I am acarpenter with
a difference
By CHRISTOPHER OJI
Monday, June 26, 2006
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• Mrs Bunmi Amao Oduntan
Photo: The Sun News Publishing |
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If you visit Mrs. Bunmi Amao Oduntan, chairwoman and Chief
Executive Officer of House of Furniture and Design in her
office at Hayatudeen Sule Street, Temidire Estate, Akute,
Ogun State, for the first time, you may conclude that she’s
a female carpenter, as you are likely to meet her doing some
carpentry work.
When you go back the second time, you may meet her either
doing some painting work or carrying out interior decoration.
Some call her a female carpenter, others call her interior
decorator, and others still see her as a painter or an architect.
The amazon said that she is a female carpenter cum interior
decorator but does not really stop at that, "I am also
a painter and I can do some architectural designs for corporate
organizations and individuals.”
Taking carpentry to a higher realm
Well, people see carpentry as a job for never do wells, but
I am a carpenter with a difference. I have B.Sc and Master’s
degrees in Business Administration, I schooled in London,
so, you understand what I mean. Carpentry job these days needs
intelligent input to compete with the outside world. People
import furniture from South Africa and Dubai because they
see Nigerian carpenters as never do wells. Now, it is no tea
party. And in Nigeria, with her peculiarity for specialty,
I have to mix carpentry with interior decoration to add aesthetic
quality to the job.
Government should ban importation
The problem that local carpenters are facing is that people
still import furniture into the country, even where some of
the designs from this country are world-acclaimed master-pieces.
I think this is like shortchanging our national and commercial
value. The day government bans importation of furniture in
this country, Nigerian carpenters will record spectacular
success. They will enjoy the fruits of their labour. Nigerians,
who have the notion that we carpenters are no good, will begin
to appreciate our ingenuity. We are very special people. I
have about 60 workers in my company. Some are trained carpenters,
and others are in different sections like sewing. We have
interior decorators; we have people that deal in wrought iron
works. We even employ people from core professional groups,
like I have accountants and an auditor that keep the account
books and our salary is highly competitive with what obtains
in the market, not minding the rural setting of my factory.
If I have 160 workers now that we are competing with importers,
I will be employing up to 2000 workers if we are open to local
patronage without the cut-edge competition from importers.
With this, I will be feeding my primary economy rather than
feeding a secondary economy through the patronage of foreigners
who at the end of the day will always repatriate their funds
to develop their nations.
Nigeria has the best wood
Nigeria has the best wood in the world. I buy my materials
from Ijebu-Ode, in Ogun State or Sapele in Delta State. All
the materials I use are sourced locally. When my friend Ma’Carthy
came from Liberia, he was surprised at the quality of my products,
which he adjudged superior to some of those from world-class
producers of international furniture.
My friends from London, Europe, and South Africa confirmed
that my works compare favourably, if not better, with the
works of other furniture perfect masters worldwide. Tourism
will boost economy
If we appreciate our work, other countries will follow suits.
Eyes have a universal language; every eye appreciates good
things. If you know how many people travel to South Africa
for training and for sight seeing, you will realize that Africans
are getting there gradually. Things would be a lot better
for everyone if the government can ban furniture importation.
This will afford the local industry to showcase their products
and through that, foreigners will appreciate our artisanship
and would be coming not only to buy, but also for training,
which would in effect, boost the local economy. We have all
it takes to conquer the world. In fact, Nigeria will soon
conquer the world in furniture and interior decoration. But
our people are not appreciative of local products, which as
I said is about the best in the whole world. I will soon be
travelling for an exhibition to Liberia by the end of the
year. I was invited mainly because of my good work. I had
in the past delivered lectures and organized seminars in London,
Germany, and other such places. If you see the way people
heap accolades on our products abroad, while here, people
have failed to show sufficient appreciation and patronage,
mainly on account of ignorance.
Mad rush for leather upholstered chair
Carpenters are really making cool money from leather chairs.
It is a money-spinning venture now but really, it is a mere
fashion fad. Leather chairs are only good for countries with
cold weather. Our weather here is too hot for leather chairs.
If you do not have an air-conditioning set, those chairs will
suffer wear and tear in no time because our weather and the
heat it generates. Even where you have money to have cooling
system, where is the electricity to generate light? Let me
tell you, people are just following fashion blindly, anyone
who is well exposed will not opt for leather chairs instead
of fabric-upholstered chairs that are better suited to our
own peculiar climate. I always educate my clients, even those
who expressed preference for leather, that fabrics is good,
very good for our weather, much better than leather and that
is why, white people who come to Nigeria go for fabrics.
Genesis
I studied Business Administration up to master’s degree
level. I did not learn carpentry job or interior decoration
initially. It was when I came back from London after my degrees
that my father, Chief Afolabi Amao, the Chairman of JOAS Group,
of which part is a furniture making company, made me the managing
director of the furniture company. We decorate and furnish
for such clients like the Central Bank of Nigeria. You see,
I noticed that the carpenters were careless in the manner
of their production, so I decided to learn it and be conversant
with the way things are done in a company that I would run.
After learning the job, I started practising myself. Up till
today, I still go for training and retraining and I extend
the same courtesy to my workers. On interior decoration, I
didn’t learn that. I think it is just an in-born talent
that I developed over the years, because whenever I visit
people, I will start re-arranging things in their homes unconsciously.
That was how it started and today, the rest is history. I
am really grateful to God for the talent he deposited in me,
because everyone that sees my works always commends me by
saying, this is very good, and you will see from their faces,
that it was not meant as a flatter but as a statement of fact
to encourage me. So, I believe God must have a great hand
behind such a spectacular success.
Lucrative
This business, furniture making and interior decoration, if
I may let you in on my trade secret, is a real money-spinner.
There is good money in it, if you are very good at your job,
you devote the necessary time to it, and you don’t mind
the heap of dust in your office all the time. I am sitting
on a company which worths several millions of naira despite
the depressive working environment in Nigeria. I tell you,
the business is something that can boost our economy if the
Federal Government should ban importation of furniture. It
will help a great deal in creating job opportunities for Nigerians
and the local economy will thrive.
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