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My name is Bryt Nnaemeka Nzenwa, a Christian, married, to a beautiful wife, I have a son and an adopted son. I live in Abuja and I’m passionate about young people and fashion. I am also the CEO of Elbryt and Juch, a clothing and accessories outfit located physically located at Abuja but we serve people all over the world

Ok. I actually stumbled into it. I’m sure God had it in the works all these while but it was in November 2013 the journey began. I was at the workers’ meeting in my church and I heard God tell me, “pay attention to your looks.” Prior to that time, that wasn’t a priority to me. in fact I didn’t care how I looked. I’ll just dress and walk out, not caring what people thought. I generally don’t care what people think on a normal day. But when God told me that, He referred me to this scripture -1 Samuel 16:7 which says

The fact is that men still look at the outward appearance and before we can impact them and give them the God-side of us, we have to impress them first. Our looks matter and that was how I became passionate about looking good but it still did not occur to me to take it as a business till I became the head of the dress unit in my department. On a particular day, we were so well dressed our pastor, The Reverend Biodun Fatoyinbo, called us out and prayed for us. it was the prayer of a father whose heart was pleased and that day, my pastor said a particular phrase that stuck with me. He said – “let giftings arise.” I’ll never forget that. That was when I’d say it was all activated. From that point, I started thinking about making a business out of looking good. I started with accessories. How I started – there was this day I had an event, I had a tie I needed to wear but the price was quite high, so I negotiated for a lower price and the person sold it to me based on relationship. I used the tie for the event on Saturday and that evening, out of curiosity wondering what made the tie so thick that it cost that much, I unstitched the entire tie, reconstructed it back and added a stud. I wore it to church the next day being Sunday and people who were with me on Saturday couldn’t recognise the tie. Everyone was amazed because the tie came out looking better than when I bought it. It was then it dawned on me that I could do this for people. So I started asking around for those interested in designs like what I did and I got responses; that’s was how I started. Gradually we expanded into wedding accessories and outfits.

In October last year, we branched out to clothes because clients always want accompanying clothings for the accessories we make and because they love the quality of the work, they always asked us to make clothes for them and so we started making clothes too. Today to God’s Glory, it’s a full clothing and accessories outfit.

Now for the connection to young people, I won’t say I’m the ministry kind of person and I generally shy away from having to be in that position where I’ll counsel people but no matter how much I try to get away from it, there’s always someone who would come for an advice or counsel and after we speak, that person’s life literally starts to change. Last year June, I was running away from having a conversation with someone and God said to me, “this is what I have called you to do. You’re going through what you’re going through so you can be an inspiration to these people.” I’ve been able to talk to young people and get them moving in the right direction. The Bible says the gate of Jericho was straitly shut because of the people of Israel (Joshua 6:1); There’s an opposition to Christians especially in the marketplace so for me, I love to open the eyes of youths to what is happening because you need influence to take over. We can’t do business like the world, we have to be different and still get through to them. Usually when I see myself in the midst of people, I find myself talking about these things, setting the heart of young people in the right direction and helping them understand what we are up against, in pursuing the mandate. It’s not just about having an idea and trying to fulfill it. The terrain is tough and it has to be understood for it to be conquered. Also alot of Christian youths are gifted but have no platforms. So I look forward to helping young people create platforms that will make it easy for them to transit into doing what God has called to do.

little things Inspire me. I dream alot. Not the dreams that come when sleeping. I have an active imagination and I take advantage of it to build my future. I love to stay alone; I enjoy the company of myself, I enjoy staying alone and most times these styles jump on me, in my imaginations. Sometimes I could be walkimg through the market and I’d see a fabric and in that instant, I’ll see what that fabric will look like as a piece of clothing. I could see a building and a style would come out from that building. In my quiet times, alot goes through my mind. Like I said, I dream alot and I have a dream book where I just write everything that comes to me- my Pastors’ messages, ideas, styles anything and everything that inspires me.

First, if you do not stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. You have to be true to yourself. The major challenge every entrepreneur goes through is finance and for me, with all the dreams I have, I can’t say I have all the money required in the physical but by faith, I have it. I have learnt to let God do His work because God can be talking about major projects and dreams in millions and I’m here trying to sort out bills in thousands, it can be frustrating but I’ve learnt to trust God and even when there are challenges, I keep moving forward. It can get so tight one will be afraid to go out there but God has never let me down. Never. Sometimes it gets to a point where it feels like everything is going to melt down and then bang! – I get a major delivery that becomes a huge breakthrough. God has been faithful. The other challenge is originality. Originality is fast moving out of our generation. People want to copy others and that’s ok but the truth is God is not bereft of ideas. God has so much more to pour out, a whole lot, but the issue is that most times, the capacity to carry it is not there because we are busy looking for who to copy. We get so busy copying that we don’t listen to heaven to download what God has for us. Now, the challenge with copying is that if that idea isn’t originally yours; if it isn’t you, it would be difficult reproducing it the exact way the original is.

I used to feel bad when someone took my idea but the truth is that no matter how much the person tries to implement the idea, he can never interprete it the way you, the originator, will. Also, ideas can be compared to those seeds that were sown in the Bible, it is not just you that will receive it, it will be sprayed out in the earth, on people and it is those tuned into the ‘frequency’ that will receive it. So it’s important to stay tuned into God while doing business as a Christian because it’s God that will give you the advantage you need to thrive.

For me, it’s a partnership and it’s there in the name of my business Elbryt and juch. El is the Hebrew name for God, the other are a combination of my name and family names. I also have a hashtag – #amenThankYouJesus that serves as a constant reminder to me that this is a partnership with God. Also, I’ve come to understand that if God has sent you into the marketplace, your primary assignment is there and you owe it to God to be the best there, so I keep my ambience full and charged with God. I honour God on my work by ensuring I do my best for every delivery. It would amaze you the streets I’ve been to, in the world, on my phone whilst searching for quality products. I get down to the work and I give it my best. Most times, we pray but we don’t get to work. Prayer requires a corresponding action to bring your requests into reality. One major challenge amongst marketplace apostles is balance, the struggle between work and church responsibilities and the truth is, it’s in staying close to God that you’ll get the wisdom you need to balance it all.

There was a time I shut down. I literally shut down because I needed to rebirth and reinvent myself and that really helped me.

Seek knowledge. It wasn’t like I did any crazy stuff but I was just there. I wasn’t driven or very focused on finding what life was all about so I would say, seek knowledge. The Bible says wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times and the strength of your salvation ( Isaiah 33:6 ). People perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6 ); this scripture tells me that you can actually be destroyed because you didn’t know something. I once watched a movie where a man would have been sentenced to jail if not for an information his friend had about the event and how it ought to be appropriately resolved. if not for that, the man would have gone to jail over nothing. Knowledge is what you know and wisdom is how you apply what you know. I I did not go for knowledge and wisdom early enough especially because of the circle I found myself in which limited me. Also, I would say get involved. Get involved in what is happening. Don’t get so into yourself that you don’t get involved in what is happening in your Nation. How many Christians have voters card? How many influential christians are willing to be part of politics? Live a life that is real. People are carrying so much already, don’t add to their pain. As a Christian, can a friend trust you with secrets when that secret is a sin he is struggling with? Be Jesus to the people around you.