•Speaks On How He Made It BIG In Quarry Business
The name Adewale Adesina may not ring a bell, but at mentioning of Wale Saranda everybody in Abeokuta knows who you are talking about and what he represents. This is because many people don’t even know his real name; they call him Wale Saranda, the nickname he got from playing football in secondary school. Today, Wale Saranda has become a household name in both business and social circle. He plays big in Quarry business and several other sectors too. Chief Adewale Adesina is the M.D of the popular Western Quarry in Abeokuta. If his name is a brand, however, then his business Western Group must be a mega brand. He has been able to build his business from scratch to an enviable level. He has not allowed being born into a humble background hinder him in any way.
Born in Ayetoro, Ogun State in the 1960s, Chief Adewale Adesina attended Africa Church Primary School, Ayetoro, before proceeding to Baptist High School, Ilaro and subsequently Egbado college, Ilaro for his secondary school education. In his quest for advanced education, he attended the Technical Trade Centre, before obtaining a Diploma in English at the prestigious University of Lagos.
Through hard work, resilience, and uncommon foresight, Wale Saranda, as Chief Adewale Adesina is popularly called, has carved a niche for himself in the business world. He is a great employer of labour in Abeokuta and Ogun State generally.
He is an Ilaro chief, the Oluomo of Ayetoro and Babaloja of Yewaland. He is currently the Vice President, Ogun State Market Men and Women Association of Nigeria. He is happily married to Mrs Temitope Asabi Adesina and their union is blessed with lovely children. He is the Group Managing Director of Western Group, a deep thinker and a strategist. Wale Saranda is one the successful entrepreneurs recently honoured in Abeokuta at the 2019 edition of City People Entrepreneurship Award. Where City People Magazine’s publisher, Dr Seye Kehinde and Oyo State Correspondent, Dare Adeniran caught up with him. Wale Saranda hardly grant interviews, so, the award ceremony was an opportunity to pin his down, and it was an exclusive one. In the course of the interviews, Saranda revealed many shocking things people don’t know about him. How he made it to the top in business, his background and how he got his popular nickname, Saranda, which has today become his second name. You can afford to miss the excerpts from this interesting interview with Wale Saranda. Read on.
How do you feel being honoured today with City People 2019’s businessman of the year?
I feel great, and I just want to plead with the City People team that they should please continue. We want to have our groove back in Ogun State. You can see the number of people who came to honour you, and all of them appreciate what you have done today. We look forward to next year edition by the special grace of God.
Many people didn’t know that you had a very rich past as you mentioned in your speech, you are into sports and several other things. How did all of these develop?
Being a sportsman is a talent. While you grow up or find yourself where people don’t believe….you know most time, people don’t check out your background or they don’t even care to know. They just know what they know about you presently, and that interprets that they even know you at all. Like I said, they just believe you are a socialite and all.
How did sport thing start for you?
It all started in primary school, that was in Ayetoro. Ours is a raw talent, no sporting equipments to support you. There was this interhousesport when you can get someone who will run the 100 metres, exceptionally, from a village. So, the state or local government will be forced to engage such talent in any sport event. That was what exposed people like myself to football.
Which other sport were you also into back then, apart from football?
I was into athletics and football, and I was very popular. I represented Egbado College in football matches and athletics up to Ibadan; Ibadan used to be the headquarters in those days.
You also mentioned it in your speech that you got your nickname, Saranda from playing football. How did it happen?
I used to run and I can also dribble very well, but you know influence also has its own role in sports. People like us that came from zero background, it is only talent that can distinguish us. Even with the talent you can as well be denied that access. But maybe someone got wounded on the court that they will say, let’s try him. But they will now discover that we are better than their best. So, that was how they figured someone like me out.
What was the difference between Wale Saranda and your real name at that time?
