Guardian

Austin Eruotor is an entertainment buff. But about a decade ago, his exploits on that turf led him into hospitality. As with everything he does, he became pasionate about it. Today, as President, White House Hotels & Conference Centre in Ikeja, he speaks on the WhiteHouse enterprise, what it takes to brave the odds in Nigeria’s business clime and the lessons life has taught him.

WITH the reported opening of at least one hotel every other month and the influx of international hotel brands, the nation’s hospitality sector has been thriving in recent times. The growth notwithstanding, the challenges besetting the subsector, which have persisted over years, are multifarious. From erratic power supply, importation of majority of the products and furniture, dearth of skilled personnel, to security issues, the list draws on. It is therefore tasking to sustain a good brand.

In spite of these limitations, Austin Eruotor, President, White House Hotels & Conference Centre, Ikeja, has over the last decade waded through the murky waters, standing tall. His outfit, which started out just as a musical events location, has grown into an entertainment, events and hospitality rendezvous frequented by trendsetters in business and entertainment.

Located in the fast paced, highbrow Ikeja business area of Lagos, the unrelenting patronage he gets from fun lovers and famous personalities has also earned his facility a reputation as a Celebrity Hangout.

And this did not just happen. Passion is at the heart of all Eruotor has achieved. Before the idea of veering into hospitality full-time crystallized, WhiteHouse was the ‘go to’ place for album launch, music shows, private parties and so on. “We knew where we were going from the onset. We knew we were going into hospitality business but we had to start from somewhere,” he recalls.

Over time, patrons of his location began to request for accomodation. There were no resources to embark on such project. Still, their requests prompted an action. In addition to the event hall, he built some rooms and the acceptance among the patrons was heartwarming. He has since not looked back; he has been expanding.

With a vision to “be the best in service delivery, guided by a philosophy of warm, prompt and courteous service,” the win-win disposition adopted by the Eruotor-led WhiteHouse team to all comers has been one of the most powerful attractions that patrons have noticed, making them to repeatedly patronize the facility.

How attractive was it when you ventured into hospitality

Hospitality is a very attractive business. You meet a lot of people. It opens doors for other businesses. In Lagos for example, I do not think we have enough accomodation. If Lagos state or Nigeria were to host a big international event, like the senior FIFA World Cup, we may not be able to cope. We do not have the infrastructure for it. As things stand, there are no 5-star hotels in Nigeria. So there is still a lot of room for expansion and opportunities for new entrants in the industry.

When people come into a new country, the first impression they get matters. If you come and do not get good accomodation, if you had a lot of money to invest, would that experience not affect your decision. So we are still way behind in terms of development and tapping into the opportunities that abound in the sector.

Our lending rate is too high. Most of the businesses you see are through self effort. You cannot be borrowing at 25 per cent interest rate. How do you pay back? In the west, the borrowing rate is about five per cent. You have long-term and medium-term loans. Here, you only have short-term, which is inhibiting development.

In your almost 10 years in the industry, you have kept expanding. How have you managed the expansion?

Things are changing a lot. More hotels are springing up everyday. When you go to GRA, a lot of hotels are springing up. On Joel Ogunnaike alone, there are about 13 hotels. A lot of people are getting into the hotel business because they have seen the opportunities. There is a lot of competition; if you do not brace up, you would be. At our facility here, for instance, we keep doing new things every time and adding to what we have. We started the GRA facility about three years ago, nonetheless, we have kept updating the quality of our offerings there.

So what have you been doing right over years to sustain your brand?

Basically, we just talk to our customers, listen to them and let them advise us so we can adjust and correct our lapses. We also learn on the business. When I travel, I stay in hotels and learn a lot.

We must however be serious about the issue of security. Security and service are two things foreigners consider in bringing any form of investment and patronising any tourism facility.

Internationally, tourism has become a huge income earner. Nigeria has not got to that level yet. What are some of the limitations, aside funding?

