Meet our Girl Boss
Modupe is the founder of Capital Square, a membership-based co-working space in Lagos, Nigeria.
She had her Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Covenant University, and followed with a Masters degree in Management from Warwick University, U.K.
She returned to Nigeria immediately after her Masters and after a brief time at an FMCG, set off to found Capital Square, one of the first co-working spaces in the country. At a time when most co-working spaces were tech-focused, Capital Square had the added advantage of being open to non-techies for work. With your laptop in hand, you would be sure of a work station, Wi-Fi and free coffee! The first location opened at Garnet House, Lekki in November 2013. They launched private offices in July 2015 and the second location, The Studio, opened up at Ikoyi in July 2016.
We’re delighted to present her entrepreneurship journey for you to learn from!
IBG: Tell us about your business
MMO: Capital Square is a co-working space; not an incubator, not an accelerator – I like to be specific. At the beginning we used to get that mix-up a lot but not so much now, so I guess we’ve been able to do some work in getting that clear.
It’s not just about office space but about building a community, which is one thing we’re still trying to get that right. Because of the way things are in the country, people just want to come in and doing their work but there’s so much more that co-working has to offer. But, if you take out everything else, at the end of the day, we’re an affordable and flexible place to work.
We are now focusing on community and capacity building. The idea is that if you bring a bunch of different and interesting people into a space, then it just sparks creativity and innovation.
In the coming months, if what we’re planning works out, you should see a lot more ideas and community-focused things coming out of the space.
IBG: How did you decide on product and price points? How did you decide that you would focus on co-working and not building an incubator or an accelerator?
MMO:
On why we’re a co-working space and not an accelerator or incubator: Maybe I’m just lazy *chuckles* The first thing I wanted to do was to start a business that was not just hype but actually doing stuff. A lot of times, incubators run on ‘free money’ till the start-ups are viable. I wanted to build a business that would grow organically – not start out with hype and end up struggling to live up to expectations. I’d rather keep expectations low and then surpass them
I wanted to build a sustainable business that would run on the money from the products and services that we had.
Starting out, I didn’t know so many people and I’m not the most social person. If I was going to run an accelerator, I would need to constantly keep talking to people, showing them pitch decks and I didn’t want to do that.
I also felt that I should face my work and build it. When we’ve grown and have a bit of a name, then we can partner with people who are really into incubation and acceleration programmes.
In terms of pricing: I just thought about what I would be able to afford as someone who was just starting out. I wanted our prices not to be too high or too low. We’re still constantly tweaking prices based on observation and feedback. Now, we’ve opened a space at Ikoyi and people are saying that prices are different but that can’t be helped. We’re now thinking of experimenting with doing a same day pass rate for both locations just to make it easier.
When we started, we had four different plans and it was too fragmented. So now, you’re either paying for the whole month or doing the pay-as-you-go plan. This is easier to explain and more straightforward. So we’ve been making adjustments as we’ve gone along.
IBG: How did you build your customer base?
I started talking about Capital Square the moment I thought of the idea. That was before the space was even confirmed. I had seen this building and I was trying to convince my dad to invest. So I just went on Twitter and said “I have this space available in Lekki. If you’re interested, send me your email address” and people did. So, I added them to a mailing list. That’s how it started and grew– social media and word of mouth. We’ve not done traditional advertising yet. We also started doing SEO and ads on Google last year so that has helped as well. We also have a guest book at the reception so people who visit are added to our mailing list automatically. We’ve also been on one or two radio shows, so all these little things add up eventually and help us to keep putting the brand in front of people.
I think we need to do more work though because I’m always sad when I talk to people and they’ve never heard of Capital Square.
IBG: What was your first major challenge?
MMO: We started working on the Capital Square project in February/March 2013 and opened in November 2013. Our first major challenge was setting up the space. I’m not an architect but I was able to get a family friend to help with a floor plan. I found that it was such a challenge dealing with the people working at the site. I found that artisans could have very poor work ethic. They weren’t people I had worked with before, so I found that either they did shoddy work which would have to be redone, or simply wouldn’t listen to instructions. I had hired them partly because they weren’t too expensive, but I found that it wasn’t worth it at the end of the day.
I was still working at my 9-5 job so I would go to wake up early to go to work, leave work at the end of the day and get to the site, stay till 9-10pm, get home and work on the website and on scheduling social media posts. So getting to the site and finding that people were not following instructions was quite frustrating. Balancing that with my job was a tough one and I found that I was always falling ill because of the stress.
When we set up the Ikoyi space in July 2016, it was less stressful because I mostly worked with people I had worked with before and could vouch for their work.
IBG: How did you raise start-up capital?
MMO: Family basically. It was started with money from family that I have given myself strict instructions not to waste.
Because I had gone on Twitter to say I had a space and had gotten some responses, when it was time to convince them, I could say ‘I’ve asked and people have indicated interest in this and if I actually market it, it could grow…’ That was how I got buy-in. I also had to do some sort of projections to show that I was being serious about the idea and that it was a viable business idea.
At the end of the day, I still needed more money than I got initially but I still haven’t hit the numbers we need to be profitable. I had given myself a 3 year deadline to get profitable but people told me I wasn’t being fair! So, I’ve added two years to that so that I can really focus on marketing. Up till now, we were really focused on fine-tuning our processes and I think we have that figured out mostly. So, now we can market.
IBG: How do you stay competitive?
MMO: Because we are nice! Seriously. We pride ourselves on being nice people. My friends come here in my absence and they tell me “Your people are really nice.” We are nice and respect everyone. I’d like people to come here and feel like they’re meeting friends.
IBG: What kind of culture exists in your organisation?
