Tell us a bit about yourself- growing up, childhood and why you chose your career path.
Growing up was beautiful. I have fond memories of my childhood because I come from a close-knit family that loves to party and celebrate with each other. It was always fun. And there was always a lot of laughter in the home. My dad is an Accountant and was the Managing Director of Societe General Bank. My mum worked in National Oil, now Shell, before she joined the Civil Service where she rose to become a Permanent Secretary.
I grew up with successful parents who were hard working. I would always tease my mum as I was so used to her bringing loads of files home and working late signing documents or when she travelled for work sometimes. Sometimes we joined her on these travels and also visited her at the office so, at an early age, I appreciated the value of work, of discipline and commitment. I observed how hard they both worked and how successful they both were; therefore, I honestly knew nothing different. Their hard work enabled them to provide us with the best – attending the best schools: Queens College -which my mum and grandmother also attended, University of Leicester and University of Kent.
I always wanted to do something in development, something with African economies, aid and growth. I knew it had to be something that had an impact, created employment and addressed poverty. What’s funny, growing up, I would lie down and be glued to CNN. That was always something. I just wanted to know what was happening around the world.
Somehow, I gravitated towards Economics which I studied at the University of Leicester, and then went on to study Development Economics with my thesis on the Impact of Aid and Trade on Growth in Developing Economies.
You’ve recently relocated for work. What influenced your decision to move? How is the transition so far (in your lifestyle and work?
I love challenges. I love growth. I love to deliver, and I love to work. It doesn’t matter ‘what’ in particular but I always love to add value. Before this role, I was Group Marketing Director at the United Bank for Africa and I loved it. I had a wonderful team, the work was challenging and I could see the difference and results but this opportunity came up and I knew it would also challenge me to grow in different capacities.
Being CEO of Transcorp Hotels Plc, the leading hospitality company quoted on the Nigerian stock exchange, and the opportunity to take it to the next level having 2 predecessors who had made their mark and guess what? I took over and COVID hit, taking the challenge to a whole new level. I had to learn fast – as it now meant running a hospitality business in a pandemic, managing over 900 staff, negotiating with union leaders, vendors and strategically making the required decisions to keep costs down while driving revenues. It was different, including creating different business ideas.
Lifestyle? it’s been different. Abuja is new to me but I find I am working much harder and with the inclusion of virtual work, it is truly much more demanding, and my social life is taking a huge hit. However, the work is challenging and the opportunity to truly build and help create outlets for domestic leisure and local tourism is an exciting one.
What’s one experience that stands out when you think about your recent move?
It has to be the global pandemic; it took me by surprise. Honestly, it took everyone by surprise. I had high hopes for 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t what we asked for, but we had to deal with it anyway. I became CEO right when Nigeria went into lockdown and as I said, I had to learn fast, I had to make tough decisions and with my team, we had to navigate running a hospitality business in a pandemic. I watched the hotels’ occupancy rate drop drastically and by April, we were at 5% occupancy from 70% just in February. That was a big one but this singular experience has also taught me so much more about persistence, diligence, innovativeness and adaptability.
Developing new ideas to drive revenue regardless of the pandemic was an experience I will not forget in a hurry seeing as we had to scale our leisure marketing to draw in the younger crowd.
Our hotels are mostly known for corporate and business activity and the pandemic revealed the pockets of opportunity that we could build on. This, of course, has shaped a lot of what we are doing this year in terms of activities and marketing.
We are exploring different businesses within the hotel; we just launched the first coworking space called ‘Workspace by Transcorp Hotels’ and we are doing a lot more in terms of leisure with the drive-in cinemas, paint and sip, picnics, Sunday brunch, and lots more.
We also just reopened the new and improved Pastry Corner which not only offers pastries, desserts, and coffees, you can also buy flowers and just enjoy the ambience. The Capital Bar is now open to guests and a lot more packages are being rolled out. We are simply trying to create an experience for our guests as this helped us bounce back the way we did in the 4th quarter.
What are three career lessons you can share with us?