Basically, we have infrastructural problem. It is about the biggest hinderance. The cost of doing business in Nigeria is too high. There is the issue of multiple taxation. In Lagos state today, you have so many people coming on the same terms. You also have the power challenge. Power generating sets which ought to be back up now serve as the main power source. These are some of the reasons why hotels with high standards in Europe are far cheaper than Nigeria. If we can have steady power supply, I am sure Nigeria would compete with foreign hotels.

But what has been the stand of industry stakeholders on the issue of multiple taxation?

The FG and state governments should reconcile the regime of fees payable. Multiple taxation is still on inspite of the fact that the case is in the court, this is oppressive. This kind of situation forces out foreign investors. People should be able to determine to an extent the cost of operation or doing business in this country. The law should be straight and must not favour particular people. And the processes of setting up business should not also be cumbersome.

The issue of security at a time gave people a lot of headache to the extent that private companies were providing security for themselves and their business. Has the situation improved?

We are still providing our security. Generally, the southwest is still better compared to what is happening in the north because of the insurgence of Boko Haram. You must however know that it is affecting everybody because somebody in America or Europe may not know the difference. All they know is that the insurgence is happening in Nigeria. I personally lost a business; a client that was supposed to patronise me went to Abuja and a member of the crew was attacked. Afterwards, they were meant to stay in Lagos for another project but that incident made them move to Ghana. Government should brace up and do the right thing; it is the key to development. They must realise that whatever affects the poor would ultimately affect the rich because we live and inter-relate together.

In broad sense, are we doing enough in Nigeria to explore the vast tourism potentials of our nation?

We are not doing enough at all. If you look at the Carribean Islands, Jamaica, for example, tourism is about the only thing they depend on their. It is their major income earner. When people from America or Europe have any little break, they are in Jamaica. Nigeria has more but we are not exploiting the resources. We have water everywhere, out weather is perfect all-year-round, we have a lot of sites that can be developed, yet we are not developing these tourism potentials.

Government should create the enabling environment – good infrastructure, road network, power, security, and jobs would be rolling out from the sector. If Nigeria becomes a destination, tourism is capable of attracting so many investments. Even the locals and artisans would make money. It would be a win-win situation for everybody.

Also, corruption is still the order, we must fight it collectively. The infrastructural decay we have can be fixed. But it is sad that things keep getting worse everyday. There seem to be no commitment to fix Nigeria. Look at the power challenge; it is all man-made. The mentality of the average Nigerian that when it gets to my turn, I would collect, should stop. We all need reorientation.

I understand you are invloved in a project, TourPR. Could you give some insight into what this is all about?

This is a leadership programme. We are individually leaders. This project would help brigde the communication gaps observed in all facets of the society. Once there is a gap, it causes a lot of confusion. This project is essentially to help with re-orientation with regards to correcting ills in the society. We must realise that if investors are forced to leave because of the security situation, our economy would suffer.

WhiteHouse has over the years been involved in a lot of leadership initiatives, among them the 1000 Leaders Forum, so as to help train the youth to become good leaders at their individual level. When achieved, this would reduce restiveness and make our youths more productive with immense effects on the economy and society.

The TourPR is basically trying to brigde the gap between public relations and tourism. This tries to bring stakeholders in both subsectors to form a common front and help government on such issue as insecurity and unemployment through tourism and public relations.

White House is an enterprise that has run for almost a decade. What has made it succeed thus far?

Dedication, hardwork, passion. When you enjoy what you do, it becomes easy. Service is the key. We offer personalised service. Our facility contains about 27 rooms here and in GRA, about 40 rooms. But our service is personalised and prompt. All food is served a la carte and fresh. We also upgrade our facility regularly; each time you come here, you see new things. We have room for conferences, party, weddings. In our GRA branch, we have a big gym, swimming poll, pool bar, and many others. There is good space, the ambiemnce too is wonderful; these are features that attract most of our foreign visitors.

Over the years, the quality of our service has endeared us to many customers who in turn have become loyal to us. At weekends, our facility is the place to be in Lagos becasue of the various programmes and offerings available to our customers. We usually have a lot of live band on hand to entertain guests all night.