By Juliet Ebirim

Amidst the bustling aisles of the just concluded Agrofood & Plastprintpack Nigeria exhibition, which held recently at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos, Funmi Babatunde-Dada exudes a quiet confidence. As the Executive Director of TECO Group, a Nigerian conglomerate with a 45-year legacy in oil and gas services, palm oil mill construction and steel fabrication, she stands at the intersection of innovation and heritage. This year, the engineering company’s presence at the exhibition was particularly significant, marking the unveiling of their latest innovation: a Dual-Purpose Screw Press and Digester for palm oil processing, a testament to their commitment to advancing Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

For Funmi, her seven-year tenure at the company is a chapter deeply rooted in building upon her father’s vision. Engr. Charles Aladewolu, the company’s founder, embarked on this entrepreneurial journey with a clear mission: to introduce mechanized palm oil processing to a nation predominantly reliant on traditional methods. “When he started, there weren’t so many mills in the country,” explains Funmi. “Everyone was processing palm oil using the local method. So he decided to look for ways to introduce more mechanised ways of processing into the country. That’s how TECO was born so many years ago.”

Over the decades, the company has become a key player in constructing mechanized palm oil mills across Nigeria, primarily catering to medium to large-scale farm holders. Now, under Funmi’s leadership, the company is strategically pivoting to empower smaller agricultural players. “We’ve decided to take all the technology that we’ve introduced to these big players, bottle it into a smaller equipment that will be useful for small scale farm holders,” she revealed.

Funmi firmly believes that establishing mechanized palm oil mills nationwide is a crucial catalyst for rural development. “Building Mechanised Palm Oil Mills across the nation is one of the quickest routes to bringing infrastructure to rural areas while creating jobs, which in turn reduce national poverty levels and support the country’s economic growth,”

Her vision extends to nurturing local talent and reversing the trend of brain drain. “Most Nigerian engineers take their knowledge and skills abroad. Why don’t our engineers come out and innovate for Nigerians? Why are we importing from China, when we can make good, quality equipment here? As a country, we do a lot of import, all our machines are imported. The fabrication industry is such a small industry compared to the size of the market and the users of the equipment. It’s a big space and we want more people in it.”

Funmi’s background in business consultancy and experience in the Big 4, has been instrumental in helping steer the decades-old company into the future. “In the last few years that I’ve been here, we’ve revamped a lot of our processes. We’ve been able to bring our business into the 21st century. One of the challenges you find with an old business is change. I’ve brought in processes, changes and new technologies into the system, so that we can build a company of the future.”

Navigating the male-dominated landscape of engineering and manufacturing is a reality she acknowledges, but refuses to let define her. “We live in a broken world. There’s race issues, tribal issues, gender issues and so on. I try not to make it define me. I don’t wake up every morning thinking ‘Oh I’m a woman in a male-dominated industry.'” While recognizing the underrepresentation of women in her field, she added “I’ve tried so hard to employ more women, but they just hardly seem to exist in this engineering space. I tell my HR to please look for more women. We just don’t see more women in this field; women technician welders, fabricators, engineers etc. Regardless, I just get on with it and look for ways to achieve our goals. I’ve been blessed to have the right team around me. I’m not sure they bother about my gender. They just see a leader and they work well with me to achieve our goals. I think that when you know your onions and you go into a room full of men, you earn the respect. To a large extent, I’ve received respect from the men I work with; clients, suppliers and staff alike. It’s good to see more women in leadership positions, but we need more, especially in engineering.”

Sharing her journey to this leadership role, despite not being an engineer by training, she stated. “I’m a business consultant by profession. People are always surprised when I say I’m not an engineer. I studied Financial Accounting and Economics in the university, but I’ve worked in some of the Big 4 companies. One thing with working in consulting is that it’s a fantastic training ground. If you work in consulting, to a large extent, you can work anywhere, because it gives you a good idea of business. The concept of running a business, no matter what the business is, is the same. If you have the right team, you can achieve anything.”

Funmi’s vision  is one of enduring impact. “I want to see more Nigerian-owned businesses last beyond the first generation. Not just last, but are profitable, successful and impactful. I hope that we would do 100 years as a business. We want to leave a mark and be known for building industries, training people, impacting lives, innovation and building world standard equipment for Nigeria by Nigerians.”