IBUKUN AWOSIKA: I still kneel for my husband

Ibukun Awosika is the first female Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Limited. She is also the founder and CEO of The Chair Centre Group and the chairperson and promoter of After School Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), a social enterprise set up to address employability and enterprise development among young Nigerians, among others. Adetutu Audu met her at one of her mentorship programmes, where she shared her success story and why she is passionate about the youths.

Looking back at those days in Dragons den, it seems you have interest in the youths. What spurred this passion?

I love empowering the life of the youth because I am also a Nigerian and I need to show 100 percent patriotism because in this same country I have cousins, nephews, families. And if you look around me, you will see a lot of young people who can be a great value to our great nation and you see, God has blessed us as a country so much with so much potential and if we don’t achieve it, it will become a sin; and that is why it always drives me crazy thinking of where we are and where we ought to be as a nation.  In those days, our grandfathers went to school via their own accounts and they never taught them on how they could secure a job and at the long run if they didn’t perform up to expectation, they got penalised for not having the right education. So my own ideology is that ‘stop blaming the government, because we are all Nigerians’. I believe that little drops of water can lead to a mighty ocean, so just think of what you can do and stop blaming the government. We as persons have roles to play in nation-building because a good follower with a good leader is what makes up a great nation; so, just think of what you can do and start doing it. However, it doesn’t matter how you start, but the most important thing is starting with what you have on ground. If it is worthwhile, the business will expand. If it is the people you know or one person will join you, before we know what is happening the number will increase to infinity until you get to where you are going. It is better than being idle and complaining because when we started it was not like this, we had to take it gradually because it is a vision that requires a lot of steps.

You know I am a mother, even if I have the resources of giving my children the best education in the world, where will it be? In what community?  The point I want to stress out here is that, the day we will we have revolution in this country, which I pray we will never have, because I think the kind of revolution we need is the revolution of the mind and not the revolution of the might, people will come at you for having something; they will not enquire on how you made it, whether you worked for it or you stole it. So by the time you take care of the less privileged ones, by the time they all have, you will have rest of mind.

Many have argued that the situation of the country is the reason for joblessness and restlessness of the youths. What is your view compared to your growing up period?

I was brought up in a middle class family, given the best education. I didn’t go to school abroad, I went to the University of Ife. After my youth service, I worked in a company for three and the half months before starting my own business and then all the challenges we had in this country as at then were still present and with all of that I still had the opportunity of doing something. When we started the television series of the enterprise programme, you would be able to visualise everything I am talking about. One of those things I used to tell young people is that, ‘don’t come and tell me you can do this because I don’t have that’, because there are problems everywhere. But despite the problems we have as a nation, we must not relent, we must keep on doing something and that is the commitment I have in achieving the goals of this project. Because, personally I realised that a lot of these young people have a lot to do; they just need a little guidance and opportunity in achieving their desired dreams.

There was no power, there were no resources. Even those challenges we had in those days we still have it up till date but the people of nowadays have better opportunities than us. There was no power, even up till now there is still no power; then who was going to give a girl of 25years to invest in a business? I had no collateral, I couldn’t even tell my parents that the next thing on my mind was business. But now information is very easy to access anywhere; with the click of a button, the internet is available to be used. So, when we say that the environment has changed, the truth is that the environment hasn’t changed that much because it is really about the choices that you make and you can see that it is just concerted effort by parents, agencies, to help the young people find their ways, so that was the focus; you have to at least find your way.

Do you think our cultural values are fast eroding?

Honestly, I think a lot of Nigerian are very communal. We grew up in a community, if you go to your village now, apart from the extended family we have, we have a very large family. For instance, when you were growing up, it wasn’t only your father and mother that raised you, but your aunty, neighbours, cousins, nephews. Because of the days your parents would not be around, your neighbour might eventually be the one to take care of you and I think the world we live in now is different. I think we need the community; that is why I doubt if there is any Nigerian who is right thinking, that we discuss some of this issues with who is not bothered.

With the passion you have for this project, no doubt it is also capital intensive. Many would want to ask what is in it for you?

Before embarking on a project like this, the first thing you will need to ask yourself is why did I want to involve myself in this kind of project? And once the why is answered you will be able to know the purpose why you are doing it. Firstly, when you have a desire for something of this nature, money will become a secondary issue. With the kind of support, it will encourage you to do more because it has gotten to the point at which you are no more carrying the burden alone and you have succeeded in scaling up and reaching out to the larger crowd and showing them how you care about them. And in real life, if you look at the young people that were in this programme some years back and you discover that the programme really played a major role in their life build up, money can’t buy that; you will feel very fulfilled because their life was being transformed by you, and you are able to listen to their testimonies, you will feel very happy. But for me, money is the last thing on my mind.

No doubt, the programmes have been a success. Yet we cannot rule out challenges. What would you say are your challenges?

I am a wife, a mother and apart from this, I have numerous responsibilities as a person and sometimes looking for resources to do some of the things I want to do to affect the lives of these young people sitting down here. But you know what, life isn’t about material things because looking at the young people seated here, I don’t know, any of them can also be of help to my own children later in the future. Life is all about pay forward; at the end of the day, they must also extend the programme to other generations and that is one of the reasons we deliberate on the pay forward project.

