Alhaji Teju Kareem
started ZMirage Multimedia Limited in 1996,
and he has been able to push the company, which provides lighting and
technical equipment for stage productions/theatres and events in Nigeria, to
the leading position in the industry.
Z-Mirage is now an
industry leader and it has handled works for big, and medium size organizations
in the country.
Some of its
corporate clients are the Nigerian Breweries Plc, and Elizade Motors. The
company, which also holds the franchise for the popular Miss Malaika Beauty
Pageant, has handled countless high profile events within and outside Nigeria
including KORA Music Awards in South Africa.
Teju Kareem is
giving the job all it takes, and his services extend beyond the shores of
Nigeria. He speaks more what his organization has been doing in this interview
he granted us recently.
Will
you say what is happening in ZMirage is the same with the dreams you had for
the company, when you started or you have any regret?
My dream for
ZMirage has been achieved and this is imbedded in the mission statement, which
is to set technical service and performance at the level equal to the artistic
interest of our counterparts. Who are our counterparts; Richard Mofe Damijo
(RMD), and Dede Mabiaku, they have excelled in their own artistic endeavours.
I, Teju Kareem in the area of Technical endeavour, I also want to excel and
make mark. As much as RMD has done his own in movie, stage, Dede Mabiaku has
done his own in music, Teju Kareem has also raised the bar in-terms of
technical productions, that was the aim, that was the dream and that has been
done. Beyond that, it is to serve humanity, what do I mean, the essence of any
man leaving his house in the morning is to put food on the table for his
family, which became commerce today. Beyond meeting my expectations for my
family, and artistic counterparts, I want to make it commerce, bring food on
people's tables. Prior to our advent, we used to have technical theatre on a
stage, but with ZMirage, we have been able to transform it into a corporate
entity, what do I mean by that, it is having an office, employing staff. We
provide services, carry out your daily jobs and improve human lives, especially
the technically trained personnel, who believe in dignity of labour. That is
what we have done and we have achieved tremendously. Since inception, we have
been able to increase the number of our staff, we have been able to influence
and motivate people, who have left us to also start companies that are doing
very well today. Now, everybody now see that technical support service can
become a business, where you can set up office, have warehouse unlike what was
obtainable before now, which was basically to pick items like light from some
places or studios of some television stations. That was what was obtainable
before the advent of ZMirage. However, there are companies like Market Place,
Sony Music, who are into sound rentals, but they are not like one stop shop
like ZMirage, where we do light, sound, screen, technical advice and
consultation on events. That is what we are doing today.
So,
what has kept you going all these while?
We want to eat,
every staff wants to take food home, you want survival, its not different from
what is keeping the bankers on, it's not different from what is keeping the
insurers on, every other thing is a pretence, you want to make a living, it is
what is keeping you going a s a journalist, you want to make your contribution
to the society, that is taken, beyond that, you want to keep your family. You
want to leave your one room apartment for a two-bedroom flat, and a bigger
house, you want to improve the quality of your journalism, the same thing with
ZMirage. First, we want to do what our artistic counterparts are doing in the
area of technical, but we have achieved that. As they aspire to excel
artistically, we aspire to do so technically, that would be on-going, but
beyond that, we want to keep our family and how do you get better pay from the
clients, it is by doing a better job and that would be on-going until we pack
up and other people take over. It would never stop, inventions would come,
different challenges, but the motive would remain the same, it is to feed, it
is livelihood. As it is from the early man, who left his yard and find a metal,
sharpen it on the stone, goes into the bush and kill an antelope and having
taken a bit of the blood to refresh himself, he tears open the antelope, he is
not satisfied with eating the bone, he kept the bone, dry them and start using
them for different things. He starts using the bones for herbs, the skin for
clothing, it's the same, but the motive remains the same, to exist, to feed, to
improve.
What
are your long and short term plans?
To make money; buy
airplane, buy yatch, build mansion, let the staff improve their lives, change
the cars, improve salaries, have enough.
What
have been your guiding principles all these while?
Fairness, just be
fair to the clients, he paid for the job, you take the client's money, you must
do the job. Forget, about any other thing, you take the client's money, he
writes his cheque, you do his job, that is what we do.
How
would you compare what you are doing here with what happens in Europe and the
United States of America and some other places out there?
