Mr. Darlington Ofor is the Chief Executive of Orava Nigeria Limited. He is also a transport expert and a former Deputy National President of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIoTA) Nigeria. In this exclusive interview with News Diet, he shares his work experience from volunteering as an Insurance Marketer as a young graduate to the post of Clients Manager at an Advertising firm; Finance and Maritime job roles; among others.
Chronicling his success story, he sheds light on the bumpy ride laced with divine intervention, doggedness, and numerous vital lessons for career growth and business entrepreneurship.
Ofor also speaks on the state of transportation in Enugu State, highlighting areas for improvement and reveals the secrets and skillsets required for successful business development in Nigeria.
Excerpts:
How did you arrive at your company name, ‘Orava Nigeria Limited’, what inspired it?
Orava was coined from the name of a foreign river because we had a difficult time getting an ideal name that was available and in line with the marine business we set out to do. When we sent the company name to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), we hoped that it would get the approval and it eventually did. When one says he is into marine business, what comes to mind firstly is freight forwarding, but our marine logistics business tilts more towards the oil and gas sector. The company was established in 2007, but we commenced operations fully in 2009.
Orava is a marine logistics firm providing support services in the oil and gas sector, handling different kinds of mooring operations onshore and offshore. Recently, we ventured into crude barging operations, providing the marine spread for successful crude evacuation.
Looking at the emerging Lekki deep seaport and Dangote refinery, what level of opportunities do you envisage for companies involved in STS, mooring and other services that you offer?
These are wonderful developments for the nation as they would enhance the way marine business is carried out. I see the Lekki deep seaport and Dangote refinery as a wonderful opening for Nigeria and for the African continent at large. In Orava, we hope to contribute to the logistics part of it.
These projects will encourage people to buy more equipments because more opportunities abound for tugboats/ barge operations as a result of the higher demand for shipping related services. Job creation will also be greatly enhanced with the emergence of Lekki deep seaport.
In shipping business globally, deep seaports have become very significant because the largest ships in the world can berth at such ports. This allows for economies of scale for shipping companies and it means more tonnage, more cargoes, more revenue for the ports and the country, more economic activities and above all more jobs as over 150,000 both direct and indirect jobs are projected to be created at the Lekki deep seaport.
You have a background in Insurance Marketing and Finance; how have you been able to harness these experiences in managing a thriving company in the maritime space?
My core area of specialization is Business Development. I studied at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) where I read Public Administration. After graduation, I did some contracts with SAIPEM in Port Harcourt before I moved to Lagos. When I got to Lagos, I searched for jobs at banks and several other companies but I wasn’t getting any.
One day I walked up to an Insurance company in Victoria Island and asked to speak with the Manager. I waited for some hours and finally got an audience with him where I proposed to work for the firm for free and the manager was astonished.
He later arranged a meeting for me with his bosses who equally wondered if I was on an espionage mission. I was granted the opportunity and commenced work after a one-week training. I worked with them for about 10 months and performed well to the extent that I was being used as an example of a performing staff without much privilege.
In further pursuit of greener pastures, I travelled to South Africa, got introduced to an Insurance Broker and started working with him.
Insurance business in South Africa is quite different from Nigeria because the awareness culture is higher over there. I was once told by a car shop owner in South Africa that one couldn’t drive out a car from a dealer’s shop without insurance. He likened it to letting a lion out of a cage. Meanwhile, in Nigeria you can buy a car and take it home, before having an insurance cover.
I later returned to Nigeria for my master’s degree at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). While running my master’s programme, I resumed work with another insurance company.
One of the first things I do when I pick interest in anything is a background study on the business. I did so well in insurance business to the extent that my team and I were developing insurance policies to suit some particular groups who probably didn’t fit well into the existing policies of the company. Later, I moved to a finance company somewhere in Ikeja where we developed some loan products/ services. The company also owned an advertising agency where I doubled as Clients Manager.
While in South Africa, I picked interest in a particular company and wanted to do business with them but didn’t have the franchise fee required from me at that time. Years later, I was contacted that a Nigerian had paid the franchise fee and got the business. I was reached out to for an opportunity to join the business in Nigeria. I agreed and joined as a Business Development Manager.
We did some good business as a company with several banks, Palms shopping mall, Guinness, and the then Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on his campaign strategies.
However, the company was short-lived due to poor management. I later got interviewed by Guarantee Trust Bank for a managerial position and while waiting for my appointment letter from the bank, another opening came up though with less renumeration but it had an opportunity for fractional ownership. I felt it was a better offer because beyond earning salaries, I will be working for myself as well.
