Chief Executive Officer, Olatunde Prestige Limited and Bezaleel Manufacturing Company, Tunde Ebidero, speaks with BANKOLE TAIWO on the need for the government to give more support to SMEs, enhance job creation, boost exports and reduce forex crisis

How did you find yourself in the manufacturing sector despite being a graduate of Performing Arts?

I am a graduate of Performing Arts from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State. I believe studied the course in error, maybe out of not having someone to guide me properly, because my mind has always been on engineering. I have always wanted to do things with my hand. I don’t ever see myself performing on stage nor am I a white-collar job person. So, after my youth corps service, the problem of searching for jobs began. For some years I had no job and I started doing some little trading. At some point, I went into printing. I was into anything that could fetch me income once it was legitimate. My friends were even calling me general “runsman”, jack of all trades and master of all. However, because I have always loved to do things with my hands, which gives me so much joy, it struck me to start something.

I relocated to Abeokuta from Agbara, Lagos after my marriage to my gorgeous wife, who incidentally is the financial controller of our company now. I decided to settle down in Abeokuta because of its serenity then. I love its quietness and away from the noisy and bustling life of Lagos. At that time, I was helping to manage my late brother’s cleaning firm at Nigerdock at Snake Island. It used to be a Federal Government parastatal, where ships were being repaired. I was helping with the management of the company after his demise. After moving to Abeokuta, we got an apartment, a boy’s quarter and we needed to equip it with furniture. I am someone who loves uniqueness and something extraordinary, so it took me time to decide on what type of furniture and curtains to have in the house.

One day, at a friend’s house, l saw something that I liked, curtains made with wrought iron. It wasn’t something that I had seen or common in Abeokuta. So, I approached a welder to see if he could help with the fabrication. He said he would try once I would guide him. I guided him and we got it done. People who visited us at that time liked it. Then one day, I saw the advert for this imported three-seater chair in The PUNCH Newspapers. The chair was very beautiful; it was designed like a canoe. So, I showed it to a friend asking if I could get a carpenter to do it for me. He said he never knew of any carpenter that could do such a thing with wood, but a welder could try something out with metal. So, I went back to my welder to see if we could find a way around it and he said he would try once I guided him. We worked on this project for about a month and we got something out albeit very crooked because when I took it to the house and sat on it, my legs were not touching the ground. I returned to adjust this and people seeing these things done with wrought-iron in our apartment were very impressed. They said those things were beautiful and they started asking if I could do something like that for them. Remember I said was still helping with my late brother’s company and was only using the spare time to pursue my fantasy. Not long after, the contract with my late brother’s company was terminated and I became jobless again. I was doing nothing for 15 months. I was hell-bent on doing something of my own. I went for a retreat during this turbulent period to seek the face of God and it was at the retreat that God directed me and said I should do that which I had always He had put in my heart. So, I came back home, did some research, and got some catalogues of companies in the UK doing wonders with wrought iron. I cut them out and I started approaching clients, and banks, showing them those things and telling them that I could do it for them. Some of them who came around to see what we had done in the past were disappointed because of the way it was at that time. Some had hope in us and gave us the opportunity.

You started the furniture business with importation, when did you start local production?

There was a time when the erratic power problem was giving us a tough time when we started the fabrication of doors, gates and burglary proofs, among others. So, my brother encouraged me to go into importation. I started going into China to bring in those things. Anytime I brought some of those things in, my heart bled because I knew we had the capacity to produce those things locally. God has helped us to do some of those things and they were very well appreciated and accepted. For instance, we did railings at the Alake Palace, Abeokuta. We did that of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta and the country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, among others. We did all of this long before we floated the company. We were still operating as a workshop.

However, I was driving out of our estate around 2011 and I saw some young people gathering there at about 9:45 am doing nothing. I said to myself those were the set of people who broke into people’s homes and caused all manners of trouble in society. Then, I heard an inner voice asking me to help them that I should help by creating jobs for them. That was how the transformative journey started. I did a lot of travelling to many countries of the world- the UK, the US, China and some other countries in search of materials and technologies until we started operations in 2015.

