How love for good food inspired my growth in business — Okonkwo, Tetrazzini Founder

THE man, who pioneered the Tetrazzini brand in Nigeria, Mr. Donatus Okonkwo in this edition, discusses his life as someone who lost his father at a tender age, was nurtured by his petty-trading mother and eventually turned his family business into a leading brand. Apart from being the CEO of Tetrazzini, Okonkwo, who has exclusive franchise for Miss Intercontinental World and its CEOs in all 54 countries in Africa, is making impact in the oil and gas sector, financial services, agriculture and life coaching among others. One of the inspiring things about him is that the entrepreneurship passion he developed early while growing up in Aba, has continued to yield successes since he returned to Nigeria from the United Kingdom so many years ago.

I am from a small village called Ojoto in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. I had my Nursery and Primary School in Aba after which I proceeded to Port Hacourt for my Advanced level. I went to business school in London and came back to join my family business. I am very happy that the business has grown today despite the harsh business environment in Nigeria. My growing up was very tough because, at the age 10, my father died.
That was in 1979. So I was literally brought up by my mother without a father. With sheer determination to succeed in life despite all the pressures of life and shortcomings I was able to make it in life. As a child without a father, it can be really tough and unimaginable. Also, focus and doggedness have been my rock and foundation. Amazingly, I am the last among six siblings of four boys and two girls. I am the last but not the least. My father was a king in my community before he died. Although I knew little about him at age 10 and I believe he was a noble man of integrity. My mother attested to that and that also contributed to the success story of my business today.
On intergrity, hard work, role models
Honestly, there are several of them. But my mother is the number one person because she moulded my life to be self-reliant and to be independent. I am not yet accomplished but I see myself as someone on the right part and direction. Again, I have a few people to look up to as the source of inspiration. Generally, I can’t say that someone was instrumental to my rise but I have a few , who I still look up to. I read and study a lot. I try to develop myself through knowledge gained from leadership development everywhere. I read a lot of John Maxwell books, He is a very strong Leadership Coach and I am also inspired by spiritual materials from a very prominent American preacher, Morris Cerullo. He is also a teacher of leadership. I get a lot of strenght from reading his books.
My mother was a petty trader back then. She is a very determined person who can virtually do anything to move on with life and that was what she did to see us through life after the death of my father. She taught me determination, sincerity, integrity hard work and self-contentment in life.
Tetrazzini is a leading name in the food industry, how did you bring the outfit this far?
Tetrazzini today is a global brand. We have successfully diversified into many areas. Consistency is key to our success. If you are consistent in doing the right thing, you will achieve success. It is a 19-year old story. We have always considered building a Nigerian brand that will make global impact. And in that process, we came up with Tetrazzini as a business and brand. It is a vision we conceived and we are seeing it becoming strong and a brand to reckon with. We love food and I mean good food. That was why we started to make food for commercial purpose in a small quick manner that people will desire to buy.
Having distinguished yourself in business, what lessons do you think can be drawn from your experience ?
There are so many lessons to be learnt. One of it is that we at Tetrazzini can actually beat our chest and say that through consistency and doing the right thing, we have achieved more. And I am convinced that people can also achieve a lot through consistency and doing the right things. However, I can categorically say that I have not achieved much as I wish to. But I will say that I am happy to have brought happiness in the lives of some people, who I helped to succeed in their endeavours or enterprises. I don’t see material things such as money, houses or physical acquisitions as achievements. But what I really consider as achievements are those people I have touched and transformed their lives. I have rally touched several lives in this country. That, I have done through investment in education by building schools and award of scholarships. I consider my investments in education as too important because of the role education plays in our lives.
I rebuilt a school, Ojoto Boys Secondary Schoool in my town, Ojoto. The school was neglected from by the state government. This school only had 35 students during its ailing period but after I rebuilt it, there are more than 600 students learning in the school.
This is what I call an achievement. You can imagine what would have happened to more than 565 new students if I had not rebuilt the school.
Global brand
These testimonies are what I call achievements. Touching lives and helping people build themselves are issues of priorities to me.
What are those things that have kept you on track in your business pursuits?
Challenges are enormous. We are still on it and still defending our positions and establishment in building a strong brand. But our resilience, long-suffering, perseverance and tenacity have kept us. We have kept moving and getting stronger every day.
It is also about consistency, focus energy and strong push. Tetrazzini is already a global brand as an eatery outlet. Besides, the brand, we are diversifying. We are not relenting because of our resilience, and we will trudge on. Currently, we are in the oil and gas downstream sector. Today, Tetrazzini is into real estate development by creating strong reliable properties for both commercial and residential purposes.
Tetrazzini is also into agro and allied products because we are interested in agriculture which is one of our main sources of resources in the food industry. We are also into financial services. We provide financial consultancy and business management to start-ups and businessmen. We are moving slowly and steadily to create that formidable brand that we have always envisaged.
We see the food we sell as a product of our consistency and articulate efforts. Tetrazzini group is a global brand that has to come to stand the test of time among equals. Tetrazzini Food Plc has become a public liability company with almost a thousand shareholders. It was built from a scratch and has now become a company that is quoted on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. We are very sure that with the efforts of our dedicated team we will get there.
On values
Ethics are the things I teach as a Life Coach. I teach people about mentorship. I am concerned about inspiration and influence. Mentoring people on the right path is my core area of interest aside my other business pursuits. I like to be called a mentor instead of a role model because I mentor people particularly young people. I counsel them through services to actualise their dreams and aspirations in life.
We have four cardinal values in Tetrazzini which is always our watchword, values are what we cherish the most because we want to be above average all the time. We see integrity as one of our core values. Saying what you mean is what we call integrity. Whatever it may cost you to do what you say, be prepared to bear the cost for the sake of integrity.
On ambition to govern Anambra State
My vision for Anambra State is to actualize its full potentials. I am in the race because I want Anambra to get its full potentials and rightful place in the polity. It is sad that what we see is just mismanagement and total neglect of basic facts about sustainable development and growth. It is a state that possesses the largest chunk of billionaires in Nigeria, yet you see poverty ravaging and bringing the state to a sordid situation.
You can never see a viable industry in the state while all the billionaires are living outside the state developing other places. I believe that once the economic light is beamed on Anambra, these billionaires from Anambra state will come home and invest.