Prof. Aaron Baba is a man of many parts; an academician, administrator,
entrepreneur, innovator and investor; Hearing about Prof. Aaron’s achievements
in all of his fields of endeavors would create a picture of a man with elements
of pride and pomposity taken into consideration his achievements in multidisciplinary
fields of endeavor but on the contrary he is a humble, gentle and pleasant man
to meet and talk with,
this soft-spoken gentleman relates well with all classes of people and is a
good motivator to his peers and subordinates.
He is an
extraordinary business man, an entrepreneur with interest in bringing good
products that makes a difference to the market place.
Born in Iyale in Dekina Local Government Area,
east of kogi state, Nigeria.
He is the first born of the family of Seven, four
females and three males. Aaron went to the famous Government Secondary School,
Dekina; from there he proceeded to University of Calabar and then to Bayero
University, Kano and from there He left for the US in 1989. He holds a Ph.D. in
Chemistry. He graduated in Chemistry in 1994, taught in the US from 1994 up to
2008 before coming to Nigeria on the invitation of the then Governor of kogi
state, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris to join his government.
In
Kogi State, Prof Baba started off as the Special Adviser to the Governor on
Technological Development but was appointed a Commissioner and Member of the
State Executive Council one year after, as he brought to bear on his job, his
rich knowledge in many fields and impressive managerial and interpersonal
skills. He served as Commissioner for Special Duties, Science and Technology,
and Information. As a Commissioner, this widely travelled and experienced
scientist has had to do a yeoman’s job and take in his strides,
multi-disciplinary duties and assignments that require in-depth attention. As
an ICT expert, with extensive experience in several computer packages, he
developed blueprints on how to put Kogi State on e-government platform. Special
assignments and projects implemented in Kogi State under his supervision
include coordinating the repositioning of State-owned Confluence Beach Hotel,
Lokoja, revamping the Ministry of Special Duties and Information, reclaiming of
mining sites and establishment of smalls scale industries. With his expert
knowledge of mineral deposits and their investment potentials, he coordinated
several investors to Kogi State in minerals, agriculture, and tourism sectors.
On ICT, he advised Kogi State Government and facilitated the installation of
WIFI (Internet signal) in government offices. He equally guided government on
effective strategies for reducing expenses via staff audit and implementation
of e-payment. He managed the Kogi State Salary Database from January 2010 to
March 2012 with commendable oversight and transparency. More importantly, he
produced and implemented an economic roadmap that has led to substantial
increase in the State’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.
“We must produce drinks that are safe and meet the
highest standardsâ€
Prof
Baba has apart from all of these, a plethora of academic
accomplishments, a catalogue of publications and an equally long list of
Chemistry and Science Majors to his credit, over 24 major Research Publications
and 27 students to whom he has served as Advisor. He has also held posts as
Committee Member, Acting Unit Head and Departmental Representative various
Universities. Over the years, he has taught Introductory and General Chemistry,
Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Quantitative Chemical Analysis,
Nuclear Chemistry and Radiochemistry, Instrumental Analysis, Structure and
Coordination Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Corrosion Chemistry, Atomic
and Molecular Spectroscopy, Cement and Fertilizer Industry and Special Topics
in Physical Chemistry, among other courses.
Aaron is married and blessed with four lovely
children.
Aaron’s father is still alive and looks very young
even at old age. People who know him jokingly mock Aaron of being older than
his father. He is still very strong and agile at his age. “He is my number one fan, number one mentor; he
beliefs in me so much. I thank God for keeping him up till today. Every day I
see him, I am so glad that he is alive. He has done so much and have
accomplished so much. He is so proud of what I am doingâ€. Ironically, his
greatest pain till date is the tragic loss of his loving mother who passed on
about ten years ago.
Aaron’s philosophy is to keep pushing, keep hoping
for the best, and trusting that God would never forsake the righteous.
Professionally,
Prof Baba has given major presentations in the areas of his research interests,
spanning Photochemistry, Corrosion, modelling, Chemical sensors and
Agrochemicals. This proficient chemist has in-depth knowledge of many modern
chemical analytical techniques, such as UV-VIS, FT-IR, FT-NMR, GC/MS, HPLC,
electroanalysis and laser spectroscopy.
Aaron’s
inspiration to go into the beverage industry began from when he was living in the
US. “I was in the US for almost 20 years. we (my family) use to come home
almost on a yearly basis, and whenever we come to Nigeria we found out that the
most common drinks that you would find are the drinks that are highly
carbonated. And for me, for some reasons I am allergic to carbonated drinks.