Many young people see you as a mentor. Can you share your success story with us?

After my youth service at Akintola Williams, thereafter I worked at Alibert Nigeria Limited, a furniture company, as Showroom Manager. Three and a half months after my employment, I resigned to set up my own furniture manufacturing company, Quebees Limited, from which The Chair Centre Limited later evolved. I discovered that if I can also do some of these things on my own, that if I need any machine, I can rent it and that is all I did at the beginning and it is one of the reasons I am so passionate about the enterprise programme. I am tired of listening to people saying ‘I don’t have this, I don’t have that.’ When I started, I displayed some level of commitment to what I was doing and that is what kept me on the track up till date. Within those months, I discovered why I wanted to study Architecture in the first place. Within the context of furniture, I discovered I could play around with space. I loved the process of creating and designing furniture. I could turn this place around, but I hated that because they were Lebanese and their values were quite warped. And without thinking much, I said to myself I could do this, and I could do it right, and I left that company to start a manufacturing company.

Did I have capital? No. The three and a half months were critical to my life story. Within those months, I saw the inside out of furniture making. I understood what is involved. Did I ever think I could go into furniture making before then? No. I never did. Not for a second did I think of doing that. But from the onset, I made up my mind that any customer who was interested in my product should pay 70 per cent upfront. So what do I need a start-up capital for? The customers provided the capital.

Did I have a factory? No. Did I have workers? I could only afford to hire carpenters, but I didn’t have to pay them for one month. They operated from their workshop. Their service was in advance but their payment was in arrears. I also had labour in advance. Did I have the machines? No. But all the machines and machinists were available. I paid per unit of what they produced for me. I didn’t need a generator because they would provide their own generator. I was paying them for what they did. For spraying, I discovered that I could rent a spray gum on a day-to-day basis.

Everything I needed was in the system. The carpenters came with their tools. So I didn’t even need to buy tools. All I needed was to have a place to operate from. I noticed that a furniture making company needs basically three divisions -carpentry, upholstery and spraying. So I engaged three carpenters, two upholsterers and two sprayers. We were seven. So where do we start from? The chief carpenter said there was an uncompleted building close to his house. The man lives in Ejigbo. I had never gone to Ejigbo but I had to go because what I needed was there. The next thing was where do we get jobs from? When people heard that one of our first customers was Prime Merchant Bank, it sounded so big and great. But I had handled the transaction in my former place of work. I went there to see if there was any extra job that they could offer me. I treated them well. But how do you give a bank’s major furniture work to a 25-year-old girl who had nothing? All the same, I went there and they felt it would be nice to also be nice to me. The first order I got was to supply wooden trays and wooden dust bins. I took it because I wanted a foot in the door. I just needed a starting point. We worked on that like our lives depended on it. They had a lot of young staff who were just starting life so I took all manners of jobs – people who wanted stools in their houses, bed and all sorts. Every job was a big job and so we plugged ourselves into it. Six months later, there was a furniture show at the National Theatre and I decided we were going to go there. All the big guys, of course, were there. I needed to showcase that we could also do it. We had the skills, what we lacked was the network. So I scrounged all the monies we had to pay for space at the show.

My guys made assorted furniture and for the one-week period of the show, we went there and we had to close workshop. Whilst we were there, Texaco Nigeria was building a new factory at McCarthy, and they came to scout for a company that would supply their furniture. We were there among the big guys, but nobody realised that we were a tiny, little dot. We made our paper work and had a good presentation. Our attention to details was different from theirs. By the time we did the samples, we were shortlisted among the best.

What was your initial profit?

When I started, I didn’t really make a profit. You know sometimes when you have to do a work and check it back, you must have made something but because you are committed to it you keep on doing it because you have business transaction and you get paid for it. It makes it encouraging and that is one of those things; one needs to understand that at the start your profit might be very minimal because of the money you are using in renting machine and all of that and that is all right for a start because it is better you start doing something, or you never start; so it is opportunity cost. I love what I am doing as a person and to me I don’t see it as work any longer, I just see it as an adventure.

So when did the breakthrough come?

I didn’t take note of that. What I just know was that I just kept on doing my work and I am finding pleasure in it for over 26years ago.

Many career women find it difficult coping with their homes. In all these, how do you juggle between your roles as a mother, wife and career?

In life, you decide on those things that are important to you, because as a woman I have all my visions and dreams and I want to achieve them. I want to also be a successful mother to my children and I want to be a successful wife to my husband; once I am able to balance it up, it will make a successful home. All we need is understanding. And we need a balanced home to have the right atmosphere. I also apply wisdom most of the time because the day my children matter most to me, I create time for them. The day it is my husband that matters, I create the time. The same goes for my work. If not, everything will crumble and that is why I need to measure the percentage of attention I give to them and that is why I can’t advise another woman on how to run her family because it is your circumstances that determine your kind of action; my home is different from any other home. I am happy to be married to the best man.

How has this rubbed on your success?

No matter what you think I am, in my house, my husband, in spite of my achievement, is the head of the home. Whatever I am today, I can kneel down before my husband in front of 10 million people and it would mean nothing to me because he is my husband. The secret of Ibukun Abiodun Awosika’s perfect marriage is empowering and inspiring her husband every day. And of course, the mutual support and love must be present