Chief Dr (Mrs) NIKE AKANDE, CON is a Harvard- trained professional, an investment expert, boardroom guru, a two-time Minister of Industry and a Director of Union Bank of Nigeria and other top companies. In this interview by TAYO GESINDE, the President of Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry speaks on her childhood fantasy and the secret of her success.
Childhood fantasy
My childhood fantasy is something that is very important to me in life. I am from a family of six; my father, mother and four girls. I am the first of the four girls so at a very young age, a lot of attention had been placed on me to make me a good example to my siblings. When I was in elementary school, my parents employed a teacher to coach me at home. The man is still alive today, he is Professor Balogun. One day, they were talking about a newspaper report about the Minister of Transport, Bode Thomas’ death. Being very inquisitive, I became interested in what they were saying and stopped listening to what I was being taught. My teacher was there and my uncle, Professor Bashiru Akande. I was interested in that word ‘minister’ that was mentioned. They told me I was too young to understand what minister meant. I told them that I would be a minister one day in Nigeria. That day, Professor Balogun took my photograph. After some time, I lost contact with him. He wasn’t a professor at that time but later became one. When he heard my name announced as a minister, he came all the way to Abuja to show me the picture he took that day of me, sitting on at my lesson table saying I was going to be a minister. He said he couldn’t believe that what I said then could come to pass. He further said that when children are talking about what they want to be in life, one should never shut them up because you never know what will happen in future. That was my childhood fantasy and I am glad it came to pass and I didn’t just become a minister once,a but twice. I thank God for that. I also thank my parents because they always positioned me as a leader at a very early age because I am the first of four girls. They always tell me I have to behave well because I am a role model for my younger ones.
Choice of career
I went to Queens School, Ede, I was quite good in mathematics and I was thinking of becoming an engineer or a doctor but my uncle, Olu Aboderin studied Accountancy and encouraged me to do the same course since I had flair for figures. That was how I did Accountancy and I did Business Administration as well.
Challenges faced
Men never want women to compete with them but I have a very good personality. I don’t struggle with them, I use a soft way to achieve what I want. For example, in Lagos Chambers of Commerce, only men have been president for 128 years. The only woman that became president during that period died before the end of her tenure, so I really wanted to become president to show that we women can do it. I talked to the past presidents to please vote for me that I wanted to become president of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry and I eventually became the president. I have been working extremely hard to prove that I deserve the position that was given to me.
Secret of success
I have always believed that to be successful in life, you have to work hard. There is no short cut to it; you just have to work hard. I have been used to working hard since I was young. I am also very careful about how I behave because I don’t want people to say negative things about me. So, I try to behave well.
My driving force
My driving force is to succeed in whatever I do. I have experience in boardroom matters and I always do my homework before any meeting. I don’t want to get there and start talking rubbish. I work hard to succeed.
Defining moments of career
The first and most important one was when I was made a minister. I was not even in the country at that time, I was in Ghana, I was a consultant to United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and was sent to Ghana to go and prepare one paper and I had hardly arrived there when there was announcement on Television that I had been made a minister. So the Nigerian ambassador to Ghana was looking for me. He got hold of me at the hotel where I was staying and he had to fast track my own presentation the following day so I can leave for Nigeria. Another one was becoming the president of Lagos Chambers of Commerce, I was happy because I just wanted to break the jinx that it was only men that could become president. That is something that is making me work so hard to let people know that I deserved the support they gave me. I was the first woman to become president of Harvard Alumni Association; I worked so hard during that period that they even wrote a letter from Boston that I was one of the best presidents. I like to do things that people will remember me for.
Combining the home front with career
The home front is very important. Most women, when they reach certain age, they become so cocky, so important they neglect the home, it is not right. You have to carry your husband along with you and thank God I have a very supportive husband because sometimes when you want to carry some men along, they won’t even be available for you to carry them. But luckily, my husband was very supportive of me and at the same time, I never joke with things that affect him. Time management is important. There is time for the office and time for the home. When I am at home, I am always with him.
On the belief that women are difficult to work with
It is not true. When a woman is given position of authority, she wants to work hard. She wants to prove to people that she can perform excellently well but sometimes the people working with her may not be able to work at the pace she is working. She will want to work extremely hard and the people will say this women have come again o, it is very difficult to work with them, they don’t even rest. So that is the problem, it is not that they are difficult to work with. They want to prove that they can work hard and they want to be successful.
On whether women are well represented politically in Nigeria
The situation is improving and it will continue to improve. In the past, when I was a minister there were only three of us. Now, we have more women in both appointive and elective positions. And they are doing extremely well. I delivered a paper recently to the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDAN). They said how can we get women into positions of authority, is it by legislation or by appointment? I answered by discussing the pros and cons of the two but in the end, it is better to appoint women and because when they are appointed, they will like to prove their mettle by working extremely hard.
Lessons life has taught me
Life taught me to be good to people and to respect people. What you give out is what you get. Human beings are good people. If you smile at somebody, that person will smile back at you. Look in the mirror, if you smile, what do you see? somebody smiling back at you. Treat people the way you want to be treated and you won’t be disappointed. There are few cases of awkward people in life; we are not all the same, when you meet such people, avoid them and move with the ones that can be useful to you and you can be useful to.
How Lagos Chambers of Commerce has been empowering SMES
SMES are very important because most of the businesses in Nigeria are SMES; only few are large scale businesses. We have to encourage small scale industries so they can become large. Now that the economy is being diversified into industrialisation, we have a lot of women doing business and we are encouraging them because industrialisation is the key to economic development, employment generation and poverty alleviation. We are determined to improve SMES through our sustained policy advocacy; engagement and direct interventions such as: improve the scope and the depth of financial and regulatory intermediation for the benefit of all SMES in the economy irrespective of the sector where the SMES operate. Also, we open new funding sources; many of them don’t know all these sources that are available. I used to tell the Director of Nigeria Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) which is now called Bank Of Industry that there are a lot of findings and opportunities to help SMES but many people don’t know about them. We are trying to let them know so that they can benefit from them and how to access these intervention funds. We read them and make them less stringent. An entrepreneurial skill for job evaluation is also very important for SMES. There is need for secondary school curriculum to accommodate practical entrepreneurship studies such as dual vocational programmes, work and school model and industrial mentorship programmes and roll out more industrial incubation centres across the country. Training and retraining is also very important and that was why we devoted a whole day to entrepreneurship at the Chambers last week.
The legacy I want to leave behind at Lagos Chambers of Commerce
I know I have worked hard and the result is there for everybody to see. I will like to be remembered as a woman that came as president of Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry and made a lot of changes to improve and upgrade the chambers.
Advice for young women
I usually have soft spot for young people because it is better to guide them. That is why, at the Lagos of Chambers and Industry, we have a mentoring group where we mentor young people on how they can start their own businesses and become successful in life. These are the things that we have been doing since I became president of the chambers and there are a lot of innovations this young people have been coming up with and we have been encouraging them because they are the leaders of tomorrow.
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