Mr. Zulu Ibrahim is the Group General Manager of Sun Heaven Hotels and Resorts, one of Nigeria’s leading hospitality chains. The group is currently planting hotels all over the country and pushing into the West African sub-region. In this interview with OKORIE UGURU, he talks about the challenges of building a local hospitality chain. Excerpts:
Could you talk about the Sun Heaven Hotels and Resorts chain?
Sun Heavens Hotel started in 2015 with a 25-room hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos. After a few months, we thought we could go into a chain because we found out that we had experience in the industry and we could do what others were doing outside the shores of Nigeria. So, we went into Lekki Phase1, and by February 2016, we had our second property which is on Admiralty Road, Lekki Phase1. After then, in October 2016, we opened another property in Asokoro, Abuja, also 25-room upscale hotel. That was before we had this one in Parkview Estate, Ikoyi. It is a 72-room property. It is our flagship hotel for now.
The reason and our own concept is that we want to extend Sun Heaven Hotels and its services throughout Nigeria and beyond. We want people to enjoy here at Sun Heaven hotels what they go outside the country to enjoy. We want them to enjoy the kind of hospitality and services that make people travel outside the country to go and have their holidays. If you go to most of these countries, there is no where you will not find Nigerians. We are well-trained and if we can deliver such services to people outside the country, we could equally do the same here. Also, the mindset of the average Nigerian investor in the hospitality industry is that Nigerian managers are not good and hotels locally managed are not good enough. That is why we are building Sun Heaven Hotels as a local hospitality chain to counter this mindset.
Right now, we are opening another branch in the Gudu area of Abuja in March, and by June, we will be opening our fifth or sixth hotel in Lagos here which will be on Ikorodu Road. After the one in Abuja, within a short interval, we plan opening another one in Umuahia, a 52-room hotel.
Is Sun Heavens Hotel a hospitality management company or you own your properties?
We are the owners. Sun Heaven Hotels and Resort is not only a hospitality management company, we also own property.
You are building a hospitality chain. Is it going to be purely a Nigerian hospitality chain or maybe after having your footprints in Nigeria, you are moving to another region?
Yes, sometimes last year in 2018, we had gone to Ghana to do a feasibility study. Even right now, we are planning to move into West Africa. After that, we may go beyond the sub-region. Right now, our scope is Nigeria and West Africa.
So, you intend building a regional hotel chain?
Yes, we do.
How do you see the Nigerian hospitality industry and the void you believe Sun Heaven will fill?
According to statistics, about 7,000 visitors come into Lagos every day, and if you check all the good hotels around, I don’t think we have 7,000 rooms, I mean of very good hotels. So, having four or five more hotels in Lagos, I believe the hospitality industry, which is the second oldest business in the world, can never run at loss. Because, like I said, if 7000 people are coming into Lagos, where are they sleeping? Conferences are going on; meetings are going; acquisitions and mergers are going on, where are they taking place? So, we have to provide the enabling environment for people to come and expand their businesses in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. So, that was what we thought of. Most people would not want to come and expand their business into Nigeria and West Africa because there is no good hospitality platform for them. That is why we want to fill this void and make sure that we are everywhere in Nigeria. For example, someone coming for a business in Lagos or who wants to go to Abuja would want to use our hotel, if the person is satisfied with our services. So, we have a chain and we will soon have a loyalty card that entitles our loyal customers to discounts across our chain. So, that is what we are trying to do.
You footprints in terms of planting hotels read Victoria Island, Lekki Phase1, Park View Estate, all in Lagos and Abuja, creating a profile upscale hospitality outfit. Is that true?
Yes, that is what we are looking at but the next one we are opening in Lagos is in Onipanu, Ikorodu Road. There is nowhere that you will establish a hotel that it is not marketable. We bought a property over there. Onipanu is just in front of Ilupeju and Ilupeju has a lot of businesses and if you look at, let’s say, from Surulere down to Maryland, there are no good hotels until you get to Ikeja. So, each location has its own peculiar way of selling itself. Even if it is sited inside the market, if your services are good, you will still get patronage. What we are doing is that we will not say because this one is along Ikorodu Road, it will not be as good as the one in Ikoyi. No.
From the locations of your property; you are a business hotel?
Yes.
Some are of the opinion that Nigerians are not good at running hospitality outfit; what do you think?
That depends on the individual mindset towards the business. I have worked under expatriates for 18 years. I know how it is being done. There is not business that can survive without proper management. Money is not the issue. Like I said, we want to make our presence known in Nigeria and West Africa. So, if our eyes are on money, we are not going to get to anywhere. From the account department to the general manager, we don’t focus on money. There are different levels of control.
What is the general percentage occupancy across your property?
I will want to break them down because different locations have different markets. Throughout last year, Lekki Phase1 has the highest, which is 85 per cent. As I am talking to you now, there is no room. It is followed by the Victoria Island property, our first hotel. Victoria Island has 75 per cent occupancy. The Asokoro property has 62 per cent occupancy. Ikoyi just opened about seven months ago. It ended last year with 60 percent occupancy. So, from 2015 till now, we have recorded any month with the occupancy rate below 50 per cent, irrespective of what is happening.
How do you find managing hotels with the Nigerian business climate?
It is a little bit of a challenge. We have hotels in many places. The taxes in Lagos are higher than any other place in Nigeria. For example, in Abuja, we are not paying five per cent consumption tax. Nobody is asking for it. Though the hoteliers’ association in Lagos is in court, but we are paying. The major challenge we have is power. Let me use this place as an example. We spend close to six million Naira on power every month because we buy diesel. Public power supply is about N900,000 to one million naira without constant light. So, it is a little bit of challenge. Taxes are too high but we will have to make sure we improve on our occupancy. Our rates are moderate. We want to encourage people to patronize us. We are still in the gestation period in the hotel chain. Forget about the fact that we started in 2015. So, we make sure that we have balance. We do not owe any government tax and we do not owe staff.
Within a period of four to five years of establishment, you have about six to seven hotels scattered in different parts of the country. Where do you see the hotel chain to be in the next 10 years?
The vision of the hotel is to become the best hotel chain in Nigeria and the sub-region. So, going by that, in the next 10 years, we should be all over Nigeria and West Africa and by extension Africa.
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