82-year-old industrialist and Chairman, Daily Need Industries, Lagos, Otunba Oyin Jolayemi, takes GODFREY GEORGE through the journey of his life and how he has successfully run his business over the last 50 years
You have been a very successful industrialist for over five decades of being actively involved in businesses. What do you consider as the highlights of this journey?
The highlight, I would say, is not much of a ‘highlight’ after all, considering the hurdles I had to surmount to get to where I am now. When I was a child, I told myself that I wanted to be something. I just didn’t want to settle for less. So, as a village boy in Kwara State, I engaged in business despite being the last child. My elder brothers, who were in Lagos already at the time, would come back home every December for Christmas. When they did, they would ask me to lend them some money. I was already into mat making and basket making. I also used to make sieves. This was around when I was age eight years to 12 years. I started making money at a very young age. My eldest brother, after he had collected the money with the promise of paying back once he got back to Lagos, would not do so. It became a routine.
Another Christmas, when I knew they would come home and probably ask me for money, I decided to hide my money in a savings box. I kept it in a hidden place in our house. Then, we used to use coins. The only paper we had then was Pounds. So, on that day, when they came back, he asked me to give him some money but I told him I had no money. So, he told me to go buy him something outside. Before I returned, he had broken the box, took all my money and left. I cried so much. So, the next Christmas, I decided to take my savings box to another man’s house. I am sure he must have searched all around the house and didn’t see it. I narrated all this this to show that right from my childhood, I have always had the dream of buying, selling, saving and making money. This was what prompted me to move to Lagos at a very young age.
How old were you when you came to Lagos?
I was 13 years old when I first stepped foot in Lagos, and I decided that I was going to make it here in this city. I was staying with an elderly person from my home town. I used to work with him as an errand boy. We dealt in dusters and handkerchiefs, which were used then to wash cars. I used to hawk around Broad Street, Marina and the like. This was where we had the white men that time. It was believed that only they could afford those dusters and handkerchiefs. Not many Nigerians owned cars. This was in the late 50s or early 60s. Gradually, I set up my own business in the same line. Later, I was able to get some money to rent a kiosk to put my goods in. This was at No. 4, Reclamation Street, Lagos Island. This was around where the Oba’s Palace is now. I used to make a lot of sales that I began to sell singlets too. After some time, I cannot really tell what happened then, but I found out that I wasn’t making good sales again. My customers were no longer coming and business was really slow.
How did you navigate through this challenge to build a business empire such as Daily Need Industries?
We’d come to that. I had a man who dealt in boxes very close to my kiosk then. So, I used to help this man since I was not doing much myself. I remember one time when he brought one of those boxes and they were not properly screwed, I had to take it upon myself to see how I could properly screw them. I went to the market, searched for the exact kind of nail, and did the job. I even had to use eba to glue the cardboard with the bag base. I begged him to allow me to put it in his shop and he accepted. After a few hours, he brought it out and someone bought it. It was surprising to both of us, but it showed that those scraps would no longer go to waste.
The amazed elderly man then told me to look for any shop far away from him and he would give me the bag to sell and return the capital to him, and we’d split the profit. This was such a surprise for me. This was one of the highlights of this journey. After a lot of promises from the man, around May that same year, something just came into my mind. It was the rainy season and not many people sold raincoats. So, I went to Idumota, Balogun Market and others to ask for the price. I got to a shop for Indians and I saw some raincoats for kids. I told the Indian about my business idea but he said he was only into wholesale and would not retail to anyone for any reason. After much pleading, I told him to give me two from the pack of six, and that I would come back to buy four more. He accepted. As soon as I took the raincoat and hung it outside, a man came and bought the two. I rushed back to buy the four. But the Indian said I should take six instead. When I sold them, I came back for 12 more. That was the path the miracle God took me through despite my previous setback. Before the end of July that year, I had a lot of money in my hands.
How did you venture into the sale of patent medicines?
I then decided to rent a shop for myself at No. 26, Disumu Street. I started to sell household items. The woman close to me was into patent medicines. So, whenever I didn’t have much to do, I would go to her and ask her what I could do for her. So, she started teaching me how to sell medicines. She would send me to Ita Balogun Street to go get extra medicines whenever she was out of stock. She said once her husband returned from Mecca, she would move to her new shop at No. 49, Disumu Street. Unfortunately, her husband died in Mecca so she had to go back to the village for mourning where she would spend three months. She then handed over the shop to me. She also handed over her kids to me to look after. I then begged her to give me her old shop when leaving for the new one. She promised to give it to me. After her mourning period, she returned and went to her new shop. After serving her for some time, she gave me the old shop. That was how I started selling patent medicines.
