Beaming Searchlight on ‘My Mother’s Daughter’

Chief Mrs. Taiwo Taiwo is the Chairman, Lexham Investment- Owners of Shonny Investment and Property Company Ltd. With over 45 years of experience both in and outside of Nigeria, covering the commercial and residential markets, she is also the founding and immediate past Chairman of the acclaimed secondary school, Atlantic Hall, a co-educational non-profit secondary school as well as the Founding Chairman and trustee of Lagos Millennium Group on the Environment. In this interview she speaks extensively on her recently launched book – My Mother’s Daughter – which beams on her childhood experience and lessons learnt from an exceptional mother who shaped her character. Nume Ekeghe and Chiamaka Ozulumba bring excerpts

Firstly, why did you write the book? Also, can you share some of your childhood memories on how your mother shaped you into being such a business-minded person? How did she prepare you for the rigorous path of owning and running a business empire?
I have always wanted to write a book about my mother because she has had such a tremendous impact on my life. Her husband, my late father, Chief Shonibare was a great businessman, an intuitive and forward-looking entrepreneur, he was also one of the Seven founder members of the Action Group, and acknowledged to have been one of the financial brains behind the myriad of businesses established by the group. My parents were partners in the family businesses they established, but she always played a backseat role in the running of the businesses. He died at the age of 44 in a University College hospital in the UK., from Kidney disease, the complications of his high blood pressure. My mum was only 41 at the time. My mother was a remarkable businesswoman, she carved out the Maryland Guest from her expansive home, the Maryland Villa, within the 50 acres Maryland Estate, the first privately owned mixed residential estate in Nigeria.

After repaying the loan that had been secured from Barclays Bank DCO, to finance the construction of Maryland Estate, she acquired an interest in the Iconic, Elephant House, with its unique Brazilian influenced architecture. which was owned by the Pearce Family of Brazilian Descent.

She had a vision of building a high rise but the town planning laws were pretty strict at that time- she had to step back 50 feet in the front and 50 feet by the side and what was left was pretty small, so she acquired three more plots to make up the Elephant House and it took her 10 years in her pursuit to acquire Elephant House. By that time, I had graduated, she wanted me to take over, the running of the Maryland Guesthouse, so I had to go back and get a degree in Hotel Management to manage Maryland Hotel.

Once the final approval was obtained, she said to me ‘Taiwo, I have done my bit, you have to go and raise the money and it was that sheer confidence she had in me that pushed me. During her lifetime, I used to interview her and take down notes. I always wanted to write a book about her but while writing I discovered that my life story had intertwined with hers. It was my story but she was a backdrop to my story because she led me to become what I am today.

With over 45 years under your belt as a Real Estate Developer, what were the challenges you faced in a largely male-dominated field at that time?
The person that taught me my life lessons in property development was Allan Shalley. He took me as his mentee when we went to Elephant House. The lessons I learnt from him are very much valid with huge lessons people still need to learn today on the principle of Real Estate development. The first thing he said was ‘why do you want to build an 18 storey office block’ and this was after we had gotten the approval and design to build. It would make smarter sense to build say a 10 story office block.!

With his help we were able to put in the car lift, the first of its kind in Africa, 40 years ago, giving us more floors to let out. I remember looking at the property market some years ago and seeing that there was going to be a crash in the Nigerian market because everyone was running to build high rises in Ikoyi without adequate market research, on the quantum of office blocks, and residents being built at the same time. It was clear to me that supply would soon exceed demand, and that the inevitable crash would come. It did, and at a time there were 15, 000 square metres of empty office spaces in Central Lagos.

Was there ever a time you felt overwhelmed by the amount of work and properties under you and how were you able to remain sane amidst the chaos of work-life?
It’s my nature, I am very dogged and very focused. If I have to do a job, I look at the result and my focus has to be, ‘I must not fail’, even if I have to work all night to make it work. We approached Insurance companies for loans and that’s how we were able to raise the long-term funds.

You recounted in the book that you had withdrawal syndrome for five years after completing the Elephant House Project. What led to it and how were you able to snap out of it?
It’s not many people that have such a huge project in their hands at that age and I was used to being busy. So, for the first year, I always believed that everybody must develop their different faculties, I strove to develop 80 per cent of my faculties and I think I have done a good job.
I joined the African Book Group Review where we came together and reviewed books and not too long after that was how Atlantic Hall came about. It was founded in my house with a group of five women and later 10 in the pursuit of a remarkable school for our children. The journey towards Atlantic Hall was filled with pitfalls and obstacles but it has become a huge school sitting on 40 hectares with 650 students. I was never again scared of huge projects after Elephant House.

