- LAGOS Printing Corporation GM, Hon. KOLAWOLE PEREGRINO
You cannot meet Hon. Kolawole Peregrino for the first time and not like him. If you are not impressed by his intelligence, you definitely would be awed by his simple nature and likeable personality. He is a mn who, despite his impressive status, remains unbelievably humble. He does not walk with chips on his shoulders. He is a man who shows the next person some measure of respect, and it doesn’t matter to him if he is by far superior to the person. Little wonder why he has been able to gain the trust and love of his over 200 staff at the Lagos State Printing Corporation. They all respect him and admire his leadership qualities. They can go to any lengh to ensure they do not disappoint him. That’s how m,uch they love their boss, Hon. Kolawole Peregrino. This among other things has helped him turn around the fortunes of the printing corporation within such a short while.
Hon. Kolawole Peregrino was honoured recently at the City People Award for Excellence at the Lagos Country Club last Sunday. Shortly after he picked his award, City People Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) spoke with the very hardworking GM of the Lagos State Printing Corporation and got him to speak about his experience and modest accomplishments so far on the job.
Congratulations, sir! Please, share with us your thoughts at this moment. How do you feel about the award you just received?
Well, sincerely, I feel elated. I never knew people were watching me and my conduct on the job. And like I said on stage moments ago, anything one is doing, you must put in your best shot because you can never tell who is watching you. A lot of people say that before I got to the printing corporation, motivation, production, had been zero. The truth of the matter is, even if you have the greatest ideas, if you do not have the support of your team, it will amount to zero. I am not a printer, but I believe that in anything you’re doing, what you bring to the table matters. If the Executive Governor had not been supporting me all this time, all the ideas we are bringing to the table will just perish. When I got to the corporation, I took my time and looked round. You know, all my staff are civil servants, and I was coming from the corporate world with my own ideas. I listen to them and let them know we are all going to work as a team. I led by example and they could see that this man is ready to work. And we have really worked hard. Without their support, we would not have been able to turn LSPC around. Now, I confidently tell people that I believe I am the greatest printer in Nigeria right now.
You made it all sound so easy, but I know it couldn’t have been that easy for you, sir, coming from the private sector and going into the civil service with all of it’s bureacracies, how challenging was it for you at the start, settling in?
Yes, that’s the kind of situation that shows exactly what you are and who you are. See, in any set up you find yourself, you need to be submissive. If you’re coming in as a boss, they will play you down, so character comes in too. They would say to themselves, this person coming, is he coming as a boss or as a team player? When I got there I said to them, I said look, I want to be the number one marketer in the country. Yes, it’s a government agency, but I want to run it like a private agency. It’s how you handle a government job that you will handle your own business. When I got there, I said to them, look, I need your co-operation, any good advice you give me, I am going to play along with you. They now watched me for about two months and compared the way I treated them to the way others before me treated them. It’s a collaboration thing. I’m a team player and they accepted me as a team player. And from that point, we began to make a lot of things happen in the corporation.
Like how long would you say it took you to turn the corner and turn things around?
That’s why I said, yes, I came in with ideas but if Mr. Governor had not been there to support me, I would probably not have achieved anything. Most of our machines were obsolete, so I needed to convince my boss that this is what is on ground and that’s why its not been working. There is also the salary and cost issue to look at. I told Mr. Governor then that if we can get all the support we needed, the corporation would turn into a gold mine in ten years. There were a lot of challenges then, getting paper was crazy because dollar was something else at the time. There was no single paper mill in the whole of Africa then. And the dollar rate was crazy and I needed to meet up. Somolu is there with their one man business. You are here and you have an overturn of over 200 staff. So, what Somolu will give you for N5,000, I can’t give you for same price because of my own over-head. So, what do I do? I have to bring in my papers to reduce my cost. And I discussed the idea with the governor and he agreed with me. Secondly, like I said, our machines that I met on ground were obsolete, we needed new machines. Today, we have a Speed Master, it’s a five colour printer and there’s just one of it in the whole of Africa. So, as I speak with you, a lot of people are coming to us because they appreciate the quality of what we have. I am talking to a lot of banks right now and even the CBN. So, it’s a personality thing sometimes. You just need to bring yourself down to be able to get what you want. I’m a Capricornian and you know Capricornians are achievers. I set my goal and I go for it.
You clearly have a likeable personality, you’re the kind of person someone meets for the first time and immediately takes to liking you. Share with us, sir, how your personality has helped you get by on the job and attract top clientele for you?
You know, I studied Insurance, so I had to link up with my colleagues back in school then. I was also a political party man. I was national secretary from AD to ACN to APC, so it was on the party Exco that I joined them. I have been liaising with a lot of printers, a lot of corporate organisations from corporate to financial support, so its been easy for me finding my way around. I’ve been an Insurance person, I did my IT with an American insurance company. So, I could walk into a place, talk to them and tell them, let’s do business together. And trust me, the response has been massive, very encouraging. So, that’s why I say I am one of the greatest marketers in the country at this point in time (smiles).