How will you describe the experiences so far?

It has been very exciting but quite challenging. It is like a boxer taking punches and still smiling. It has been tough but my wife and I are enjoying it. We have seen it as what God wired us to do. At least, we have about 100 people currently working directly with us. We are not talking of other multiplier effects affecting thousands across the country and beyond. Since we started, we have had over five thousand people who have gone through us either as workers or those who came for training and are also out there doing the same thing, contributing to the country’s economy and making an impact.

In the face of the current forex crisis and the challenging economic situation, how have you been coping?

Resourcefulness has helped us. We have been able to harness the little we have to achieve much. For instance, where we needed forex most is in the area of sourcing for raw materials and equipment and equipment doesn’t come cheap at all. In my scope of furniture, which is banquet furniture, there is this specific kind of coating used called powder coating. It is not the kind of liquid painting that is usually sun-dried. So, I went for the application training in the US, but the challenge is now how to raise money to acquire the machine. A fairly used at that time was about $150,000, but I don’t have that much. So, I started gathering knowledge about getting this machine fabricated from 2015 to 2017 and I got a breakthrough eventually. We have been able to fabricate many of our equipment locally and that is one area we must look critically into as a nation. Aside from helping us to save forex, the maintenance of these machines is made easy because they are fabricated locally and they can always be repaired.

What would you consider the greatest challenge?

For manufacturers at my level, it is not a fund or erratic power supply. Yes, power is a big problem but not so much as a manpower problem. Skilled workers and workers who could be trusted are the main challenges here. The entitlement mindset of an average Nigerian that we eat where we work is really a problem. Many of them don’t have a vision. They just want to grab everything and disappear. They don’t want to build a career for the future. These are some of the things we use our foundation, Building Life, to teach. We tell these youths to acquire skills, even if it is one of the five skills that you can receive here in our factory be it tailoring, computer graphics, welding, powder coating, upholstery, and so on.

What can the government do to boost SMES?

The government should look into how to ensure that SMEs get forex at a very reduced rate. I remember how a government in not too distant past allowed those going for the Hajj pilgrimage to get forex at a reduced rate of about N190/$, whereas someone like me who wants to use it for economic activities that will add great value to the country was told to get it for over N400/$. What is wrong with us? When Obama became President of America, there was an economic crisis and he gave out bailouts to companies. But in Nigeria, the governors collected the bailouts and diverted them. Even the noise about the Bank of Industry does not add up. We have tried several times to get its support, but the bottlenecks were too many. It may appear that the government is trying to help, but this help usually ends up in the wrong hands because many things about this country revolve around having connections, political party affiliations, among others. My appeal is that President Tinubu should help the SMEs to get forex at the CBN rate. It will crash what we are spending to import raw materials and ultimately reduce our cost of production.

Customs duties also went crazily high during President Buhari’s regime. It should be reviewed. Also, we have issues with multiple taxation. The state will come likewise the Federal Government and local governments. This ought not to be so. The government should be looking at supporting SMEs to grow and create more jobs not by killing it with tax.

The government should concentrate on providing an enabling environment and stop getting involved in setting up businesses because the ones they wasted so much funds on are now dead. The garment industry set up by the Akwa Ibom State Government is dead and several others. I also want the government to ban some products that are being produced locally to protect the local industries. For instance, I still don’t see reasons we should still be importing furniture from Turkey or China. The government should have banned it because these are what we are capable of producing locally. Nigeria cannot continue to be a dumping ground. President Tinubu should move against those working day and night to make the country a dumping ground.

And the noise of bringing foreign investors should be demphasised because more often than not, these investors are coming to invest in what is already being produced in the country. Since when they have been bringing in investors, has the unemployment not been increasing? You cannot continue to operate a policy that is making no difference. The way to go is for the government to partner and grow our local SMEs.