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00:00Now a major highlight of each year in Nigeria is the festive season with
00:04debtor December phenomenon in Lagos, raking in billions of naira as fund
00:08seekers put home in abroad, splurging recreational activities and more. Data
00:12from Mo Africa tourism shows in December last year, nightlife industry in Lagos
00:17generated about 30 billion naira with Giwa Gardens also emerging as a key
00:21highlight recording about 75,000 visitors of the park. KG Giwa, chief
00:26executive officer of Giwa Gardens joins me now for more on the engagement so far
00:30and Nigeria's tourism prospects ahead. Thanks a lot for joining us on the show
00:34today Mr. Giwa. Now the evolution of the debtor December phenomenon here in Lagos
00:39is one that transformed into this global spectacle right before our very eyes. I'm
00:45interested about having this conversation with you because it was
00:48just typically the whole euphoria around music concerts, fashion, art shows and
00:53then we look at recreational activities but this time it's just a bigger level,
00:58a bigger skill. How would you describe the sort of evolution, the engagements we
01:02have here both home and then the influx of those abroad? I think the first thing
01:07we need to do is give a massive thank you to Nigerians in diaspora and them
01:13remembering their culture, appreciating their culture and the biggest export
01:19that we have right now which is Afrobeats. You know when you combine the
01:23two together and our own people enjoying that music and sharing it with their
01:28friends and family back in wherever they are abroad, it catches on you know and
01:34that then gets people thinking hold on a second where is Afrobeats from and hey I
01:41love that video, I love Bonavoy, they're from Nigeria, oh they're going to Nigeria
01:44and then what we showcase as well, how we showcase and present Nigeria to the
01:50world gains that attention and gets people interested and over time Dirty
01:56December has become phenomenal like a brand name now. It also speaks to how the
02:03conversation around looking inwards is taking shape here on the continent and
02:08when we are looking at the volume of individuals coming now we've also seen
02:11that consistent growth in the sort of inbound flights and also the rental
02:17spaces, be it shops, be it chocolates, yes and a whole lot more. We're having just
02:23that big inflow of individuals here. You look at hotels everywhere, it's maxed out.
02:28You look at recreational centers like Gila Gardens for example now this was a
02:32key spectacle with the flood of individuals. How did you go about the
02:36crowd management, some 5,000 people between the end of November, the end of
02:40December, that was a packed month really. I think before we shed more
02:45light, we had 143,000 tickets. Thanks to Lagos State, the support was
02:52phenomenal. We worked closely with them to give away over 1,000 free
02:58tickets to the less privileged. Then we worked closely with brands, which was
03:03important and we worked closely with brands to give thousands of tickets out
03:07as well. One of the really great things that came out of this is what we
03:12coined cross promotional partnerships. You would have a brand that would
03:17say if you spend XYZ, you get a free ticket to Gila Gardens. If you operate
03:21to this, you get a free ticket to Gila Gardens. An untapped market is families
03:28and children. They account for 65% of the population, 144 million. The size of that
03:35market is 14 trillion naira. A totally untapped market. When you create a
03:42recreational center for families and children, first of all, Disneyland, how
03:48many Nigerians can afford to go there? At least 80%, if not more, can't. I like the
03:54fact that you just juxtaposed that, looking at Disneyland as well now.
03:58In terms of the unique experiences, how do we also curate the sort of value here?
04:03What are some of the unique experiences Gila Gardens brought to the offer this
04:08year? How is the business also looking to position for next year? Because I was
04:11still looking at some pictures and videos and when we look at these sites
04:15and centers, we are way too familiar with it. We just brush it over and just be
04:20like, oh that's just Gila Gardens, so that's just this place ABC. But in terms
04:24of the services, what makes it unique? I think the keyword is trails and
04:30excitement. Okay. So human beings and water, they have a connection. Now when
04:36you add trails and excitement to it, it has a life of its own. And one
04:43of the things we focused on when we were building Gila Gardens was to make sure
04:48that families, especially mom, dad and kids, have that bonding time. But it's all
04:55about them being excited, them having the best time of their lives. And there
05:01was a particular area that we created called the Kids Waterhouse. It was solely
05:04for kids. Every other area is a combination of adults and kids. We
05:08created this place solely for kids. Little did we know that it will be
05:13hijacked by all the adults. And it's the first place they go to. And they spend
05:18about three, four hours there. And why? Because the water is no more than two
05:22feet. It's still shallow. And you have all this water splashing around and playing with the water guns and stuff like that. And they're playing with their kids. It's like an
05:29opportunity to build for that family bonding time. And that was the first
05:33thing we were able to get right. And that brought more and more people. Then the
05:36excitement, the trails and excitement. We have the largest extreme river in Africa
05:41and one of the largest four in the whole world. And that is 200,000 litres
05:46coming out of these big pipes, creating a waterfall and taking everyone all
05:50around the water. I like that effect. It's an incredible experience. I tried it out in
05:55December. And I finally understood why they were always
06:00screaming and shouting out of excitement. So you have all these different
06:04activities that get people to challenge themselves. So for example, you have 15
06:10metres high slides. So I don't want to go on that, I don't want to go on that. And then they go on it and they want to go on it over and over again.
