How I felt when my classmate saw me doing cleaning job in UK —Orogun

Board member of VFD Group and CEO of Cashpot Limited, Kelvin Lucky Orogun, shares the story of his life in this interview with SEGUN KASALI.

Has your middle name been working for you?

Yes. I believe in luck, because there are some circumstances in one’s life that luck must have played some part. So, I think I am very lucky and fortunate. After school, my first job was as a banker at Universal Trust Bank. When I went for the job interview, I was in the waiting room, where I read a magazine talking about the internet. This was 1997 and the internet was still very new in the country. You can imagine reading that and then the first interview question I was asked when I got inside was what do I know about the internet? You can only say such a thing is God’s doing or luck, because I am sure I would not have answered it with confidence, if I had not read about it five minutes before I was called in. So, I just quoted what I read. Then he asked if I had any questions. I asked him, with confidence, when am I resuming?

Are there other instances where luck played out in your life?

There are more than one instances of such luck. I grew up in Warri, Delta State and I graduated from DSC Technical High School, which was the staff school of a steel company and I think that was when steel companies started in 1979/80. But I joined in 1983. It was one of the best schools in Warri and I was one of the pioneer students. So, that is why I said that luck plays a role in one’s life, most especially because my secondary school played a major part in my life. It created a foundation and most of the people that came out of that school are doing well in Nigeria. It was a big thing to go to that kind of school. So, when the secondary school started, it was meant for children of the members of staff.  My dad and mum were not working there, but I had a friend whose family worked there. When I heard they were organising a test to admit people, I got to write the entrance examination and I did well. During the interview, they found out that my parents were not staff of the company but the interviewer took pity on me and said “okay, we could give you a chance as there are a couple of non-staff children taken already. You have to pay more fees”.

How far did luck take you in your academics?

First, I believe that luck was part of what brought me to the school and getting into that school shaped the way I think. I remember that we were about 100 students in class one. The teaching approach was hands-on. We went through a proper training programme. For instance, we were the first set in SSS 3. By the time we got to class five, our mates in other schools in Delta State, apart from Federal Government College, were writing WAEC and GCE while we were still in SSS 3. So, most of us went to enroll in other schools to write WAEC or GCE and when we were writing the SSS 3 examinations, we emerged best students in schools where we enrolled. I wrote my GCE when I was in SSS 2 and I was one of the best and so were my classmates. Almost every one of us had straight As and Bs, except two or three persons. That experience shaped us, helped us in getting admitted to the University of our choices and instilled academic discipline in us.

What other experience did you gain at the school?

I went to a school where majority of the children were staff children and stayed in the staff quarters. But my parents were not working in the school and so I was staying in Warri. It was close to what you would call a ghetto. It was more like you are staying in a ghetto but going to a posh school. I experienced what it takes to live with rich people and those from the ghetto.

Is that what shaped your worldly outlook?

That’s exactly what I am trying to let you understand. From early age, I could tell the life I want to live and the one I don’t want. So, I worked at Standard Trust Bank and from there I relocated abroad. I was there for almost 17 or 18 years.

Why did you relocate?

It was more of the feeling of a better life there. It is synonymous with what is happening today where everyone feels there is a better life out there.

Was it a bed of roses over there when you relocated?

That is another very interesting part of my life. So having worked in the bank for years, it is probably an understatement to say it was a shock. Before I travelled abroad, I got married and went to London for our honeymoon and then came back to drop my resignation letter. After spending three weeks on the honeymoon, I felt I had seen what London was all about. So, I decided to come back home and reign from my work. But by the time I got back London, the bills started hitting me. It was a major challenge. So, I started working in a company that had a contact with the bank I was working with in Nigeria. Even before I could work, I had to settle the issue of papers and permits, and that took about six months. Those six months were really challenging because within that period of time, I couldn’t work, but I had to stay somewhere and pay bills. In fact, when I was going, my plan was to start my Master’s programme and I had already made a deposit. I had to call the school to cancel my admission and ask for a refund because I needed the money for my upkeep. So, I negotiated with them and they finally gave me a portion of the funds, and that was what I used for the first six months before I started working. Things became a bit better when I started working. But within that first six months, I did all kinds of jobs, especially cleaning.

