…How young, creative entrepreneurs build multi-million naira business empires
By ABIOLA ODUTOLA
In 2005, when he opted to attend an event planning training programme, having searched fruitlessly for a white-collar job for about five months, he probably never envisaged that he was on his way to stardom in the event management sub-sector of the entertainment industry. But as providence would have it, event planning has brought a huge success to Sijibomi Adebiyi, popularly called Benet. It has also contributed largely to the sudden transformation of this young entrepreneur into one of Nigeria’s preferred event planner.
In 2009, about three years after he finished his training and registered Makabis and Benet Limited, his event management outfit, he opened a state-of-the-art office in Ikeja, Lagos. Based on the high demand for his services, the popular event planner also opened reference centres in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
The firm, which started with the proprietor as the only worker, now boasts of 10 permanent staff with tens of contract staff in Lagos and Abuja.
Due to the fame, fortune and national appeal, which have come to define what the brand stands for since its inception, many local and international organisations have been falling over themselves to have its touch on their brands and concerts. Multinationals such as J.P Morgan, the United States of America’s largest bank, Unilever plc, Keystone Bank and most of the telecommunications companies’ musical concerts in Nigeria have signed deals worth several millions of naira with the company.
Adebiyi-Benet has also been smiling to the bank with proceeds from services rendered to other customers, who want his special touch on their concerts, weddings, birthdays and chieftaincy title-taking events, among other social gatherings. For his non-corporate clients, he charges hundreds of thousands of naira, depending on the services required by the client and their status.
The charges for corporate clients are higher and the reason is obvious. The geology graduate charges commercial banks, the Federal Government agencies and other parastatals several millions of naira, if they want his services. He also earns income from event decoration and design, staging boardroom meetings, rentals and providing ushers among, other related services.
Makabis and Benet also has a training programme, where special courses are offered for aspiring event planners who want to learn a new skill or improve on their talent. The school turned to a platform for grooming up and coming planners. Aspiring planners pay N5, 000 for registration and N150, 000 for three months training. So far, the programme has graduated hundreds of CEOs. The firm also has a flexible training package for some tertiary institution students, who prefer learning during vacation. For that category, it charges more.
“We charge over N100, 000 for one course and that depends on how flexible the student wants it,” he says.
Adebiyi-Benet is not alone in the fortune-making industry. There are other operators, who abandoned their degree certificates to make fortunes from event management. Yewande Zacchaeus is another sought-after event planner. The lawyer, who abandoned her career as the pioneer legal adviser of Ecobank Nigeria plc in 1989 for events planning, has since positioned Eventful Limited, her event management outfit, among one of the best in the country. Like other big fishes in the industry, she has brought unrivaled commitment, professionalism and international best practice as well as immense passion for success into the sub-sector. Her wealth of corporate experience in events management has not only shaped the industry, but it has also set the standard for others to emulate. Today, with over a decade experience, Eventful Limited has emerged a clear leader in the events management sector, boasting of a robust clientele ranging from small to medium and large-scale organisations across Nigeria and beyond. Some of them include the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Lagos State Government, Dangote Industries, First Bank, GTBank, Phillips Consulting, Vigeo holdings, and Inter-Switch Limited, to mention a few. With such a clientele base, Zacchaeus’ charges, which depend on the scope of the event, has no limit.
Other young Nigerians, who are also making fast bucks from event management include the Managing Director, A2Z Events Planner, Paul Adeshina; Adedamola Tanimowo of D’ Connoisseurs; Olafasakin Oyebola, the chief executive officer of Choice and Taste Managers; and Deji Owatemi of Dejavu Events, among others. Though their outfits are not as big as Eventful and Makabis and Benet, they also have passion for the job and hope to compete with their big counterparts someday. For instance, Adeshina’s passion made him to quit his regular job for the league of young event planners in 2009.
For coordinating events alone, while Adeshina charges about N100,000 or more, Oyebola charges about N200,000, depending on the client.
“Event planning has always been something that is part of me. I had flair for it; I didn’t go to school to learn it or anything,” he explains.
Like Makabis and Benet, A2Z Events Planner is also committed to using its platform to groom other potential planners. So far, he has trained 15 students and he charges between N15, 000 and N25, 000 for both group and personal training.
Younger Tanimowo tried his hands in the event business in 2007, when he was a student of International Law and Diplomacy at the University of Lagos, Akoka. He did that because he needed extra income to support what his parents were giving him.
“I learned how to decorate from Favour Essang, Dexterity Plus, Ibadan; that was how the journey began,” Tanimowo explains.
Others in the trade say they drew their inspiration from family social gatherings. For Oyebola, the business had always been fascinating with the way events run smoothly without a hitch.
“I grew up in a family where there is always an event or a party going on, like almost every month. Whenever I attended other people’s party with my family, and there was a flop, which usually occurred, I would feel bad for them because I knew they must have spent a lot of money with little result. This prompted me to seek advice from my mum, who is always in charge of these parties at home, and I also went for further training on event planning and management,” she says.
Event planning is about organising and managing an event without a delay or disappointment. It has to be something that is given full attention, determination and all. For most event planners, the job is something that can’t be combined with other jobs because it requires full commitment while some are able to augment it with other engagements, depending on the flexibility of the other job.
“You can’t come into the business without prior knowledge. As a matter of fact, even if you go for training abroad in some areas of the business, you might not be able to fit in because the enabling market is different,” she says.
But Adeshina believes, “You can combine it with a regular job in the sense that if you have a job that does not require much commitment on weekends, one can combine them without friction.”
The common thread that runs through the experiences of these successful CEOs is that they all started with little or no capital, but with only dedication. Makabis and Benet boss, Adeshina and Olafasakin, among others, started the business with zero capital. But with burning desires and passion for the job, they’re today forces to reckon with.
“I was really determined to make it in the business. It was not easy then because nobody knew me. I had to get into the hearts of people; then I will be sending emails. I would gather some numbers, send emails to them, but I wouldn’t get any reply. But I persisted, even when nothing came forth until after about six months after I had started,” Adeshina explains.
Olafasakin adds that the business is more people-oriented than profit-oriented.
Event planning is a competitive industry as the operators go about soliciting for clients. Most of them get called for jobs through referrals from clients or friends, advertisement, handbills and through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit, among others. To be on top of the game, an operator needs to meet the expectations of his clients and even exceed it. And that requires creativity, innovation and exposure.
“One needs to update himself all the time by attending seminars and trainings, both within and outside the country,” Olafasakin notes.
Like other business, event management comes with its own different challenges. Tanimowo explains that the greatest challenge for operators, especially the new entrants, is getting clients.
“It’s not easy convincing people to use the services of an event planner, especially being a young male,” he says, adding that the issue of getting clients is the same for every event planner.
But Adeshina argued that sourcing for clients may not really be an issue for the big operators, because they don’t have to bother about looking for clients directly anymore as prospective clients themselves run after them for their services.
Another hurdle for most of the operators is the inability of the clients to pay outstanding bills. This to Owatemi, is discouraging because most times the clients only pay between 40 to 50 per cent of the total bill, which may not be enough to do the job.
“Most times, we either borrow or plead with stakeholders to do the job and promise to settle them after the event. Though we understand that the economy is not so friendly to our clients, too, such attitude can frustrate us out of business,” he says.
However, for Adeshina and other stakeholders, who point to the largely exploited potential in the event management industry, it might just be a long wait as the economy is unfriendly to their clients too, going by Owatemi’s position. But for now, the entrepreneurs, at least, have a fallback option in their training programmes and investment in other arms of the sub-sector which they can use to block the loopholes created by bad debts from their clients.