I thought you might want to read a little about Bobby; Bobby Branden, a blind boy who could see the world. Bobby was born into the Branden family in a little cottage at Hidalgo County on a beautiful November morning with his sight intact. He like all the other Branden boys of generations before him was just a cute little boy; everyone who came across him instantly fell in love with him.
At age seven, Bobby began to make use of his charm to his advantage, he could sell anything. He would take his Fathers’ bicycle and go door to door selling different wares from newspapers to dolls to paper stickers, whatever was available and profitable. Bobby could sell Honey to a Bee.
One afternoon when Bobby was Ten years old, he had returned from school and had gone to help out in his Father's Auto Servicing and Repair Shop, it was the garage of their little cottage transformed into an Auto Shop with a small office for the paper works sitting at the corner and a space wide enough to contain five cars in the middle of which a pit with stairs gaped.
Alex, Bobby’s Father was the mechanic, the electrician, the panel beater and the painter all in one. His mother Louis was the procurement officer and secretary who worked in the small office, little Bobby Branden and his older brother Ben were the apprentices. It was their small family business and had so been handed down to generation after generation of the Brandens’.
The location of their cottage along a naturally dysfunctional, but very busy road in the back of beyond on which the only other business that could be found was a small gas station with just two dispensers ensured they were never out of business. Stranded travelers were always in need of their services and the cottage guest room was always available for a fee.
Bobby got to the Auto Shop and saw his Father in full safety gear, spray gun in hand, spraying the door of a small Toyota Tercel which earlier had a huge dent on it while Ben, who was then fifteen years old, sat at the corner, safety glasses over his eyes, filter mask over his nose and head phones over his ears, readying a second spray gun. The air compressor blared.
‘Hi Buddy!’, Alex called out and Bobby turned around for a second to smile at his father. As he walked towards Ben, he tripped on the air compressor pipe that sprawled on the floor and fell face down, somehow the paint thinner, Ben was working with, splashed into his eyes. This event of a few seconds resulted in complete loss of sight for Bobby Branden.
Alex was heartbroken; he was one Branden who had been blessed with two boys and he hoped that Bobby with his gifts would bring change to the monotony that had become the life history of the Brandens’ from Generation to Generation.
He gave all he could to try and restore Bobby’s sight even partially but all was to no avail. He became depressed from watching his once smart, witty, cute boy grope and grabble about the cottage, his heart was crushed with guilt every single day, ‘if only he hadn’t called out to the boy on that fateful day’, was his constant thought. He bought Bobby a seeing-eye male dog and enrolled him in a school for the blind. Bobby named his dog Mandy.
Ben fully took over the family business under his fathers’ supervision as was the family tradition when he clocked 18 and Bobby continued with his sales after learning how to read Braille with several devices fashioned for the visually impaired, he kept up-to-date with evolving technology. Bobby went about his business daily with Mandy and as usual sold whatever was available and profitable. He listened to audio leadership books and immersed himself in his dream of becoming a distinguished business man, a leader, travelling around the world and helping blind people like himself to see the world.
Louis had taught Bobby some of the values that propelled him, she would sometimes, when Bobby had had a bad day and sat feeling sorry for himself, say to him, “Son, you only lost your sight not your mind, feed your mind and it will lead you to success even without sight”. One day, Bobby came upon a deal that would turn his life around. He succeeded in selling a toy muscle car to Henry Sanders, a man who owned an international electronics dealership that was the major distributor of the particular muscle car Bobby was selling.
Henry’s young son was so captivated by Bobby’s sales antics because Mandy was part of the demonstration, so he insisted on having the particular car Bobby was selling and declined the two cars his father had in his presence called to be delivered to their house that same evening. The boy asked his father to buy him a dog like Mandy instead. This was how Bobby landed himself a job as an electronics sales man at Sanders Electronics. He would take time to learn the products and then sell them with a little bit of wit and drama.
