On our #getinspre series we bring you the success stories of young africans who made it to the top quite early in life.
Here is an Exclusive Interview With Ladi Delano, CEO, Bakrie Delano Africa
BY DINFIN MULUPI
BRIEF BACKGROUND
Ladi Delano, Founder & CEO, Bakrie Delano Africa (BDA) is a serial entrepreneur who made his first millions selling drink while living in China. In 2004, at age 22, he founded Solidarnosc Asia, a Chinese alcoholic beverage company that made Solid XS, a premium brand of Vodka. The company later expanded with the launching of a dining and entertainment venue, The Collection. Solid XS went on to achieve about 70 percent market share in China and was distributed across over 33 cities in China, with revenue of over $22 million annually. After some time, with the global economic downturn, Solid XS was sold to a rival liquor company for about $20 million.
However before selling Solid XS, Delano had set up a real estate investment company focused on mainland China - called Delano Reid Group. The company went on to raise over $80 million for real estate investments in mainland China profiting from China's real estate economic boom. Apart from the real estate company, Delano is also a founding partner in DRG CIN Energy and Global DRG Capital, providers of global energy solutions.
In December 2011, Delano shifted focus from the Asia economic boom to establish his latest venture, Bakrie Delano Africa (BDA), in Africa. This time, he partnered with Indonesia conglomerate, the Bakrie Group under a joint venture partnership. His company partnership with Bakrie Group was created to facilitate the expansion of the South East Asia's conglomerate, in Africa. Through the joint venture, the Bakrie Group would invest about $1 billion over five years in Bakrie Delano Africa (BDA) in areas as diverse as mining, oil & gas and agriculture.
An entrepreneur true to his origin, Ladi believes Nigeria is attractive to the Bakrie Group as an investment destination for several reasons.
Firstly, it is experiencing excellent rates of economic growth, approximately 8% per year, which is forecast by a wide cross-section of respected economic commentators to continue over the medium to long term. Indeed, Nigeria is widely predicted to overtake South Africa as the African continent’s largest economy within three to four years. Within the context of this strong overall economic growth, there are individual sub-sectors where rates of growth exceed 8%.
These individual sub-sectors are also areas where the Bakrie Group in Indonesia has a lot of operational experience. This experience is not only in the sectors per se, but also at a similar stage in the respective sectors’ growth curves.
Finally, as an indigenous company, Bakrie Delano has deep rooted relationships in Nigeria too, which is a very important point. Business relationships on the ground are vital when operating in any market, especially emerging markets.
The combination of these three factors: rapid economic growth, an operational track record in particular sectors and local knowledge makes Nigeria very attractive.
Q?: I am sure our readers are wondering: who is Ladi Delano?
I have been an entrepreneur in emerging markets, generally south-east Asia and China. During this time, I have been involved in a variety of sectors and also natural resources M&A and structured finance.
Q?: One of your goals is to encourage the wider Nigerian diaspora to repatriate skills and capital for the benefit of the country and its economy. Explain how you hope to achieve this?
Bakrie Delano Africa is seeking to not only derive an attractive return on its investments, but also to create jobs, permanently, in Nigeria. Nigeria requires foreign direct investment to grow, but this is less attractive if companies investing there do this via a foreign workforce. We want to invest in Nigeria to generate a meaningful profit, but we also want to put something back into the country enabling the workforce to develop its own skills. In turn, this will make Nigeria even more efficient benefiting workers and investors alike.
The more Bakrie Delano Africa can be seen as succeeding in this respect, the more other companies (including members of the Nigerian diaspora) will feel comfortable, and be attracted to, making similar investments to ours.
Q?: What criteria will you use when choosing projects to invest in?
Our investment appraisal process initially reduced the shortlist of sectors to invest in from fifteen to three, so we are already very focused on sectors we believe are attractive. From then on, our criteria will include three considerations:
Will we generate a decent return on investment and cash flow as quickly as possible?
Does the Bakrie Group have relevant expertise and experience it can leverage?
Will our investment also create jobs and have a positive impact on Nigeria’s economy and its workforce?
If the answer to these three questions is yes, then individual projects start becoming very interesting to us.
Q?: What was your first job?
My first job was as a suit salesman. It was commission-based and I loved the competition!
Q?: Who has had the biggest impact on your career and why?
It is difficult to identify one particular person; instead I’ve been influenced by a variety of different experiences, some positive, some negative. The combination of these experiences has shaped who I am career-wise today.
Q?: What parts of your job keep you awake at night?
Any entrepreneur will probably tell you that all parts of the job keeps you awake, and I am no different. Bakrie Delano Africa is in a really key stage of its development currently so I’d be worried if I was sleeping too soundly!
Q?: What are the top reasons why you have been successful in business?
Hard work and learning from my mistakes. Despite what some people say, you never get anywhere without hard work and whilst we all make mistakes, the even bigger error is not learning from them.
Q?: What are the best things about Nigeria?
I am very proud of my country’s diversity, its potential and its energy. We are a hard working population and the economic growth Nigeria is experiencing currently is tangible when you visit the country. Not only am I very excited about the growth we’ve achieved to date, but also where we’ll be in 10 to 20 years’ time.
Q?: And the worst?
My worst feeling will be in the future, if we fail to fulfil our country’s potential. That would be the most disappointing thing of all. However, I am confident that this will not be the case.
Q?: Your future career plans?
At the moment, I am 100% focused on Bakrie Delano Africa, the sectors we are focused on (mining, oil & gas and agriculture) and finding investments which will not only generate an excellent return on investment but also create jobs for Nigerians.
Q?: How do you relax?
There isn’t much time to relax at the moment, but when I do get the chance I like to cook and I like to run. The latter compensates for the former!
Q?: What is your message to Africa’s young aspiring business people and entrepreneurs?
I’ve already spoken about the need for hard work, but I’d just add to that … keep going, keep believing and never give up. It’s an old saying but the phrase “Show me a man who has never failed and I’ll show you a man who has never succeeded” really resonates with me. All entrepreneurs suffer periodic ups and downs and running a successful, profitable business isn’t easy. If it was, everybody would be doing it. But this is Africa’s time and the demand levels within our own continent’s domestic economy needs satisfying. This is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurial, hard working individuals.
Q?: How can Africa realise its full potential?
On an emotional level, Africa needs to maximize its self-confidence and believe in itself, and I see that happening every day. On an economic and political level, we need to create the economic conditions in which entrepreneurs can thrive.
This means a stable macro-economic environment, business-friendly policies and economic incentives. It also means the encouraging and responsible use of foreign direct investment (FDI), which is key. Nigeria’s establishment last year of a new Trade & Investment Ministry to manage FDI is strong evidence of this.
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