AWARD OF EXCELLENCE presented to an Exceptional leader BABA OBA CHIEF (DR.) OLADELE FAJEMIROKUN (CDF.)

0
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE presented to an Exceptional leader BABA OBA CHIEF (DR.) OLADELE FAJEMIROKUN (CDF.)

Chief Dr. Oladele Fajemirokun (CDF) the baba Oba of ifewara was honored with award of Excellence,Wednesday, 18th December 2024.

INTERVIEW;

In recognition of your outstanding contributions to Industry in Nigeria at the 69th CVL Leader Without Title Tribute Colloquium.

What sparked your entrepreneurial spirit and how did you turn your passion into a successful business?

That is not an easy answer. It is not that you wake up one morning and say you want to be a businessman, like you want to be a doctor or a lawyer. It’s something that’s instinctively developed on you as you grow up. That you are a creator, a creator of wealth, a creator of products needed, a creator of needs of the people. So, that’s how I got to discover myself as an entrepreneur. To build up an idea in my head, to plant, to nurture the plants and grow the plants with a structure of people that becomes what you call a company, a completely full organization, or a corporation.

Let me make it simple for you. First; I make myself a reputation of being a creative genius. Second; surround myself with partners who are better than me in various discipline. Third; leave them to get on with the job, which gives me space to move on with other opportunities.

Can you please share some of the most
Significant challenges you faced in your early days as an entrepreneur and how you overcame them and the lessons you learned along the way?

Let me rephrase the question for you because I’m not somebody that sees challenges as challenges. I get it done, whatever comes my way. I persevere. I’m very dogged. I don’t give up. I’m very positive. I’m not negative. I don’t thing negative about anything, health, work, anything at all. Note that each challenge or problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem, when you talk about challenges, my challenge is “never say die”. I must get it done. I must succeed, okay.

I tell people that business is many things, the list of which is the balance sheet. In reality it is a fluid ever changing living thing, sometimes building to great peaks, sometimes falling to crumble lumps. The soul of business is a curious alchemy of needs, desires, greed, gratification, mixed with selflessness, sacrifices and personal contribution far beyond material rewards, that you call profits.

Can you share some strategies or practices that have helped you maintain a strong reputation and build trust with your stakeholders?

That’s exactly the one I said before, that I make myself a reputation of being a creative genius, surround myself with partners who are better than me in various discipline and I leave them to get on with it. While I move on with other opportunities. Meaning that I don’t micromanage. I’m not a one-man business man. That’s stays in the marketplace, like Oke-arin woman that is selling lace. Because everyone that is around me is a professional also, who employs people under them, and that’s how the structure of the company becomes what you call a successful company, and you talk about balance sheet.

What do you think are some common misconceptions or myths about entrepreneurship or business, and how do you address them?
Very good! I think you may laugh here, in the sense that I will make an example that when you go to a country, say you go to the UK, and the immigration asks you, what do you do?

Earlier on in my early years of business, in my late 20s. I used to say I was a businessman. But later on, I discovered that it is wrong, because an armed robber too will call himself a businessman, a kidnapper too is a businessman when they get to the same immigration.
So, I would rather call myself a director of a company, or an entrepreneur, a builder of a business.

So, there’s a difference if the immigration officer asks the next question, what do you do?
And you can say, yes, you have created this company that produces a Xerox machine, photocopying machine, and all the likes of that.

So many companies and services like Boma’s security, Kings Guards security, which is the biggest in Nigeria, 80% of Abuja, and the guards itself, Central bank, and the rest of them. I created it from a very small company to the multibillion giant that it is today 42 years ago. When I say 80% of Abuja, that is the majority of the corporations in Abuja, the World Bank, the Federal Ministries, the NNPC building, the Central Bank, all over the country, are guarded by my company, the company I created. You want me to go on? You won’t finish here today.

What do you believe are some of the most pressing challenges or opportunities facing the business community today, and how can leaders make a positive difference?

You are delving into political area, where I don’t normally discuss, at the end of the day; everybody is involved in politics, as long as you are native of the country. So, you can pray that you have a leader that can provide conducive atmosphere that will invite investors, including yourself, that is in the country, to discover what to produce, identify goods and services needed by people inside and outside the country, earning foreign exchange for the country, earning money for the government through tax, and making you happy through that. You have an army of workers working under you, who are also your friends you keep them; have a good human relation with them, so that you are one and one family. You know each other’s family, no matter the job, whether you are up or down in the company. Ensure that there is no bully, in any corporation. So, there are the tenets that govern the companies. You first make yourself friends, and then you work as a team. The team is what makes up the company, not you.

You started a company, or partners started a company. In my own case, I started myself from my own restless mind, restless brain, looking for opportunities of work, and things where I can put bread and butter on the table for my family to eat. Thank you.

What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs or professionals just starting out, and what skills or qualities do you think are essential for success?

Yes, success. Many people dream of success, but in retrospection, success is 1% of very hard work and 90% of failures, but nobody sees the failures. It is those failures, experience of failures, that make the success and successes that people see at the end of the day. So, to the younger ones, the answer to what I think you want to know is work, work, work. If you don’t take a step, you cannot move anywhere. You have to start from somewhere.
“The world does not own anything; you owe yourself and the world everything”.

As you look back on your career and accomplishments, what do you hope your legacy will be and how do you want to be remembered?

Like I said, my pride as employer of labour, creator of wealth, and assisting the governments in helping those that cannot help themselves like the blind and the needy. And as to the younger ones also, I have mentioned it earlier, but let me emphazise it. I said work, work, work.

And I said 1% of hard work, 90% of failure, which means that you are going to fail so many times, but you must have to stand up immediately. And don’t stay down. It is when you are down and you stay down that you are a failure. That is the lesson.

I’ve picked two quotes from you. “Never say die”.
“the world owes you nothing, but you owe yourself and the world everything”. Can we have one more quote, sir?

Do you want to have another quote? Let me give you one. Procrastination; don’t ever procrastinate. Procrastination is opportunity’s natural assassin.

SB E-news
SB events magazine
Efficiency magazine
Efficiency award for Excellence EAE.
www.sbenews.com.ng
www.efficiency.com.ng
ceo_sbenews@efficiency.com.ng
sbeventnews@gmail.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *