Victor Solomon: How Cane Chair Weaving Metamorphose Into Ratan
Victor Solomon CEO of Vaj Ratan Limited, was born on February 15th, 1975, he attended St Francis Primary School in Mary Land and had his secondary school education at Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School.
His parents made a living with Cane chair weaving, a micro-section of the furnishing, interior and designing sub-sector of the Nigerian economy.
While growing up his parents were making a fortune from this natural plant known as cane, found in riverine areas. These long, thin stems are obtained from rattan vines used for making a variety of home furniture, which resulted in beautiful decorative and functional pieces.
Mr Solomon like the Biblical ‘Solomon’ blessed with wisdom, knowledge and wealth could not attain a tertiary institution, his foray into the business world started earlier in life while dishing out his acquired skills. He became an established cane weaver with varieties of designs in his showroom The MD/CEO of Vaj Ratan Company is an indigene of Delta State, from the Urobo extraction to be precise.
It is disheartening to Mr Solomon that a lot of graduates are roaming the street searching for jobs to no avail, although he did not perceive the four walls of a higher institution before he ventured into the cane chair business, to the Glory of God he is now an employer of labour; he has about 18 workers under the auspices of his establishment among which are graduates occupying different managerial positions.
He took a few questions from CREEKVIBES OLUWADAMILARE DANIELS, excerpts;
Can you please tell us about what you do?
My company produces Rattan Furniture.
How do you get it done?
I import the Rattan from China and fabricate it here to produce desired designs. I’ve got welders, tailors and weavers ready to handle other aspects of the production.
Concerning the workers that have formed an integral part of your production, I believe you can also handle some of the processes in getting the job done, how did you learn it?
General laughter, during my secondary school days, after returning from school I always assist my father, he was the one that started the cane weaving craft, and we usually handle some parts of the production such as; framing, sewing and weaving. So as time ticks civilisation threatened to wipe out the cane chair craft business because, it could not withstand moisture at bars, pools side and outdoor event centres.
As the saying goes, bad manners corrupt good company but, the reverse was my case in my association with Mr Moses, a bosom friend who introduced me to Rattan.
Initially, when he told me about it, I declined, later I discovered he was making good income from it, so I decided to try it out.
That was how I switched over from cane to Rattan, one good turn deserves another, I progressed in the business and to God be the glory, it made me who I am today.
Have you had any heart-threatening events?
My heart-threatening experience was bad, I have some workers working with me in the warehouse, basically, they offload containers into the storage facility so, one of my workers broke into my warehouse and stole goods worth millions of Naira, it was heart wrecking because, I bought my goods in Dollars.
What is the estimation of the goods stolen from the warehouse?
About N7.8 million, the burglary brought me down. So I invited the law enforcement agents, they picked the culprits, and I discovered that a family member was among those that took part in the burglary, at that point, my hands became tied.
So his parents came begging, and I couldn’t take the necessary action.
So how did it go; were you able to retrieve some funds?
With the help of the police, I was able to get about N2.8 million, they pleaded for me to let go.
So, I had to apply for a loan through my bank to boost my business again, my bank has been helpful in terms of assisting me with loans.
Have you thought of diversifying your resources?
Yes, with the resources I made, I have diversified into the hospitality business.
Where is it located?
Ikorodu area.
What necessitated the idea of the hospitality business why not any other venture?
Right from a youthful age, I have never had an interest in building residential apartments due to the usual rancour between tenants and landlords that could last for a year without the tenant paying a dime.
The hotel business setting is different, if a lodger defaulted in paying lodging fees, you will check him out, and another customer will check into the facility.
Are you happily married with kids?
Happily married with five children, my first daughter is a graduate of Abraham Adesanya Polytechnic, Ijebu Igbo. She is happily married too. My son is also doing very well. I took him along while I was developing my hotel site because I wanted him to understudy how I invested in the hospitality business.
Are you also nurturing the idea of having an annexe of your hotel in Delta State, or the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja?
Not really, I want another outlet in Ikorodu and also in the Maryland area of Lagos State.
