Oliyide Oluwashina: Tsebo Will Continue to Thrive, Attract Investors to Nigeria

As Nigeria’s leading facility management company, Tsebo Nigeria, formerly known as Tsebo Rapid, continues to make its mark, the CEO, Oliyide Oluwashina in this interview with Sunday Ehigiator, shares insight on Nigeria’s investment climate, the company’s plans, and its strategic efforts to attract more investors, providing a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Nigeria.

Tell us about your company and how it has fared over the years since its existence.

Tsebo Nigeria is an integrated workplace solutions provider, delivering facilities management, catering, hygiene, and business support services across key sectors in Nigeria. Our journey began as Rapid Facilities, a bold and locally-grown company committed to excellence. In 2019, we joined the Tsebo Solutions Group, a pan-African leader in workplace management.

This partnership accelerated our growth and deepened our capabilities. From managing a single iconic site to now delivering nationwide solutions across finance, technology, infrastructure, and energy sectors, we’ve grown by over 200 per cent in six years and expanded our team to over 400 professionals.

As a man who deals with foreign investors, what is their perception of Nigeria’s investment climate?

Foreign investors see Nigeria as a market of great potential but with considerable risk.

They are drawn to our population, youthful workforce, and resource base. However, concerns around policy inconsistency, infrastructure gaps, and security challenges persist.

That said, strategic investors with long-term views remain optimistic, especially in sectors like services, logistics, energy, and digital infrastructure.

What are your expectations from the government in terms of attracting foreign investors?

We expect clearer regulatory frameworks, consistent policies, and greater ease of doing business. Simplifying tax structures, improving forex stability, investing in critical infrastructure, and providing stronger legal protections will boost investor confidence. Public-private partnerships also need to be more transparent and outcome-driven.

What are the challenges you envisage or encounter operating in Nigeria?

Power instability, high operational costs, inflation, currency volatility, and delays in public procurement processes are constant challenges. The human capital gap also requires continuous investment in training. Nonetheless, these challenges have helped us build resilience and innovation into our operations.

Who are your major competitors?

We compete with both multinational and strong local players across different service lines. However, we see competition as validation of a healthy market. Our focus remains on differentiation through excellence, structure, and the ability to provide scalable, multi-site solutions across Nigeria.

What value are you bringing to Nigeria, and why Nigeria?

We’re bringing world-class service delivery, job creation, professional development, and operational excellence. Nigeria is strategic not just because of its size but because of its untapped potential in structured outsourced services. Our presence here is a vote of confidence in Nigeria’s future.

You have an energy subsidiary company. Are you planning to invest in Nigeria’s energy sector? If yes, shed more light.

Yes, we are exploring opportunities in energy management, particularly in solar, energy audits, and efficient power solutions for commercial clients. Our goal is to help clients reduce energy costs while improving sustainability.

You recently joined the global Tsebo Solutions Group and changed your name from Tsebo Rapid to Tsebo Nigeria. How would this association impact your service delivery to the Nigerian business community?

We have always been part of the Tsebo Solutions Group. This allows us to tap directly into Tsebo’s pan-African expertise, systems, and scale. With operations in over 25 countries and over 40,000 employees, we now bring global standards with local execution, enhancing quality, compliance, and innovation.

You have been around for over two decades. How would you say your firm has impacted the Nigerian economy?

We have created over 1,500 direct and indirect jobs, supported hundreds of SMEs, and enabled client success through cost optimisation and operational efficiency. We’ve also contributed to industry standards and professional training.

What is your niche in this sector of the Nigerian economy, vis-à-vis competition?

Our niche is the ability to deliver integrated, scalable, and technology-enabled workplace solutions across multiple sites with a focus on compliance, transparency, and performance tracking.

Who is your clientele, and how can you describe your service delivery?

Our clients include leading businesses in the various industries we serve. We are known for our structured approach, proactive communication, and measurable service delivery.

What is your market share of the Nigerian facility/outsourcing management industry?

