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Prince Sesan Rufai, the Managing Director of Limelite Hotels limited; Goldmyne Entertainment Ltd and Limelite Entertainment Ltd has carved a niche for himself in the hospitality and entertainment industry. A visionary with rare qualities for innovativeness and an undying passion for the industry, he spoke on a wide range of issues bordering on his passion, the hospitality industry and leadership.
AS a young man, Sesan Rufai had passion for entertainment. He understood early in life that music and entertainment generally is the food of the soul, and most importantly, that you make the most of life when you do what you love. For him, the joy of getting engrossed with anything entertainment was far greater than money.
However, having qualified as an Accountant, he began his professional career as an Accounts Officer at Raypower FM in 1995, joined AIT thereafter before being seconded to the marketing department. With the help and assistance of colleagues, he soon found his feet in television marketing.
He left AIT in year 2000 and joined Superscreen TV as the Marketing Manager. After a while, he moved on to Silverbird Television. It was at Silverbird that his ideas for entertainment grew wings, mostly because, as he puts it, the Management gave him an open hand to run the marketing department of the organisation.
While still with Silverbird, he took the bold step to vent his ideas by registering Goldmyne Entertainment Limited and Limelite Entertainment Limited. “Having travelled far and wide, I realized that any society that abhors entertainment loses a lot in terms of youth development and revenue,” Rufai says of his conviction about going the hog into entertainment.
On the sidelines, with a lot of sacrifice and hardwork, his companies thrived. He subsequently left paid employment to steer his fledging enterprise. Today, through one of his entertainment firms, he currently produces such programmes as Video Wheels, Box Office, Our Home, Mingle, and Hitz on ONTV, all which are screened on 25 television stations across Nigeria.
With such sure and steady steps, it was also only a matter of time before Limelite Entertainment Limited gave birth to Limelite Hotels Limited, a one-stop hospitality hub in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.
As always, there were initial challenges, which could make a pessimist turn around on a beautiful idea. But Rufai was steely enough to stand up to them. According to him, you cannot operate an entertainment firm if the security situation is not improved. “You’ll agree with me that because of the security situation in the country, a lot of people will be afraid to go out especially at night. Security remains our biggest challenge in this industry. Part of the challenges we also experience is in the area of technical, material, and financial support. The kind of work we do is capital intensive, so funding has been a major challenge.”
Rufai believes his passion has made him overcome the initial teething problems. He also believes he is poised to contribute more to the society through entertainment and hospitality given the prospects in the country. “The future and prospects of entertainment is very bright because going by what we see today, the industry generally is getting a boost. I believe that in the next couple of years, Nigerian entertainers will favourably compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world in terms of quality and depth. But government at all levels must support entertainers because it is the only way people can be happy especially in times of economic downturn.”
With a number of unique initiatives coming off his stable, Rufai is playing big in the industry. He explains the factors that helped stand his organisation out of the competition to be the attention his firms give to customers. “We have come to the realization that the customer is the main reason why organisations survive. It is important to recognise the customer because they are the one that pay your bills. Happiness is the major issue and if the customers are happy, then we are happy. It is relatively simple to stand out because we had a clear understanding of the industry coupled with our passion. There have been several times where the passion for what we do and our delivery of that passion and our insistence on certain values actually got us to the top. Our programmes are unique and are tailored towards satisfying the entertainment needs of our viewers.”
For Rufai, improving on local content had been the responsibility of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, which is the regulatory body. And he believes the agency is doing a lot to ensure the development of local content in television programmes given that it drives viewership; and viewership drives patronage that translates into profit.
“We’ve made tremendous progress in the last couple of years in terms of our target audience. The average Nigerian viewer is very cosmopolitan. We have very high aspirations and we know what is obtainable in other parts of the world; so demand on television programmes have increased. The challenge for us is to rise up to the challenge and take our rightful place in the industry. What we have done is that every programme we produce must meet the viewing needs and aspirations of our audience. We strongly believe in our values, our society and our culture. These things are what we hold very dear to our hearts and we intend to sell it to the world through our programmes.
It is in furtherance of these ideals that Rufai now has another programme, Hitz on ONTV, which has been running for almost three months. According to him, Hitz was borne to redefine entertainment in Nigeria. “Through our research, we discovered that the afternoon belt in Nigeria is not that fantastic. So we brought the idea of doing something unique that would not have music melody in it. Hitz is a lifestyle and magazine programme focusing on personality interviews, PR, hype and events. And it shows exclusively on ONTV from Monday to Sunday. This is the first time in the history of the industry that we will have a daily programme for one hour and the acceptability has been unprecedented.
“What we want to achieve by this is that, from the convenience of your office or work place, you can enjoy the programme through its various segments that educate, enlighten and rejuvenate the mind. I know it is not easy to run a magazine programme of such on TV because it is like running a television station; everyday you must have content to put on Television. But we are prepared. Before we started the programme, we consulted and researched widely on areas that were untapped and we discovered that everybody seem to be playing musicals. The afternoon belt was not being properly harnessed. Rufai now also has a recording studio and record label. He is however taking his time because, according to him, his must bring some fresh air into what existing labels are doing. “I believe in indigenous music, promoting our core value and cultural heritage. This has been on my mind from inception. By the time we officially lunch our label, our indigenous and traditional music would come alive with another colour as traditional forms of music would be given more vent.
Speaking on factors militating against business success in Nigeria, the entertainment buff says it is basically the lack of infrastructural development. “A lot of organisations are going down due to the epileptic nature of electricity supply; how can businesses succeed in a generator-driven economy or where infrastructure is non-existent? I think that the knowledge of the environment and understanding of the industry are critical factors for business success. The other that is key and not given recognition in Nigeria is human capital development. There need to be more emphasis on human capital development within the industry to be able to meet global standards. You equally need to constantly upgrade your infrastructure and facility.”
The enterprising young man is also focused on building an enduring and dynamic organisation that would stand the test of time. “What we are doing is to have presence in major cities of the nation, not just in terms of entertainment, but in the hospitality industry. This is one part of our focus. The other part is that we are in the process of changing the face of entertainment business in Nigeria. Apart from all this, we are looking up to having a radio and television station in a couple of years. This whole enterprise is to contribute meaningfully to youth development while touching the lives of the talented ones who hitherto wouldn’t have found a voice of their own. I believe that what they need to get to the top and be relevant is to keep innovating and adapting to the dynamics of the environment.”
But how can government help the sector? He responds: “What government needs to do is to create an enabling environment where business owners can do away with generators; where generators can be used as backup and not the main source of energy; where you can plan for six and 12 months, knowing that the indices will remain the same; an environment for business to thrive.”
Otunba Rufai spoke to Guardian
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