Be open-minded, be prepared and add value. There’s no limit to your achievements once you open your mind and push. Some people call it luck, but I think luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. The positions I have held over the years have given me a broad spectrum of experiences. I have met different people and executed various responsibilities which have built my character and work ethic.
The importance of networking and connecting with people. The higher up you go, the less important your technical capability and the more important your relationships and network. In my previous role, I was charged to connect with leading Tech Giants – The Big Four largest and most dominant companies in Tech – Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google. It was a challenge, but I got it done. I connected with all the Senior Executives and this led to a partnership for my organization that elevated the brand (Leo Partnership on Facebook and IOS with Apple).
To date, this partnership is the only one that was named by Mark Zuckerberg at the Facebook event, F8. Within three years of operations, Leo has recorded several milestones; opening a total of 390,756 accounts; achieving 2,169,384 subscribers; conducting a total of 9,605,703 transaction count worth N81,530,918,868. Leo, which has over 2.1 million unique users has also generated over 20 million conversations and over 85 million engagements. A the time, we also successfully closed on partnerships with Google and Uber. So, I learnt through this, the value of one’s network and how essential it is at senior levels.
Try not to take things personally. Sometimes it’s hard because we are human but it’s one of the most empowering things when you learn to focus on what is required of you and the team. It helps to stay focused on delivering on the objective…
Don’t say no to opportunities that will challenge or grow you – not out of fear! Or lack of confidence and not even if you think you don’t have all the required skills. I learnt that you say yes and invest in yourself and position to learn quickly and invest in yourself to get better.
When I got the opportunity to be CEO of our Agric-business subsidiary, there were so many reasons I had internally to make me turn down the role and the responsibility but I stepped up and took it and it grew me in ways I did not even think possible and I had significant achievements in the role including selling the first concentrate produced locally to international companies like Coca-cola to make their Five Alive Pulpy.
What is your work philosophy?
Execution, execution, execution! If you ask my team, they will tell you even in their sleep. I love to work and add value, so I’m all about execution. I am an advocate for creating a psychologically safe environment where people can thrive and ideas can be developed to fruition. However, we must understand that sometimes, it’s not enough to have a big idea, it is important that you execute as well, and execution is key to the success of any project or business. Execution is the point where you go from wanting to do things to doing them.
To execute and execute well, we must also encourage the development of a dependable team. Dependability amongst team members is key to successful execution as we must be able to rely on one another. This also helps to create meaning to work and impact with said work. So, if you ask me what my work philosophy is, it is execution.
I also believe that people should be challenged to do more and so I never limit my team to their JDs as it’s an opportunity for all to keep learning and growing.
Tell us three random facts about yourself that no one would ever have guessed?
I’m what you would call a foodie. I love good food; it’s a guilty pleasure. I love eating out.
My nickname was Margaret Thatcher growing up. Lol. I believe it was given by the staff at home as early as 9 years old.
I also love to have fun; I work hard, and I play hard.
What is one thing you miss about your former city and one thing you love about your current city?
I can easily say my friends and family, though I have made some friends and found a large family here as well, I miss home still.
Lagos is very fast-paced and even though Abuja gives you a sense of peace you didn’t know you needed, the occasional bumper-to-bumper lifestyle is missed. I love to party, have fun and celebrate. There is always a new restaurant to visit and something to do but to be honest, Abuja is changing rapidly too and it is an exciting time to be here, to be part of the growth and be able to contribute to the changing demand for recreation and relaxation. That is exciting. I see entrepreneurs flying in from Lagos to look at new spaces and sites to set something up and it’s like wow, this market is growing daily.
How do you relax?
I love to eat good food in great company….and I try to catch up on sleep.
What advice do you have for anyone who is considering relocating for work?
Trust the process, the shift can be hard to come to terms with or reconcile mentally and emotionally but trust the process. Remind yourself of the whys and where you’re heading because it makes the process all worth it. Go with an open mind to add value, learn and grow.
Keep an open mind. Life is about change and new things. Focus on Now and don’t try to over-plan or overthink it. Embrace it. I once had to take up a job in Makurdi, Benue State. I did not think it was possible as I hated travelling by road, but I did it and that phase is over …life keeps moving so be okay with the phases.
