The managing director of SAT Investment Limited, Chief Abdul Rahman Olawale Tawak, shares with Tunde Ogunesan, a passion for business which he inherited from his parents.IT is the dream of every child to see his or her dream turn to reality, and so it was for Bashorun Rahman Olawale Tawak. Born into the family of the late transport guru, Tawakalitu, in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Olawale inherited the zeal of buying and selling from his parents.He attended Moslem Primary School, Ijebu-Ode, CMS Grammar School, Lagos, Adeola Odutola College for his A levels and Ogun State Polytechnic (Now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic), Abeokuta, to pursue a career in education. But Olawale had conceived in himself the urge to go into sales later in life. Even when he had challenges to secure admission into the university to study marketing, which at that time, was offered by only two universities in Nigeria, he remained committed to his ambitionAs fate would have it, Tawak, as he is called, bagged his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) from the Ogun State Polytechnic and Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro respectively. He began his journey into the sales world, working in various engineering companies, till he established his own engineering firm, SAT Investment Limited, in 2004.According to him, 'I never knew that will be my major pre-occupation but I convinced the expatriates at LordsMat that our technicians could do many of the imported canopies, if well trained. They agreed, and went as far as sending them abroad to Germany and Israel for training. I was cock sure that they would perform and they did. Today, they form the bulk of staff I inherited from LordsMat when the company folded up. They were part of the assets that I inherited.'Tawak said, 'the road was rough when I started. Maybe this was due to the fact that I was coming from a background of big companies. So, at the beginning, things were very rough to the extent that I found it difficult to pay staff salaries. Later, things began to change. Today, I do anything that has to do with light-power generators, transformers, canopies, Independent Power project (IPP), solar power etc. But because I have passion for sales, I know the secret; always make your customers happy and give them priority.'When Lordsmat was having problems, I was one of the few that made sure that none of my customers lost their money. And because the trust has always been there, it was easy for me to turn to them when I started my own firm. With time, companies like National Oil, AP, Zenith Bank, Chartered Bank, partly Cat, Julius Berger, Costain, NIPOST and NITEL to mention a few, later became my clients again.'But as a successful businessman whose interest spans through generator sales, is it true that the sellers contribute to Nigeria's power generation problems' Tawak insists that the insinuation is a fallacy.'I laugh when people make such remarks because they are not armed with enough facts. The accusation is a fallacy, a conveyor of falsehood. Let me enlighten our people and they can confirm my assertions. First, Africa as a continent, takes less than 10 percent of the total generators produced in the whole world. Two, developed countries have laws on the use of generators like; in the USA, you cannot power a certain skyscraper with public power, you use generators but here in Nigeria, there is no law of such. For some years now, I've been performing the lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia. The lights on Mount Arafat is powered by generators, some of the street lights in Dubai are being powered by generators but because people don't see it, they say nothing.'The problem did not start today. Our leaders have failed to increase megawatts being generated in the country for so long a time. That is why we're always trying to catch up with the rest of the world. People should look beyond that.'The Independent Power Project (IPP) cannot take less than 24 to 36 months to complete, but before that can be achieved, the political story must have changed. But nobody is saying anything on that. I want to say at this juncture that the generator merchants are not, in any way, jeopardising the efforts of the government.'Tawak, who is a member of Egbe Omo Bobagunte Akile Ijebu and belongs to most of the social clubs in Lagos State, said that Nigerians should learn to live for others. 'I 'm trying to be my brothers' keeper. Government cannot do everything. If Bill Gates can come down to Africa for polio, then that is a challenge to wealthy Nigerians. People should feel your impact and not your immediate family alone.'Though we have some people like Otunba Subomi Balogun, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chief Igbinedion and others but the queue is short. The rich class can still do more.'In my own little way, I make sure that I rise to the occasion when the need arises. I always make sure my constituency, though not political, benefit from me.'I tarred three streets in my area in Lagos, built over four mosques and donated a 20KVA generator to my people in Ijebu-Ode. I have also provided street lights on Olufunso Street, Ijebu-Ode, helped in building the Ahmadiyya dome in Ibadan and recently donated some relief materials to the victims of Ibadan flood in Oyo State.I did that as part of my CSR to the state because I got contracts from the state. Anything that affects my client's states concerns me. When the Rotary Club president donated a generator to General Hospital Oyo, I did the installation free.'On politics, Tawak says that he does not belong to any political party and he is not ready to join any either. 'They are all my friends, I am not a card carrying member of any political party and it is not in my plan to venture into it,' he notes.With good dress sense, he says his fashion sense dates back to his boyhood days. 'When we were young, my father, who had six wives, would buy the same native wears for all of us during festivals but I made sure I always bought a beautiful T-shirt and a pair of shorts to change by afternoon. That uniqueness still shows in me till today. Although, I don't have a peculiar designer, I buy from all of them as long as it suits my taste. Even my native wears, as long as the designer can match my taste, I go for them.'And I use cocktail of perfumes. I remember my father told me that it's not good for people to associate one with a particular odour, that informs my concept.'For his choice of cars, Tawak regards them as 'machines'. 'I love travelling and at times I could decide to travel long distance by road, that's why I buy the best quality to sustain that philosophy. I love saloon cars and I make sure I always have the latest models but I don't sell the ones I had, I give them out to people. I don't like selling my property.'Since I can't make profit on selling my used cars, what's the reason for selling it. I'm a core businessman, instead, I prefer to give to those who will appreciate it,' he says.
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