Beyond the Office Space: Where Deals Get Sealed
The job of a managing director or a top management executive is not for the faint-hearted. The pressure can be excruciating, the competition fierce and the hours are long. Hence most executives feel compelled to add to their busy diaries membership of some social clubs for businesses opportunities.
In both business and corporate worlds, deals and transactions are necessary for the viable existence of any kind of outfit. But where such deals are closed vary, depending on the parties involved, their dispositions, the nature of the deals, the parties promoting the deal and personal lifestyle of those involved.
In recent times, many Nigerian executives are beginning to extend their office spaces to choice clubs not because their offices are not cozy enough but essentially because of the growing realisation that parties are more likely to yield in desired direction under a non-officious and relaxed ambience.
Victoria Island – the corporate capital of Nigeria
The clubs of choice depend on the ones that offer the opportunities to network with desired business partners or prospects. A few of these clubs have attracted executives. There is the Ikoyi Club, Lagos Country Club, Lagos Boat Club, Lagos Lawn Tennis Club and some exclusive bars like Swe bar, King Size, among others. Being a member of these clubs means allows one many night outings and hangouts with colleagues, friends, fellow competitors and clients for better acquaintance, as this creates a feeling of trust among parties and thus provides parties with the mutual confidence that allows a business deal to sail through without undue formalities and hurdles.
By nature, these clubs are elitist and are spaces for the display of wealth, affluence and style that give members some confidence to transact some big deals among themselves. It is interesting to remark that the strict entry policies of some of the clubs like the Ikoyi club or The Club at Sheraton trigger some kind of burning desire to make the grade. For the ambitious, the more demanding the entry standards are the better. They act as some kind of confirmation of status. For some executives, the fact that all the clubs have some kind of rigorous entry processes seems to add to the excitement of entry.
People want to enrol as members simply because their peers have such membership. As one of the high-profile members of the Ikoyi club puts it, being a member of this club is not just for the pleasure of the evening but to make more business connections and seal better deals. I have been a member of this club for 15 years and I have never regretted it. It’s been fun, work and business. You just have to be where the people that make it happens are or you will be out of business before you know what is happening.
Already some gurus of the advertising industry are creating club cells where each practitioner is free to mingle with his own. Individually, they belong to many social clubs like Ikoyi club, Lagos Country club or the golf club. But beside this, they also find a way to converge at places like a restaurant cum bar where the practitioners gather in large number. The King Size at Oregun is one example of where they mingle. Each practitioners forms it own cell that is not rigid or formal.
Culled from Businessday
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