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Asiwaju YINKA FASUYI Tells City People
Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi recently turned 70. And he celebrated it really BIG. He had a month-long celebration with activites on a daily basis. And the celebration took a whole year to plan with an elaborate planning comittee set up.
How does he feel at 70? What are the lessons life has taught him at 70?
Yinka Fasuyi who is the Asiwaju of Ijesaland told City People how he feels. He also shared with us the major lessons life has taught him.
“First and foremost, I’d like to give thanks to God, in the sense that in anywhere in the world today, not only in Nigeria, where it pleases God for a man to attain the Platinum Jubilee, to become a Septuagenarian, to turn 70, takes the Grace of God. So, as a human being, I feel delighted, I mean I feel excited, elated, that by the special Grace of God, I turned 70.
What’s been the secret? He doesn’t look 70. Over the years he has always been looking younger and younger. “I don’t understand what you mean by that”, he said.
“Anyway, if that is not flattery, assuming that what you are saying is true, I will also return thanks to the Almighty God. Life itself is full of challenges. As human beings, we are confronted on a daily basis, right from when you’re a baby”.
“So, when you are born as a toddler, when you get to the teenage bracket, and when the early adulthood begins to set in, and of course, by the time one turns 50, 60, and now about to turn 70, when you take challenge and expect it to come, when the mind does not anticipate challenge, then you are caught unawares. And I believe that, that process of being caught unawares, with the challenges of life, will also have effect in ageing. So, maybe because of my job, as a biomedical consultant, I try to anticipate many of the challenges that I could possibly encounter”.
“And, in doing that, I make efforts to advance solutions ahead of those challenges. So, when the challenges eventually come, there are already solutions in place”.
“This reduces Stress. And, the moment you are able to eliminate Stress and Tension in your day-to-day life, without other things being equal, you should be able to look visibly fresh, maybe younger than the calendar age”.
Each time he looks back, how does it make him feel that he is now 70?
“Each time I look back, from almost 10 years ago when I was 60, which was celebrated with a palm and paving tree, and now, by God’s grace, I turned 70. I have been full of appreaction. The celebration was not in the wining and dining. It’s more of giving thanks.
“It’s more of Thanksgiving. When one looks back, maybe at my early age, precisely at age 37, I left paid employment. I resigned from a multinational organisation, the way nobody ever did before me”.
“I just felt that I could get better rewards for myself, better than what the multinational organisation was rewarding me then. So, I took a very difficult decision, but a convincing decision, as far as I am concerned, that, with the pedigree of my education, exposure, and all of that, I could achieve a more successful life, going private, than remaining in a paid employment job. So, from 33 years ago, which was precisely 2nd of July, 1992, I pulled out of Total Nigerian Plc, to start a management consulting firm”.
“It wasn’t easy, but with a bit of hard work and God’s grace, one is able to wither the challenges of taking off. And, today, one gives glory to God, that in the field of Management consulting, in Nigeria today, before you mention 5 organisations, two firms of mine, that are into consulting services, will be part of those 5. So, we serve multilateral organisations, like the World Bank, United Nations, European Union. We also serve government agencies, ministries, departments and agencies, the states, and the local governments”.
“So, in the Public sector, we have been a major management service provider, with 2 organisations, namely Supreme Management Training and Consultancy Services Ltd., which came into business 33 years ago. And the other one, the Ibadan Business School, which came into business 14 years ago. So, these two firms, I appreciate God, that we have succeeded in taking them to become an international brand. Well, when you see our products in different organisations, over the years, they represent the top notch there, the captains of industries, and top civil servants.
“So, one feels happy, when you see your products making a difference, positive difference for that matter, in their various economies where they operate. So, looking back, I would say, it has been very fulfilling, it has been a worthwhile decision for me. When I look back, resigning from my job, 33 years ago, I feel so grateful to God, for granting me that courage, to take that step, because it was a step many people are always scared of taking”.
“Well, you know, in Nigeria, when people are nearing their retirement age, they begin to doctor their age, so that they can stay more in service. But here is a case of mine, where I had to leave without any notice, because I was afraid that if I should give any notice of disengagement, I could be prevailed upon not to leave. So, in order to beat that, I had to pay a check in lieu of notice”.
“So, the day I went in with my resignation letter, was the day I left the organisation, no Notice. And it wasn’t as if, when I told you that it was an oil firm, the wrong assumption could be that, oh, probably because you have stockpiled some, several millions somewhere, that gives one the encouragement to exit. No! As I was resigning, I didn’t even have the money to offset the cheque I paid in lieu of notice”.
“In short, I had to borrow the money and pay that money into my salary account. Only three people knew that I was going to resign, the day I was going to resign.
