Segun Oyebolu is not your everyday guy who takes pride in talking about himself and his family. He is a down-to-earth young man who understands the principles of life. The young businessman, who owns the Citi Hotels and Suites, let TUNDE AYANDA into his private life as he traced his beginning and regrets, while revealing his new project which he called Feed The Elderly.

Let’s go down memory lane your background. What was it like?
I was born in Lagos in 1968 to the family of Amos Oyekunle. My primary education was at All Saints Primary School in Lagos. Later, I left for St. Finbars, Akoka-Yaba. In 1986, I gained admission to the Ogun State University, Ago-Iwoye, where I studied Computer Science before leaving for the Pennsylvania University in the United States where I had my Masters in Infromation Technology.

I had a very wonderful childhood; I could remember trekking from Yaba to Shomolu where we lived, not because I wasn’t given money for transport but because we always enjoyed trekking around Morocco road, picking fruits on the road and  all other stuffs young people do. My time in school was my best because I enjoyed a lot of freedom when I was coming up, and I thank my mum and dad for the ability to let me be myself right from my childhood. I didn’t experience so much restrictions in terms of what time to come home and other things, and this really reflected on my lifestyle even as I come of age.

And I must tell you; this has actually affected my own family in terms of allowing my children to be what they want to be; no straight rules or guide. We only advise them so they can be whatever they want to become.

My days in St. Finbars was a little bit here and there because, then, we were under a lot of  rules and regulations. It was  a missionary school where you got guardians coming in to tell you what you must do and must not do. I think the school is one of the best that was available then and I was glad that I passed through the School.

My father worked with Kingsway store in Lagos before he went to the Rural Terminal Company in Apapa where he eventually retired. He was their accountant and my mum was into business right from the start, though she is retired now and travels around to see her kids. Right now, she is in Canada attending to all of her grandchildren.

Do you have any memorable childhood experience?
There are two that I remember always  one was the day my kid brother and myself  got into a scuffle and I threw a stone that hit his right eye. Every anniversary of that fight, I always regret it because he’s always coming up with an eye problem as a result of the ugly incident. He is a big man now and he lives in the United States (laughs).

Another event that I always remember was when I was five years old; my dad brought in a gas cooker which I was never used to and the flame was blue. It was unlike the fire I was used to and I put my two hands into it and seriously got burnt with a scar I still carry till today (stretches his hands). In actual fact, these two stand out in my memory all the time.

If you compare your past with where you are today, do you feel fulfilled with what you have achieved?
I told you that my mum was into business; it wasn’t a big business then. When we were in Shomolu, I always volunteered to hawk items for her; sometimes, I went to Kingsway where my dad worked, bought a lot of stuffs, brought it home to her before hawking them. That experience lasted about three or four years and from then, my mind was set on business as I never wanted to take after my dad’s job. I wanted to be very independent; so, when I got to secondary school, the hawking continued and I had my mind made up before I entered the university that anytime I finished, I would not go and work for anybody and that showed through my university days. I did a lot of things you can call petty things now. I was in science and went into publication; every news magazine on the campus then was always rolled cyclo style. There was a time I wanted to be the editor of the Press Club and because I was in science, my colleagues in arts and business thought “what can he write? People in science don’t know anything but experiments.” So, when that came up, I was denied the editorship and I had to leave to form my own news crew that we called the Newslink and we also published a magazine called Tickles. Wale Adedayo was one of the people that worked with me then because he was also in science  he was in Zoology while I was in Computer Science and I was the Deputy Editor-in-Chief when we published the first magazine on Ago-Iwoye campus called Trends which was edited by Wale.

During the campus days, I went to Lagos and discussed with people like Kayode Ajala, Dele Momodu and a lot of them in the soft sell world with my ideas and I got a lot of support as we were able to publish several magazines when I was in school and the good thing about it was that we always sold out even before we hit the news stand.

Coming back to the question of fulfilment, I think right now, I’m doing great, but I can do more and I’m always trying to do more. That leads me to the fact that even though I’ve done so well for myself, my concentration right now is to take care of the vulnerable people around me, especially the elderly ones and that is what I have in mind because in some weeks’ time, I’ll be floating an NGO called Feed the Elderly where I hope to tackle the needs of the old people and provide the necessary things they need for them. As long as I can afford eating my eba and amala, what is on my mind is to cater for the needy and old people.

Can you remember the first serious job you ever did?
You know I did Computer Science, my position and instincts at all times is to look for opportunities and look for a way to demonstrate service to humanity. During my fourth year in the university, we normally had a one-year-attachment programme and I had an uncle in the Nigerian Bottling Company. I was there for about eight months for my Industrial Training, but I left Coca Cola, not for anything because, there, I was getting good money and crates of soft drinks as bonus. I used the staff canteen and vehicle, but I wasn’t fulfilled because I was just confined to one office where I hardly touched the computers and I really wanted to learn. So, I left the company for Sanni Luba Computer Centre on Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja.

That place was like a computer training school and they paid me about N300.00 per month. But they gave me the freedom to really learn and teach as well.  When I look back, I thank God for the day I made that decision to shun the money Coca Cola was paying me to join a company that was paying me peanut because it was there that I learnt everything and this affected my life positively altogether because by the time I came back to the campus, I had already registered my first company, Adsoft Systems Limited.
So, when I got back from service, I combed the streets of Lagos and it was from there that I got the idea of computer education in secondary schools. I came back to the Ogun State University where I told them my company could fund computer education in secondary schools. It just started like a dream and I remember in 1995, 96 and97, we actually took computers to so many secondary schools in Ogun State and my company was the principal company funding that project while the Ogun State University was a technical consultant. It was my first big break in terms of business in Nigeria. I will say, with all sense of modesty, that I was the first person to take computer studies to secondary schools in Nigeria starting from Ogun State and that was how I got my first breakthrough.

You major in Computer Science and recently you delved into the hospitality business with Citi Hotels And Suites. How do you juggle both businesses?
Running a string of businesses together is not a magic; you just need to know what you are doing, trust God and be fair to human beings. I will be exceptionally lucky to have very dedicated staff in all of my enterprises, right now I have a Vsat company that is based in Ibadan. I have an energy company that supplies alternatives to PHCN, it’s called VeeGlobal Network. We are into inverters, ups and batteries. My training and involvement with JT Consulting in the US exposed me to a lot of things in managing several businesses.  I worked in the company as a partner and was there till November last year. I was a company representative for JT Consulting in Nigeria working on Ondo State computer education project for about five years and I also sourced for and got Vsats that were donated to all the local governments in Ondo State. Right now, we are doing the same thing in all the 33 local governments in Oyo State; the local governments have Vsats that were donated by JT Canada Nigeria Limited.

My coming into the hospitality business came about because I saw that I could really do something different, and that experiment is working now because we now have about three hotels under our brand in less than a year. I came into the hospitality business, not because I wanted to own hotels, but because I believe that there is a gap between customers of hotels and the hotels.