By McPhilips Nwachukwu
Except for the fact that the meeting was a little earlier before night, that interesting encounter with Prince Tunde Ponnle, Chairman, MicCom Cables and MicCom Golf Centre and Resorts and his wife, Olufunke, was more like a moonlight meeting.

Precisely at 5:30  that evening in the large expansive parlour of his home nestling in the  serene area of Ogudu GRA, the  71-year-old Prince of Ada, Osun State and his beautiful wife, Princess Olufunke,  spotting in  their stainless white brocade with matching traditional cap and head-gear beautifully balanced on their heads were ready for the evening of revelation.

Having senior editors  from  different news media seated in their large  sitting room, all expectant of the tale from a great man and great woman, whose undying and say-no spirits resulted in their coming out first in different areas of their chosen professions, the old jolly good fellow, Pa Ponnle, kept himself busy checking the air conditioner  and light units to make sure nothing interrupted the  evening story.

Choice wines served, and the Ponnles regaling jokes at some of  the journalists and jockingly  remarked that “he was not sure of any journalist, who drank only water.” He said it to tempt some of us who wanted to behave like good children in the presence of an elder.

Ponnle couple

But  the old man understands the magic of wine: the conviviality it creates for good story to flow. Yes, every good story tastes  like a good wine. And, so it became of that evening, when the accomplished couples whom Yemi Ajayi has beautifully chronicled their story in a biography titled; The Magic of Pulling Together: A Joint biography of Prince Tunde and Princess Olufunke Ponnle,  began their tale.

Their story reads like a relay race:  71-year-old Tunde Ponnle  would start the story and his wife, Olufunke, like in a Greek play, would provide the chorus: either to throw more light on what his well-articulate  husband has said, or to provide  an information on some forgotten incidents.

Not surprising any way because the peaceful couple  have lived together as husband and wife, friends and business associates for too long.

As far back as the 60s’ when young Tunde was a student-teacher at Ife Girls’ High School, he had found out that there was a particularly bright student in the final-year class. “I saw her at the school, I taught  her as a student-teacher; and, of course, she was a very brilliant student; and  the most brilliant in her class,” Ponnle said.

Continuing,  he said,”I proposed to her after her final year, when she was to proceed to UMC at Ile-Ife.” But that  marriage proposal, according to Olufunke, did not go down easily.” I didn’t want to marry him because he was my teacher. Again, because I wasn’t looking for a husband that I was going to answer sir, sir.”

Looking at his smiling husband coyly, Olufunke, almost like a babe being toasted afresh, recapped that moment, when she said: “ when I agreed to marry him, I told him that I wasn’t going to address him as sir again and he agreed. And, before he left that day, I  called him his name, Tunde, several times and he was very happy.”

That eventful marriage was to give birth to  two inspiring personalities: husband and wife, both chartered engineers and profound and accomplished business associates.

Both trained at  the Polytechnic of London, where they studied electronic and radio  engineering, Olufunke confessed that her fortuitous meeting with her husband changed her choice of career. According to her,” I had trained to become a teacher. I was among the first set of people to obtain Associate Certificate in Education at the University of Ife, where the late Professor Babs Fafunwa was our Head of Department.

Tunde’s interest in the sciences influenced me and I began to take sciences seriously and, like he did, I also enrolled at the Rapid Response College preparatory to the General Certificate of Education examinations in the sciences.”

Surprisingly, Pa Ponle did not take the science for any particular reason or conviction.” My parents were stark illiterates and poor and, as a result, I could not go to secondary school, where sciences were taught. But my friends, who were not as bright as I was  went to secondary schools and would come back during holidays to discuss sciences. My branch out into the sciences was more of an ego boasting thing,” he said.

Ironically, that  unconscious adventure into the world of sciences and engineering was to give birth to the first indigenous cable manufacturing firm in the country.

Reminiscing about this development, Pa Ponnle said,”When we came back from the UK, they still reposted us to the Ministry of Education whereas  the expectation had been to  transfer our services to the university. So, after some time, I resigned.”

After resignation, Pa Ponnle decided to take a shot at a private business and, of course, with support of his amiable wife.  He registered the company first, Freebon Cables Nigeria Limited. The name, according to him,  had  to be changed because, ”a Lebanese suggested  that we changed it. And, so we came up with the name, MicCom, taken from my name, Michael and my wife, whose name is Comfort.”

The company started in 1974 with a three-man staff to become  the first  indigenous cable manufacturing outfit  in Nigeria.

“It was not easy in the beginning. We had  challenges from the expatriate companies. We did not  take off as manufacturers, but more as contractors. We started what we see today as contractors with a staff strength of three persons drawn from mostly radio and electronic mechanic technicians.

“What helped us was the Germans, the Strabag people, who built Murtala  Muhammed  Airport. They said that they were surprised to see husband and wife doing business together in Nigeria the way we did it and they, therefore,  supported us with contracts, Pa Ponle  said.

Ma Olufunke  added, “We were  even paying staff from our salaries.” While  the small company was struggling to find its feet, Pa Ponnle’s wife was still working full-time  in  another company. But because  she felt  there was hope in the project, she resigned to join her husband.

“Yes”, she said, “ I had to resign. I felt my husband could not do it alone. Though I was doing a  well-paid job, I had to resign. Many people  were shocked that I resigned.  But, I told  them that I was an ordinary Grade 11 teacher when my husband married; and that now I am a qualified engineer, which he had trained me to become.

“I felt that if I resigned and joined  to help him with my own knowledge, he would move faster.”

With that conviction of mind and oneness of purpose, the Ponnles  started a company that would revolutionalise the production of  electrical and industrial cables in the country.

The success story of MicCom  is also not without the frugality of mind and professionalism of industry practice employed by the couple. Pa Ponnle recalled, “I would not go to boutiques to shop for my clothes in those days.

Instead, Oshodi market was the shopping place for me.” And, to confirm that, his wife added, “Tunde knew I was very careful with money. He was the one going  out to get the contract,  while I stayed back in the office to direct the work as technical director.”

Again, and to put it mildly, the Ponnles can be described as a  couple  who saw tomorrow. Through their foresight, they saw a future in the expatriate-dominated engineering industry and market prospect in the emerging Nigerian economy and decided to take a  risk.

“ We started off as a contracting firm. From that, we gathered little money with which I went to India to buy three little machines to make cables. It was with twenty-five thousand pounds  that I went to India to buy the machines, “Pa Ponle stated.

“When we began, we started with semi-finished cables until we were able to acquire machines that could start and finish cable making.

“However,  we were not driven by profit  but we were more concerned with the quality control of our products.”
Through that same foresight, MicCom business interest  has diversified  to the hospitality and leisure industry. Today, at the serene country-side of Ada, Osun State, the couple recorded  another first by becoming the first owners  of a private golf course.

MicCom Golf Course and Country Club/Hotels is an 18-hole golf course that provides a leisurely retreat centre for business, technocrats  and military executives.