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‘My honorary doctorate is a great honour’ – Shade Okoya  

CHIEF (Mrs.) Shade Okoya, the wife of Chief Rasaq Akanni Okoya, the billionaire owner of Eleganza Group of Companies, was on Saturday, August 23, 2014, conferred with Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc) in Business Management and Corporate Leadership by European-American University.
The investiture, held at the Conference Hall of University of Lagos Guest House, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, had in attendance many important personalities.
She, according to the university, was honoured with the degree on account of her achievements as the Managing Director of Eleganza Industrial City, the company that produces various sizes and designs of plastic chairs, luggages, cooling boxes, diapers, ladies sanitary products, hair thread, stainless water tank, shoes, etc.
She spoke to ENCOMIUM Weekly after her investiture…

We want to congratulate you on your honorary doctorate award today.
Thank you.
How does it feel to have been so honoured?
It is a very big honour, a great thing.  I think the university is doing a very good job.  Because of this, all of us honoured today have decided to direct our energies and resources to assist more universities in the country to achieve their aims of given quality education to the people. I am using this occasion to appeal to the government to also direct resources and energy in the education sector.  This will go a long way in reducing the number of people that go abroad to seek quality education.
We can do it once we are determined.  We all know that education is the bedrock of any development all over the world.  The country as a whole certainly will be the beneficiary of such focus on education sector.
Will you say this award towers above all other awards you’ve ever been given?
Not really.  It’s just that it will make me to appreciate what I have been doing and ginger me to do more.
Eleganza Industrial City has been my main focus.  We have been bringing out quality products at very reasonable and competitive prices to the market.  We did not and we are not going to compromise on quality.  Today, we are proud to say that everything that you need in terms of your daily needs you will get them at Eleganza Industrial City at very affordable prices. This award has certainly shown that people appreciate what we are doing at Eleganza Industrial City.  Like I said, this is like a wake-up call for me.
In recent times you have been more involved in the running of the Eleganza business.
It is a new baby (Eleganza Industrial City).  It is less than a year.  It is a dream come true for me.  The chairman, Chief Rasaq Akanni Okoya, has been doing it for years.  I have just taken over from him. He has the vision, the idea and the finance.  But he needs somebody to actualize these lofty ideas for him.  I am happy to have been given the opportunity to bring about the modern day Eleganza products.
It is just a year since I took over but in the next few years the sky wouldn’t even be our limit.
What does the modern day Eleganza products consist of?
The modern day Eleganza products are what you see in the market now.  Modern day chairs, daily need items, sanitaries, everything that you can imagine will make living worthwhile for you.  They are different from what we have before.  This is why we called them modern day Eleganza products.  We are producing what we’ve seen in Europe here at affordable and reasonable prices without compromise of quality.
We could see that you are now the Group Managing Director of Modern Day Eleganza.
I thank God for that.
Your husband, Chief Rasaq Okoya is not here with you today.  Hope all is well?
He is not in town.  Everything is fine, thank you.

TOLANI ABATTI
Pix – DAPO ADESEKO

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