“No matter how much you are paid as an employee, you can never be richer than your employer,” says Mr Babalola Babatunde Taoreed, explaining his motivation for setting up his own business.

The Chief Executive Officer of First Laurel Investment Ltd, Mr Babalola Babatunde Taoreed has explained that the reason why he left his well-paid job to start-up his own company was because of the need to be independent.

Mr Babalola who made this disclosure during an interview on ‘Meet your African CEO”, a programme on CEOAfrica online Television, added that he was always determined to establish his own business and had never desired to remain in a paid employment for a long time.

 * Mr Babalola Babatunde Taoeed, CEO First Laurel Investment Ltd.

The entrepreneur, who began his professional career at Nigerian Breweries in year 2000, said “I had always set my target to be independent at a point in my life but I needed the experience and exposure that comes with working for people. My projection is to have my own business, because no matter how much you are paid as an employee, you can never be richer than your employer.  

“So, when I began my professional career in Nigerian Breweries, I concentrated on gaining as much experience has I could. I worked hard to get good appraisals which earned me promotions. Then in 2010 I left Nigerian Breweries to join Globacom. While at Glo, I also worked day and night to meet my daily target and then I realised that if I expend the same amount of energy on my personal business, I would be better off, that was when I decided to resign in order to concentrate on my business. ”

Explaining how his business, started up, Mr Babalola stated that First Laurel Investment which was registered in 2010, began as a carwash business, then he ventured into the oil and gas aspect of the business, which his wife took charge of. He added that the organisation has expanded into several other ventures like; hotel service, restaurant and bar, club and salon.

On the challenges he encountered while starting up and during the course of running the business, Mr Babalola explained that economic recession was one of the major challenges his business encountered, adding that the economic crunch made sales drop.

He explained “During the economic recession, things were very difficult as sales dropped drastically. Unfortunately, that was the period I resigned from my paid employment and I began to regret my decision to resign but God took control of everything.”

He further explained that the major challenges in his hospitality business were staff and power. “Staff and power erode the profitability of the hospitality business. The hospitality business is a service business where it is important you have the right attitude especially to customers, but most employees just behave any how to clients which can reduce one’s patronage. Then power is also important. Since there is no constant power supply, we use generator which consumes up to 1000 litres of diesel per week,” he said.

 * Mr Babalola (seated Left) with journalists present at the interview

Speaking about the efforts of the government in the support and development of the hospitality and tourism sector, Mr Babalola, who commended the government of Oyo state on its infrastructural developments, however, noted that the government has made no positive effort in assisting the industry. He stated that although those in the hospitality business are made to pay tax, the government is giving nothing back to the industry.

While urging the government to invest in the hospitality industry, Mr Babalola also advised up-coming entrepreneurs to set their priorities right and be focused. “The problem with youths nowadays is that they want to live the way you live, drive the same car you drive without the desire to work for it. Anyone who wants to start-up a successful business must be focused, principled and patient; they must also learn to avoid distractions and be prayerful,” he advised.