Oyin Adeyemi’s name may not resonate like many others in the nation’s economic sector, but her entrepreneurial exploits readily qualify her as one of the most adventurous women the nation can boast of. Her impact in the investment portfolio market, construction, real estate and international trade is as real as daylight. In this interview with KAYODE ALFRED, the Founder and Managing Director of Still Earth Limited, a construction company, relives her journey from grass to grace.
In the Beginning
An old head on young shoulders! That is a description that aptly fits Oyin Adeyemi’s personality. One only has to engage her in a short conversation to come to terms with her confidence and composure. She might not compete favourably in terms of age in a socio-economic sphere that is replete with geriatric goons. Yet, she has come of age in Nigeria’s business terrain so much so that she rubs shoulders with the high and mighty in the polity. But her rise to entrepreneurial heights was strewn with twists and turns.
Having acquired a degree that fetched her a banking job in Abuja, Oyin settled in as fast as practicable. Within her, she knew she was not cut out for a career in such a regimented job. A few years later, she dumped her banking job. Oyin’s restless nature meant that she was always willing to test new waters. She headed straight to Lagos with no specific mission, but one thing was on her mind: explore every opportunity that life might throw her way in the nation’s commercial nerve centre.
Realising that life in the Centre of Excellence is lived at a frenetic pace, she decided to go into buying and selling of branded shirts. This, in her calculation, would afford her some new challenges. “I needed some other new but flexible challenges which could afford me the chance to complete my Master’s degree programme in Abuja and my MBA at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. It was very Herculean having to combine my banking job with study,” she recalled.
For Oyin, her ambition was as weighty as a featherless bird no bird flies on its own; it needs feathers. Entrepreneurial aspirations are best achieved when funds back them up, but Oyin had no funds and therefore got stuck for days. She made a funny but bold move, which made no difference anyway. Oyin narrated her ordeal when she approached a senior officer at Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, with whom she had never had personal interaction before for a start-up capital.
She said: “The only thing I knew about him was just his name. So, I went there on three occasions without seeing him. I could not see him at my first three attempts. I eventually saw him on my fourth trip. He was going out when I accosted him and explained my mission. He asked me how much I needed and I told him I needed N3 million. He was like: ‘Am I a bank? Where do you want me to get that from?’
“He eventually asked me to come back with my business proposal. I scribbled some lines on one page and headed back the following day to submit it. That would begin another round of visits to the office week after week without seeing him again. I was so frequent in his office that I became friends with his secretary. After I had opened up to her on my mission, she mentioned franchise as an option I could explore. I got tired and stopped going there without being given a dime.”
This unspoken rejection shook Oyin but only succeeded in cementing her resilience. She decided to start her trading business with the meager sum she had saved as a banking officer. She contacted a UK-based friend of hers to make some findings about the retail aspect of fashion business in the UK. Oyin was almost blown up with her friend’s findings.
“He came up with an estimate of £250,000. I just laughed. I was looking for just N3 million and here was a friend talking about N70 million,” she said. Undeterred, she sent all her meager savings to her UK-based friend to help her get as many shirts as the money could buy. The episode marked the beginning for her in business. She remained in the retail business of designer’s shirts for a while and then, according to her, “I started getting unsatisfied with the retail business. I had the urge within me to move on to something bigger things. So, I headed to London without any concrete plan.
“While in London, I visited Haws and Curtis factory to enquire about the possibility of replicating their business model in Nigeria. They came up with some excuse that made it impossible. I came back home to focus on my Masters’ degree. That was how I wrapped up my first shot at business.”
Academics meet politics
Oyin’s quest for knowledge is insatiable. She might give up her retail business but she definitely would not give up her academic pursuit for anything. Her focus shifted fully to her Masters’ degree programme. Fortunately, her decision would bring her to the same table with kings and princes. Oyin was non-partisan but her interest in the politics of the country was glaring.
She said: “I have always been interested in Nigeria’s politics; that is why my first degree was in Political Science. But one defining moment of my interest in politics was when I produced a document of manifestoes with some input from a friend. I worked on the document with one thing in mind: I wanted the document to reflect the mind of a presidential aspirant; one that would interest anyone interested in presiding over the affairs of Nigeria.