So, I kept looking for a drink I can consume and also make available to the
general public. So, we started exploring the possibility of setting up a
beverage drink that is based on green tea. So, it was our desire to produce a
healthy alternative to the carbonated drinks that we started the Multilife
Green Tea Company which is green tea basedâ€.
Aaron’s
product; Multilife Green Tea came into
the market in 2012 and quite coincidentally, got NAFDAC approval the same week
the Kogi State Executive Council was dissolved which became a green light for him,
“that God is telling us something as one phase of our life was ending, the
beverage business was starting off, so, we started in 2012â€.
Aaron has a guiding principle for his business and
especially in the production of beverages which is “we must produce high
quality productsâ€. “We must produce drinks that are safe and meet the highest
standardsâ€. There are guidelines of the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON)
and NAFDAC that regulate what the drinks should be and what contents should be
included in the drinks. But beyond the NAFDAC and the SON requirements, Aaron’s
Multilife company’s requirement is that these drinks that his family, friends
and people that know him would drink must meet their safety standards,
according to him, “if it does not meet
their safety standards, it doesn’t matter what SON or NAFDAC says, it is not
good for the general publicâ€. This guiding principle in the production of
Multilife Drinks has over time become the driving force for a non-compromising
quality standard, control and assurance; that “it must be safe for the general
public, and it must be safe for my family and friendsâ€.
Of course, growing the company and the brands was
not without many challenges, “if you are an investor, entrepreneur in Nigeria,
there are issues you must contend with. Because these are very, very
sophisticated drinks, they are chemistry based, and one of the basic challenges
we faced was when our products were going bad. We needed to increase the
stability and the shelf-life. There are few persons around that I could ask.
So, many times, to tackle the issue of product safety, quality control and so
on, I had to go into my background in chemistry as a scientist and look for the
solution that we can derive based on world-wide research results that had been
published. So, in terms of challenges of maintaining quality, I had to rely on
my chemistry backgroundâ€.
“with the increasing population, I see the
continual growth of the beverage industry in Nigeria. And, also people are
becoming more health conscious, and as they become more heath conscious, they
will try to gravitate towards drinks that are really of high quality that would
address their health needsâ€
And then with the issue of funding; “funding has
always been an issue. We have been producing since 2012, and we have not had
any conventional funding from any bank or financial institution. So, the
challenges are still there to weather it; the fact that we remain in the market
up to this point, is something that we need to be grateful to God forâ€.
Naturally, the Multilife Brand was not without its
lows, “when we started production, I expected that the product would have gone
very, very far. And because it could not go very far because of limited capital
to put into the operation I had lost focus on trying to push it further. And
so, within the past few years our presence, the market had gone down†This was
primarily because the product was not pushed into the Market as hard as the
company did initially, at a point we were discouraged and felt that the market
was not really interested in the product. So, for about 2-3 years we didn’t give
it the same attention that we did when we started, because one, I put in a lot
of effort, a lot of resources in the beginning and the results then were very,
very discouraging. But within the past 2-3 months I have come across people who
told me that they miss the fact that they cannot see Multilife Drink in the
market place because our drinks, the Multilife Drinks are all sugar free. And
this, I think Multilife is the only sugar free beverage drinks that are
produced in Nigeria. Having realized that the market place is missing the sugar
free drink from Multilife, he is currently injecting more resources, time and
money to restore the brand to the market place.
“Unfortunately, when I look around because I often
go to some of these stores; I was in Shoprite and Next Cash n Carry and I did
not see any drinks that are sugar free and produced in Nigeria that are in our
category. So, Multilife drinks are the only sugar free out there in the Nigeria
market place. But I know that we need to do more to promote the product,
because Nigerians are becoming more health conscious, and as they are becoming
more health conscious, they are running away from the sugar drinks. Ours are
all sugar free. We have the regular; we have the big bottle in the category of
coke sugar free. And then, we have the energy boost which is also sugar free
and the alcoholic drink which is 18% alcohol and yet sugar free. So, these are
unique different products that are in the market place and are sugar free. So,
I have not seen any sugar free drinks that are in that category in the market
place.†Aaron is full of hope for the Beverage industry in Nigeria, he says “with
the increase in population of Nigeria, I see the continual growth of the
beverage industry in Nigeria. And, also people are becoming more health
conscious, and as they become more heath conscious, they will try to gravitate
towards drinks that are really of high quality that would address their health
needs. I think, the growth path is very strongâ€.
