Adefunke Anurukem is one woman that is making waves in a male dominated world of auto dealership and she has had over a decade experience in dealership in Nigeria. She spoke on her experience in the slippery world of business and her vision for her business as she goes into another business year with SUNRISE NEWS Transportation Reporter CLIFFSIMEON AKALONU
What do you do at AutoDome?
My name is Adefunke Anurukem, I am the Managing Director, AUTO DOME. I am married and blessed with kids.
Auto Dome is a car dealership in Nigeria, that sells all kinds of automobile brand new and fairly used. Auto Dome is an After Sales’ service provider to her customers and outsiders. Auto Dome is well known in fleet management and auto leasing. We also sell car accessories and car care products, because we believe in car maintenance, making cars look finer and last longer.
Motivation?
The journey started two decades ago, when I was working in an automobile company and each time I sell a car I see my customers happy, that excitement and satisfaction gave me the push to establish my own company, because I derive enough joy when my customer is happy . It is not easy to have the capacity to convince someone on a particular brand he is used to, you can see that the satisfaction is endless. So, over the years my interest grew more and more, so I began to ask questions on what to do as I have mentors who were teaching me what to do and here we are today, with over 10years operational experience as Auto Dome.
Your experience
You see, life itself is a continuous learning process. I have learnt to be tenacious,I have learnt to be honest in business, I have learnt to talk less and listen more in business.
Success motivation?
The key success to every business is product knowledge and that is my key success. It is not good that you are doing a business and you don’t have knowledge of the products you are selling, you don’t know the auto policies guiding the auto market not just for your country alone but the world, You don’t know how the automotive industry its been run, what are the trainings to go for and ask you don’t ask questions. Product knowledge and been abreast to the latest technology are part of our key success in this business.
Challenges?
Manpower is a challenge here. Another challenge is that there are no funding because the business we do is not that feeble in terms of finance its lucrative and needs huge amount of money to run it. If for example, you inject 10m in a clothing line you have done massive support to that business but here where we are, 10million can only give you two fairly used cars, so we need financing from the government to keep moving. The high rate of import duty by customs.
Before, we are battling with 5% vat and now there is increase to 7.5% value added tax and all these are to our own detriment.
Areas of difficulty in business?
Because this is the industry I grew in, I see everything as part of me, so, I do almost everything just as a man could do.
Any govt help?
I can’t say but I read in the newspapers that, the federal government recently gave out some money to auto assemblers in the country to boost business. Its commendable .
The auto dealership question?
No its not. I can vividly tell you that the auto dealers association is not functional and that is why you can see everyone even a car washer, selling cars by the road side. There is no guidance to auto dealership in Nigeria and that is why we the women in the auto business, wants to take it up by ourselves and make contributions in the auto dealership control and make our grievances known to the government, on some of the issues bothering the industry.
Can automobile industry improve?
Automobile sector is one of the greatest contributor to the Nigerian economy because everything about it, is done within the country even the money we use in importing them passes through the local banks. The automobile industry is volatile, sometimes; unpredictable.
The number one thing that can help revive the automobile industry is regulation. This will make the industry look healthier because there is a lot that is embedded with the automotive industry.
Good and bad side of business?
The good side of it is that, you are alleviating the suffering of people, instead of people being stranded or staffs being stranded by not having means to move, you provide them with means to move even in mass thro and fro of work. The bad side of it, is the cost of operation.
On patronage
Like I said earlier, the buying power has reduced but by the grace of God, the percentage is manageable. But we want more customers as usual.
2020 Expectations
Its our 10th year as “Auto Dome”, we are very excited and optimistic that this year is will be one of our best year in terms of business structure, in terms of overall turnover sales, in terms of expansion. We have loads of packages as we look forward to establishing more locations and more business lines.
Your unique selling point?
Our unique selling point is product knowledge and customer relationship. We go over and above in customer relationship.
Advise to your customers?
They are the reason why we have not quited. We say thank you. To those who look up to grow like us, note that, in every situation you find yourself as business, please know more about the business you are doing for it will help you go higher in business.
Hobby and food?
I am yam freak, in terms of food. I love it in any form. I love sports especially table tennis because I can play it well.