My colleagues that we sat at the management meeting, during which I made my announcement of resignation, couldn’t believe that, okay, as close as we were, none of them had an idea what I had decided. The 3 of us that had the idea that I was going to resign that day was one, the person I borrowed money from, because I had to explain to him what I wanted to do with the money. Two, my wife, and three, my humble self”.
But, what gave him the confidence that, this was the right time to leave, and that the future was also bright?
My background, maybe. Let me start by saying I was brought up in the business environment, of my late father, in my younger days. Then, the push to exit, paid job, actually came, when I had my second Master’s degree, which is in Business Administration. By the time I was running the MBA, I discovered that the potentials that one had, could be better used elsewhere”.
“Let me go into a bit of details. When I was in Total, I was heading a unit, in Marketing, we call it zone. In that zone, I had subordinates under me”.
“So, by the time I completed my MBA, I took up an assignment that nobody gave to me. I wanted to determine the Profitability of my unit. I wanted to know what my unit, my zone, was contributing to the Profit of Total Nigeria Plc.
So, the MBA taught me what data to ask for, to put together, and I requested for those data. One way or the other, I got all the data. I was able to put together what I was being paid monthly”.
“Added to that, all the allowances that I was also being paid monthly. Added to that, the salaries of all the subordinates working under me. Added to that, I was able to input the cost of management above me, up to the Managing Director, who was a Frenchman”.
“So, I got all this data and I was also able to put together all the cost elements that goes into the business of petroleum marketing, which Total Nigeria Plc was into. At the end of the day, for the first month in consideration, I discovered that everything came to 4.5% cost. 4.5% that is less than 5%.
Wow! So happy, everybody was so happy. My salary, as the payroll was referring to, was 30 times that of a professor. So, I mean, relatively, I believe that we are doing well.
Actually, I’m not a professor. I wasn’t a professor. So, when I sat down, that, okay, this organisation came in and my colleagues and after factoring in all the other costs, 4.5, so what I, my unit was contributing to the profitability of the organisation was 95.5%. And I asked myself, if I go out, can I not make this much? If I can’t make this much, at least maybe get 50% of my sweat.
So that was the beginning of the thought that okay, maybe I could not be working in a place and at the end of the day, the person who owns the organisation was making 95.5%, I consider that to be unacceptable to me. So, at our management meeting, after presenting my first general monthly report, I now decided to present this profitability report. That’s from my zone and also factoring in all the overhead from ah, operational overhead from the head office and other areas, this is the breakdown what you, the company is paying us and my subordinates came to 4.5%, while the company is gaining, reaping, harvesting from myself and my subordinates is, was 95.5%. So, I submitted that report”.
“The second month, I did the same thing. The third month, I was now warned that I should not submit that report again. So, I think that now embolded me that, okay, ah, if you don’t want me to submit it again, it’s not as if you are disproving the content, but you just discovered that, okay, this guy was becoming too wise, or knowledgeable about the, operations of the organisation.
“So, I realised my potential and wanted to quickly do something to accelerate my advancement in the organisation. Ah, a meeting was called between me and the Director of Human Resources, where I was asked, only myself and himself in that room. Mr. Fasuyi, thank you very much, we are so impressed about your performances, your productivity, your innovativeness, your creativity, all of it”.
“Where would you like, to be in this organisation in another two years from now? I now replied. I said, I would like to be, in two years time, I would like to become a Branch Manager. The man now expressed surprise”.
“Is that so? He expressed his surprise, I could see it on his face. He then said, in two years time you want to become Branch Manager? I said, Yes, sir. He said, okay, what about in 5 years time, where would you want to be? I said, in five years time, I would like to become the General Manager for the entire organisation, because that’s the only highest position a Nigerian could aspire to.
The MD used to be a French man. So, he now said, Mr. Fasuyi, don’t you consider this to be too ambitious? I now responded, I said, I believe that you are asking me sincere questions, and I am also offering you sincere answers, and that maybe your question should have been, will I have the potential and capacity to function in 2 years as a Branch Manager, and to function as a General Manager in 5 years time? If I have the capacity to function as a branch manager in 2 years, and you don’t offer me that position, and in 5 years, I have the capacity and potential to function as a general manager of the organisation, and I’m not there in that 5 years, that I will look outside elsewhere. That it is compulsory that I have my desire fulfilled in this organisation”.
“I can also have the freedom to explore elsewhere. The Director just closed his file and that was how the meeting ended. And, of course, they reported back to the top management of the organisation”.
“They decided that they were moving me to the head office to go and head a department. But by the time that decision was coming, I had made up my mind that I was going to leave the company. I left”.