Did you see this coming?
Honestly speaking, I was already prepared for it. Before this woman returned from her mourning, I had gone to Yaba to meet one Mr Andrew Egbo, who was in charge of licensing patent medicines dealers. I paid for my licence so that nothing would hinder me from taking over the shop when the time came. That was how I found myself selling medicines. After three years, I got my own place at No. 18, Disumu Street, Lagos Island and moved down there. Fortunately, I became well-known. People loved me and would always buy from me. This was in 1963. On January 17, 1966, I laid the foundation of my first house at Bishop Crowther Street, Surulere, Lagos.
When did you get married?
I got married in December 1967. I just felt it was the right time to settle down, and I found someone I liked and we started the journey of marriage together. God disciplined me to get married to one woman. All my children are from one woman. I didn’t want any problem at all in old age, so I was conscious enough to stick to just one woman. In November of that same year, I bought my first car. In 1968, I had my first child. That same year I bought another land at Adelabu, Surulere, and I put another four flats there. My life started out too early so I didn’t even believe I would ever come to this place where I would be this successful. I give all thanks to God for his kindness.
You are also widely travelled. What was it like the first time you travelled abroad?
In June 1970, I decided to travel abroad. I went to 16 countries at a time. I first went to Paris, France. I then went to Germany before going to Japan, Hong Kong where I spent one and a half months. There was no telephone. Nobody could contact me. Nobody even knew if I was alive or dead.
Was there a reason for this?
I went for business. I had the ambition to go study how business was done overseas so I could come here and replicate the same in Nigeria. Travelling, they say, is part of education. I used to have a very good customer who I used to buy medicines from in Hong-Kong. I thought it was a very big company until I visited them and saw that it was just a small shop handled solely by a man and his wife. They had a very fine letterhead and they made everyone believe they were big. I was learning the art of packaging. So, I joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce at Apapa, Lagos, which took us abroad again for some months. We went to South Korea where my eyes were further opened. This was in 1980. South Korea was like Isale-Eko. The only difference was that they were white and we were blacks. That’s all.
Did you start out your business using the name Daily Need?
No. It was first Matthew Medicine Store.
At what time did you start using Daily Need and what inspired the name?
That was in 1970 when I opened Daily Need Pharmacy at No. 34, Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Idumota, Lagos. Before we began Daily Need, Matthew Medicine Store used to buy a particular cream from a producer, UTC, Ilupeju, Lagos. It was a skin-whitening product. I had a lot of customers from the Benin Republic. Because a lot of Nigerians and Beninese then loved it, it was very profitable. So, I decided to start making my own cream. I called it “Paulina Beauty Cream”. I took a loan of £1,500 from my bank, which I must service every month. I got someone who helped me get the machine and also the formula. So, I began my small factory at No. 12, Olufemi Street, Surulere. I rented two flats. I used one for storage and one for manufacturing. I used to have a friend at Niger Pack Company. I did the printing but I didn’t have any money to pay. One of the sales managers just decided to help me. He was my surety. This was around 1971.
It didn’t come easy being a competitor with a well-known brand. A lot of people claimed not to know my brand but after some time, I began to sell some of the products till my brand became a household name and even overshadowed the competition.
What is the difference between doing business then and what we have now? What are the challenges you are going through now as a company?
You asking this question already know the answer to it when you look at the economy of the country. As we are seated here now, we are doing a lot of things that the government is supposed to do for us for ourselves. We dig boreholes, which is government’s role. In this company, we have a gas plant of our own. There is nothing we get from the government. A lot of companies have closed down because they cannot afford to buy diesel to run the company at this time. It is impossible. How much are we producing? How much do we sell? The problems are many. You cannot even obtain a loan from a bank. The interest rate alone will nearly kill you. How do we survive? We believe God will change things for good in the future? This is why I used to ask myself: Is there any chance for this generation to start up a business in the way I started mine with the way things are? I am only praying. There is a very slim chance. It is not easy.
What will be your advice to young people?
My worry now is that young people are making me afraid. They have joined cults, ‘yahoo yahoo’ (internet fraud), ritual killing and others. Bad attitudes! The youths are in haste. They want to have money right away. They should be patient. God will make a way for them when it is time.
At 82, what are you most grateful for?
I am glad that I have always seen the hand of God in my life. I don’t take it for granted. It has been God all the way.
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