Aaron believes that the problem of the Nigeria
beverage industry is very similar to that of most investments in Nigeria. “There
is issue of financing, and then the issue of infrastructural deficits. Where we
are right now most of the time we run on generator, we run on our own
bore-hole, no access roads; we have to provide ourselves every infrastructure
including security. So, infrastructural deficit is the main challenge that the
beverage industry and others are facing in Nigeriaâ€.
On the
growth of the beverage industry in Nigeria and the role of investors, Aaron is
of the opinion that it takes guts to be an investor in Nigeria. But because of
the increase in the population of Nigeria, if you can stick your neck out, it
is worth it. In all he encourages people not just in the beverage industry but
everywhere because the more investors that come into Nigeria, the more jobs that
will be created, the less crime that will be committed in the society and there
will be general increase in the quality of life for the citizenry regardless of
the challenges. We have low funding,
infrastructural deficit, and sometime access to quality human capital is low
and far between but it still worth to invest in the beverage industry, and also
other industries in Nigeria. Because, “with the increase in the population of
Nigerians there is increase in demand for quality goods and services. And if
you are willing to endure the initial challenges i think it is going to be
worth itâ€.
Aaron is a man of Faith and testifies that he has
seen God’s strong hands in everything about his life, family and endeavors. “I
have seen life ups and downs. I have gone very far and come very, very low. I
have had many, many challenges health wise and even family wise but through it
all, the fact that I am alive today, and the things we are doing, is a
testament of God’s faithfulness. And because He (God) had given me many
chances, He has elevated me beyond my wildest expectationâ€. He prays and hope
that everything that he does in life and business would give Him the greatest
glory because, He had backed him always. He believes that, the future of the
business is in His hands as humans, he will put in his ideas, plans and work
towards them with prayers because he has the vision towards expanding the
business.
Aaron is a
US citizen and travels regularly to visit his children, for medical check-up,
and to explore business opportunities in the US.
WHETHER YOU REFER TO HIM AS THE KING OF FASHION, BESPOKE DESIGNER OR A FASHIONISTA. THERE IS NO DOUBT, PAUL HARRIS IKANI IS MAKING HIS MARK ON THE NIGERIAN FASHION INDUSTRY.
It is hard to determine Harris Ikani’s net worth due to his simplicity and humble approach to life and business. What is clear is that he is surely carving a niche in the Nigeria Fashion Industry.
His is a story with humble beginnings. Born in the Qua Iboe mission area of Idah, East of Kogi State Nigeria, Paul is the seventh of ten children in a family of five boys and five girls. Paul’s father was a Health worker with the General Hospital, Idah and later with the Holley Memorial Hospital Ochadamu. He had his kindergarten, Primary and Secondary education in Idah before venturing out for tertiary education. Paul’s growing up in a large family was a major influence on him especially the way his elderly ones looked and dressed. Paul’s elder brothers and sisters actually influenced his love for fashion by the way they looked and dressed. Paul’s father, Elder Paul, Atulukwu Ikani was always dressed smartly with a neat haircut in well ironed clothes and that shaped his mindset. As early as the age of Ten, Paul already knew what fashion was all about. Through this knowledge he acquired from his elderly ones, he began to understand that ‘Looking good through good clothing is good business’. According to Paul, ‘he would dress up well kitted in good clothes early in the morning especially on non school days and then dress his bed neatly not allowing any squeeze on the bed covers. “I recall vividly that as Christmas approaches, my father would take us to his Personal Tailor in early October to take our measurements in preparation for the Christmas celebration. The tailor had a particular style for every one of us in the family. After measuring us, I would sneak back to the tailor to present my own design eager to be different from my rest siblings, telling him that I don’t like the general design of the family. The tailor would look at me and say “You are too young to dictate what you wear†I would say with utmost humility “I know what to wear sir and this is the design I want to wearâ€.

