Dotun Sanusi @ 55: Lessons from a business colossus

IN 2017, when journalism caused my path to cross with that of Engr. (Chief) Dotun Sanusi, little did I know that providence was preparing me ahead for some tasks. My decision not to practise armchair journalism had propelled me to look for a personality who was into agriculture and oil and gas at the same time. A couple of months before I heard of Engr Dotun Sanusi, I had been looking for an entrepreneur who had established companies in the two sectors.

This was during the early period of the administration of formerPresident Muhammadu Buhari. Then, there was a public chorus that Nigeria needed to diversify from oil to agriculture. Being a journalist who likes to break news, I told myself that I needed to do a story on this paradigm shift in our nation’s economy, but I didn’t want to write an opinionated article about the topic. I wanted to do a personality interview with soneone who had already traversed the two fields. I was sure that the Federal Government and Nigerians would take a lesson or two from the interview. I thought that if the interview was published in a couple of national dailies, the readers would learn more about the challenges and intricacies of these two important sectors. So, for months, I carried the idea in my head until one fateful day. I was in company with a politician when the late broadcaster, Babatunde Olaniyi, arrived. He had just finished the launch of his book, ‘Ona-Ola’, at the House of Chiefs, Oyo State  Secretariat, that day. Immediately he sat down, he dropped on a table a small brochure that turned out to be his programme of events.

Out of curiosity, I picked up the brochure and began to flip through the pages. I saw a part that talked about the chairman of that occassion who happened to be Engr. Dotun Sanusi. Then, the name did not ring a bell the way it does today. I continued reading the profile until I saw the part which said that Engr. Sanusi was the Chief Executive Officer of TNL, an oil and gas company and Ilaji Farms. There and then, I told myself that at last, I had found the person I had longed to interview. I got in touch with Engr. Dotun Sanusi a couple of weeks later through the late Babatunde Olaniyi. I eventually conducted the interview with Engr. Sanusi. The story was first published in the Nigerian Tribune. It was later published in some magazines. The rest, they say, is history.

Through divine arrangement and instrumentality of the late Babatunde Olaniyi, I started working for Engr. Dotun Sanusi. It was there I began to notice that Engr. Dotun Sanusi was not your regular Nigerian businessman. He was simple and cosmopolitan. Despite his accomplishments, he relates with people of all social and economic standings. What amazed me when I was privileged to know about some of his investments then was how he was able to manage successfully his businesses that were scattered across Nigeria and abroad.

It wasn’t until I started paying more attention to his nuances and speeches that I began to realise that besides the intelligence and ingenuity he is endowed with, Engr. Dotun Sanusi lived by certain business principles. I realised later that these principles were actually the same principles adopted by other successful businessmen to grow their businesses into empires.

For the purpose of this article, I will share some of these principles. Of course, there are many more which I might not have known simply because the situation did not arrise for that or the nature of my job then did not warrant him telling me more. One couldn’t have expected such a colossus to run his business empire without some principles.

One thing Engr. Dotun Sanusi does not joke with is his physical fitness. He could walk the length and breadth of Ilaji Resort without getting fagged out. There were times he called my attention to my protruding belly. Once, when he realised that I was not taking his observation seriously, he dragged me to the gym and we did some workouts together. Despite his many engagements and commitments, Engr. Sanusi does not joke with is his health and fitness. Once he is healthy and fit, his supersonic brain is tuned for topnotch performance. Psychologists hold that there is a nexus between the thought process of an individual and the quality of life they live. ‘As a man thinketh so is he’ is a divine saying.

Ona-Ara Sports Festival was a competition organised to herald the opening of Ilaji Resort. What Chief Sanusi did after the competition caught everyone by surprise. He selected a few people with whom hebegan a skeletal operation of Ilaji Resort. From this, I learned the principle of ‘start small and grow big’. While this skeletal operation was on, he was erecting structures and giving the resort a facelift on a daily basis. Simultaneously, he was bringing musicians and other entertainers to the resort, allowing all from far and near to watch, charge-free, their favourite artistes perform live. It took some of us a long time to understand that the facility was just a jigsaw puzzle and our boss was only building the parts bit by bit. Guests were greeted with something new each time they visited the massive facility.

