FOR Lagos-based accountant-turned furniture maker and interior decorator, Oluwadamilola Akinsete, last year was a good year. As the Chief Executive Officer of ‘Home Inspiration,’ she successfully moved into a bigger, posh showroom from the Mainland area to the heart of Victoria Island where her upper class clientele dwell. The commissioning was indeed a big society event. However, just as the year was dimming out, her father passed on at a ripe old age. We met her in deep preparation for the upcoming burial. But she still found time to tell us about the lifestyle that turned her into a Lagos celebrity and successful businesswoman.
Recently you re-located from the Mainland to the Island. What prompted this?
The truth is that our new showroom was ready for us to move into much earlier than 2013. But it took some time to perfect everything here. It was when it was totally ready that we commissioned it at the end of 2013. What inspired me to move big to the Island was the need to have a flagship showroom. If you are doing a good business for over two decades, then you would have come of age. We needed to stand apart in a unique way. Even within this short period we have moved here, I can see that we have started adding value. It is an opportunity for people in Victoria Island to have one stop place for furniture and interior decorations.
You sell high profile furniture and home products to the rich, what is your perception of the taste of the rich?
Anybody who walks into our showrooms as far as I am concerned is a high profile person. I respect my customers. However, what I have been able to learn is that anybody who comes your way is not a coincidence. So you make the best of everybody that comes your way. Human beings are rich in one thing or another. Like I said earlier, when you pay attention to the rich, when you have their interest in mind and they know it, you enjoy them. However, human beings are human beings, rich or poor.
Can you describe yourself?
I want to believe that I am very gold-driven, very hardworking and focused. I am also non-diplomatic. Though I do not know if that is complimentary, especially in this part of the world where we have our culture and all that. But what I know is that I am blunt, straight and I just say it as it is.
Would you say your early life influenced the person that you are today?
I have only one parent left now, my father died recently. I had parents who were diligently strict; they had a lot of integrity and very hard working. At an early age, my siblings and I learnt the value of hard work. When I became an adult, my early years taught me a lot about life, which I also applied in business. In business, for instance, you need a lot of discipline, you need a lot of integrity and you need to be very hardworking. These are the values that my parents inculcated in me at a very young age. My primary school was at Maryland Convent, while my secondary school education was at Federal Government College, Ilorin, Kwara State. I studied Accountancy at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University).
One notices that you are also simple in nature
Oh, that is me. I don’t put on unnecessary airs. When you are a Christian, you find out that you do not attach too much importance to this world; more so when you realise that there is not really much in this world. We will leave at some point in time. And when we do, we will equally leave everything behind to return to our maker.
As a young girl, what were the dreams that you had about the future?
Now that I have to think of it, I cannot really remember whether I had dreams of becoming this or that in future. But I know that as a girl then, I wanted to finish school quickly and then go into business. I attended a boarding school in Ilorin. It was tough. I wanted to complete school quickly and leave. Though I realised later that attending boarding school was good. It toughens you, instils discipline and hard work in students. You wake up in the morning to face morning duties, which you have to do before going to the classes. You have to bathe with cold water in harmattan. That training helped. But then, we were mostly complaining that the authorities there were wicked and hash. But we’ve found out later in life that it was for our own good.
The choice of studying Accountancy, whose idea was it?
That idea was from my dad. He kept at it; he said I must do a professional course; that I must be a doctor or lawyer. Well, I didn’t want to be a doctor. I didn’t want to be a lawyer too because I knew that I didn’t want to be reading for the rest of my life. Somehow, I knew that lawyers read endlessly. Accounting did not look bad after all. I had always been good with figures. To appease him, I studied Accounting. I enjoyed it. I am also still doing Accountancy now because it helps me in business.
If you were not an accountant, what else would you have loved to be doing?
I really do not know. Perhaps I would have just stuck to business. I knew that I would be an entrepreneur.
What motivated you into setting out in business?