He would report me to my father that ‘Your son is altering the design that you asked me to make for him’ but my father would always allow me to have my way because it’s what I wantedâ€. From there Paul began to nurture the fashion sense and began to design his own clothing. Paul developed interest in the names of various fashion designers like GioGio Armani, Givenchy, Polo Ralph Lauren, Gucci etc. he busied himself with information about these designers through acquiring foreign magazines with fashion pages. There was hardly any discussion he would have with friends that he would not mention a designer, and the passion grew. Soon, Paul’s friends began to call him names, some in praise and others derogatively, names like Pierre Cardin, Paulo Harriso, Harizona Couture etc. flowed freely from the lips of friends. “I can’t tell you exactly why or how but, I found out I had this innate ability to design clothing, I would look at someone and imagine which design will be good and fitting on himâ€. He said. Soon he began to wear only the clothes he designed and they will be smartly fitted on him so much that he always stands out among his friends. The same friends that were calling him names began to admire the clothes and even wanted to have them. “My friends will look at me and say ‘Can you take us to your tailor, can you make this for us’ Some will demand to buy the clothes he was wearing off his body saying, “go and make another one for yourselfâ€. To young Paul, fashion became a way of life meaning that he wears it and people like it and he began to look at it towards translating his passion to business. “Sometimes, if I wear a particular dress, somebody will like it and bargain to buy it off my bodyâ€. Since Paul had that sense, he began selling them off his body. Paul began to sell every Clothing he wore. This gave him the courage, boldness and conviction that this is really a business worth investing in. Paul soon began to invest his time and Energy in it, creating more of his own designs. To Paul, being in the fashion business is not a child play. His driving force and key success factor is his passion for the business. “I sleep and wake up with fashion on my mindâ€. It is intriguing to note that while some people sit down for hours watching football, Paul does not have that interest, but he can be engaged in watching fashion shows for hours on end and will not be tired of it. “I can discuss fashion for hours, I can wear fashion to occasions and be happy and I feel happy when I see people dressed in the clothes I made.â€

Paul Harris started PHD Bespoke Tailors in 1997, “We were looking at “you are wearing clothes, you are designing clothes, why don’t you give it a meaningâ€. His friends would urge him “guy, you don’t have to be wearing clothes and selling them, you have to create your brand, you have to startâ€. It’s just like he already had a pool of people willing, waiting readily to wear what he makes. He took the bull by the horn and created the brand ‘PAUL HARRIS DESIGNS’ (PHD).
Paul had no outlets when he started and so he had to go the hub to Aba, South East Nigeria where they are tailors and enjoys proximity to fabrics. Soon he became conversant with every street in Aba and virtually every tailor. “I started by having my Tailors in Aba and I put all my energy into itâ€.
Paul never allowed himself to lose focus. Starting PHD was not easy for him because they were no finances coming from anywhere and he had to fall back to his little savings.
Beyond the lack of finance, having to tell people and convince them about the brand was another major challenge. The general trend and taste of the average Nigerian for clothing at the period is preference for imported brands. People would come and say “is this clothes not made in Nigeria? Is this clothe not made in Aba?†those kind of comments were dampening to his spirit, despite that his brand could compete largely with foreign brands. This seeming apathy to local brands worried Paul sorely and swayed by that poor local preference, he reduced his local production and started importing finished products by foreign designers into Nigeria.
Paul Harris did that for a while reluctantly and unhappily although it wasn’t giving him fulfillment. In his words “I like what I create and what I produce above any foreign oneâ€. According to him, “I went back to my own brand and started producing†saying “Well whether people buy what I produce or not, I will be wearing what I produceâ€. From then on, his friends would ask him where he bought the dresses and he would quip “I didn’t buy it, I made it†and they would ask him to make for them. Some will bring foreign designs and he would reproduce it for them locally and it will still look nice and good. From this point going forward, Paul began to restructure and repackage the PHD brand and people that believed in him started coming, they started wearing the brand, some family, friends, referrals here and there. “We were getting calls, we were getting jobs, and we were getting busy, doing it the Nigerian wayâ€.
In his opinion, the challenge of financing a business in Nigeria is still largely insurmountable, sticking out like a sore thumb. As long as a business is a going concern with prospects for expansion, finances will always be needed. In Nigeria, the prospects for investing in creative individuals are still low and far between and the banks are not really helping. “When you demand for loans, they will give you conditions to meet and those conditions, if you can meet them, then you don’t need the loansâ€. “If you want to build your own company and expand it, you will need the banks and if you cannot meet the conditions of the Banks, it becomes a big challengeâ€. The only solution according to Paul is financial discipline “I started saving money, anything I want I save for it. I deprived myself of so many luxuries. I made sacrifices to save money in order to get something that my business needs to grow and expandâ€. Paul Harris believes that the Nigeria Banks are not friendly to entrepreneurs. He recalls when sometime he was referred to the Bank of industry and they were asking him for collateral. “The environment is topsy turvy, it’s not straight and at a point you get frustratedâ€. He thinks that the Nigeria Government has not created an enabling environment for local business to thrive. Power supply is a very big challenge as you have to depend on generating plants to run the business. “Averagely, we run the generating plants seventy percent (70%) compared to the electricity supply of thirty percent (30%). We spend much money in that area and it affects our operating cost drasticallyâ€. In Paul Harris summation, finances are the catalyst for speed in growing a serious business. When you make projections and they are no finances to back up, the business crawls.