I understand there has been a partnership of some sort with First Bank, can you tell us more. And also, as a female business owner, can you speak on some of the ways First Bank has supported you through the years?
Ironically, in raising the funds for Elephant House, FirstBank was the lead bank and the custodian bank, so at that time, the managing director and I had the advantage of working with the first crop of managers in corporate finance, who were in tune to consumer lending. This project had to be funded not just by one bank but a consortium of banks and it was one of the first in the market. It was exciting for all of them and exciting for us as we were doing something innovative, new, and cutting edge.

There is a perception that Elephant House is owned by First Bank of Nigeria Limited but in reading the book, I got to know that you built Elephant House, was there an agreement between you and FirstBank as the name is well aligned with the bank’s identity and logo?
Honestly, we never minded people thinking that Elephant House was owned by FirstBank. As one of the conditions of the sale to us was that any development must retain the name ‘Elephant House’.

What made you fearless despite all the naysayers, especially in the early years of your life?
My mother led me to my becoming. She was the most fearless, courageous person I have ever met. I used to be terrified that something would happen to her because she was so courageous. Compared to me, she didn’t think I was fearless and she always knew when to stop and say, ‘this is a waste of time, let’s move on’.

Looking back at all the efforts made in the early 80’s to make Lagos the ‘Venice of Africa’ and how the city is now, any regrets?

By the time LIMGE was set up, there was no single tenant in Elephant House, you had to go to the old UTC before you saw anybody, it was desiccated and undoubtedly, we changed the trajectory. I was the only one in the building and I would come to work and it was a gangland. I witnessed a squabble over diesel that left two people dead. I felt it was an important lesson to show the business community that we cannot just ignore the community that we lived in as it was our duty to get involved and I often say this, if we want to live in the Nigeria of our dreams, if we want to have the kind of future we hope for in Nigeria, we must involve ourselves in our communities, it is not an option but an obligation.

It took 10 years for me to get the kind of support to get LIMGE going, 10 of convincing the corporate organisation that we cannot just be evacuating our neighborhoods, we left Surulere, now evacuating to Lagos Island and has the dirt and craziness not met up with them? It will follow you till you get to Ondo.

I do regret that after building Ajele Fire Station, which could have become a world heritage example, I got frustrated that I was not getting enough support from the other members. The First Bank, Union Bank, and Shell were core members of LIMGE but we did not have enough sustainability.

Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, the then Governor of Lagos Island embraced the vision of LIMGE, as articulated in the workshop we organised in LIMGE 2007. We sent the document, a result of a two-day workshop which included all the major stakeholders of Lagos Island, to the governors of all the 32 states in Nigeria and the presidency

Governor Tinubu incorporated many of the visions of our Vision 2007 project in the Lagos Island rehabilitation project, and implemented them. The paving of broad streets and Marina, street lights, and the installation of monitored CCTV cameras ( a first) on broad street and Marina. My red-letter day was the building of the ultra-modern Ajele Fire Station, fully equipped, with 100 carefully selected firemen, who were trained by top officials of the New York Fire Department, fully equipped and kitted to put out any fire in a building that was up to 12 storeys high, and handing over this 2 million dollar project, which had been financed by our LIMFE member Shell to Lagos State.

What was your drive alongside the nine other women to set up Atlantic Hall and the experience in the educational sector?
Every one of these achievements comes with a lot of struggle and nobody should ever undermine that. But nobody can overrate the tremendous sense of joy, well-being, and pride that one feels that wow, we did it. This is not for profit; we don’t share any money from it.

In your book, you referred to an incident in high school where the headteacher referred to you as a ‘Dunce’, did that word make you strive to change her narrative?
My publisher told me, this book is so honest, you’re the only person I know as a writer that can write that I repeated Form 1 and that you were called a ‘Dunce’ because most people would always say, ‘I came first’ but I have an inbuilt self-confidence to say otherwise. My father was enraged with the school that he took all eight of us out of the school to England to finish our studies.

So after your studied abroad, how was the cultural shock of being in England for so long and coming back to Nigeria?
I came back to Nigeria because I was really hungry to come back. I recognised that it was going to be a cultural shock and it was because I had not been to school with anybody in the University of Lagos, they all had cliques plus the fact that I didn’t stay on the campus coupled with the fact that I had a car which was unheard of.
But I made sure I was very friendly because people thought I would be a snub; I was determined to make it work.

Quote

My mother led me to my becoming. She was the most fearless, courageous person I have ever met. I used to be terrified that something would happen to her because she was so courageous. Compared to me, she didn’t think I was fearless and she always knew when to stop and say, ‘this is a waste of time, let’s move on’