• Obasanjo, Jonathan, Sanusi, Dangote, Others On Roll Call
A resort of some sorts to Nigeria’s “high” and “mighty”, including past and serving leaders, diplomats and big-time businessmen, Eti Health and Leisure (EHL) sits in a quiet corner of the Central Avenue, in South Africa’s Pinelands, Cape Town.
Though far away from the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC), where the 2011 Africa Com conference was being held in the second week of November, a three-day hunger for native food got me, and a few colleagues, on a 30-minute ride to Pinelands. Mission: to eat anything really African — even if it is not typically Nigerian — after four days of flour and exotic vegetables.
Of course, the cab driver must have sensed our desperation.
“You pay 300 Rand (equivalent of N6,300) or I use the metre for you?, Mike asked in what sounded to me like a Zulu accent. A quick bargain got me and my three other colleague journalists (Dan Obi, Dayo Oketola and Ikem Okuhu) happily coughing out some 150 Rand. Inside the car, we doubted the possibility of getting a real homely treat — the chews and the swallows, at the West African Cuisine (that was the original name Mike, the cab driver, gave us) after days of ‘hunger strike.’ But Mike told us we weren’t going to be disappointed.
I wasn’t sure it lasted that much, but, by my wristwatch, the journey took 30 minutes off my precious time, which, at first, I considered not really worth it, since I was thinking of catching up with the after-lunch session billed to begin in two hours’ time.
Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steve Evans, was billed to speak on “cost-cutting measures” by telecoms operators to enhance profitability, and I did not really want to miss it.
“This is Central Avenue, Pinelands. I think that is No 2,” Mike said pulling to a stop and pointing to a sleepy building opposite the road.
Nobody was sure we were at the right place. There were no signs…no activity…no semblance of a restaurant…nothing.
Ring…ring…ring… bang, bang, bang…No response. In fact, we were already beckoning on Mike, who was on the verge of speeding off, to take us back to the conference centre, when, suddenly, an unassuming middle-aged woman emerged from nowhere and asked us in.
“You guys should have called us and the food would have been ready before you arrived. It will take 20 minutes maximum to get your stuff ready,” she said. Her accent was suspect; she is obviously not Nigerian; so, why the fuss about Nigerian menu? A further probe revealed that Margret is a Zimbabwean. A Zimbabwean? We are at the wrong place then; what I need now is Nigerian food, preferably eba, not Zimbabwean whatever, I thought within myself.
“Kindly let me have your orders,” the waitress interrupted my thoughts. “We have eba, semo, fufu, wheat, with either egusi soup, nsala, onugbu (bitter leaf) draw soup and okro. We have cow leg, chicken isi ewu, stockfish, fresh fish and dry fish,” she said.
BUT before I could give a thought to what she was saying, the journalism profession took a better part of me. A gallery of pictures neatly displayed on the wall had caught my attention. Is that not our former president Olusegun Obasanjo, with high-powered Nigerian delegation signing a document in this modest place?
As I was struggling to come to terms with the scenery, other pictures of President Goodluck Jonathan, CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, diplomats, high networth and front-line Nigerian businessmen also greeted my gaze as I now stood to take a closer and deeper look. My colleagues followed suit.
Indeed, it was a roll call of who-is-who in Nigeria’s past and present corridors of power displayed on a wall in a simple Cape Town country restaurant. My instincts began to work again. Who really owns this place? First, Mike gave me the hope of taking a Nigerian cuisine. A Zimbabwean received me and actually offered to provide one. And now, the pictures of Nigerian leaders, some signing visitor books after being treated to a sumptuous meal (in fact, some of the pictures depicted an unidentified woman serving the presidents who visited at different times).
Am I hallucinating? Who really owns this place? I mean, where is your oga or madam?, I finally thought aloud. But, surprisingly, Margret viewed the “question” as complimentary. She is Mrs. Ngozi Owei, a Nigerian,” she answered gladly.
