Behind any successful woman, there is a man! -Chief Mrs. Roseline Osipitan (Top business woman)

Chief Mrs. Rose Osipitan

        The Birthday Celebrant Chief Mrs Basirat Ojugbele on the right with APC Women Leader Chief Mrs Kemi Nelson on the left

Chief Mrs. Rose Osipitan the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of First Royal Oil, was one of the ladies who stood out, few days back, when APC Women leaders, led by Chief Mrs. Kemi Nelson, the Yeye Shewa of Lagos State, gathered at the court of a multi high rise luxury apartments in Lekki. It was an exclusive party, to celebrate the birthday of one of their own in the person of Chief Mrs. Basirat Ojugbele.

It was a party of ‘who is who’ in the women society circles in Lagos and beyond. And Chief Mrs. Bashirat Ojugbele who brought all of them together that day, glowed with happiness and she spoilt her friends with choice wine, African and continental dishes, finger foods and souvenirs to take home.

The women danced freely, celebrating each other with love, among them also were:  Chief (Mrs.) Bola Britto (APC Women Leader in Agege & Conference 57 President in Lagos State), Chief (Mrs.) Amori Odumosu the Iyaloja General of Lagos textile market, Alhaja Kudirat Oderinde, Alhaja Mopelola Odetola and a host of others. They all had good words for the celebrant Chief Mrs. Basirat Ojugbele including Alhaji Abdul Ganiyu Okunola Egunjobi, the Executive CM, of Ojugbele’s political base.

Chief Mrs. Rose Osipitan in this interview with Paul Ukpabio, goes down memory lane on the relationship she has had, with her good friend Chief Mrs. Basirat Ojugbele, and why she is a success story.

Your friend Chief Mrs. Basirat Ojugbele is celebrating her birthday today, what can you say about her?

She is a nice person. She is lovely. She is kind and I wish her happy many returns, long live and more prosperity. Olorun a da awon omo si, ise a ma lo s’iwaju. I wish her long, long life, amen.

What is the secret of your friendship?

If we quarrel now, nobody will settle it for us. We make peace earnestly. If anybody is annoyed with anyone now, we just leave the place and later on, we will call each other and say ‘Abebi, what is wrong with you’ or ‘why did you behave that way?’ and that is the end of it. O ti pari niyen! We are more like sisters and that has really helped us to forge ahead. The Yorubas will say ‘S’emi nbi e l’ogun ore’. The antedote to malice is being able to summon courage to relate with each other even in most difficult times.

You have been out of society circles for a while, any special reason?

No special reason except that I haven’t been around. I just came back from London. I actually returned last week.

How would you describe the economy today?

Well, what can we do? There is nothing we can do than pray to God and forge ahead. It does, it does. It affected everybody. It has affected every one. With God’s help, and with prayer, there should be an improvement. We are praying, we hope the economy will just improve. 

If you have a chance to meet the President one-on-one, what would be your advice to him?

Well, I think the president is trying. He is really fighting corruption, where there is corruption everybody is bound to be corrupt. There is nothing you can do. Everybody has to change. The change is for everybody. He as a person has tried and God will give him more strength to lead Nigeria. If I see him, I will tell him that he is trying. 

So you believe the economy is going to improve?

By God’s grace! You can see it’s getting better, the dollar was more than this before and the Naira was in a very ridiculous situation but things are getting better these days and we pray God should give him the grace for him to take us to a better height. 

As a stakeholder in the oil sector, what are you going to say about that sector in a time like this?

When an economy goes bad, it affects everything in all sectors. But I have the belief that as times goes on, things will improve. 

Being female how easy was it for you to build a successful business?

I will say it is strictly by God’s grace. God built First Royal, I am just the pilot and I will liken the story to that of an aeroplane built by Boeing or any of the great plane makers in the world and a pilot is called to fly the plane. I pilot First Royal but God built First Royal, it is not my doing at all. It is God’s doing. Talking about being a woman in that field, there are lots of women in petroleum business and I think we are doing well. You know whatever a woman is doing, she does it very well. She does it conscientiously and that has always been the trademark of our success at First Royal. 

I am the chairperson of the female league of the Independent Petroleum Marketer Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and our body is a very patriotic organization with the love of country first before anything else. I also belong to few social organizations whose philosophies are tailored around human development.  I will do anything that will edify human development.

Don’t you think that some work like engineering, oil and gas and so on should be left to the men to do?

I don’t see those businesses as men’s field I see them as endeavors that anyone can venture into and that is my winning formula. I go into it, I win and I make my mark. I have done business successfully in the last forty years.

What would you say is the secret of your success?

Hard work, honesty and God’s grace: The secret is also our loyalty to customers which comes first, but I think it is still the grace of God like I said earlier because there have been a lot of ups and downs in building the company to where it is now, we are almost two decade old and we are still waxing strong. Like with every other business we have equally faced our own trying moments but we were able to triumph because first of all, we put our trust in God and secondly, we follow credible business principles that never wane. We are in business for real. Our team is trained to respect customers and take customer opinion as superior to any other opinion. Lastly, we sell quality and we don’t bend quality control.”