In terms of the
ability to think, perceive, create, yes, we are at par, I can say we are even
better, but in terms of materials to implement our thinking, to implement our
concept, we will remain lacking as long as we remain a consuming nation and not
a technology nation. The bankers here, in-terms of figure, they are better than
their counterparts over there, but they need the machine, the software to
calculate, to do the interest rate and to give them the benefit of using the
machine. The implication is that the software allows me to get a better output,
where the individual effort will only allow me to get 30 to 40% output. The
same thing is applicable in our own field, our ability to think is not in short
supply, ability to create is not in short supply, our ability to procure what
we need to implement it is in gross short supply and it will remain so as the
interest rate remains high and the loans remain impossible to get except who
you know, as the government attitude to Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs)
remains unclear, they are fighting over the policy over it, it as long as they
are not doing it well it will affect us because we are the beneficiaries. If
the producers are not clear about, the beneficiaries are in for it, until that
is done, when SME projects is right, it will trickle down. In other climes,
through your banking procedures, because all your customers will pay through
the bank, the bank will see your ability and the business development manager
will give you a call and say you are making N7 or N8 Million in a month, he
would say they are giving you N13 Million, so you have N5 Million to expand,
that is not happening here and why is it not happening because the bank does
not have a good record of your income, why, because your client would not pay
until 2 or 3 days before the show and so you will just take your cash to Alaba
Market in Lagos to buy materials, so it does not pass through the bank. It is a
whole lot of societal mechanism of trading and economics and it has been well
articulated by our labeling; developing country. So as a developing country,
all these processes are also in developing stage, so what we are discussing is
what we will be discussing until we get there. To say that we are doing less is
not true, we are doing what we need to do, we are in the process and the
process is what we need to resolve. Have we spent too much time on the process,
I don't believe so, between 1960 and 1962, when we became a republic up till
2011, when we had the last election, we are not doing any badly. Could we have
done better remains a discussion, we have to be objective, should we aspire to
do more, it is normal, it is human, we should aspire to do more.
Who
takes credit for the creativity in the company, is it you or the staff?
Our company started
from theatre, which is the mother of all including journalism, everything is in
the theatre, the word 'theatre' which is the re-enactment of our daily life, is
the offspring of all and the singular principle of that aspect of our life is
called; 'ensemble,' one family, team work, which the commerce people are using,
they borrowed it from the theatre, it is 'ensemble' it came from there. It is a
collective process and credit, however, we have division of labour; we have the
people in operation, the marketers, the executive, who run the office, we have
the creative people, who design in terms of artistic, it is an ensemble. The
theatre specifies that you must give credit to whom it is due, if it is the
success of design, you must give it to the designers, it if is that of ZMirage
as a company, it is to the administrative people and the people in operations.
What
would you like to be remembered for?
That I build a
good stage at all times.
What
is your best work so far, I mean the one that you did and you know you have
done a very good job?
Every one that I
have done so far, I can't remember any spectacular one because we keep doing
more everyday. If you know what a mirage means, it is only in the memory, it is
gone, it disappears, so I can't just hold on to anyone. So, for me what is best
is that which I aspire, not the one I left behind because it is only a mirage,
it is gone, long gone because I am still on the road, I am driving, I am
approaching, it's so fine, but the mirage is not finished because it is ahead
of me again. The mirage is still ahead of me; my best mirage can be as best as
the mirage I approach. My best work is as good as the work I am yet to do.
Have
you ever done any work that you feel you shouldn't have done the way you did it?
So many, like when
we were planning a stage and it collapsed with a whole governmental entourage
on inspection, I was ashamed. Also, when we tried to do something unique for
Elizade Motors, when they were launching their four-runner, we were very ready
with our creative ability to unveil the car, we were convinced, we built a
revolve, we put the car there, we tested it for the rehearsal and when they
were unveiling it, the thing refused to move, we are to run under the stage,
make it work, we had to push it, what we ought to have operated with machine,
and we were not proud of ourselves that day, we are professionals. Who is a
professional, the one that makes the event happen regardless of the hitch
without being noticed, he is not the one that prevents the hitch from
happening. It is the mistake Drogba makes, when he cannot put the ball in the
net that is what makesthe football crazy, 'ah he missed it, oh, he could have
scored it.' It is not in the re-play, it is not in the practice, that is why
football is the best entertainment you can get, because of the spontaneity, it
happens, when you least expected, it is not how many rehearsals they have gone
through that makes football what it is and how they are able to come back to
win, when they are two goals down. What makes a professional in my field is to
make the event happen regardless of the hitch, and also make it memorable, too
many that we regretted that we did.
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