At age 25, Bobby had become an executive sales manager in the Sanders Company and traveled to countries where the company operated or was expanding. He spoke at sales conferences, coached sales teams and was often the guest for live TV and Radio shows for sales promotion. One day, work took Bobby to Liberia; Sanders Electronics was opening a new branch there and he met a lot of blind children with heavenly voices. Bobby wept at realizing the volume of potential that wasted on the streets; he knew that it was time for his dream to come true, He wanted to start a school where he could coach and empower blind young people to discover their gifts and use them to impact the world, to see more than the ones with sight and to be the best they could be.
But there was one major hitch to the realization of Bobby’s dream, Money!
Bobby had all his life lived by the principles his mother taught him some of which were, ‘live within your means’, ‘stay out of debt’, ‘be contented with what you have’, ‘live a simple life’, ‘big man, big trouble’ etc. and even though he had learnt from the leadership audio books he listened to that successful business people borrowed money and took risks to push their dreams, it seemed that the limiting principles Bobby learnt from Louis were so deeply entrenched.
Bobby had never borrowed a cent from anyone in his entire life. Their small family business had kept them going and they had lived a very simple life, there was nothing to borrow for. However, Bobby knew that if his dream must come true, he needed to take risks and source for funds and the question became from where?
Bobby had been saving since he became a sales man at the age of seven and had invested a huge part of his savings in the shares of Sanders Electronics Company, the other part he put in a fixed deposit account, and kept adding to it, he watched it grow. But all that money put together could not even fully fund the purchase of the equipment he would need to set-up a standard school for the Blind in view of evolving technology. Bobby decided to work with already existing schools for the Blind but he found out that there were just a few sub-standard schools and a lot of children begging on the streets who could not afford to be in the schools, a lot of talent wasting on the streets.
He knew that to take these kids off the streets and give them some sort of standard training to equip them for survival and a chance to live their dreams would require a lot of money, and that to expand the initiative across continents would cost even more. Bobby wanted to set-up a world class facility where the minds of blind children would be uplifted to greatness. Every single day that Bobby spent in Monrovia, he was immersed in the thought of how to raise money to achieve his dream, he thought of his boss, Henry Sanders, he thought of how he started the job that brought him thus far and he smiled a great smile, his mind had wandered upon his solution.
After spending five days in Monrovia, Bobby went back to the US, he went straight to pitch his idea to his boss before going home. He asked if Henry would like to partner with him, ‘We would probably not make profits in the first few years but in the long run we would make HUGE profits’, he said. He wanted Henry to provide the needed start-up funds and then they would get the attention of persons and organizations interested in donating to Charity, that way they could raise money to expand, and he was willing to give up his shares in Sanders Electronics as part of the funding.
‘Excellent idea, Bobby, we need more people like you around here who can make me buy my own products and not just around here Bobby, globally, but I’ll prefer to stay off the business deal’, Henry said. Bobby’s heart flopped; his cane fell off his hand onto the floor, an absolute silence followed. ‘What I mean is that I will have my lawyers prepare a temporary transfer of ownership document lending you my branch of Sanders Electronics in India, use it as collateral to borrow what you need’, Henry said.
Bobby jumped off his feet in excitement and Henry seeing that he might crash into the glass table between them promptly stood up, walked over to Bobby and gave him a big hug. ‘It’s okay Bobby, go and live your dream, I will be here to support you’, he said. Henry could see the tears that brimmed in Bobby’s eyes; the business was worth over one million US Dollars. How could Bobby, very new in the business world pull off this sort of project, who could lend him money and not just lend him money but help him with advice to succeed and not fail his Boss? He knew from research that to borrow from a bank, he needed to have these three things: Business Cash Flow, Credit Score and Collateral and he had NONE.
Bobby had no proof of ever running a business neither had he ever borrowed a cent, he didn’t even use a credit card. But there must be a way.