Are you hoping to become a politician some day?

I was already established in business before the fourth republic, and if I could touch lives through my businesses, what am I looking for in politics? However, you never say never because politics is something one should never totally abstain from; it is all about us. I could remember when we were young, during the second republic, a lot of terrible things happened in our state, Ondo. People played politics with venom and bitterness. Then it was politics of bitterness and that mentality stayed with me. 

People were being killed mercilessly and properties destroyed during the Omobori-Owo/Ajasin saga in Ondo state, it happened in our presence and that sad memory sticks to one’s consciousness and that really traumatizes us till date. Although we were not into politics but my parents were in politics and we saw people killing people and destroying properties and that particular experience really scared me off politics and it is one experience one must not pray to witness again in a life time. We were in our developmental years then and you could imagine what such an experience will do to your psyche as a young person.

Where did you get your business acumen from?

I came from a home where discipline was the hallmark of everything, my parents were modest in their things but they were equally into business and that was what fired my gut to go into business at a very early age. They did very well in business and they were equally religious. They were part of the political movement of that era but I think they did well in business and that fired my zeal to start business early in life. I started business at a very young age of  24; that was when I went into business full hug, that happened to me because my parents were business people and they instilled the courage in us very early in life. 

To them, anything worth doing at all was worth doing well. My mother was into business and when I was very young I used to help her, anytime I return from school I was the one that runs her trading business for her and I equally control money management. So, the love started from there and that was what really prompted me into business very early in life. 

Who were your parents?

My dad was Chief Taiwo Akinwande, while mom was Mrs. Victoria Akinwande. My dad was a prominent personality in Ondo state at the time I was young.

Are you looking forward to handing over your business knowledge to anyone?

My first daughter is already on board. She is the MD/CEO of First Royal Group and my first son is the Operations manager. I feel happy seeing them doing the business at this point in time, when they were younger I did all the running around to ensure that we build a good family business empire but today 80% of the work is done by them, I give God the glory because he alone build families. My family is a testimony of God’s love for me and everything about me”

How about your husband?

My husband is a very great man, a kind and loving husband: A dotting father, and wonderful counselor. It is widely agreed that behind every successful man, there is a woman but in my case, behind a successful woman there is a great husband (laughs); he is my father, my husband, my adviser, my counselor rolled into one. He has stood by me in both good and trying times and I am very proud of him. He is Prince Bola Osipitan, he is a prince from Ijebu Mushin. My husband is royalty and I am very proud of his heritage. Like I said, he is a very wonderful man that has been a stabilizing factor in my life and the life of my children.”

How did you meet?

Let me just tell you that providence brought us together many, years ago and since then the love has continue to wax stronger. He is my soul mate. My husband has his own company, we are both busy but no matter how busy we are, we still find time to bond together. We go out for picnic when the time calls for it and we do things that lovers do no matter the level of work and pressure. My husband is a very dotting husband. He is also into my line of business but runs his own company.

Tell us about your beauty secrets?

I don’t think I have any. I will say it is God, honestly I don’t know.  I don’t use cosmetic, mine is natural beauty. In fact, I don’t even do manicure and pedicure, I don’t do things like that. The look I have today is my natural beauty given to me by God. I have a scale in my bathroom, at least once in a week I check my weight. If I am going on excess, I try to trim down; I also then try to reduce my consumption of food. But I don’t go to cream my face at salon. I don’t do all those things. It doesn’t add up to one’s beauty. I am a natural person and I believe in natural look.

How about your fashion sense and your best fashion accessory?

My social outing determines my fashion outlook. But for social parties like Owambes, you are likely to see me in traditional dresses. Besides that, I can wear lady suits; I can do well with gown or any fashionable attire that suits my mood.  I like bright colors; when it comes to colors I like royal blue, that’s my favorite color. Then my accessories must be moderate. That is my fashion sense.

You are a busy, wealthy lady; do you find time to cook?

I love cooking. There are some meals I don’t allow my house help to cook for me. She can only cook stew. But when it comes to Efo Riro, I am in charge. That is my husband’s favorite soup as well. I like it with rice, he likes it with Eba. It is also a lesson for our women folk, whatever that is meant for your husband must not be allowed to be handled by anyone else but you. That is one of the cardinal laws of marriage. 

Are you aware that some European countries are planning to launch electric cars in few years to come? As an oil marketer, what do you think will happen to your business?

I think it will take a long time before it will get to this country. It is not something of immediate necessity. And that is true even in some of the advanced countries. I just returned from UK, the numbers of electricity cars are so minute. So, I have no fear about electric vehicles disrupting the oil market. 

But you hope to diversify someday?

Exactly! When we get to that point, we will have options.

 

Are you looking forward to driving one someday, I mean an electric car?

Unfortunately, I don’t drive again. I always have a driver who takes me around. The electric car I saw abroad was so small, a very small car. I have no fears about things like that. God will take care of things like that. I sincerely believe in change and every dynamic mind must seek change.