I guess what prompted me into business was the need to be an entrepreneur. I had the need to add value to the nation, to my family and to myself. There was also the need to develop the creativity that God had already deposited in me; and the need to earn a living, which was also very important. I started out the business even before I graduated from the university. I started with soft cushions and curtains. I guess I must have had some sort of divine guidance. I never sat down and thought or planned to be an interior decorator. It was not a well thought out plan at all. It was something that just evolved on its own way back in 1993. I started playing with the idea when I was in the university. I knew I didn’t want to go into paid employment. I wanted to do something on my own. My late dad was a businessman. He was into transportation; he was running haulage business. He used to have trailers that did haulage business with African Paints, Cadbury and other organisations.
So I wanted to be like that. I wanted to be like him. I think that must have influenced me somehow to be an entrepreneur. Incidentally, my parents had five of us, but the rest are in paid employment. I am the only one that is in business as an entrepreneur. So maybe I took after my dad in that respect.
How did the early millions roll in for you?
I was always living in Lagos with my parents. Though I went to school from time to time and came back. Before I finished school, I had already had the mind-set of being an entrepreneur. Immediately after the university, I returned to Lagos. I didn’t get an office, so I operated from home. I was doing something that I enjoyed and for which I had a passion. So it was natural for me to keep at it. That was how I got better in what I was doing. I have been blessed with good clients, some who have been with us for as long as 15 years. Some Nigerians are very good. When they see that from your heart that you can perceive what is good for them, and that you have their interest in mind, you will enjoy them.
What makes you happy?
My work makes me happy. I am happy because I am contributing my quota to the society. I am happy knowing that I am making this world better than the way I met it in my own way. I am employing people, training and re-training them. I counsel them too. I push them to be better. I am also happy knowing that people are earning a living from this organisation, not only the direct staff but also the indirect staff, the contractors and the sub-contractors. These are what make me happy.
As a woman entrepreneur, how do you cope with your home, hectic work schedule and the business environment?
I balance all sides. Women are naturally good at handling multi tasks. God gave us that gift so nobody should boast about it. It is a natural gift from God. Women are capable of doing many things at the same time. So with such a natural gift from God and the wealth of experience built over the years, I have been able to be organised and get all aspects of my life working and balanced.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me means being close to God. I know that there is no success without God. Success means relying on Him and being close to Him. After that, you have to be focused. Don’t be engaged in idle things or frolicking about the whole place. Success means being attentive and facing the important things. Lastly you have to believe that one person can change the world. If a person is able to impact values in children, youths, relations or the environment, then that person is successful. The person has prepared a better world than he or she met it. You can change the world through one person at a time.
As a successful woman, how do you relate to women?
I don’t see or relate to women in terms of what they have or which business or which role you play. Everybody’s gift is different. If a woman does not do business, she could be a career woman or a home maker or housewife as they are called here. All these are wonderful. Everybody has a part to play. For some women, the role or assignment that God has given them is to take care of the home and it is perfect. For some women it is career, while some other women, it is business. Nobody is better than the other. You have to realise the purpose and role that God has given you. When you do this, you’ll find out that you will be excelling in whatever you do. You cannot say that because you are into business and doing well so you are better than the career person. No, it is not like that. And you cannot say that because you are a home maker, then you are better than the career woman. No, I do not see life that way. We are all important and playing our different roles. There are actually men who tell their wives not to go into paid employment or even do any income paying work. If that is what a woman agrees with the husband, it is all well and good.
Do you find time despite your executive work schedule to pay attention to ladies’ affairs such as fashion and attending to kitchen matters?
Every woman must know how to cook. I love cooking. I cook regularly. I enjoy it. I do not have any problem with cooking at all. As for fashion, I love looking good. Every woman should look decent, especially when you interact with people every day.
And what kind of food do you enjoy most?
That will be rice and dodo (fried plantain). That seems to be what we mostly eat these days.
What fashion accessories would you not do without?
Forget it. There is nothing that I cannot do without! My fashion sense urges me to look simple and comfortable. In doing that, I do not need to break the bank. God has blessed us with our Ankara material right now, so every woman can wear it and be simple and comfortable without breaking the bank. I like pink colour. I wear pink. When I have cause to wear fashion accessories, I choose whatever suits the occasion.
What does glamour mean to you and when should a woman be glamorous?
