Toyosi Orunmuyi is an accountant and entrepreneur. He is the Chief Executive Officer of 234 Lofts, a beachfront resort. He holds a degree in Accounting from the University of Ilorin and an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. In this interview with IJEOMA THOMAS-ODIA, he talks about the hospitality industry in Nigeria where his firm is trying to grow intra-West Africa tourism. He also highlighted the hurdles in running a business in the country, among other issues.

Tell us about growing up and the experiences that prepared you for entrepreneurship?
My parents were civil servants. I grew up in Ilorin. My family was great; I had three brothers. I knew we had to work hard because our parents made it very clear to us that ‘you’re going to school for yourself’. So, I finished with a Second Class Upper. After my youth service, I got a job in an accounting firm, KPMG. I was very young; 20 years old. I started working early, and my KPMG days were really about building networks and becoming a good accountant. I did my ICAN too. The time I spent outside Nigeria, I think, was what broadened my horizon significantly because
I was in a programme that took me to a new country every four months – England, Nigeria, Egypt, UAE and the U.S. It was a good eye opener as well because I worked in different industries in different countries. But the MBA was what gave all of those experiences a business structure.

At what point did you become an entrepreneur?
The MBA was my turning point; that was what took me from being an accountant to a business person. I know numbers from accounting, but the MBA allowed me to solve problems. I moved back to Nigeria in 2016, started The Podium Event Centre, and that’s been going on for about seven years now.

What inspired the new beach front resort?
I want to believe that my heart is hospitable, and that has drawn me into hospitality and events. I also had a stint in the hospitality industry outside Nigeria, working for a hospitality recruitment agency.

What gave you the confidence to come back to Nigeria and invest?
I don’t think it was confidence; I think it started out as naivety. When you are taught business plan in school, you come back and think that business plan will work in Nigeria. It has been a very tough ride; you learn as you go. I’ve learned a lot and I understand that it takes a lot of guts to do business here and I think I have guts. I see a challenge and I just want to take it up and give it whatever it takes.

Having lived abroad, what innovations would you like to replicate in Nigeria?
I think Americans are the best at hospitality. During my time in America, I picked up a lot. It’s in America that you go somewhere and your food is late, and they tell you ‘Oh, we are sorry, you don’t have to pay for this food, or you can take a drink while you are waiting.’ That doesn’t happen in Nigeria. Americans do hospitality best, and I think it comes with a little bit of that level of care for the customer.

I also run a food business with my wife and that was where I learnt customer service. Even if a customer is angry, just by putting an additional cup of juice with his or her order the story changes entirely and what you want to do in business is turn net detractors into net promoters. So, when a customer has a bad experience, I always try to turn that bad experience into a good experience. That extra cost is small compared to the damage it could cause your business.

What is the idea behind the name of the beach resort?
234 is the country code of Nigeria. Our personal vision is to have this beach resort across the West African coast and we will name each of the locations according to the country code of the countries. The big vision, should we become billionaires, is to have a cruise line that will take you to each country on a seven-day African cruise. One thing I found out is that a lot of West Africans don’t travel across West Africa. Aside from Ghana, most Nigerians don’t visit countries in West Africa. I really have a dream to grow intra-West Africa tourism.

From your experience, what valuable lesson have you learnt from doing business in Nigeria?
The fear of the government. Honestly, as a business person, everything is working against you in Nigeria. Also, always put things in writing; any small agreement, even if it is a text message, put it in writing; a coin can flip very quickly. Working with people has been a tough deal as well. Unfortunately, you have to work with people since you can’t do it all; you have to employ people.

Finally, I think the government can do more, especially with the few entrepreneurs that are bold enough to do this. One of the big things that happened during COVID-19 for some of my friends and colleagues abroad was that the government gave them grants, free money and tax refunds. In Nigeria, we did not get anything.

What are some principles guiding what you do today?
I think the first thing is fairness. I try to be as fair as possible. It’s not all about money although it is very important in business. If everybody here gets N10 million today, they won’t all have up to N8 million by next month. Money comes and goes, so fairness is important. I am also very big on relationships and I do what we call ethical business too.

Do you have a plan to sustain your culture in the business?
I think it is really all about processes. If you think about the really big companies, Apple started out in someone’s garage. Today, Steve Jobs is dead and Apple is still Apple. So, one thing we have to learn to do really well in Nigeria is to build businesses that outlive the visioners. When you have a vision, you can infuse the vision into people. Find the right people and infuse that vision into them. At the event centre for instance, they know how I think; in fact if I am coming, they will start looking for things that I will see that normal people will not see.

What keeps you going as an entrepreneur despite all the challenges?
I am a very practical person; you are either going or you’re not going. I’ve already decided to go and I must go. And again, a lot of people have entrusted their money in my hands. I am always the one with the vision and the execution, I am good at all of those things. I don’t take people’s money for granted. I value my name a lot so I don’t joke with it. So, even when I am tired and I want to give up; like I said, I want to make money, but money doesn’t rule me. And the people I know are hardworking people as well so it is not stolen money. I have two retirees who are investors. One of them is a military man and the other is a banker.

Have you made any bad investments; if yes what did you do about it?
The very first business I did in my life. It was only N350,000 I put in that investment and that was my very first investment. I had just moved to Lagos, working at KPMG; I was paid N55,000. So, imagine how long it took me to save N350,000. That was my life savings then.

I met this guy who was into laundry business. I was his customer too. A lot of us used to do laundry and so I chose to invest in his business – preparing fliers for him, getting a generator and a Golf car for pick up and drop off, all amounting to N350, 000. But the guy had other ideas. The moment that money moved to his account, he disappeared till date. This was in 2006. That taught me something looking back. My trust level for people reduced and that was why I started saying let me be the one that people should trust.

Where does your wife come into the business in terms of support; does she have any role in the business?
First of all, my wife is an engineer. The food business was all her idea. She used to do it by herself, but she is more of a corporate person while I am more of the business man. But then my wife is extremely supportive. First of all, knowing that I don’t need to worry too much about the home front is a lot. She is holding her own pretty well. My wife is actually very smart. She just finished her MBA, fully funded and was 38 weeks pregnant when she started out.

How would you rate the hospitality sector in Nigeria?
I am new in the business but I’ll say hospitality in Nigeria is growing very rapidly especially the beach front economy. With the exchange rate crisis and how much it has affected the cost of tickets, I think a lot of people will start to look inwards more and we will have to up our game as well. So, why would we go to Kenya or Maldives when we can be here?