“Who does the cooking — you?”, I asked again. “We all do; but we have a chief chef, a Nigerian.”
This time, I offered to sign the visitor book as well but with the real intention of having the opportunity to double-check my facts. I wanted to be sure my presidents — past and present — actually signed this humble book.
Besides, I thought that appending my signature in the book would serve to authenticate the developing story. After all, “I was there as well.”
I later discovered that the modest structure, which easily could pass for a family house, is actually a nine-room Guest House. Guest House? Again, my curiosity was rekindled. I moved in to discover that each room is complete in itself —Internet, telephone, television and all the extras — and I wondered what a perfect combination of good local food and a “suite” for a typical Nigerian tourist in Cape Town.
All in all, my colleagues and I spent close to 400 Rand, an average of 80 Rand (about N1,600), on different Nigerian cuisines.
WHEN we got back to the CTICC and later our hotel rooms in the night, the journalist in me kept reminding me that there is a story to tell. I suddenly remembered that, courtesy of the waitress, we had picked some business cards from the front desk of the EHL, as we were making our exit that afternoon. The cards belonged to the supposed real owner of the EHL.
Thanks to the roaming service provided by Etisalat and Airtel, my mobile phone network had followed me all through in Cape Town and I, indeed, put them to work.
“Hello madam. I am Marcel Mbamalu of The Guardian, Lagos-Nigeria…” “Oh yes, one of my staff told me some journalists came this afternoon and one of them was asking some questions,” a strong confident voice cut me short.
“I really enjoyed the local food in your restaurant and am wondering if you would spare some time for a discussion on “doing food business in Cape Town.” That was what it took to get the Anambra State-born Mrs. Ngozi Owei, talking on how the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria under Buba Marwa had given her official recognition and the award of “Best Female Entrepreneur” in South Africa.
There you are, I thought. That explains the whole presidential and diplomatic visits to her Cape Town restaurant. When my mobile phone ran short of memory as we conversed that night, I explored a more daring opportunity. It was already 9pm (8pm Nigerian time). The fact that the woman was 30 minutes away was not enough deterrent. Do you mind my driving down to the restaurant now?, I requested. “Are you mobile? I don’t really mind, if it would be convenient for you, madam,” I responded.
Those words became the preparatory ground that set us out for the second phase of the interview in about one and half hours’ time. It took that long because there wasn’t another Mike to take me to EHL this time. The taxi driver, in whose car I hopped, didn’t have a single clue as to where Pinelands is; talk less of the actual location of the area.
Probably because he was in dire need of the 200 Rand (his metre actually billed me 350 Rand after the merry-go-round) I finally paid, he made sure he took me on an unsolicited ride around Cape Town in search of Pinelands.
Goodness me! This young man kept reading his map, and, each time he pulled by the expressway to do it, he ended up taking the wrong direction; only to return to the same spot after several minutes.
Worse still, my geography also failed me that night, as it took a ‘repertoire’ of phone calls from Ziggy (that is what she eventually said her friends called her in Cape Town) and her physical guidance to bring us back to the restaurant. The deal was that I pay an agreed sum other than the 350 Rand electronic charge since the merry-go-round was not part of the initial deal.
Indeed, the “trip” was impromptu. When I finally came back to my hotel room that night, I could not tell my friends where exactly I had been. I could not contemplate having to lie to them, or, in the alternative, have them feel betrayed to the exclusive story. So, I chose to be silent on that; and they did not really bother much, or so it seemed.
Of course, they all must have assumed I went to visit a first cousin of mine, who, I had told them, lived in a far end of Cape Town. Incidentally, I couldn’t visit Chiedu due partly to the distance and pressure of the conference. In fact, it was divine intervention that brought my medical doctor cousin and I together the first time I visited him during the 2009 Africa Com conference. So, I was not ready to risk it this time around.
IN a quick conversation that ensued when I finally met the chief executive of EHL that night, the former Nigerian banker had spoken on a wide range of issues, including Nigeria’s image challenge in South Africa and her single-handed efforts to change it.
