I have always confessed my more than passing interest in this business icon, and the reason for my interest, as always mentioned, is very simple.
The barely literate man set out in business, selling tailoring accessories out of a tiny shop, and from there built one of the most spectacular business empires Africa has ever seen.
From that tiny shop, his business empire grew phenomenally, gobbling market share in varied sectors from manufacturing through real estate and other allied sectors.
He created jobs, impacted infrastructure and bestrode the old economy like the colossus that he was.
His doggedness, street smarts, and native intelligence pushed him to compete and excel in the torrid business landscape that is the Nigerian one.
A surface look at the history of his trajectory will give the observer a broad traction of three eras.
By era, I mean a periodicity that is tied to market expansion, drivers and performance, all tiptoeing into a wobbly succession that is now threatening the legacy.
The first era can be identified as the ‘seed’ era, and this is the origin, from the tiny shop to the trading and confidence-building stage.
During this stage, there was the promoter and his brother, and from there, through a very dogged stint of hard work, the business started growing and getting impact.
The second era was dominated by expansion into giant factories and plastics. This era started with the same partnership between brothers that I feel wasn’t an equal partnership but nevertheless worked.
This era could be described as the golden era of the Okoya empire, as it joined other such huge indigenous conglomerates run by mercurial patriarchs who dominate the firms – MKO Abiola, Adebowale, Adedoyin, Elizade, to mention a few.
The Eleganza grew stupendously with a firm footing in the household plastic business – biro, plastics, chairs, etc.
This boom saw it flood the Lagos metropolis with giant factories and huge warehouse spaces which served logistics. Storage and warehousing support system for its products.
At this point, the first-level children started joining the business and started holding strategic positions, including running the factories.
The factories were divided into stand-alone businesses with stringent performance indices tied to them.
Then the business started gravitating towards the Real Estate space, with the Founder leading the push, ably supported by biological human capital.
At this point, the brother peeled off and went into his own business, which also involved Manufacturing and Real Estate, but mainly Real Estate, even though he maintained a pseudo-advisory stance as the larger Eleganza business powered on.
The third era, which is where we are now, has seen the business hold one of the biggest Real Estate holdings in the country, with revenues pouring in from rent and other such sources related to Real Estate.
Being a privately held company, the public has no access to its financials, but an intelligent guess will show that the bulk of revenues will most likely be coming from its Real Estate holdings, as against its traditional Manufacturing, which has plateaued and most likely flattened.
The flattening of earnings and the influence of its manufacturing income vary from inclement macro and micro economic factors to a change of guard in leadership with human capital relatively inexperienced in that area.
This has seen the business fail to transmute from the old economy giant that it is to a major player in the new economy with its new drivers – technology, service, etc.
This present era has seen Human Capital change guard, with leadership changing hands from one set of biological leadership to another set, taking with them years of experience, clarity and pure understanding of the turbulent world of manufacturing, which has led to the dearth of innovation, vision-driven leadership and positioning in the new economy.
What we have witnessed is a leadership bereft of the grandiosity that propelled the founder from the little-known trader to the iconic stature he holds in our business annals.
What we now see is a maintenance of the status quo in business trajectory, a whipping of the business to maintain lifestyle with little or no investments in R&D, Market expansion, HR training, etc.
In all of this mix, the spectre of succession continues to throw its ugly head into the equation.
Leadership is firmly in the hands of filial relationships -a consort with players in the last two eras no longer within its scope, having been dislinked either forcefully or voluntarily.
A few months ago, I had written a piece on the lack of a formal and institutionalised succession plan in one of Nigeria’s most heralded business empires.
The article ruffled feathers, and there was a flurry of responses in off-mainstream media not aimed directly at me or my article, but a feeble attempt to show that all is ‘good’ in the Okoya Ajah Mecca.
I didn’t buy it but decided to remain quiet and watch as a keen student of succession planning and its effect on the institutionalisation of our firms.
We had watched the MKO Abiola, FRA Williams, Adebowale and the rest wobble to death a few years after the passing of their progenitors.
We have also seen generational transfer of control. In firms like AIICO, Olaniwun Ajayi, FCMB and others, which makes this Okoya own quite interesting to watch as it unfolds.
As already mentioned, control is under what I want to call Consort leadership, supported by her sons who would rather be on a musical stage than on a factory floor.
To strengthen that, one other son of an older generation has been pulled from a Bank to serve as CFO, which is a brilliant move as he will, expectantly, strengthen corporate governance and discipline if he has the courage.
But, tarry, something is building up that, if not carefully handled, could further weaken an already weak succession plan.
The very first child, a 66-year-old, has come out to beg for his ‘father’s forgiveness.’
According to reports, he has claimed to have annoyed his father some 40 years ago and now wants forgiveness and restitution.
The reports claim that he has tried several times to get access to his father but has been blocked by consort leadership, so he comes to the public to seek his father’s attention.
As a good student of succession planning, I see beyond a son seeking a father’s forgiveness.
What I see is a deliberate and assertive positioning for a stake in the succession planning.
A 66-year-old male in a traditional society like this has a strong claim on leadership, no matter his relationship with his father.
His statement – I am Chief’s oldest child is a war cry, and this throws up an interesting spectre on life post-founder.
The Eleganza gathering storm should be of a very strong interest to business historians, especially people like me who are keen students of succession as a veritable vehicle for business institutionalization.
The inevitable Okoya drama, if not handled properly, will match the very exciting drama of the Murdochs, who entertained the world with drama, suspense, court cases, sacks, resignations, bitter brawls, and all.
The Murdochs operated on a saner plane where institutions remain strong and seemingly bereft of untoward influence, unlike the Okoyas, who are operating in a different kind of environment where we have owambe institutions that would easily swing to whoever plays the pipe.
In conclusion, I have not spoken to any member of the Okoya family, nor have I seen any official performance reports on the business. My position is gleaned from my close watch of the business through available public information and my own interpretation thereof, and as such, nobody should take this as an official position but an intelligent guess from an ardent student of business history.
If I miss it, you can come and beat me.