even better than I did. I could travel for days and still meet the sales intact. But after he left for school, the story changed completely.”
He recounted a particular incident that left him wary. “I once employed a young boy who came with a recommendation from his uncle. For the first three months, he was calm, respectful, and hardworking. Then suddenly, goods started disappearing in small quantities, cables, sockets, and even bulbs.
‘’At first, I thought it was a counting error, until a customer mistakenly mentioned buying some items directly from him at his house on a Sunday. I nearly fainted. He was selling my goods privately and pocketing the money. By the time I confronted him, he’d already moved out of his compound and vanished.”
Mr Odikagbo also mentioned another situation involving a female sales assistant. “She had been with me for over a year, so I thought I could trust her. I gave her ₦400,000 to buy stock from Onitsha that we needed urgently. After travelling, her phone went off. I started panicking. It took me almost a week to trace her family’s house. I found out she had relocated to Lagos, claiming she was tired of ‘this salesgirl life’. Her parents promised to pay, but I didn’t even recover a pin from that incident.”
He concluded with a note of caution. “These days, I prefer to stay in my shop and run things myself. Trust has become expensive. If you’re not vigilant, you’ll realise too late that your sales assistant is running a parallel business right under your nose.”
According to a salon owner in Asaba, Mrs Joy Obi, she discovered that one of her salesgirls had been stealing hair products and reselling them to clients secretly. “I found out my girl was selling items secretly and keeping the money,” she said.
Also, a restaurant owner, Miss Daniella Eze, revealed that her former cashier used to manipulate sales records to divert money. “At first, I thought it was a mistake in calculation, but later I realised she was under-recording sales. In one month, I lost almost ₦30,000,” she said.
Additionally, POS agent Miss Chinwe Nnamdi also shared her experience, saying her staff once disappeared with both cash and customers’ ATM cards. “She (salesgirl) was working with me for a year before she ran away with ₦150,000. I reported to the police but never recovered the money,” she explained.
Likewise, a provision store owner, Miss Nkechi Okoh, said her salesgirl often gave goods to friends on credit without permission, just as a poultry owner, Mrs Amaka Ogbuefi, complained that her workers used to steal eggs and also fowls to sell cheaper to their friends.
Mrs Grace Nwoko, who runs a beauty salon along the Necab Junction in Asaba, said she almost closed her business because of losses caused by her former apprentice.
“I treated my sales girl like my own sister, but I started noticing that the daily sales weren’t adding up. One day, I came earlier than usual and caught her collecting money from a customer without recording it in the book. I was shocked and had to let the girl go, and now I handle most transactions myself. I learnt my lesson the hard way,” Nwokolo said.
A POS agent, Miss Blessing Onochie, also shared her bitter encounter with the theft going on in her business. “My sales girl ran away with ₦80,000. One morning, she told me she was going to deposit money for a customer and never came back again. Her phone has been switched off since then. I now operate the business alone; it’s stressful, but I prefer peace of mind instead,’’ she said.
From Warri, a provision shop owner, Rosemary Ikemefune told our correspondent, “I lost nearly N300,000 worth of stock in six months. My sales girl would sell items, pocket the money, and then blame ‘market spoil or damaged goods.
“I only caught her when I installed a small camera in the shop, and that was how I figured out that she was the one taking all my money. It was a very bad day for me, and a horrible experience, because I wasn’t expecting it from her.
“I had to get the police involved, and then later on that day, her parents came to plead with me. I was so angry and didn’t want to listen to anyone. Then, later, it was my husband who handled everything. The salesgirl had to pay the money I lost before they released her.
Another respondent, Ngozi Victor, narrated an encounter to our correspondent in Asaba. “He was a sales boy in a big electronic shop where they sell different appliances, and he was actually doing well that the boss didn’t even bother to come around until a day when N500,000 went missing from the POS balance.
‘’The boy was beaten so badly, flogged and stripped of his clothes. He kept denying, but at the end of the day, he admitted it was his sister who asked him if he could send him some money, that she would send it back immediately, but she never did’’ Victor said.
Also, Elvis Ngozi told our correspondent, “I have heard so many stories about sales boys and girls which made me resolve not to employ one. But I realised I can’t do all the work, so I had to install cameras and solar for steady light, which cost me a lot of money.
‘’So I don’t really go to the shop that much. I usually stay at home a day or two or even come by in the evenings because I watch everything happening at my shop on my phone, and I believe the money I spent on setting the cameras is worth it.’’
