•LAGOS Events Planner, BOLA AWOSIKA
Bola Awosika popularly called B Fire is the very energetic brain behind B’Events popular for planning outstanding events in and outside Lagos. Aside from been a professional in planning high profile events, Bola Awosika is also a chain entrepreneur as she also deals in the sales of hair products under her Laviva hair brand and also the owner of two event centers. On Saturday 1st October 2022, B Fire hosted the 5th year anniversary of Nigeria Event Industry at the Lagos Airport Hotel in Ikeja. It was an event that gathered top event planners and vendors to learn and to plan towards a more collective collaboration. At the event, top event planners and vendors like Elizabeth Owoseni, Isaac Otokpa, AwojooduTaiwo, BambataQudus and others shared their stories and ideas with other members at the event. At the event Bola Awosika shared her story and revealed how she ventured into the world of event planning. Read speech below;
“What led to founding Nigeria Event Industry was, if you could remember back then in the industry the major problem was, ‘why should I join an association?’ ‘What are the benefits of joining an association and what will they do for me’? That was when we were all making money so we thought we did not need ourselves because everyone was connected and knew somebody somewhere. Things were just upside-down because there were rules that were broken, things were not done the right way and for me I have been in the industry for 25 years and I started as an usher during my university days and when they have events they call us and I will coordinate ushers too. By the time you have ushered 10-15 events, you have an idea of how it is to work in an event with the understanding of what is important and what is not, that was how I started. So from being an usher during the university and I went to Abuja for my Youth Corps I started planning events. I remember the very first event I planned, it came by because of my always going about anytime I attended parties. People will tell me to take it as a job because I am doing the job and not getting paid and my first event was for the CBN Governor Soludo. You know as Nigeria is, when somebody sees you somewhere they refer you.
So I started doing high network events and that was my niche. So founding NIG Event Industry did not mean that it was going to really do anything for me, it was like when you are in a career line, you must relate to people in that line. If you work with corporate event, the first thing they with ask before you register as a vendor is, ‘do you belong to any association in your industry, attach your certificate of membership. So they ask those things because they feel that you are bounded by rules, if you misbehave they know who to report you to, but then nobody couldn’t be bothered to do anything so we decided that lets set it up. I remember we were like 20 then, we had; Lizzy Cool (Amala.com), Busy Bee, TWC and I was an APUEM member also so I had a lot of members come in. Those who believe in my passion and drive, in the industry I am known as B Fire because I like to get things done. So we started things off and people were like ‘’no, you cannot come about this change, it is not only about you’’ but then, we have to start from somewhere. We have the associations in the industry, then we had ASEF and APUEM as the major associations in the industry. So I called them and told them that this was a battle that could only be won if we fought collectively. So we came together. We called Lagos State government and rules were made. One of the requirements for doing events; you must have a CAC, you must belong to an association, we must attend trainings because education is the most important thing in our industry and innovations come up every day. I remember the very first one was a success, we tagged it Collaboration and we had another lecture where we talked about ‘safety’, that was the year there was a fire in an event center because one of the small chops person was frying small chops so we took up that topic and we had a collaboration with Lagos State Safety Commission. It was as if we knew Covid was coming around so we had a safetyseminar. Then 2020 Covid came, since we had branches in Abuja and Benin we had a seminar in Abuja themed ‘’growing your business in a difficult time.’’ It was as if I saw into the future that we were going into a difficult time. Abuja people had their own peculiar business issues. In Lagos we had gotten to the stage where we were now a bit friendly to each other, because before our first seminar being in the same space with fellow planner brings about the feeling of great competition which was not supposed to be. I remember I did an event for Dangote when they were opening their Obadana factory. They called 6 top event people to come and bid, I got there and was friendly to everyone. When we went in to talk to the client I told him, when you have an event of a particular magnitude you need the best hands at that event. Since you have called all of us here, share the job between all of us so that we will deliver the best. I called my colleagues and told them how much I wanted to bid, I advised them to adjust their quote so that it can tally. So when we got the bill, our bill was almost the same thing and I was like I won’t do it alone. Let B’Event handle 2000 guests, I will handle 1500 and the other person handles 1500. We delivered the event and everyone went home smiling, we did not fight. Even if we come from different places, if we are working on a particular project, we are one because if I fail, you have failed and if you fail I have also failed. So having our first seminar Collaboration, it made people realize that if you are in an event with other planners you are not in a competition but in a collaboration.
So I joined AEVA that is Alimosho Event Vendors Association in Alimosho Agege area last year because I have an event center in that area. I needed a decorator to work for me because we had street lighting to do, I put the word out and we started working together. We had our issues because it is normal and it helps you get the best of each other. When the job was finally done, it was a very perfect job that they were now using us as reference. So the chairman of Masha Surelere said he wanted to do something like they did at Ajose but there wasn’t enough funds and if we could just do something around what was on ground, I agreed.
