If you’re a Nigerian who’s old enough to remember the savory aroma of freshly baked bread from the 60s and 70s, you might just recall something about Defacto Bakeries. At the height of its popularity, this Lagos-based confectionery house situated in the city’s Surulere district was the go-to centre for finely made bread and other fluffy edible products.
While the memory of feasting on Defacto’s pretty treats endures with a fairly large number of people, comparatively fewer persons know about its founder, Ade Tuyo. A man who spotted business opportunities where most couldn’t see, he was able to establish a brand that carved out a large share for itself in what was a market dominated by foreign companies.
Joshua Ade Tuyo was born in 1902 to a ruling house in Ijebu Ode. After completing his primary education, he enrolled for a teacher training program. However, health problems soon forced him to abandon this path. Although his parents had themselves been running their own businesses in traditional commerce (his father was a farmer and his mother a dye trader), Tuyo opted for formal employment with the emerging formal sector of the day.
After working as a clerical staff with the Railway Department for three years, Tuyo joined the Bank of West Africa in 1924 and was there for over a decade. Following this stretch, he returned to the Railway Department, where he eventually rose to the position of head of personnel. Sometime during his second stint at the Railway Department, he also had a role at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Interestingly, his big success with the bakery business happened after his retirement in 1953. And it was, to a great extent, due to his wife’s own enterprising efforts, which lay the groundwork for his venturing into the trade.
In what may be described as an ultimately favourable twist of fate, Alice Tuyo, Ade’s wife, had begun baking after her initial business had been sunk by thieves. Her decision was to get involved with what she considered a safer trade; with some assistance from her husband, she got formally trained for her chosen trade. When Mr Tuyo’s first post-retirement venture ran into the bricks, he decided to try out the bakery business himself.
In 1955, Tuyo set up a bakery with a workforce of four. Two things would have signalled the potential opportunities in this niche to him: the fact that existing bread bakeries seemed to be taking in good returns on their investments, and the Chamber of Commerce’s interest in helping indigenous bakers strengthen and compete favourably against the foreign brands. He applied for and received loans from the Federal Loans Board, and set about building Defacto Works Ltd, his bakery company, into a big hitter.
It’s said that his choice for a company name was deliberate and strategic. A Time Magazine article from 1965 suggests that Ade Tuyo- who is mentioned as one of Nigeria’s millionaires –had wanted his creditors at the banks to know that he was “seriously in business.” In any case, the bankers kept faith in him, and their trust was rewarded: in time, Defacto became one of postcolonial Nigeria’s biggest food brands.
By the late 1960s, Defacto had a staff of over 300 persons and was raking in an annual turnover of up to £170,000. Available records claim that it was by far the most capital intensive of all the bakeries operating in the country at that time. Expansion plans were drafted. The company was growing.
Defacto’s popularity stemmed from the quality of its products. They had forms and tastes comparable to the output from ovens in Europe and North America, with their full cream milk and malt ingredients. The target market for these products wasn’t the regular community shop or roadside kiosk. Instead, they made their way to the higher end stores and eatery spots frequented by middle and upper-class Nigerians, as well as the European expats living in the country.
At the height of its powers, Defacto had its own restaurant and several bake-shops. Bread from its bakery in Surulere was supplied far beyond the precincts of the Lagos metropolis, and the mouths which filled with its many products were legion. Evidence of this rests partly in the memories of nice meals borne by older citizens who recall its name when they speak of ‘the good old days’.
Like numerous other companies which thrived in the early decades of Nigeria’s post independence era, Defacto fell on hard times as the oil glut of the 1980s and the accompanying economic slowdown squeezed the country. There isn’t much left in the way of tangible reference to the bakery’s glory days, and a litany of firms have more than filled up the gap left in its absence.
Nevertheless, Ade Tuyo’s foray into the premium food industry is worth celebrating. He seized an opportunity that opened up for indigenous entrepreneurs, and dared to prove that Nigerians could offer quality rivaling that put out by the best of the world’s bakeries. In doing this, he paved the way for others to take up this line of business, and prosper in it, as he did.
References
Tom G. Forrest, The Advance of African Capital. Referenced from Google Books.
Africa: The Nigerian Millionaires. Time Magazine, Friday, September 17, 1965. From cameronduodu.com.
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Wow! A business guru indeed i must say.
May God have mercy on him and bless the family he leave behind.