The Soft Issue
August 2017
Story from Outside
months, I was getting drafted deeper and deeper
into the operations of the company, including
marketing and supply chain management.
experience under my belt.
I still visit my old boss, and thank him every
time for the opportunity he gave me. I would
not be earning 30x my annual pay from
back then if I had not built experience under
him. When I first got into that job, I was wet
behind the ears, when I left, I was blessed
with battle scars and reinforced with grit.
I quickly recognised that this was an important
learning opportunity — h ow to run a real business.
The beauty was that this was a greenfield, which
allowed me to experiment with my ideas and grow
within someone else’s business. The risks for me
were limited, so I spent nearly one year working,
mostly unpaid, but learning furiously.
So, we are talking about internships today
and bad job experiences, and all I can say
is that every experience is an opportunity to
learn — i f it’s a great experience, learn. If it’s
a bad experience, take that experience, put
it through a filter and learn how to not repeat
that terrible experience with yourself or the
people you lead in the future.
I entered everyday working like I owned the
business, took on responsibilities wherever I could,
including overhauling the entire supply chain, and
helping the boss negotiate the companies first
revolving credit system with a German company.
To make this happen, I had to create marketing
trend sheets for the first time in my life, and design
guidance and forecasts for the next few years, which
our partners based their credit facility on.
Our ‘people model’ at Anakle comes down
to three simple words: smart, happy people .
We hire smart people, and must keep them
happy so they can continue learning and
improving. It rules everything we do: how we
treat people; how we learn; reprimand; and
even when we let people go.
In the winter of 2009, I stumbled, red-eyed, into
my first export contract negotiation meeting and
it changed the way I approached decision-making
forever. I was made product manager in the first
quarter (Q1) of 2010.
I do not think we have lived up to the full
prescription of building a happy workplace.
But, there is a constant movement towards
improving the experience. The real reason
we spend so much time trying to improve
experience goes back to my former job — I
did not learn how to treat people there, but
I did learn how NOT to treat people, which is
an equally important lesson.
My experience at that job was not the best in the
world. My bosses were brothers who had built a
teenage monster out of nothing but sweat and grit,
and had little time for managing people. I was a
heady kid who was biting on so much responsibility.
Sometimes, it was hard to chew down, and I often
got caught in the middle of family business feuds.
But the prize was there — I had a two year timeline
for myself to stay there and learn everything I could.
Against the general street advise I have
seen about dealing with bad internship/job
experiences, I would rather advise to go into
any opportunity life presents with a focus
on learning. Try getting as many internship
opportunities early in life, take on as much as
you can, learn everything, and always look at
the big picture. Let your decisions be guided
by your life’s goals. Because, in the end,
that’s all that really matters. You.
In October 2010, I put in a 3-month notice to exit the
company. In the months leading up to my departure,
I took on even more, learning as much as I could.
On December 31, 2010, I took my stuff in a little box
and said my goodbyes. Anakle started on January 3,
2011.
The summary of my time at my last job was not
always that simple. There were some very difficult
times, sometimes abusive. I earned less than while
I was running my own gigs, but it was important to
build experience, even if it meant earning nothing
for some of that time. I also did not appreciate the
leadership we were getting, but this was also an
important lesson, to know what to not do in my own
business.
Editi Efffiong is the CEO of Anakle, a
digital agency in Lagos. He also writes
essays with specific interest in business
and entrepreneurship. Find more of his
work on Medium @EditiEffiong where
this article was first published.
When I left, my bosses decided I owed them, even
for the times I was not paid (actually they owed
me months of pay). Thankfully, I could afford to
write them a cheque for that. But it was important
to look past that and see the good that the job did;
when I started my business I did it with very solid
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