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When Chief Rasaq Akanni Okoya, the billionaire founder of the Eleganza Group recently announced his plan to hand over his empire to his younger children, the internet buzzed with opinions.
His reason was blunt: “I don’t want them to fail like the senior ones.” Wow!!!
To the outsider, it sounded harsh. To an entrepreneur who has bled to keep a business alive, it sounded like a man speaking his truth after decades in the trenches. He isn’t just talking about inheritance; he is talking about the survival of a legacy.
When I set out to open Deo-Agoz Studio in 2018, I didn’t call a consultant. I called my uncle, Abayomi Oyefeso first.
I remembered his mother’s photo equipment shop in Ibadan, a place that was always bursting with customers. I needed to know two things: Was she actually making money and what happened to the business?
His answer was a cold splash of water. Yes, she made loads of money.
So what happened to the business? He told me, “Emi ni mo je’run”, meaning, he was the one who ate the business to its very bones.
That conversation birthed a foundational rule for me: No one is above the system – not siblings, not children and certainly not friends.
Running a business in an environment where people view your success as a ‘common pool’ to draw from is like trying to keep a candle lit in a windstorm.
People don’t want to see you carry your load to the market to make a profit; they want you to leave the bread on the floor so they can take their own and leave you with nothing.
And they will always be the first to broadcast the news when you are finally ‘finished.’
When my own sister wanted more than the good discount I offered her models after a shoot one day, I I efused. If I broke the rules for blood, I’d have no moral ground to hold my staff accountable if they did the same.
My mum called and wanted to show her ‘might’ in my business over that matter. I asked her if she would have given me a chance to influence the decision of her bosses when she was in civil service. My staff were the bosses here and they had the final say since it was their time they would have used to give the extra after the extras we had already given.
When my son tried to run his own ‘show’ within the studio, ignoring laid-down policies, I showed him the door. He eventually returned, but he returned with a new understanding:
Order and accountability are non-negotiable.
Chief Okoya is not a child in this game. He has seen the Eleganza brand teeter on the edge and bounce back through ‘new blood’.
He knows that children who grow up with easy money often fail to realize a simple mathematical truth:
For every Naira you see in an account, a larger percentage must go back out to keep the wheels turning.
People see the swelling of the bank balance, but they don’t see the bills, the replenishment of stock or the sheer grit it takes to breathe in a ‘dusty’ marketplace.
It is likely why he shields and supports Chief Sade Okoya so fiercely. He sees her energy, her determination and her strength to keep the brand running.
He knows he is currently the umbrella shielding her from the storms that may come when he’s not there anymore and he is preparing the next generation to be the pillars that will hold the roof when he is gone.
Whether you are a billionaire like Okoya or running a studio like Deo-Agoz, the foxes are the same. They are the friends or family members who call you wícked or stingý the moment you stop the free flow of cash.
Whether it is a wife or a husband, once the business collapses, many will migrate to the next stable thing, leaving you in the ruins.
Wives will go and stay with the chikdren you have trained and educated (for them) or the family members who joined to eat you dry.
Most of your friends want the perks of your success but none of the sweat of your labor. How many of them will join you yo grow the business? How many of them are even managing successful businesses to know how much you’re sweating to remain on ground?
We must learn to dust off those who only know how to consume. Surround yourself with those who make the business grow whether you are there or not.
Chief Okoya has spoken his truth. He isn’t looking for our permission or our opinions; he is an old man looking at the years he has left and ensuring that the work of his life doesn’t end up as a pitiable tale told by the society.
Legacy isn’t about being nice.It’s about being right.
SB E-news.
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