So this was because we learnt to work together and collaborate, if someone knows more than you, respect that person for that knowledge. All we have since Covid innovation, the newbies as we call them in the industry are very innovative and we are old. I found out that because they are very innovative there is nothing bad for me to learn from them and even if I cannot do it, they can and I will take the glory. This is because they will call B Event for the job and I will have Mr. Peter doing all the miracle and they will say B’Event did all the miracle not knowing that without Mr. Peter I wouldn’t have been able to perform such miracle. So we did ‘’building your business in a difficult time’’ in February and Covid came in March, that was something else for our industry because our industry involves crowd and everything Covid did not support.
I remember ITV called me to do an interview about Covid and I told them that the constant thing in life is change and if we cannot do 1000 event even 50 will do which they agreed. We looked at it and we were like even Lagos parties requires thousands of people so how do we still do events?
So the innovation came to us doing zoom and live feeds. Before then we did not even have Live feeds, we will record it and then BisiOlatilo will show it. Then people like City People came up with the innovation that helped you watch the party while it was ongoing. Another innovation came that foods and drinks can be sent to guests while the party was going on and we started partying online. So you invite physically 50 people but you can have thousands watching online. That was how a lot of us coped with Covid. Then our waiters and ushers due to their large number their hygiene was not great, we had to do nose masks and gloves.
Even security wise, you know we had to do spacing in the hall and all of that still we moved past Covid even though a lot of people left during that period and some went into innovative ideas. I went into post Covid materials. That came about because I had a daughter abroad and I started talking Covid November 2019 so when I call my supplier in China they would have changed product to post Covid products, we did not know we were coming into a difficult time. But because of being innovative, when I noticed that all my suppliers were selling post Covid products I started ordering from them so by the time we had Covid in Nigeria I and a store full of Covid items. So I became one of the biggest people selling, we had the machines, disinfectant machines and others. So you must be ready to change and go with the flow, if you are in an industry that is growing and you are not growing, they will leave you behind. Now the event industry is such that we believe so much in photos, we don’t believe in reality and a lot of people are having problems with the photo people because they will give you a perfect photographer. They will stage well and everyone is online, you will give the stager the job and time for reality comes and since she did not do that picture you saw and the rain comes down it becomes a mess. That is when you know an event planner with experience and the one that just happened by chance. Everyone has their story, I remember a story so vividly. I did an event for the Deputy Senate President, we were in the village somewhere in the east and we had set up the venue for 3000 guests. The floor was a muddy floor so we cleared the floor, put some wood before we set up the marquee then it started raining. You know when it rains on a muddy floor, you will slide. I was back in Lagos for another job and he called me and told me the marquee is sliding. I assured him that it wouldn’t move. He told me he will send a private jet to get me so I can prove the marquee won’t fall. I called my worker of the change in plan. Now the client had paid me, we did not have that contingency fee so the floor was sliding so I began to think like an event planner with experience. First I needed to remove my own floor because the rug was muddy and the floor was moving. I told my workers to go to a sawmill to get me saw dust to pour on the floor first, then we had to get planks. Now imaging planking 2500 sq. meter and in a crisis you can never ask your client for money and they will give you because there is police on ground to arrest you so they are only waiting for you to perform a miracle. So we placed the plank after the saw dust and got another rug to replace the messy one and we set up the marquee. This was a job that I was already smiling that I made a profit, imagine the extra cost! This was a 3-days event so in this business you will do freebie. So for this event I made content. I ensured that I took pictures with everyone important there and they knew I planned the event so even if the man was owing me I had over 50 referrals from that event that I even forgot about the money. People knew that there was a problem and they saw that I solved the problem so in this business you will lose and gain.
Now 5 years down the line the industry is taking another turn and I don’t know where the industry is going. I look at the industry now and I cannot really see a clear path. Event planners don’t get so much more anymore because people don’t use them anymore. Now they have coordinators for the day of the event. So people like me, how will I eat? We have allowed our client switch us because the client is the planner and they have all the vendors. It has always existed but I believe that we have allowed our client to shift duties. As an event planner when my client tells me he has vendors I will ask for their capacity, and ask for the permission to handle them because if this event fails they will not say the vendor failed they will say the planner failed.
So when I talk to my client things change because they believe in my ability and professionalism so they tell their vendors that they are answerable to me because I will be the one to pay them. So now, your client tells you he has 10 vendors that you don’t know from anywhere and the first day you are meeting them is when they gather for vendors meeting. They have been paid by the client because they don’t want you to take commission then you now have a chaotic house because everyone is reporting to the client and not carrying you along. You know how we have eye service in this industry, in fact that is our second name. So because Mrs. Bola is my client and she is on the high table so madam will see me serving food, I will bring 100 food to that table while others are left empty so when report comes back that others have not eaten I can argue that it isn’t true. This should not be, what is the journey is going to be like in another 1 year because people are going out of the industry? Event for decorators, clients now know this our creative small boys because they have their own social media page so while you quote 1 million your boy will quote 500 thousand naira and still get the work done so you will be cut out. So our journey so far, we have done 5 years. Now is where we are and where are we going?’’.- Damilola Akande
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