Mrs. Sikuola Adewuyi, a Chartered Accountant, is the Chief Executive Officer of Cake and Candies in Ikeja, Lagos. A simple and unassuming mother of three, she spoke with YEMIS ADENIRAN on her marriage of 25 years and her exploits so far in a business that was once just a hobby. Excerpts:
Where did you grow up and what was the experience like?
I was born in the United Kingdom where I lived the first three years of my life. I later came to Nigeria, studied in Lagos in Akoka precisely. I had a relatively happy growing up years. Even though my parents were separated at a point and it was rather turbulent for my mother to raise us up, (we are three), she ensured that she gave us the best of life. She is a strict disciplinarian.
Where you would normally say we would have missed the role of a father, she filled the gap very well. Infact, she played the roles of a father and mother.
She made sure we lacked nothing despite the fact that she was a career woman. She never poisoned our minds against our father just as other women would have ordinarily done. We grew up with an unbiased mind against dad. I was the only girl. She mandated us to visit him until he died. Although it could have been better if they had been together, I think God was and is still good to us.
How would you rate life then as a child with what children of nowadays are having?
There is a major difference. The quality of life that we had was a better one. Then, people were more concerned about others than what we have now. No one cares now about others.
The attitude of students who roam about the streets, don't help too. My younger brother took one shilling to buy groundnut, the seller came home with him to find out where he got it from. It showed the high level of responsibility and commitment then. Nowadays gadgets keep them indoors, they lack social activities; we need to do something about this.
They have faceless friends on Facebooks, Twitter and so on; they lack fellowships. Each family should relate more and not be distant from them. My lads are all abroad now but I make it a point of duty to speak verbally with them to detect what they are passing through from their voices.
You're into backing. Was this what you had planned to become?
As a child, I wanted to be a doctor but by the time I got to Form 4 and I knew I should take a bow. I switched to becoming an accountant. By 21, I was a Chattered Account. I was living my dream, so to say. But soon, I got to feel I needed more backing.
After my marriage, I began to lose interest in Accounting. I didn't start having children early so I didn't feel spending more time in the office could be a problem to my marriage. When the kids started coming I saw that my family deserved more attention.
So, I began giving more consideration to my baking passion. I was earning big money as a manager; I dragged my feet for a long while becauseI thought I would be the worse for it. But luckily, the story is different today.
When did you get married and how did you meet your husband?
I got married at 26 and interestingly, my husband is my best friend's brother. But I didn't know that until after we left school. In 1978, I met a friend of mine from whom I asked of my best friend, Sola. The person told me she was about to get married. I went to the wedding and met his brother. Like they say, one thing led to the other and at the end of the day, we are husband and wife.
How would you describe your marriage?
For me, it's been blissful. If I have to choose again, I will choose him. We both resolved not to involve a third party, and this has worked for us for 25 years. He is very tolerant, he calls me Stubborn.
What are the challenges of running your baking business?
The challenges? Finance, of course. I worked with KPMG, a Chattered Accounting firm. I was there for four and a half years prior to qualification and 11 years after qualifying. With my gratuity and some loan from my mum, I took off. I had a gas cooker and few other things, but they were not enough. I tried to forge ahead, anyway.
It was a bit tough such that I couldn't go to the hair dresser for a while at a point. That was just one of those sacrifices I had to make.
How do you combine marriage with your career?
I would say that it takes the grace of God and the ability to prioritise. With the grace of God, one is able to identify that which is needful. For example, I give my family priority. All my kids' open days were very important to me. I made sure I was there. Everything is important, but I must say that at one point or the other, one thing becomes needful and you need to accord that its required importance.
When my kids were in South Africa, I made a good impression on their school authorities. This has helped them also to excel. Whenever my husband is around, I try to be around since the kids are no longer around. I combine everything well by the grace of God.
What's your view about broken home becoming rampant these days?
I think it is more of a matter of commitment than any other thing. When I was getting married, my mum told me that it was to be for life. She told me I had no room in her house again. She told me I shouldn't think because of her situation I should jump out of my marriage. A woman has to be careful to ensure that his marriage works.
For example, if you are financially more successful than your husband, you need to be careful. Don't let him feel slighted. Although it may be a bit difficult, with God, all things are possible. When we first got married, I was earning three times my husband's salary, but things changed later. Here we are today, praising God for his kindness.
What advice do you have for parents, especially, regarding the upbring of children?
Parents should speak with one voice. If I take a decision over the kids, he won't change it, even if he doesn't feel good about it. He would rather come back later to tell me. The kids know that they can't come between us. Children are smart ; they try to play a fast one on us, so we should be careful.
Parents should be in unity and be very disciplined. People are not naturally disciplinarian. My husband is not, but he knows I can fill in that gap.
So, he allows me to take charge. We should identify our weaknesses and fight them; identify our strength and use them well.
What does it take to learn these?
Just a two weeks course for those who want to. I have a forum through which we empower young ladies who would have been helpless. We have a lot of single, careless women. We also go to schools teaching them Home Economics free of charge. We did it for public shools that cannot afford proper Home Economics department, but the bureaucracy is too much.