“I met Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and I got drafted into his campaign organisation as a member of the Strategy Team. This afforded me the opportunity to see things beyond the surface, as I had to sit with very brilliant minds that made up the team. We moved round the country and met with all the peoples of Nigeria, selling Atiku Abubakar’s candidacy to them. It was an eye-opening experience.
“Atiku is a brilliant guy who knows his onions. His depth of knowledge put him above his peers. With an Atiku presidency, I strongly believe Nigeria will be better for it. He is one politician with a true national outlook. He is pan-Nigerian in all ramifications. At the end of the day, we all witnessed how things turned out.
“The high wire politics that derailed the whole effort broke me and almost made me lose confidence in the system. But this is our country and one cannot afford to give up. Corruption has eaten so deep into the Nigerian system. As knowledgeable as an average Nigerian is, if they were truly in the know of some of the things that happen beneath the surface, actually, there would have been revolution a long time ago.
“We are too contented with our situation in Nigeria. We make little of very big and complicated issues. I think that is why corruption still thrives in Nigeria. When sentiments replace value in any given society, it robs us of people with great vision or ideas at the helm of affairs.”
Joining the big league
Playing a major role in Atiku campaign opened Oyin’s eyes to wider opportunities. So, after taking a break from the scene, she came back stronger in 2012 and registered Still Earth Limited, which is a construction company that has governments at all tiers and multinationals as clients.
In her appraisal of how far Still Earth has come, Oyin says: “I am grateful to God for opening my eyes to some opportunities and backing me up with resources needed to explore them. The journey has been very challenging but it has been worth the while.
“Our success is hinged on our passion to achieve our company’s goals and objectives. It boils down to our team and the corporate values and culture we uphold at Still Earth Limited. We have in place a board of directors comprising veterans who are passionate about Still Earth Limited. They always bring their experience and expertise to bear.
“Our management team is peopled by technocrats whose professionalism can compete with global standards. I thing I have been lucky with having the right people with me all the way. Our clients have also been a part of our huge success. Most of the state governors we work with award us contracts based on their determination to improve the welfare of the people in the state and also to improve their standards of living.”
Huge personality in petite frame
Unassuming, petite and beautiful are the words that come to mind after an encounter with Oyin Adeyemi for the first time. Her approachable mien is subsumed in a physical frame that belies her success in a terrain dominated by the stern and the seasoned. The saying that ‘good things come in small packages’ finds expression in Oyin, today, she manages a giant construction company whose annual turnover runs into billions of naira; a status some people still find difficult to believe.
Speaking about her strength, she said: “I have a determined attitude to life. I am very detailed and I never take anything for granted. I am very passionate about life. Many of my first time guests are always overwhelmed with the thought that this edifice (referring to the office) cannot be run by this young lady. So it is an everyday occurrence. Most of the governors I work with always go away with the impression that I am a daughter of the owner of this company. So, I have had to always prove my mettle to most of them.
“But the perception is becoming better these days. All I need to get them to key into the reality of my life is to spend 30 minutes with them. Anyone I engage for 30 minutes leaves with the impression that I know what I am doing.”
Prodded to explain how it feels when her petite physical outlook is focused on at clients’ first encounters with her, her response brings her humility to the fore, unlike many of her peers who herald their arrival on the big scene with ostentatious displays.
She said: “Really, it’s been like that for some time and I’ve got used to it. In the end, all of these now are advantage because it plays up our efforts as a company rather than the person behind it. In other way round, confidentiality is key to data. And in a country where name-dropping is common and people think they must be seen on the pages of newspapers frolicking with governors or ministers, I have chosen to be different. It is strictly business for me.”
Shattering the glass ceiling
Hers is a combination of assorted traits and virtues not easily come by in a society artificially designed to relegate women to the background. Playing it big in Nigeria’s construction and engineering industry is no leisure, especially when one considers the fact that the industry is under the firm grip of men of clout and humongous war chest.
Oyin readily agrees that hers is a male-dominated industry. In fact, it is believed in some quarters that the industry is controlled by a mafia which one has to contend with to be able to make an impact. The odds against Oyin Adeyemi appears even more daunting when one juxtaposes her lean frame with the tough sector in which she has been able to carve a niche for herself. She sits atop StillEarth Limited, a company whose strength and focus centres around construction, real estate and project finance.
Coming across a lady of Oyindamola’s relatively young age making waves in such a competitive sector, one is naturally curious to know how she shattered the glass ceiling and wangled her way to the top.
