She started her career at a mortgage bank but chose to follow her passion for law. Now a managing partner at Law City Partners, a vibrant legal firm, consultant for the social enterprise sector, and fashion designer, Bukola Smith has become a force to reckon with.
With twenty years of legal and entrepreneurial experience in her kitty, Smith bares her mind on some issues. She spoke with Rita Ohai.
YOU started out your career in the banking sector, why did you leave?
My mother was a banker for thirty-three years and she was gone almost all the time. She would leave first thing in the morning and come back late at night.
I can actually remember all the times they changed the currency note because she would return home very late at 11 or 12 pm on many days. For that reason, I didn’t feel inclined to work there even though my mom really wanted my brother and I to end up in the bank. After spending a year in the mortgage bank, I knew I had to leave.
From your experience in law, are female practitioners given a fair hearing in court or is there some gender bias?
Oh no! I do not think there is any bias at all. Once you know your onions and who you are, you will always be able to push your case. Luckily, there is a saying that goes ‘There is no woman at the bar, only gentlemen’.
A woman who knows her stuff will not be intimidated except they want to be. Law is clear, once the facts are there and they can be presented, you win a case and even if you lose, it is not the end of the world. Thankfully, there are appeal options which are ongoing till the case is proven beyond reasonable doubt.
There is a general perception that marrying a spouse in the same profession can pose marital challenges, what has your journey been like?
For me, it has been good. My husband and I laugh because we always have to present reasons till we argue to a point of conclusion.
Interestingly, when we worked together, we complimented each other. He was good at litigation and I was better at corporate governance and so we merged forces.
Right now he has moved into the entertainment industry with event planning and public relations while I attend to the legal practice, but when we were together, we found a balance.
In 2005, when you decided to start your own business, what were the steps you took to set yourself up?
There was something we used to say in school and it was ‘Others are educated, Lawyers are learned’. We are able to flow into any field we enter.
I first of all didn’t know what to do. So I decided to take a month off to plan because I knew that if I did not leave that job and take time off, I would not be able to plan. It was sudden but I had to do it.
However, it was not up to one month after that I was approached to consult for This Present House.
For a woman who multitasks, how do you handle all these businesses and try to succeed at the all of them?
First of all, it is God’s grace. I find myself doing it without understanding that I even have the capacity. When it comes to taking up an assignment, I do it with my all and I see that I am able to accomplish more. I take on what I can handle at a time, so that I do not become a ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’.
I take a day off from my job as a consultant so that I can attend to all my other businesses. I sit down and run through a whole week with my staff and then I am able to disengage and move on to other things. When I get home at the end of a work day, I still pay attention to the business.
Somehow, there has been a synergy and I am able to flow but on days that I feel distracted or scattered, I just shut down until I am able to take on the day again.
As an entrepreneur, what is the issue with getting qualified staff in Nigeria?
It has been frustrating to say the least. I have had three managers in the space of three months. It has been challenging getting the right people for the tasks. They all seem to want to work but cannot do the job well.
We have half-baked graduates who studied Mass Communication but cannot write a correct sentence. It is very scary! When you try to explain this to them, they give you a sour attitude which means they have shut the door to learn. It shows the kind of learning that goes on in our universities.
To circumvent this challenge, don’t expect too much so that your expectations do not get dashed or you train them.
There’s widespread assumption that the social sector is marred by financial irregularities such as the misappropriation of funds, how can this be addressed?
The state of the nation shows that corruption is rife. If Nigeria will redeem itself, starting from each individual, corruption will be diminished. Then it will transmit to all parastatals including the non-governmental organisations, NGO’s.
Apart from that, accessing international funds has been very difficult and the organisations try to have a face that people can trust.
Law can be an engaging profession, how do you create time to relax and have fun?
Having worked with law firms, I saw that it was demanding, almost as much as banking. I remember days when I would be at the office till 10 pm as a nursing mother and that made me take a break in 2005. I knew that if I wanted to practice and have my own time, I would have to set up my own law firm.
Leaving my job at that time was painful because I loved the job and it was a passion but I knew that if I left, I would have options and the opportunity to multitask effectively from home and set up other businesses.
I go on retreats at IITA or I might decide to go to Dubai or South Africa with my family. Relaxing is something I long to do a lot more often now.
What is the one unconventional thing you would want to do before you die?
If I could conquer my fear of heights, I would like to do some sky-gliding and jump out of a plane. I went to the Table Mountains in South Africa and I had to hold on to somebody because I was so scared.
Besides that, customer service has been very bad in this country. It is something I feel God is probably calling me to do. So I have said I am going to have an academy where people would have customer service training, because there is something lacking in that field in this country.