When Paul Harris is not doing fashion, he goes Biking and aside from biking, fashion travel takes more of his time. “Sometimes you don’t have to relegate yourself to one environment, you need to explore and meet others who are doing well in your industry in other climes. Turkey in a second home to me, they have some of the best textile materials. Back in the days, Italians do their own things but now, they go to turkey where we can get first hand materials. Turkey has good materials. We do source some materials from chinaâ€.
Paul believes that the Nigerian appetite for foreign brands has reduced drastically now compared to what is used to be “Before now, if you don’t wear anything that is imported you feel out of place but now we are proud of what we have because of the attention we give to our local creations. Now we compete with the foreign designers. There is nothing they do out there that we cannot replicate in Nigeria and do even better especially in the area of ‘tailor to measure’ which we call ‘Bespoke’. Everybody wants to wear smart clothes that fit to their body statistics well tailored, not the ones bought from abroad and need lots of adjustments to fit their body. The ‘tailor to measure’ awareness has put us in the lead in the world fashion industry presently because Nigeria is a very large marketâ€. To him, competition is inevitable in every industry but believes he doesn’t have competitors. “When we talk about competition, I think I don’t have a problem with that because PHD is a nicheâ€. We have our own niche, “any clothe we make, makes a statement. ‘Our clothes speak out’ anybody that wears them will see that it is an attraction because we pay attention to details and that stands us out. We are in a class of our own, in any business setting; you must create your own classâ€. “You are your own competitor when you always strive to improve on your own productivityâ€.
The Nigerian Fashion Industry is growing with the influx of entrepreneurs from other disciplines. Paul emphasizes low energy in Nigeria as one of the major problems bedeviling the industry. “Most businesses run generators most of the time and running generators requires fueling and maintenanceâ€
The industry depends majorly on imported fabrics, the textiles industries in Nigeria in the seventies have gone moribund “so we find ourselves in Nigeria importing fabrics and this has to do with foreign exchange, the Sewing and Design machines being used are also imported alongside their spare parts and accessoriesâ€. “Staff apathy to duties, many of them are not ready to learn the ropes, they believe in cutting corners to succeed and that breeds lack of trustâ€.
Paul believes that he has built a brand that has come to stay having ventured into all and Sundry in terms of fashion.

“What we are looking for now is for people to come and take the PHD franchise to different cities of Nigeria or even beyond Nigeria. We will enforce strict quality assurance to ensure that our standards are not compromised. We are proud to say that our products can compete globallyâ€
Paul’s worst day in business was when he travelled to China and bought goods back to Nigeria and over the night, robbers came into the premises and carted away everything. The painful aspect was that the stolen goods were bought with 4 months savings. Paul’s Passion for the business became the anesthesia for the pains of the loss and in no time he recovered. The best day in the business for Paul was “when a customer was referred to us by a friend of hers. The woman was from the USA. She bought some of the products and requested for a bespoke design for her son in the USA making available his measurement. The clothes were made and she travelled to her son in the USA who wore the clothes and was excited that everything was perfectly tailored to his measureâ€. “She and her son called to thank us, that “from Nigeria, we have been able to make clothes of very high international standard. That day was for us our moments of joy for such a commendation from a developed society’’. The son told them that from Nigeria, he has gotten a designer; someone who had been living in the USA, Paul appreciates this and holds it very highly especially in a clime where even the closest people around you don’t want to look at what you make because for them, they are local. This seeming success of Paul in the Fashion design industry is based on his guiding principle of total

and absolute trust in God. He believes that when you have God, you have everything. “Believe in the supremacy of God gives one an edge because he is the author and the finisherâ€. Paul’s secret is that anytime he wants to feel low, he switches to the mode that “God is thereâ€.
Paul is a mentor and he creates time to mentor people who are start ups in the industry. He would always advice his mentees to be passionate about what they do. There is no room for Luke warmness, you can’t cut corners and be successful. To the startups he would always say. “Believe in what you do, be patient, have tenacity of purpose, focusâ€. The aspect of the business that excites Paul most is creating a design and making people wear those clothes in classical egoistic fulfillment. He believes that his intricate involvement in the design process is the main reason for the success of the business. This involvement has enthused him to the point that work and family have interwoven into one. Paul is married and blessed with five Children and three grand Children.