“It is true that our system is skewed in favour of some. It is also fair to say that Nigeria is one big market for almost all types of business as long as you get your act right. A little planning and a little forethought can go a long way in ensuring success,” she said.
State of the nation
Oyin’s versatility goes beyond business. Her grasp of development politics is enthralling. That she is disenchanted with the political system in Nigeria and Africa in general is accentuated in her vociferous opinion about the system. She is of the opinion that there is no limit to Nigeria’s potentials if they are well harnessed. But she is also quick to point out the plagues bedeviling the polity.
She said: “There are some challenges that still bedevil our political climate: impunity, abuse of power, low quality of political debate and discourse, and the likes. However, despite these challenges, I have a strong belief that the character of our politics and the quality of democratic governance in Nigeria can only improve. Indeed, some of the critical challenges sometimes create salutary developments that deepen democracy.
“I give a few instances. In the run up to the 2007 general elections, when the mechanism for internal party democracy in the ruling PDP was constrained and various forms of obstacles were created at the highest level of the then government to prevent Vice President Atiku Abubakar from having an opportunity to run for the presidency on the platform of PDP and AC, it took judicial intervention, up to the highest court in the land, to clear him, and he indeed ran for the Presidency on the platform of a different party from the one on which he was elected Vice President. His courage and efforts have since created precedents that are now being enjoyed by others. So the country’s politics is better for it.
“The case of Governor Amaechi is also a watershed with respect to party nomination process. The failed impeachment of the Nasarawa governor by a House of Assembly dominated by members of an opposing party is also instructive. Comparing this situation with the impeachment of Governor Balarabe Musa of Kaduna State in the Second Republic will confirm that though the situations are similar, the outcome is different because the people of Nasarawa came out to defend the mandate given to their governor and were not prepared to let it go on some flimsy charges by the House of Assembly.
“Thirdly, the electorate is increasingly getting more aware, vigilant and determined to exercise their voting rights and defend the outcome as demonstrated in the recent governorship election in Osun State. It also shows that they will reward performance and fidelity to electoral promises. On the whole, there is increasing consciousness to raise the bar for measuring performance in office while the citizens demand for greater accountability and transparency.
“I must mention two other things with regard to political parties. The historic formation of APC from a successful merger of three opposition political parties and a faction of the fourth one was unprecedented and is a positive development. As I said earlier, what was an unpleasant development gave birth to an unintended but clearly desirable outcome. Despite some teething challenges, the country now has a truly national and formidable opposition party and an alternative to PDP. The contest in the general elections, especially for the central government, is expected to be robust.
“One should therefore view the just released APC guidelines for the primaries to elect candidates for elective positions as a very positive development. The guidelines have broadened the electoral college that party members at various levels, with substantial majority coming from the ward level participating in decision to elect the flag bearers. For instance, the electoral college to elect the party’s presidential flag bearer will comprise members from each of about 8,000 wards in the country. This means that, if faithfully implementedand I have no doubt that this will be the casepopular candidates will emerge. This will help the candidates and the party at the general elections as the grassroots base is solid.
“But also important is that this mechanism that strengthens the internal party democracy will be emulated by other parties, resulting in the parties fielding their most popular and hopefully best quality candidates, thus giving the electorate wider choices of good materials to choose from at the general elections. Democracy will benefit and the quality of governance will certainly be enhanced.
The quintessential woman
Oyin is task-focused. She is a competitive achiever and she is single. What is her take on womanhood and marriage? The following lines of thought would hint at Oyin’s emotional state: “A woman has all the strength, instinct and intuition to make the impossible possible. Businesses and homes now realise this and that’s why you find women on board the biggest and most successful organisations. Women are running the most successful businesses now too.
“A happy woman in a home makes a happy home, although we still have a long way to go in empowering the girl child and even older women. It is very pertinent that everybody realises the importance of the well-being and happiness of women. The belief that a woman is only complete beside a man is rubbish. That she must remain in an unhappy union or marriage is dehumanising.
“I believe that women should be given the chance to make the same choices in love as men. I believe that relationships should be monogamous, but they don’t have to last forever once the happiness and love fizzles. And this can happen for any reason. Then it’s time to move on. But by and large, women are really coming into their own now.”