We estimate our share of the formalised, Tier-1 facilities and business support market at about 6%, with plans to double that through strategic sectoral expansion.

What makes up Tsebo Nigeria, your services and employment footprint?

Our services include integrated facilities management, hygiene and sanitation, business support services, energy management, and hospital facilities management. We currently employ over 400 people directly and support an extended value chain of over 1,000 across vendors and suppliers.

What are your short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals?

Short-term, strengthen operations and digital capabilities; mid-term, expand into new sectors and reach 10 per cent market share, and long-term, position Tsebo Nigeria as the most respected integrated workplace solutions brand in West Africa, with a regional support hub in Lagos.

What specific support do you expect from the federal government?

We seek improved power infrastructure, FX access for technology imports, policy consistency, and better incentives for companies that invest in workforce development and digitisation.

 Give us a breakdown of what your rebranding is about?

This union started in 2019 when Sebo Group brought over a local company called Rapid Facilities. That’s where the name Sebo Rapid comes from. At that time, the branding was around showing that there is an international affiliation with Sebo with the local element called Rapid.That has been on for about six years now. Sebo as a Pan-African organisation is called Sebo all over Africa. Nigeria is a bit unique in its branding as Sebo Rapid.In order to further take advantage of the brand name, the power and the access it gives us to the broad market, we have decided to rebrand as Sebo Nigeria. There is Sebo Kenya, Sebo Ghana, Sebo in different countries. Now we are rebranding as Sebo Nigeria and also using the opportunity to relaunch the brand in the market.This is to showcase what we are doing, what we’ve done, to showcase areas where we intend to make further inroads in the industries in Nigeria. It’s a great opportunity for us.Itis a historical landmark in the history of the company. Itis also a place where we hope to be able to relaunch ourselves into the market and gain greater market share.

With this rebranding, what are the unique features that prospective clients or Nigerians should look out for?

Because Sable is a global brand with a strong presence in Africa, there’s 51 or 52 years of experience. That means that we’ve seen everything, we’ve been everywhere.

There’s really nothing new within the Sable ecosystem that will surprise us. We are using the opportunity to bring that expertise into the facilities or real estate industry in Nigeria. Up to now, facility management has been limited to real estate.We always think that facility management is real estate. But Sable as a group, we brand ourselves as a solutions provider. That means that it’s not just about real estate.

It’s about taking a client, allowing the client to focus on his core and doing everything else that makes the client function. That means that if you are a real estate person, focus on your rentals. Everything that makes your business run, doesn’t matter what it is, leave it to Sable.If you’re an organisation, a corporate, focus on what your core is. In a finance company, focus on your finance. Things relating to your environment, the nutrition for your staff.Things like coffee, things like creating the right environment.

As an expert, how do you suggest we improve maintenance culture among Nigerians?

One of the challenges with maintenance culture is the inability of the business to understand what a lack of maintenance means in terms of Naira and corporate profitability and long-term sustainable growth. The business understands that,“if I don’t maintain, I’m going to lose this amount of money in the long run.” No businessman wants to lose money. I think the level of expertise in the industry is just galvanising to a point where people can really evaluate the business value of not maintaining.

Where do you hope to be in the next five years?

In five years, we aim to be the go-to brand for facilities and workplace solutions across West Africa, a company that sets the bar for quality, sustainability, and local impact, while fully integrated with global best practices.

QUOTES

“Tsebo Nigeria is an integrated workplace solutions provider, delivering facilities management, catering, hygiene, and business support services across key sectors in Nigeria.Our journey began as Rapid Facilities, a bold and locally-grown company committed to excellence. In 2019, we joined the Tsebo Solutions Group, a pan-African leader in workplace management. This partnership accelerated our growth and deepened our capabilities.”

“Power instability, high operational costs, inflation, currency volatility, and delays in public procurement processes are constant challenges. The human capital gap also requires continuous investment in training. Nonetheless, these challenges have helped us build resilience and innovation into our operations.”