The 13th SME EDC Conference this year has come and gone. Ibukun Awosika, multiple award winning entrepreneur and chairman, FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, was chosen CEO for the Conference’s ‘Conversation with the CEO’ plenary 3. Awosika displayed the stuff she is made of, responding frankly and diligently to questions raised by the programme’s anchor, erudite Peter Bamkole, EDC Director, and the largely entrepreneurial audience. SIAKA MOMOH was there. His report:
Seizing opportunity
This was one lesson that the thirsty-for- entrepreneurship-knowledge youthful audience that gathered mid-September, at Enterprise Development Centre’s this year’s SME Conference, Ajah Lekki, Lagos had to take home. It was Awosika’s personal testimony, reeled out to the delight of the young entrepreneurs.
Ibukun Awosika had applied for a furnishing job – furnishing of Leadway Assurance Company’s corporate office. This was a young girl of 25 years who had sent in a proposal for a big job, a job that was meant for the big ones in the industry. She met the boss in charge. To the CEO, she was an errand person and not the one running the company that applied for the job. That was a deadlock. She had to think fast. In the course of their argument, she noticed the CEO’s name tag on his desk and found it was a familiar name. The CEO’s daughter happened to have been Ibukun’s friend at the high school. She asked to confirm, and he did. That changed the conversation in Ibukun’s favour; and she got the job in spite of her being a rookie in the furnishing business space. She knew she had to deliver that job. And she did.
According to her, “To cut the long story short, that was our first big opportunity. To think of opportunity like this, when you use it well, you could tell anybody you executed it well. So every other big company that would not have considered us, would have to consider us.”
This became a high portfolio for her company, a track record – they could now compete with the big companies.
She explained: “To get that job I worked tooth and nail for it, locked myself up for three days, looking for the furniture ideas they were looking for. We were competing with bigger companies who had better networks to get the job. I worked it out. It was our desire to solve a problem for the customer that led us to discovering some components that we could put together and get a solution that was not readily available for the customer. We got the components, put them together and created a solution for the customer. I furnished the entire building complex which they were happy with. Even more important was that they had a huge opening ceremony. They brought the entire corporate world to see their office opened.”
Young Ibukun was part of the august ceremony and the chairman of the company then, a Northern gentleman, was amazed that such a youth could accomplish such a feat. The occasion was good leverage for her company. Opportunity, swimming in the opportunity of her chance meeting with her high school friend’s father. “Never allow anyone despise you. It has nothing to do with what you could do. And when you get an opportunity, die with the opportunity. That opportunity gave us an advantage of one year production,” Ibukun said.
Strategic thinking
For her, “You must be observant about the market. Nigerians don’t plan. That became a strategic business tool for us. People build ten story buildings, at two weeks to the opening, they remember they have to furnish. What will happen? They have to go everywhere to look for furniture. Whoever has what they want, even if it is not the perfect finishing, they would buy it because they want the building furnished for the opening. Having realised that, for a whole year manufacturing, we often had components stocked up in the company. And our in-house architect would do the space planning to the extent that in a week, we could install a thousand furniture for you because of the way we were producing. That is part of our story.”
Read also: I started my musical career as an OAP – TerryTheVoice
Parents’ reaction to choice of career
Ibukun Awosika is eternally grateful to her parents. “My dad in particular, had an attitude in terms of raising his girls. We had three boys and lost one; so we had two brothers. He brought us up in a way that I always think he forgot to tell us what we could do. When I decided I wanted to do this, I did it the normal way. My father gave me the trust of judgment. As a matter of fact, I think I got a lot of support and encouragement. I remember the date when I tried to meet an order. Then my workshop was in Papa Ajao. We would work through the night. And if my workers were working through the night, there would be no food. Everybody around us would have shut down their business. My dad would bring food for me and my staff and then wait to take me home around 12 midnight, so that I could get back to the factory around 7 am.”