Something almost everyone must have noticed about Engr. Dotun Sanusi is that he does not talk much. This principle was vividly explained recently by a former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), when he was talking about a special quality of President Bola Tinubu which many people did not know. According to Fashola, a lot of people tend to underrate President Tinubu because he hardly talked anyhow. Just like Engr. Dotun Sanusi, President Tinubu allows his actions and their results to do the talking for him. A very good example of this was the day it was announced that the Federal Government had granted Ilaji FM Radio the licence to operate. No one saw it coming, not even some of us who were working closely for him. Just like a chess player, Engr. Dotun Sanusi keeps his next move close to his chest. After all, what people don’t know, they can’t destroy.

As an entrepreneur, one thing you cannot afford to have is an employee with a bad attitude. Such an employee is bound to infest other employees with their virulent behaviour. Engr. Dotun Ssnusi is a believer in good attitude over talent. To the Chairman of Ilaji Resort, if an employee possesses a good attitude, he is just some steps away from becoming a master of his job through mentoring and on-the-job training. The Jagun Olubadan of Ibadan has demonstrated this countless times at Ilaji Resort. He has nurtured employees who had no prior experience in the hospitality industry into experts.

Another remarkable principle I have adopted and am applying religiously in my own business and personal life is wanting to learn more. This particular principle came to the fore during the African mini-football championship financed by Engr Dotun Sanusi and hosted at Ilaji Resort. Due to the location of the mini–stadium inside the resort, the technical crew led by my humble self was experiencing network glitches which affected the quality of transmission. Football fans across Africa who relied on Ilaji Resort’s channels for clean, sharp and clear signals complained of lack of good signals from our live feeds. The technical crew resorted to lowering the quality of the signals in order to prevent skipped and glitched transmission. Engr. Sanusi noticed this and being a lover of smooth operation, he frowned at the situation. He asked me to meet the son of the African mini-football president, who was around all through. This was the man from whom I learned to be an expert in that field. I wanted to explain to the Chairman that the issue we were experiencing did not emanate from us but from network providers. He urged me to never pass up an opportunity to learn, no matter how minute the knowledge might appear to be. A check was soon run on our network strength and it was concluded that the fault was from the network providers. I went further to read on some successful businessmen and I found out that they find no one too big and too small to learn from.

One instance that I will never forget in my life was the day myself and my former partner, Ademola Alabi, the then Marketing and Public Relations Manager, were brainstorming. It was routine for us as we were virtually inseparable. While we were inside our office planning our marketing itinerary for that day, Eng. Sanusi entered with a countenance we rarely witnessed. As a matter of routine, Eng. Dotun Sanusi ensures that company’s report is studied daily, regardless of his busy schedule. He studies not only the figures, but also the departments that perform well and those who don’t. This attitude I later applied in my business after I left Ilaji. At that particular period, sales at Ilaji were not what we had projected. Chief Dotun Sanusi entered our office and sat down. He asked us a few questions about our marketing plans. It was apparent that he was not satisfied. While we were still scraching our heads to come up with points, he had already listed more than 50 marketing leads. He concluded counselling us with what I believe to be a life-changing statement: ‘Money doesn’t just come; you have to strategise for money to come’. The word of a multi-billionaire is worth taking to heart. My young experience in the business world has already reinforced Engr. Sanusi’sstatement. Of course, the sanctity of the divine arrangement as regards who becomes rich is not in contention here. But there are certain things God will not do for man. He has endowed everyone with meansto attract His blessings. What we do with the means is left to us.

He is able to relate with members of the lower cadres of the society. This may be referred to as ‘street experience’. He has the ability to act with unprecedented speed when the need arises. He focuses on fundamentals of issues or projects and is able to take calculated risks. Space will not permit me to go on. You can be rich through sheer luck, but to create wealth and build an empire like Engr. Sanusi, that demands grit.

Having being a student of Chief Dotun Sanusi’s school of business management and having been able to practise a tiny number of hisprinciples, I say, yay, lucky me.

Ayansola is an Ibadan-based media consultant and businessman.