06:15So it's all about the experience. We had families coming over and over again. So
06:19they would come this weekend and before you know it, Monday, Tuesday, they're just coming and coming and coming.
06:24We spoke to a couple and they said, if I had to take my kids abroad to either
06:29Orlando Studios or Disneyland Paris, I'll spend nothing less than 10 million
06:34Naira. I'm spending a fraction of that over here. And having just as much fun.
06:38Talking about fun and then how we also position the market here in Nigeria.
06:44Now let's talk about the future of Lagos as a mega city. We've had previous
06:49conversations here in the studio about the sort of infrastructure strategy. How
06:54does this also collide, whether or not with private investment as well. In terms
07:00of partnerships with the government, regulation, the plans for expansion on
07:06the back of your infrastructure. How is that conversation going right now?
07:10I think it's been an incredible journey with Lagos State and they've been
07:15extremely supportive. And the reason being is, one, if you want to create a
07:20recreational center for families and opening up the international community,
07:23safety matters. Health and safety matters. And one of the things that Lagos
07:28State government worked closely with us was to make sure we don't just meet the
07:31health and safety requirements for Lagos State, but meet international standards.
07:35And they worked closely with us to get that right. We're able to accommodate
07:41thousands of people, zero incidents, all throughout last year. And thanks to Lagos State.
07:47Now, when we look at infrastructure, one of the things that we are, once again,
07:52extremely grateful for is the Lekki Expressway that we've been working on. It's now
07:56accessible. It's not completed yet, but by the time it's completed, it will take, what,
08:0020 minutes to get to Kiwa Gardens from Lekki Phase 1. The coastal road is
08:04being done now. From VI, it will take about another 20-25 minutes to get there.
08:09So, accessibility matters, which they're working on. And I think power is a big
08:16deal. It is not a joke running that place 100% on generator. It is incredibly
08:23expensive. So, being able to work closely with the government, having the
08:27government support to do that matters. And I think a lot of recreational
08:31businesses need to see the government as an enabler and need to
08:35find a way to speak the language that they understand. They have the power. We
08:40have the ideas. Collectively, we can do incredibly well. So, it's being able to
08:45translate the value that we are able to bring to the country, how we're able to
08:50add to the GDP of the country. Because when you look at a value of 144 million
08:56people, and I'm talking about Nigerians right now, that's, what, 14 trillion
08:59Naira. That's about 2% of the GDP. But we're also not factoring in the Nigerians
09:05in diaspora that came to Giwa Gardens, that came to all other recreational
09:09experiences. We're focusing on just 30 December. Nigeria has the longest summer
09:16period, like every other country out there. Why are we just looking at 30 December?
09:21Keiji and I are wrapping up the conversation. In terms of how things pan out going into the
09:26future now, we also have to face the reality that we are dealing with an
09:30economy where we're seeing shrinking disposable income. Yes, you've talked
09:33about the influx of the IJGBs, but in terms of how do we max the opportunities
09:38all year round, definitely we still need to leverage on the opportunities here
09:42homegrown. For you now, are you concerned about how the business might fare on the
09:47back of high inflation, the currency devaluation, and how things might likely
09:52swing? It's still a case of hope and despair at this moment right now. How
09:56comfortable are you around these metrics, and how profitable is the business? I
10:01think there's an old saying in an agile environment that says, tailor to suit the
10:05project environments, and I have adopted that in every area of everything I do,
10:11and data matters. Data is the lifeblood of every business. Data is to me the new
10:16oil, and what do I mean by that? We're screaming 30 December, 30 December. We're
10:22excited about the Nigerians in the diaspora and the tourists that came in.
10:26What we're not factoring in is over 70% of those people are domestic tourists,
10:32people that came from all over Nigeria, to Lagos for example. So there's a
10:40lot of revenue that can be generated in Nigeria by creating affordable
10:48recreational activities. So for us, the best way to use what we're doing, we
10:53realize that we're not cheap. It's quite expensive to come to Giwa Gardens, but
10:57when we look at the wider population, and we look at the fact that Nigeria has
11:01220 million people, and around 44 million people are customers, let's focus on
11:05volume. Let's focus on affordability. So we launched an annual family pass
11:11that allows you to not just come to Giwa Gardens in 30 December, but five
11:15times a year with your entire family, for a fraction of the cost, but we focus on
11:20volume. So I think if recreational centers can start focusing on daily
11:27recreational and leisure activities, and encourage or educate families to spend
11:34more time, I think that could have a make a big difference.
11:38This conversation could continue. We'll have to leave the conversation here for now. Thank you so much for taking it over here to the studio. That was Keiji Giwa, the Chief Executive Officer of Giwa Gardens.