Dr. Ayokunnu
Olowoporoku is a walking melting pot of ideas, competencies and cultures with close
to three decades of experience in business administration, finance, hospitality
management and consultancy. Currently the founding Director of Finance and
Administration at HSSL Global – Nigeria’s pioneer indigenous hotel management
and support services company, it was at the prestigious Sheraton Hotel in Lagos,
Nigeria, that he cut his teeth in the hospitality business. Undoubtedly one of the
authoritative voices in the nation’s rising hospitality industry, his Sheraton
days offered a mixed bag of ugly and pleasant experiences and memories, not in
the least the coming to maturity of a hereditary pluckiness and audaciousness
that saw him push through the glass ceiling of discrimination to become a
reference point for foreign and local staff members of the illustrious establishment
in less than five years.
The good, no
doubt, outweighed the bad, as he left Sheraton not just with invaluable and
unimpeachable experience and expertise that would stand him in good stead for
future success but also with enduring partnerships that would feature
prominently in that success story. It was at Sheraton that the foundation for HSSL
Global was laid when he met and inadvertently, befriended Mr. Oladele Coker
(HSSL Global’s Director of Food and Beverage Operations) and Mr. Oladipo Efunkoya
(HSSL Global’s Director of Rooms and Engineering Services). The proverbial
birds of a plumage gravitated towards one another on the wings of shared
ideologies and principles and bonded for business. Every new chapter of
accomplishment in the HSSL Global success story is a glowing testimony to that
unwavering partnership. An all-rounder and a cosmopolitan with an eclectic knowledge
and skills reserve, Dr. Olowoporoku also worked as Spokesperson for
“Professionals for Ribadu” – an arm of the Nuhu Ribadu Campaign
Organisation – in the buildup to the 2011 Presidential Election in Nigeria.
The profile
on his twitter account, @DoctorOlowo, reads: Management and Hospitality
Consultant, Business Philosopher
and Peak Performance Motivator – passions that readily spring to the fore as he
discusses the hospitality business, family, faith and friendships that have
endured the test of time with OVATION. You’ve been doing this for over two
decades now. What have been the gains of the hospitality business for you Personally
Well, the hospitality business is something that mirrors life – our day to day
living. It’s about raising the standard of living beyond the existential level
that demonstrates to us that man can live in a glamorous, tasteful and
wonderful world because our faculties function better within beautiful
surroundings that helps you appreciate life and to want to live it to its
fullest.
My father used
to say that when a man sees good things, his eyes will not shut. What he meant
was that people want to live longer when they are surrounded by good things. Even
very good hospitals around the world try to make the hospital environment look
like a hotel environment because they want you to see good things. With your eyes
set on those good things, your immune system begins to respond to the treatment
because you don’t want to leave the beauty of the world behind. If there is
anything I have learnt in the hospitality business, it is that it is about
making people happy and making them see that yes, they work very hard but that
they also need to enjoy those things that they’ve worked very hard for. In fact,
the best way to do business is to show hospitality to people and there is no one
that you’ll show hospitality who will not want to do business with you. Once
you’ve touched their spirit, you’ve touched their whole being. When someone is
willing to socialize with you – that person is not afraid to do business with
you – and many cultures around the world regard socialization as the cornerstone
of business. So, if I cannot for instance, take tea with you or have a drink
with you, then I’m not likely to trust you and once trust is taken away from business,
there’s no business and if people do business with you at all, yet they cannot
trust you, they do very limited business with you because trust is essential in
business. By and large, the promoter of a hotel must be your friend. He must be
someone who can have dinner with you. He must be someone who can relate with
you.
The
hospitality business is all encompassing. It regulates our lives. It determines
who we are. About hospitality and socialising being the cornerstone of business,
there’s a saying that people may forget what you told them or what you did for
them but they never forget how you made them feel It’s not possible! None of us
would say he misses his best friend who taught him algebra but we’ll all say that
we miss a friend who when he’s around, everything is lively-because he makes us
happy.
True So it’s
not about skill, it’s about the pleasantness, the personality, the radiance
that someone brings to the environment, the helpfulness that someone is
bringing to the environment, to the other person. It’s the selflessness that
makes us talented. It’s an enduring business. I would like to understand if at
any point when you were younger you envisaged that you’d be doing this today
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