According to her, she is all over the town doing Nigeria proud, part of which is her leading the Nigerian women group in Cape Town, as well as periodic lecture at a Cape Town university.
“An award was given to me by the Nigerian Embassy in Pretoria during the time of His Excellency Buba Marwa, who initiated the Nigerian Achievement Award to celebrate Nigerians that are doing honest and good business in South Africa, providing employment for Nigerians, South Africans and all other nationalities that we find here.
“I have Zimbabweans, Malawians, Congolese and, of course, Nigerians and South Africans working for me here.
“t was a very fantastic initiative he (Marwa) put in place. At that time, he ran a whole programme promoting the good part of Nigeria, educating South Africans on the role we played in helping them overcome the apartheid situation, which most of them are not even aware of.
“So, it was like helping to rebuild the Nigeria image because we have a few miscreants here who give us a bad reputation. But Marwa did a lot of work.
“The achievement award was like crowning of that whole era of trying to improve on our reputation. That award was given to me in 2009 during that ceremony and our then vice president Goodluck Jonathan was there. The South Africa president and a whole lot of other dignitaries were there. It was a very emotional period for me because, listening to all the CVs of our fellow countrymen here, it just baffled me how a few people can actually want to destroy what we are capable of.
Ziggy informed me that the business had started with medical evacuation consultancy and had grown to include hospitality and catering services; hence, the tacit approval from the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa, which brought the Award of The Best Female Entrepreneur and the official visits in the first place. “I don’t have the money here to do all the advertising, but we have had a lot of business from the word of mouth due to the quality of service that we provide. We don’t only deal with the VIPs and top government officials. We cater for all and sundry,” said Mrs. Owei.
The Guest House was meant for Ziggy’s medical clients; however, because she suddenly started having clientele for business and pleasure from, not only Nigeria, but also all parts of the world, she had no other option than to commercialise it.
However, the mother of four girls chose to maintain the West African Cuisine “because I am very passionate about my country and the culture of where I come from.
“I have traveled to many countries. You discover that there are Italian restaurants, Chinese and Indian restaurants. They provide for all other cultures; but for West Africa, you have a mushroom place where decent people cannot go and would have to order out.
I thought that we, as West Africans, have very rich exotic cuisine. So, we should have an “up-market” restaurant where people can feel comfortable, feed and have celebration with friends and invite friends from other countries.
…From Banking To Liesure Services
The best graduating student at a time at the University of Port Harcourt, Ziggy had a successful banking career. She started with cashiering and customer relations and then moved to credit marketing before becoming head of operations, all at the defunct All States Trust Bank. She later moved to Intercontinental Bank recently acquired by Access Bank, where she served for only a year before joining her husband to Germany.
“I actually left for Germany because of my husband who had to do his Optometrics and Gynaecology fellowship. So, it was a decision I had to make for the family. At the time I was leaving, I was already an Assistant Manager,” she said.
A few years ago, the Management graduate and her Gynaecologist husband had discovered that they could also make a fortune out of their commitment to helping the needy. In fact, the very sensitive could even see it as a goldmine. The couple set out to help Nigerians with serious medical issues, ranging from heart diseases and breast cancer to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) get medical treatment in Cape Town and other parts of Southern Africa.
Ziggy believes she doesn’t have to be a medical doctor to do the business of consultancy in medical evacuation as she and her husband work with a network of doctors. Besides, she reads up her cases. “My husband gives me a lot of input because he has the background. I think his being a medical doctor also helped because he has well over 20 years experience in Nigeria, Germany and here in Cape Town.
“So, Nigeria being a primary target market, he is quite well-known there. Besides, we had a clinic before we left the country, having worked for government in a lot of rural areas. So, we have what you can call a base.