Tell us more about the jobs you did? 

You can imagine working in a bank in Nigeria and then coming to the UK to do odd jobs. Don’t forget I went there with my wife. I could remember an instance where I went for a cleaning job at Imperial College and I wore an overall uniform and I saw my classmate from the university. I think he was running his Master’s there. He was coming out with some students while I was doing my job. Immediately I saw him, I had to hide. I got home that day, really embarrassed.  Then I decided to resign. I told myself this is not for me. If I see my friend and I can feel embarrassed at what I am doing, that means I am doing something wrong. So, I became hell-bent on getting a job that would be more dignifying. But it was not just going to be my decision only, because my wife was with me and she was very supportive.

So how did the story end?

By His grace, my papers came and I was able to enter the company because I had been in contact with the company long before but they said ‘you don’t have your papers and so you cannot resume’. So, the moment my papers came, I started working with them. But I worked with them for another six months and also resigned to start my own company.

Why did you start your own company amid all these?

The company I started then was more of a remittance business which I still do till date. It was a money transfer business. At that time when I was in the bank, I was in the treasury and we were doing a lot of forex transactions and I was the product manager of Cash Fast, a money transfer product of Standard Trust Bank. So, getting to London you have no other means to send money back home and the exchange rate they were giving me was high. So, knowing what the exchange rate in the market was and what it could do, I resolved that it is something I can do.  I tried to get a regulatory approval in order to create my own company because I would be taking people’s money. Immediately I got that, I didn’t have money to rent an office, but I went round to get local agents. I told them ‘Look, if you want to send money to Nigeria, I can do it and do it cheaply’. So, I gave them notebook: take 100 pounds from this person and charge them this amount. At that time, internet was there but it was not this common. So, I would have to go round because I didn’t want them to just send money without collecting it from them, including the details of who they were sending it to. I did that for a couple of months and the business started growing because the agents started having more customers and we were doing it way cheaper than Western Union. So, I was doing that and working at the same time. This was in 2002/2003. I then resigned from my work and decided to focus on the money transfer business. I started doing it, working from home and after about three months, I was able to rent a small office and employed one person. Till date, he still works with me and he is my manager in London at the moment.

That means your decision to relocate paid off.

Yes. Once I got in there, I made that decision that I was staying there. I just tried to make the best of the situation around me. I did not start laboring over ‘why did you come?’ and all that, because I had already made the decision. Once I take a decision that this is what I want to do, I just move on and forget about the past.

In all of these, which of the experiences are indelible for you?

The cleaning job and seeing my classmate in the university would remain close to my heart for many years to come. You won’t believe that up till today I have not seen that classmate. If I had not run, he would probably have understood because cleaning was a random job there and you were not the only one doing it. For me, it was a kind of reality check and something I can never ever forget. Another experience was taking a decision to sell my company in London. That was around 2006. This was the same company I told you I went round meeting agents and then I was able to build it to the point where people could approach me and say “we have heard what you have done and we are willing to buy from you”. Initially, it was like a joke and I was like let me even see how investors value businesses. And the more I was getting involved with it, the more I was getting more serious. By the time they finished, they told me how much they wanted to pay and that I should give them a cal. It was an experience because it was the first company I built and the first company I was selling. It was a game changer. The name of the company is Small World, one of the biggest remittance companies in Europe. My company was the first they bought. And the fact that they also wanted to retain me as one of their directors was a huge experience for me. So, I signed a contract to work with them for five years and moved on thereafter.

You must be grateful to your parents for giving you the name ‘Lucky’ then.

Not only that, I am grateful to my parents for other things. My mother was a trader perhaps that was where my entrepreneurial skill came in. I can see what she does.

What about your dad?

I didn’t spend my growing up years with him because I came from a polygamous family.