Bobby went home and while they all had dinner that night in their little Hidalgo County cottage, he told his family about his trip, about the beautiful blind kids whose talents wasted on the streets and about his plan to give them hope, direction and focus.
He also told them how his boss had agreed to provide collateral for the needed funds. They thought it was a great idea especially Alex, who had always known that Bobby would make a difference in the history of the Brandens’. Louis thought otherwise. She asked why should Bobby bother, he had a good job and lived a comfortable life, how would he pull off a venture of that magnitude in his condition? He should be thinking of getting married and settling down. Ben said he had seen an Ad on Instagram about a Financial company that could help secure one million dollars or more for business funding internationally and the criteria was just BE BUSINESS READY and APPLY.
Bobby dropped his fork, ‘Ben, what’s the name of this company? cos I mean am business ready, I already have collateral and I can apply’. ‘I can’t remember Bobby but I saved the post because they can also help to secure funding for Auto Dealership and am interested in that’, Ben said, and Alex abandoned the chicken on his plate, picked up a towel and wiped his mouth, pulled back his chair, stood up and picked up his half full glass of wine. He said ‘I’d like to make a toast, to the new generation of the Branden Boys!’ Mandy growled into his plate of chicken and lifted his head to let out an excited bark before going back to eating his food. Louis’ displeasure that the family tradition was about to massively change on her watch was boldly written on her face and went unnoticed.
Within minutes of sending in his application on www.ihopefinancial.com, the website of Imperial Hope Financial, Bobby received an email reply requesting him to send a business proposal detailing the scope of business or venture. Bobby replied the email opting to visit Imperial Hope Financial at 4143 N. 10th Street Suite F1, McAllen, Texas 78504, to discuss his options since he was very new in business and knew nothing about how to proceed.
The next day, Bobby met with Financial experts at Imperial Hope Financial who after listening to his business plan explained to him THE BENEFITS OF USING ALTERNATIVE LENDING which are:
1. Approval is dependent on one of the following Qualifications: Business Cash Flow, Credit Score or Collateral whereas the BANKS require all three for approval
2. Flexible loan repayment terms
3. Applications are Simpler (Bobby immediately agreed with this)
4.Faster Approval Rates
5. More Lending Options or Diversification
6. Internationally Funding.
After the meeting, Bobby knew that he had found the right place to secure funding and the people who would save his dream. He began his survey from purchase of land in Monrovia, construction costs, equipment procurement etc.
Ben left the cottage Auto Shop in his father’s care and went all the way with Bobby. Within few months, Bobby got approval for funding, 500,000 USD for his first Brandens’ Great Minds Can See Business School for the Blind in Monrovia.
He was working with financial experts from Imperial Hope Financial who guided him each step of the way on how to achieve world class results and indeed the world in no time began singing about Brandens’ Great Minds Can See Business School, donations poured in from across the globe, organizations both charity and non-charity wanted partnership to expand Bobby’s initiative to their regions, it was a resounding success, more than anything Bobby and Henry imagined that afternoon in Henry’s office when he agreed to support Bobby and provide collateral.
Bobby attracted and engaged as tutors great minds from all around the world, successful women and men who had been schooled by life, who dreamed and dared to live their dreams and who had succeeded against all odds. In a year, three of the first set of 100 kids who graduated from Bobby’s Business School got hired by Sanders Electronics as sales officers in Monrovia branch. Graduates of Brandens’ Great Minds Can See Business School never searched for jobs, jobs found them and they would make their pick.
On the day that the Hidalgo branch of Brandens’ Great Minds Can See Business School was unveiled, Alex made a little speech, he said, ‘today my Son has changed the monotony of the history of Brandens’ in Hidalgo, today we cease to be that family of cute males who live a simple life off a cottage Auto Repair Shop handed down by our fore fathers from generation to generation, today I have learnt from my Son Bobby Branden, and am so proud of him, that there is ability in disability, and that even without sight, Great Minds Can See’.
[BUSINESS FICTION from Okenwa’s Pen]