“We were one of the first to start medical evacuation. Once we have your medical report, we identify the doctor for you; get you a global quote from the hospital and all the other service providers. Then we will bring you over, lodge you in Guest House and take you for all appointments. When you recuperate, we take care of you until you are ready to go back home. Some patients come and stay for as long as (for the spinal cord cases). So, the issue of having where to eat good Nigerian food, particularly for people who are recuperating from surgery came up. They will need good food that their system is used to, since here (South Africa) is European in culture. They don’t have that type of native food. From that feedback, I knew that food is a problem. Also, the services in the guesthouses we lodged them were very official and Nigerian culture is different. We (Nigerians) like going the extra mile; we like the homely feel and we love people going the extra mile without telling us that we have to pay for it.
“So, I decided to set up my own guesthouse and make available Nigerian food to my clients.
At that time, I was thinking mainly about my medical clients. When we started the Guest House, people started to talk much about it and we were graded four-star.
“I was fortunate to get a very fantastic chef from Nigeria (she is from Imo State) with over 25 years experience and she does all the cooking there.”
‘Hard Work Shot Me To The Height In Cape Town’
• Women Shouldn’t Be At The Forefront; They Must Support Their Husbands
NGOZIKA Owei, popularly known as Ziggy, had to leave with her family for Heidelberg, Germany, in 2000, where she served as housewife for four years. There, she had to manage the family while also learning a new language. Ziggy then relocated to South Africa in 2005 to pursue an MBA in the UCT GSB, from where she graduated in 2006.
In the course of the MBA, she worked with Cadiz Financial Strategist for a brief one month, where, according to her, she realised that she did not want to go back to the finance world. She then decided to take the entrepreneurial route, setting up the Eti Health and Leisure. (EHL)
The business actually started off in August 2006 with medical tourism, an emerging business that focuses on arranging for and bringing in patients from Nigeria to Cape Town, South Africa for different types of medical treatment.
She then went further to set up, in March 2007, a Bed and Breakfast and West African home dining, which serves not only her medical clients but also other business and holiday travelers seeking accommodation in Cape Town.
EHL House, which is the name of Ziggy’s Bed and Breakfast was graded four stars by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa. It has a total of nine rooms and a two-bedroom self-catering, luxuriously furnished.
In recent times, “we have also introduced educational tours for school children from Nigerian schools, to Cape Town,” she disclosed
“In 2009, I had the privilege of being awarded the “Best Female Entrepreneur” in the first ever Nigerian Achievement Award, organised by the Nigerian Embassy in South Africa under the office of Ambassador Burba Marwa,” she said
Ziggy and her husband have three other companies operating in Nigeria, majoring in importation of medical equipments, land and boat ambulances from Germany and South Africa, as well as building state-of –the-art hospitals. She serves as director in these three companies and does quite a lot to facilitate their smooth operation from her office in Cape Town.
“I have managed to successfully pursue my career, set up and run my business while maintaining my lovely family. I am blessed with a loving and supportive husband, Dr. Tonye Owei (and we have been married for 15 years), and four absolutely gorgeous girls, Lily 17, Pearl 14, Daisy 11 and Cassandra, 8.
“I have been termed a motivational speaker and have been privileged to give lectures in conferences such as the women in business conference here in South Africa, and at my Alma mater, the UCT GSB, I make presentations to the MBA students on entrepreneurship and “starting off your own business” from time to time. And my message has been that people, particularly women, must believe in themselves and have the courage to pursue their dreams.
“SOME people have the wrong notion that, for you to be a career woman, you have to be in the forefront; you must try to do what the men do. Women are different physically, emotionally and spiritually. The fact that you have to play your role being the woman doesn’t mean that it makes you less who you are.
In fact, people will celebrate you the more because that is where you have to come out in your full bloom as a woman. Due to the situation we find ourselves in, women have to work to support their husbands but we need to do the job that will allow us to be there for the family.
The woman is the bedrock of every family. The man is the head and rock of it physically and materially providing for it. But, in terms of emotional, spiritual and psychological stability and everything else, it is the woman that holds forte.