Another opportunity
The real support from his father came in 1993 when she was at the point of frustration. She explained, “There were many opportunities that we could see but we didn’t have the structure of business that fitted it. Things were too slow for me; I didn’t have the right machineries; we would work throughout the night. In the morning you would hope the furniture would dry so that we could deliver in time. And then it would rain. If it rained, e everything would go white. It was really a very frustrating period.
Ibukun was pregnant with her second child, and went to a client’s office. The man and his wife had taken to her. He called her his daughter. She told the man, the MD of an oil company about her frustration – not getting money to keep her business running well. The kind ma made N1 million available to her through a finance company.
Said she: “I had to believe in myself and have the audacity of taking that loan. I decided my business was worth fighting for. So I took the one million naira, signed all the papers and went to look for bigger facilities, moved out of Papa Ajao, took over this building that Chief Aboderin was building and didn’t complete before he died, completed it, moved my factory in there, went around Nigeria (a million naira then was like 100 million naira), bought machines from furniture companies that were closing down, went to England to buy refurbished machines from companies.
“Ventures and Trusts was the biggest finance outside of the banks then. I got a job from Ventures Trust – to furnish a big hotel that they were building. I did everything to make sure we delivered on time, and we delivered well. And we leveraged on the elaborate opening ceremony that took place. Every job you do is a referral for you. It is better than advertisement.”
Ibukun Awosika is one person who believes strongly in her ability to make things happen. This is one driving forced that has propelled her to the level she has attained today. One can say without any equivocation that that is why she is a multiple award winner.
Said she: “When I took that one million naira from that man, my dad, for one second didn’t tell me anything. It took me 15 months to pay that money back. When I took the money, finance houses’ interest was between 50 and 72%. It was a mad time in Nigeria – between 1993 and 1995. I took it but I had faith in myself that whatever happened I would pay them back. My margins might be small, but the opportunities that the margins were opening for me would make up for it. So when I finished this job – guess how much was left, 15 months after? – N942, 000! Because of interests. It was when my dad found out that I had paid back that he hugged me. He said when he heard that I took the one million naira loan; he said “This girl has killed”. He said he was however on standby that if I failed, he would sell his house to offset the loan. So parental support or marital support is key.”
Managing challenges
She advised: “Stay focused, Ask for help. You must have your support system, people who share the same value with you. Do not act like a super human. Challenges will always come up. Find a way to deal with them. You will surely survive. Every time, it may look like the heavens is about to fall. Deal with it.
Artisans have values. When people work for you, the biggest example of what you do is to do what you say to them. You cannot say one thing and do another. They are all going to come to you with different value systems based on where they are coming from – what they are exposed to and all of that.
Ibukun Awosika will not do deals, will not cut corners, will not bribe. She argued: “To most people, I was an idealistic young woman, and I was not going to go far. But my workers had to watch me everyday fight for these principles. They know the day I will allow the job to work away. Initially they thought I was insane. They would argue “All these things we do are we going to make profit in this place”? I told them we would. But they found out once we stayed together in faith, things worked out and they found out we were not insane after all. So when you are building corporate culture, leadership is key. It cannot be a matter of do as I say and not as I do. You just have to decide what your value system is and you have to fight for it.”
Coping
She trusts her staff and so loves delegation of responsibilities. She would tell you with all sincerity, “I have the peace and grace to trust people. I delegate. I do not behave like a super human. When I started my business, I decided to earn my life. By the time I was 30/31 I was already having my second child. I decided that every year I would go for summer holidays, no matter what happens. Why? We all think we are indispensible. We can die any time. If we do not have the grace to entrust to others, you cannot scale up. Your business will remain small and will remain all about you. My people know that at a certain time of the year if you are looking for me you cannot see me – from the close of July to part of September. I take over from where they are when I am around. I always tell them if I am around, I will look for a solution, but when I am not around you look for the solution. That is my way of training my people. I empower them to take charge. Yes, some people will mess you up, but you have to give trust to get trust. I have the CEO title, but I do not do the CEO job.
