I’m not flashy –Bose Ayeni

Bose Ayeni

Bose Ayeni, the MD/CEO of Tantalizers Plc, is known to shy away from the media. Surprisingly, during this interview, she willingly shares the success story of the company co-founded alongside her husband, Folu Ayeni, in 1997.

Though she did not have an intial flair for entrepreneurship, a job loss changed her story. She recalls: “I had always seen myself as a career woman until I lost my job in 1991. I was at Unilever for about 11 years post-graduation. After my first baby, I had secondary infertility. Then, I got pregnant and was away from work for about three months. At the tail end of it, my employers asked that I quit. I felt very bad and resigned my appointment. Technically, I resigned but there was a caveat that I could come back after having my baby.

“When I left, I deliberately stayed at home for one year because the baby was premature. During that period, my husband and I were looking for something extra to augment the family income. Initially, I did some trading and moved into some level of marketing consultancy. I got job offers, but I was reluctant to take a full-time job because of my baby. After I did some trading, I saw that it was not for me. We decided that we were going into the food business.’’

Why food?

“My husband said his mother trained him in selling food and that was one thing he knew that would sell. For me, I knew I had the flair for serving people and that was how we decided that I should open a burger shop. The concept grew beyond what we conceived and we began the fast food concept,’’ she answers.

But there was a challenge with capital. “We had about N300, 000,” she reveals. The couple decided approaching banks for loans. “By stroke of luck, we approached a bank headed by a friend of ours and we got N2.5m loan. Even the initial adverts we did were without payment. We had a lifeline of six months to pay up.’’

Now quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, this, she says, was borne out of the first-class vision of the company and its founders. “Sometime around 2007, we began to think about doing  a private placement. Until that time, it was just Mr. and Mrs. Ayeni. We did not want to do a business that would die with the owners. We wanted a business that would outlive us and grow independent of the original owners. So, we did a private placement that brought in a lot more Nigerians.’’

Ask her how they arrived at the name Tantalizers and a smile plays on her lips while she relives the story: “We were in a brainstorming session throwing up names. When we did the name test, Tantalizers came third but we later decided to go with it.’’

With 52 outlets nationwide, Tantalizers has embraced franchising. “It is the natural way to grow. You can’t do it all on your own. If you have a franchisee, that person is buying into your buisness.Once you establish a brand that is acceptable, it is easy for you to sell that brand to other people and let the mushrooming come from them. All you are going to do is certify and control the processes they follow. Also, it is an avenue for other people to get employed.’’

Seventeen years and still counting, she easily attributes the staying power to timeliness.

“I think we came at the right time and we were quickly able to establish a brand that is acceptable and our appeal cuts across board,’’ she says.

The vice-chairman of the company is her husband, who she speaks glowingly of. “He is my number one cheerleader. He is more of an entrepreneur and risk taker than I am. But for him, maybe Tantalizers would not have grown as much as we have grown. I am not in any way reducing the importance of God. We have two children and by the time we started, the first one was quite grown and the second just growing. The business started from FESTAC and we were living in FESTAC.

Work relationship with her spouse, she says, has been bliss.  “It has not been a problem because I understand totally what the marraige institution is all about. The husband is the head. I am only a neck that supports him. There are times you may feel that the head is not going in the right direction, can the neck on its own go out and say this is the direction? At such times, I tell him what I feel on certain issues. Sometimes, he agrees and sometimes, he does not. When the latter is the case and depending on how strongly I feel about it, I pray.

“Interestingly, we worked together for a period in Unilever before we got married. After marriage, we worked together for about three or four years. When you are working with your husband, the most important thing is not to lose sight of what is important and that is your home. We have been married for 33 years.’’

Becoming and remaining an entrepreneur requires a lot of discipline. She advises: “You have to be disciplined as a person. There is moral discipline which states that you have to see your business as a career and you really have to be there. Financial discipline is knowing that revenue is not equal to profit and that the money is not yours. I cannot walk into a Tantalizers outlet, take a bottle of water and not pay. I am on a monthly salary and they pay the managing director the same time the waiter is paid.

“Whether you are family or not, in the company, my relationship with you is that of a boss and a subordinate. When we are outside, the family relationship resumes.”

Being an entrepreneur, she confesses, is one of her best feelings. “What I have enjoyed most is seeing a little seed grow and then, the multiplier effect. From Tantalizers, we have developed a pool of suppliers. The suppliers themselves have developed a pool of their own suppliers.’’

Born in 1958 in Ibadan, Oyo State, she is from Degema, Rivers State.

“We grew up more in the South West and that is why the Yoruba part of me is dominant. Then, my parents lived abroad and that made me stay more with my grandmother. I went to the University of Ife where I studied Language Arts. In 1994, I was at the Pan-Atlantic University where I did a two-year course.’’

She places moderate premium on relaxation and keeping fit. “Some people accuse me that I don’t eat what I sell but I eat them. I believe everything has to be in moderation. I also think my genes are just right. I took after my mother. Apart from that, I wish I could tell you that I exercise more than I should. At my age, I know I should pay more attention to keeping fit.’’

Less enthusiastic about fashion, the grandmother of one lists her style preferences: “I am not fussy about style and I just like to be decent. I have a friend whom we have been together from secondary school. She is a pharmacist but she sews. She is the only one I know who sews in a way that fits my body, so I love to buy African prints and she makes wonderful designs for me. Apart from that, if I go into any store and I see what I like, I buy. What is uppermost on my mind is being decent and the fit of the clothes. I don’t like to be flashy because I don’t like to be noticed.’’