I worked there for a few years before I leaving to start my company, Orava Nigeria Limited, a marine logistics firm in the oil and gas sector.
From Insurance experience to Advertising, Shipping and Marine Logistics, how have these experiences shaped your style of business at Orava Nigeria Limited?
It has been a bumpy ride and when people say that I’m lucky, deep down I know that it wasn’t any luck, but dedication and diligence in whatever I do.
Sincerity and openness are tenets that I have equally learnt to prioritize. My style is to give the job my best shot at every point. In business, you always have to be on top of your game. You have to constantly improve on what you do because what brought you to where you are today wouldn’t be enough to take you to where you should be tomorrow.
As you look into the political space especially in Enugu State, from your work experience and principles what changes would you love to see in the State?
With my experience in the maritime industry and the opportunity of serving as Deputy National President of CIoTA, I think I have the expertise to function in any capacity at State Executive level in Enugu. Enugu is an interesting place. I grew up in the State, doing my primary and secondary school education there.
Nonetheless, I have observed that the transport system in Enugu hasn’t changed commensurately with the level of development in other advancing states, even in Nigeria.
The transport system of any nation or state is the eye of that nation as it is what visitors see first as they come in. Once transportation is good, people tend to believe that nation or state is a good place to be. Transportation also plays a key role in economic advancement and guarantees better standards of living in any place. It is sad that in Enugu, transportation hasn’t really changed and it’s a worry for me.
When you look at the transport system in Lagos and look at the advancement from what it used to be some 20 years ago; you’ll realize that Enugu is nothing to write home about in terms of development in transportation. You can still find the molue buses in Enugu State.
I know that there may be some other sectors also crying for investments, but the transportation sector is in dire need of attention and there is so much to be done. I’m not saying the previous governments haven’t done anything, but they have to look at transportation as something that should be prioritized.
Tell us about your Foundation ‘Noble Goal Initiative’, what is it about and how did you conceive the idea?
Noble Goal Foundation is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that was set up in 2018. Several years ago, I went to see a patient in a hospital somewhere in Owerri when I observed that an elderly woman was unable to pay her bills after seeing the doctor. The bill was less than N5000 but she wasn’t able to pay and she needed the drugs. I went to the doctor to intervene and he said that he could let go of the drugs but the woman was a regular patient and he couldn’t allow free medication become a norm at the private hospital.
I felt bad that something of that nature would be happening to such an elderly woman, so I had to pay for her medical bills on that day. After I left, I still had an unhappy feeling just to think of the fact that there would be several people like that woman who couldn’t afford to pay for their medication. I frequently called that doctor to find out if there were patients like that woman and I started sending him N5000 or N10000 at several instances to enable him care for those who couldn’t afford basic medicines.
The doctor was equally a very sincere person because at one time I sent him N20,000 and called him several months later to hear that no one had used the money. He could have told me that it had been used but he was sincere.
This need to help those who needed medication but couldn’t afford it, was what inspired the establishment of the Noble Goal Foundation. I thought of expanding the initiative to different hospitals across the nation and to make it official we had to float an NGO.
Beyond healthcare, we also train people to acquire computer/ I.T skills, especially those who have concluded secondary school but can’t afford tertiary education. We engage such people instead of allowing them idle away at home and they later go into the marketplace as computer literates.
One of the problems affecting businesses across several sectors in Nigeria is forex scarcity, high rates and fluctuations. Has this also affected your business?
Foreign exchange has a way of affecting every business. However, it hasn’t affected us more than some clients who refuse to pay up after we have delivered our services. There is an ongoing payment issue my company is having with a government agency. This contract runs into billions and it is invoiced in dollars. It is a job that we have completed and got the purchase orders and submitted invoice, but payment is yet to be made.
This payment issue has been lingering for more than one year and the company keeps saying that the cash it is expecting from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, hasn’t been paid. When we speak to NNPC, the feedback we get is that NNPC isn’t owing them any cash. We rented equipments worth hundreds of millions and had to pay workers for the contract but our funds are still hanging. So, this isn’t a matter of forex but an issue about sincerity. We are yet to find out who is telling the truth between this company and the NNPC.
These are the kinds of problems we have in this sector because the Nigerian context is such that you can do business and owe people, yet, get away with it. If you go to court, you will simply join the queue of people suing that company.
I had a company that was owing me and I threatened to go to court and they said look at the queue, you can join. Sometimes, when you look at the money involved and the stress, you may opt to abandon the matter.