MMO: It’s a nice, friendly tone we have here. If I notice that you’re too formal at the recruitment process, I’m not even going to hire you. You can’t be uptight and work here. Personally, I’m not even that kind of person. I guess that’s my personality coming into play here. I make a conscious effort to remind the staff not to be too formal.
Even our communication isn’t stiff and formal. You’ll never get an email from us saying “Good Afternoon Sir. Trust all is well…” We’re more likely to start with ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’. As a co-working space, I feel like there ought to be a bit of a collegial feel – you come in do your work with a bit of music playing in the background and random gisting -that sort of thing.
IBG: As you’ve begun to scale up and have opened another co-working space in Ikoyi, what major challenges does that come with?
MMO: Definitely, it does come with its challenges. One of which is trying to make sure neither space gets neglected. For the first space, we had a lot of people say “Your space is nice but it’s far.” For this new space, Dolphin in Ikoyi seemed like a good idea because it’s central to the island and mainland. It complements our first space well. Right now, I spend a lot more time there because there’s more space for me (unlike my office at our first space that is practically a store!) and we need to get our processes in place over there.
IBG: A lot of people say recruitment is a big issue but you seem to have it got it in that area. What are you doing right?
MMO: I don’t know, maybe it’s just luck. At the beginning, I didn’t know what to do with money, so I went through a recruitment agency! I hired two people. Over time, one of them has proved to be very serious and hardworking and she has been with us since then.
Since then, I’ve hired a few other people but I just go on twitter and ask people to tell people to apply. I hire for fit rather than assumed skillset or whatever people think they know. I think that once you have a good head on your shoulders, are open to learning and you get along with people, then you can come in.
What we do here is not very technical. A lot of it is about relating with people, basic excel and basic admin skills so if you have a good head on your shoulders, you should be able to do well. I’ve hired people that looked good on paper but in working with them, you just want to ask them to leave!
Now, I have a great team that is hardworking, understands the business and wants it to grow. So, I’m glad I can depend on them.
IBG: Who has been your greatest inspiration?
MMO: My dad, because he’s someone that doesn’t give up on people or on ideas and he’s always willing to try something new and see what comes out of it. I find that admirable.
Someone who inspires me who I don’t know personally is Tina Roth Eisenberg. She’s a doer of many things – she’s a graphic designer and she also has a co-working space which was the inspiration for Capital Square. She strikes me as very creative and very open to learning and doing different things. I think she’s an amazing person and I’d like to meet her someday and pick her brain.
IBG: What book or movie has inspired you the most and why?
MMO: The book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It’s my favourite book. The main character, Jane, is a very interesting person. She had her convictions and stuck to them. There were some things about her that were borderline rebellious which I love. She reminds me a lot of myself. She didn’t necessarily like girly things, but she liked books, did her own things without minding anyone and found her own happiness. She was different and she was strong. If and when I have a daughter, I’m going to make sure she reads the book starting with the kid’s version to the abridged and then unabridged version; with a refresher every 3 years!
IBG: What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
MMO: I’m always happy when people say they like what we’re doing. It seems like a small thing but it feels good to know I’m not wasting time and doing something that doesn’t add value to anyone. When people say “I don’t know what I’d do without you”, there’s just this feeling it gives me. Priceless!
IBG: What’s your favourite part of being an entrepreneur?
MMO: Being able to sit around in your pyjamas and work. Thank God for laptops!
IBG: How did you structure your finances at the beginning? Did you pay yourself?
MMO: Initially, for the first few months, I wasn’t paying myself and I wasn’t taking money from the business. My mum had to tell me that I’d need to take care of myself. Then, I did a silly thing. I started paying myself what I was earning when I was working for a big company. I then realised that at that rate, I would take all the money that was meant to grow the business. So, I slashed my salary in half.
We’re not profitable yet and while I know we will get there, I don’t want to finish all the money! I can’t raise my salary alone; it has to be across board. So, until I can do that, things remain the same.
I got an accountant pretty early so that got our paperwork and taxes covered. It’s always very satisfying when the tax guys show up and we can show them the receipts and keep them speechless! So, pay your taxes.
IBG: In one word, describe your life as an entrepreneur.
MMO: Scattered!
IBG: What sacrifices have you had to make?
MMO: Giving up a good job with a good salary. I was in a graduate training programme in a great company so when I see some of the people who were in my set that are still working with the company, I just think of the money they are earning right now! Not being able to do nice things for yourself because you’re ploughing money back into the business.
I feel like you also sacrifice Time – as an employee, you can log off after 6pm, but as a business owner, you’re on 24/7 and the moment something goes wrong that you could have dealt with if you were paying attention, you’ll feel like it skipped your watch and so you’re practically always in work mode.
You won’t have your time to yourself. Although I have gone on a vacation since the business started, I found that I was either thinking about work or actually working.
IBG: What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made ?
MMO: Under-estimating the value of structured marketing. I know we haven’t hit the numbers we could have because many people still don’t know about the business; so we don’t have the number of customers we should have. While I’ve been trying to structure the market campaigns and what we’re pushing out, I don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to it because other things come up on a day to day basis.
So if I was going to do it differently, right from day one, I would hire an in-house social media person and a marketing agency (even if it’s a small one) to structure our marketing and what we’re putting out there.
IBG: Do you have a daily morning ritual? Please share with us!
MMO: I do not! I wake up and do whatever is next on my to-do list!
IBG: If you could start your business over, what would you do differently?
MMO: Marketing and better negotiations for this space.
IBG: What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs?
MMO: If you want to start something, do it with as little overhead costs as possible. Don’t give yourself the headache – it’s a lot of headache. Come and work from Capital Square! Really look at the cost of what you want to do. Pay your taxes. Get an accountant. Do all the legal basics before it’s too late.
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