Ibidunni Layade is a Chartered Accountant-turned Event Planner. After qualifying while still an undergraduate, on graduation, she had brief stints at PriceWaterHouseCoopers and United Bank for Africa (UBA) before quitting the profession for event planning, decoration and coordination, and much later catering. She is the Chief Executive at Dunnice Events, the parent company to Dunnice Catering, through which she has, for over 17 years, helped clients to create memorable occasions of their events. Having handled high-profile corporate events for Deloitte, Siemens, KPMG, Lekki Ports, Dangote Refinery, Lagos Free Trade Zone (FTZ), General Electric as well as private high net worth individuals, among others, she stood tall as the event planner and coordinator at the recently held Night of Tributesorganised by Deloitte for the Doyen of the Accounting profession, the late Akintola Williams.
In this interview with OLAWUNMI OJO, Assistant Editor, she speaks on how event planning became more attractive than accounting to her, the satisfaction her strides in the industry has brought her and why parents and guardians must de-emphasise the herd mentality about certificate acquisition and encourage their wards to nurture skills.

How long have you been into events planning, decoration and coordination?
We started 17 years ago. I am also a Chartered Accountant, but I decided to stop working to do something else. I had a passion for event planning very early, which was what led me to this. We are grateful that we are still at it today. And it is indeed an honour for me, personally, to be the one that would plan this Tribute event for the Doyen of Accounting, the late Pa Akintola Williams, being an accountant myself.

Where did you practice before delving into events and catering?
I practiced briefly with stints at PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) before leaving.

Why did you leave, after becoming a Chartered Accountant?
My driving force to be an accountant was to make money. Over 20 years ago, I had an aunt who worked at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the time and always came around with a lot of new naira notes. So, I thought I would make lots of money.However, after I got into the profession, and in those early years, all I was seeing were debit and credit, balance sheets, not the money. It was a bit boring, stereotyped and repetitive. Besides, I had just got married, so I felt I could not continue and that I needed to do something else.
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Were you already doing events on the side?
No. I was strictly a bookworm and had even qualified as a Chartered Accountant while still in school. The only thing was that I had flair for organising, helping people to organise parties. I was always restless and willing to help people put things together. But I never knew it was something I could later earn money from.
Today, we are also into catering. Dunnice Catering is our subsidiary, which started 10 years ago while Dunnice Events is the parent company that started 17 years ago.
Dunnice catering is growing because people eat everyday. We do office catering, food deliveries; we service homes where they want to have a taste of party food but can’t do it by themselves at home. During the COVID-19 outbreak, people started ordering food trays.

Reflecting on your 17 years in the industry, how would you describe the first steps you took in the business?
The first job I actually did was for my church at Christmas. After obtaining permission from the Pastor, I did a Christmas decoration in the church auditorium in December free of charge. That got me a job from a church member who saw what I did in the auditorium.
Afterwards, I had to go for training at Simbabe Balloon and Accessories in Surulere. That helped me to fine-tune my skills. From then on, I have attended several trainings and have kept learning and growing. Aside from many certifications, which I have today, I am also a member of Association of Professional Party Organisers and Events Managers of Nigeria (APPOEMN). I have also gone to Creative Mode, Cutting Edge… I have done a lot of trainings. Today, I still learn from a lot of people and places. This is because of the realisation that the day you stop learning is the day you start declining.

What has sustained your interest in the business over time?
Every step of the way, I have kept getting better while some other people would have deserted it for some other engagements. I have kept at it for 17 years and it has been worth the while. Though it has been tough for businesses, I had to stay put and keep at it, especially as I have burnt the other bridge. I have put my accounting certificate under the pillow, even though my accounting knowledge helps me with management of my business and presentation in times of bidding to win contracts. Today, I have lost count of the many high-profile events that we have handled.
Like you pointed out, many young persons would have quit in the face of the challenges. The lessons for young people is that in whatever you do, make sure you give your all; be dedicated, determined and focused.You must also have integrity; let your yes be yes.
On the job, always keep to time and keep your words in terms of when you will deliver on jobs. If you need to take on more hands to be able to deliver on time, please do it.
For instance, to deliver on this Deloitte’s Akintola Williams Tribute job, though I have full time staff members, I still got more part-time people to join us.
This is an industry where you can almost always not do things alone. We got the contract on Friday and we had to make the venue ready before 10am on Monday, the day of the event. The chain of activities to put this venue in shape and ready for the event was so much. The printing was much. We had about 21 different designs of print that had to be done because printing companies do not open on Sundays. So, we needed all the prints to be ready on Saturday. The stage is all wood construction; we constructed everything. We moved in the chairs; we had a 26-man team working on this. We also had to coordinate all the vendors. It took a lot of work to deliver this.
You must also ensure you get a support structure either on the homefront or the business front to help you get by in business effectively from time to time. Overall, the God factor has been key. Whatever you become, don’t take away the God factor.
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What are some of the limitations you encountering the industry?
There have been a lot of challenges such as funding, location, logistics issues and the like. But we just keep forging ahead, defying the odds.
One major challenge is logistics.To handle that, we have been able to ensure that we have three vendors in every aspect of our business. So, when one is not available, the other would be available to deliver service.
Again, you cannot have all equipment. You would always need to rent or lease. For lighting, I have my lighting equipment, but occasionally we may have two events in a day. As such, we may need a vendor to supply.

What can government do to support the industry?
I think government can help with the taxes. The taxes being paid are quite high. There is the challenge of multiple taxation; poor infrastructure is also a challenge. They should also look at how to help SMEs get better.

You hinted at having handled some big events, could you highlight some of them?
Aside from the recently held Akintola Williams tribute, which is a 1000-guest event, I also recently handled a high-profile 2000-guest event in Abeokuta. I would not mention names because of the profiles of the clients. But we started from the scratch in building the marquee for a burial.
In the past, we have handled big time corporate events for Deloitte, Siemens, KPMG, Lekki Ports, DangoteRefinery, Lagos Free Trade Zone(FTZ), General Electric, as well as private high networth individuals.The experience for every event is always different and with different demands.

For young women entrepreneurs looking up to people like you, what would you say has helped you to stand out in the industry?
Some of those things are our integrity and punctuality. One of our clients gave us the payoff line, ‘Dunnice Delivers.’ He was surprised that we beat the deadline we gave on delivering for an event. At every point in time, if I have to hire more hands to deliver on time, I just simply do it.
Again, every job is personal for us. Every client is a VIP. So, what we do with every event is that we deliver and take away your stress, and you can just stroll in like a guest and enjoy yourself. We create that event of a lifetime for you; we make it very memorable, from the food to the ambience, to the flow of event, everything would be wow!

Many parents encourage their children to acquire formal education, degrees and certificates. But here you are, after all your certifications, you are thriving, doing something developed from soft skills. What is the lesson?
I tell parents to encourage their wards do anything they have passion for. We are in an era where everything makes money.It is no longer only about being an accountant, an engineer or a doctor;anything you notice your child has a passion for, help them to nurture that skill. Look at me today, my passion for putting together events drives me. So, parents, encourage your children and enhance whatever skill you notice in them and see how well they will come out at the top.
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