My name is Adewale Adesina. We had this principal, Mr Olu Owolabi, he is still very popular up till today. He was our principal at Baptist High School. So, when I crossed to Egbado College, he happened to be our principal again. They had what was called senior principal. I was always very fast with the ball, if it were to be this day, I could have played for the like of Manchester United or so. But you know there was no encouragement, the push. I am talking about over forty years ago. Meanwhile, Saranda is a village in Albania, and there was also an aircraft, which was the fastest in the world back then, not a passager aircraft, but a war plane. We have assembly in the morning, where the principal advice the school or talk sense into the late comers and all that. So, that particular Monday morning, he was talking about a football match we won, I think that was about 1981 or 1982. We all came to school late because we had won the Principal Cup or so the previous day, where we defeated Alamua Grammar School. He was describing how we performed in the football match, he now asked me to come out, and said, “Wale dribbled them and manovour them just like Saranda. That is the prefix and suffix that makes the nickname stick since then. And I didn’t even recognise it untill one Aunty Bimpe just called me ‘Saranda’, and people started addressing me like since that period.
How have you been able to become the big name as a socialite?
Regardless of where we come from, God has designed those that will survive. Let’s just use the Publisher of City People as an example, we are designed to flourish in a business that must fail. While I was growing up, I had the privilege of traveling abroad then return back to Nigeria. We know of a lot of magazines, and we have those running them. With my own exposure, I am 56 years now, I have never seen a magazine that has lasted like City People in Nigeria. It is not because you are here, but because that is the fact. When they come, they run into one scandal or the otherwise and they quenched them. But City People has been from one event to the other, creating relieves for itself. What you are doing presently in Ogun State is another relieve program, to reprogram people’s brains about City People Magazine. So, in the mouth of every individual in Abeokuta today is all about City People.
You had awardees up to 100 or so, people that had followed these people here today will go back to their respective homes and discuss about City People award. That is the way I run my own business, I think ahead, I think about how to survive and always standout.
I started by collecting 3, 4 cars from my brother to sell in Ikeja. Later I own Western Auto. Myself, Skymit and others started together in those days. But it got to a time I believe even car business, you can’t raise up your hand and say you are a car dealer. Because the likes of America and other nations, security agencies believe car business is being run with illicit inflows. So, on that note I just decided to excuse myself, and you can’t even expand. You can’t force people. You can program City People Magazine, you can expand the scope of your readers. If you abuse Alake everybody would want to read it, but in the end they will realise you are praising him.
Nobody in your industry has been able to achieve what you have achieved. Most of them are going online, there nothing like online; people would always want to see pictures in aoft-sell. People would always want to keep it in their own achieve. So, if you have the capacity you can go moles. I have a lot of respect for you; myself and Mayor do talk about you a lot. I like your concept which is quite different from others.
Having come from your kind of background, where there was no motivation or support. What then would you say is the secret of your success?
Let me tell you, some people are genuinely and legitimately designed to be great; no matter how stupid, environment or how people treat them. For instance, you can’t send your son or daughter to university of football to be like Ronaldo; it is raw talent. Even in business, you discover some people are talented. We broke into Quarry business and we survived.
I am the first set of individuals that got about six hundred million naira loan from Diamond Bank, from zero collateral. They were here to celebrate with me today. Have many people have such privilege? When the Chinese invaded the quarry business, because we don’t have proper regulation in Nigeria. They saturated the market and crashed the price. But I felt instead of us trading or competing with them, there is a better approach. I called the back that, selling to these agents will amount to competing with the Chinese. The best way for us to achieve greatness is to finance is, we need trucks. Let’s produce and sell to the end users directly, that was our surviving strategy.
So, the ability to think deep in anything you are doing is very important. You can sit back and say I am Seye Kehinde, everybody knows me. Like this award, you are here to encourage all of us that got these awards, it is a business strategy. You can’t be taken for somebody that is not serious. Your presence here today motivates what happens next year, and anywhere I may be in the world, God’s willing, I will make sure I come around.