And the moment you begin to realise that, you find that families would do well. Men will support the women. But when you start to say that what men can do women can do better, you are missing your way; you are chasing the shadow.
You’ve got your own role. You can shine to the full bloom and at the same time be there for your family.
I have worked all my life but my role as a woman is to ensure that my family remains spiritual and does not forget the Almighty and that my children are grounded and know their roots and learn from me how to take care of the home.
The man goes to the office and faces all the challenges; he doesn’t want to meet another man in the home. He needs a soft landing that will give him the positive energy to channel those things in the right direction.
He doesn’t need another animal in the house. It does not make sense. So, we better stop all these talks.
We have a vibrant Nigerian community in Cape Town and I always tell them that the woman is the head; the woman is the neck. Without the neck, the head cannot turn right or left; but nobody needs to know or see that this is what you are doing. Quietly play your role and you find out that, at the end of the day, your man can never take a decision without you. Anything he does, he needs your direction.
You don’t need to fight with him and take over his role. He remains the head and that is what people need to see.
Childhood experience
My parents had six children — three boys and three girls — and I am the fourth, in-between the six. We had a very lovely childhood having comer from the upper middle class family. We were really brought up in a true African way. I attended school in Lagos and my parents helped me to find my way around Lagos. Although we had personal cars and drivers, I was made to go to school in molue buses.
It was the same thing when we moved to Port Harcourt. It was when I was in the university that drivers would take us to school. We had a very down-to-earth life.
My parents trained us to work hard; so, we had self-confidence. That was part of our upbringing. You feel happy being who you are. I did lectures in the University of Cape Town on entrepreneurship and how to start business and I told them that a lot of people lack self-confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself, how can somebody else believe in you?
Somebody can do something to you only when you give the permission.
Work-family Balance
The first thing I will tell you is that I have a very supportive partner; so, I cannot take all the credit. I am a woman first and foremost and a mother. For me, the primary role of any woman is to take care of her home; so, I’m not going to trade that for anything. And that’s why I took the decision to leave Nigeria with my husband, leaving my career, even though I was at the peak of it. Family will always come first for me; that’s my idea. It doesn’t limit you from being who you are.
When I was in Germany with my husband, I was a housewife but I didn’t feel like a housewife who was just there eating; I had to be the manager; I had to be the finance lady, making sure we did not overshoot our budget. I had to create good interpersonal relationship between the children, their father and myself.
So I was still practising management and, at the same time, being there for my kids. I must have them as my priority. You make the timetable; too much of everything is not good.
Here in the guesthouse, what I tried to do was first to find a home close to my business. So, if I’m not busy in the office, I come home. I can work from home — check all the mails — and go back when I have the VIPs that I want to attend to.
I cook every single day for my children. Even though I have nannies helping out here and there, I cook the food that my family eat.
My husband has been wonderful in encouraging me to achieve my own goals. He is an amazing partner. I must say this over and over.
Highpoints in life
That is difficult because I do have a lot of highpoints. But the decision to leave for Germany was a major point in my life.
There was a temptation to remain in Nigeria. My husband was busy running the clinic. I was busy at the bank. You know how stressful banking is in Nigeria. By the time we came back home, we talked about work and got tired and slept. The next morning, we hurried back to our places of work. But we were still very good friends. So, making that decision to leave for Germany (as difficult as it was) was a highpoint.
But, being in a foreign country, I had more time for my family.
Greatest regret
When people talk about regret, it doesn’t really apply because I try to use every experience I have had in a positive way, no matter how unfair it is.
Nothing happens to anyone by chance. Although it looks like an unpleasant experience, there must be a lesson to learn from it. It moves me to the next level; so, I can’t think of any regret for now.
A Proud Nigerian In Cape Town
YOU have to be proud of who you are. You don’t have to be like someone else. African culture, as a whole, is rich. This business has educated a lot of foreigners about Nigeria. When we came here, a lot of South Africans did not know anything about Nigerian food. They did not even know that it is in West Africa.
