CELEBRATING ENYINNAYA CHIMA NWAFOR: THE UNCOMMON MERCHANT OF KINDNESS
Ben Udechukwu
In a world where many choose to amass so much wealth to feed their overwhelming personal aggrandisement, where the love for others has become an exclusive luxury, where the SELF MANTRA overshadows the act of compassion, we find it convenient to celebrate the tiny few who have dedicated their lives to the service of mankind.
Today, we celebrate one of humanity’s most profound merchants of kindness, Engr. Enyinnaya Chima Nwafor (Nana); whose entire life represents cheerful giving, compassion, empathy and valuable addition to mankind. Brene Brown surely had Nana in mind, when he posited that “Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone.’”
We are not celebrating Nana the Chief Executive Officer of Tunnel End Group because he willfully elected to create wealth by employing nearly 1,500 Abians in his chains of businesses majority of which are sited in Abia. We are celebrating him because he has remained intentional about reducing poverty in a society where the rate of unemployment is mind-blowing. We are not celebrating the Founder of Each One Aid One Foundation, Abia’s most supportive humanitarian organisation because Nana is sincere about sharing his business profits with the needy, have – nots, civil servants, pensioners, less – privileged, the downtrodden and hopeless. We are celebrating consistency, timeliness, selflessness and tenacity of purpose in discharging these onerous tasks.
It is not all the time that mother nature obliges us the rare gift of a son so humane, an Engineer so meticulous, a father so responsive, a husband so responsible and a leader who excels in organisational and supervisory skills. Though man is imperfect, we can still view through the crucibles that God took His time to gift mankind with a huggable reminder of His Extravagant Grace. In Nana, all we see is demonstration of God’s Perfect Will.
Engr. Nwafor, Umojima Ogbu, Osisioma Ngwa born serial enterpreneur is also a foremost creative industrualist. While some talk about promoting Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs), records show that Nana has committed scarce resources in giving lifeline to hundreds of MSMEs across the State. His deliberate acts of providing start – up capitals, supervising and sustaining the existence of MSMEs stand him out as a champion of revitalisation and reinvigoration of small businesses. He deserves credit for sharing without counting costs or returns. We speak for the creative but endangered enterpreneur. We speak for the hundreds of entrepreneurs who could look back with joy that they drew remarkable inspiration from the Giant in Business Administration, a builder of men and the man who stands in the gap for many who would have wandered in business obscurity.
Today, we celebrate a man who identifies genuinely with the Youths, society’s most potent workforce, the pride of our families. We will remember that one man elects daily to share in the pains of this nearly abandoned productive population, the leaders of today. In the most effortless manner, Nana has been the icing on the cake of endeavours of our Youths, oiling the wheels of their progress, propelling them to greatness and ensuring that beyond promises, the Youths are offered mouth watering opportunities to hit the zenith of their potentials.
May we to the glory of God, for the love of mankind; wish Engr. Enyinnaya Chima Nwafor, Knight of the Anglican Communion, creative enterpreneur, inspiration machine, an angelic being, “regarded in traditional Christian angelology as belonging to the highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardour, and purity”, a human being and compassionate politician, a happy birthday. It is our prayer that God prepares Nana further, to His glory, to continue to wear the badge of humility and empathy for the generality of mankind and Abians in particular.
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