When I see very glamorous women, they look good to me. Any woman can look glamorous especially if he has the time and resources to do so. To be glamorous is good. For some women, that is what their husbands like. For some other women, it is not what their husbands want. Such women just love being glamorous. They love looking that way. So my advice is that if you can afford it, and you have the time, be glamorous.
What do you value most?
It is God. I value most my relationship with God.
Was getting up the business ladder easy for you?
I can tell you that all through the years, it has not been easy for us, but then, God has been good. Nigeria can be quite challenging but God’s grace has been sufficient for us. My first shop was on Allen Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos. But even as I speak to you now, some challenges are still there. In fact, some challenges even grew with time. They became more than before. For instance, the problem of non-availability of power, a few years ago, you could predict when you might have power. That was because the light was stable for some hours of the day. But over time, it became very irregular. Now we just stay on generator. The more you pay the light bill, the less you see the light. We have the burden of paying double taxation. Then also, there is the mass craze for wealth which was not there before. So many people come looking for employment. But as soon as you give them the employment, they do not want the work again. All they want is the money. They do not want to work for the money. All they are targeting is to make money. And life does not work that way. You have to strive. You have to work hard to make money. So the staff do not stay. Once they find out that they cannot make the money instantly, they leave. So you end up training one set of people after another. There is this craze for wealth among our youths, which was not there 10 years ago.
How has your training influenced your staff?
It is the ones that are ready to be influenced that get influenced positively. The truth is that we are having a big issue here in Nigeria. I don’t know whether the failure is from the home. Our generation was different. Our generation had strict parents. I think it is different today. Today’s parents are lax. Most of the youth that come for training do not even see it as such. Some are level-headed and reasonable to know that it is for their good. But some have mostly been spoilt from home. In those days, it was different. Children had the fear that their parents must not get to hear that they are involved in any bad conduct. You dare not be reported for bad conduct. This issue has become a major problem in our society. It could be as a result of people now making more money; they are over-indulging their children.
It is unfortunate that we actually saw this happen in Europe and America. The challenges they are having over there with the youth is because children were not disciplined. We saw it and we have been imbibing the same foreign culture. So the same thing that has been causing a problem in Europe is happening here now.
When you are under severe pressure, what keeps you going?
I hope I am not sounding like a cliché; the truth is that it is God that keeps me going. When I am down, I read the scriptures or I go to church to hear an inspiring sermon. God knows when you are down. He knows when you are at the low ebb. He could send a word at that time to you. The sermon in church could be about what you are going through. From there, you draw inspiration to apply to your situation. That is how I find encouragement to move ahead.
Were you a tomboy as a little girl?
Yes, I was (laughs). I was the only girl among four boys. I was a real tomboy. I used to climb trees, exchange blows with the boys. I also used to roll on the ground with them. I kicked like they did and jumped on trees. I even had so many scars on my legs as proof for my early lifestyle. You know, boys could be so rough. They most often want to show you that they are stronger and I would want to show, for instance, that I am older.
How does that affect the way you relate with men now that you are in business?
Sometimes it’s still a running battle. You find men who think ‘she is a woman’, so they can do that or do this with her. That is why women seem to act tough because most of the time as a woman, you need to prove yourself twice as much. When a woman talks to a man, some men sneer that she is shouting. Their attitude towards a woman in power is somehow. However, in daily business life, I come across gentlemen who are truly gentlemen. At the same time, I still do come across the other type who thinks ‘she is a woman.’
How do you spend your leisure?
I rest. I completely shut down and rest to recharge my internal battery. I love good sleep. I put my phones on silent mode and take time off to sleep. Even three hours of good sleep could be very worthwhile.
Women and make-up go together. Or what do you think?
I am neither here nor there regarding that. Some women are so beautiful that they don’t need it. But there are also some other women that make up enhances. So I am indifferent to make up. Sometimes it depends on where one is. Actually, some days I use it, some days I do not. There are many days that I don’t.
Are you hoping to be a minister in the church some day?
I don t think so (laughs). Not an ordained minister. But I know that wherever we are, in our own ways, we are ministers too.
