‘We have a lot of brilliant people in Nigeria who lack social skills to relate with people’

Modupeola Adeniji is the Chief Executive Officer of English Manner Nigeria. She is an astute business woman with over 10 years of operational and management experience as a lawyer, and in the oil and gas sector, while Diane Mather is a Senior Tutor at the English Manner, and a former BBC newsreader, bringing years of first-rate communication and presentation skills. In the mid-80’s she started training in etiquette and media coaching. She is the author of seven books, including two for children and her latest is Secrets of Confident Communicators. In this interview with Adaku Onyenucheya, the duo talked about the need to instill etiquettes and protocols in the Nigerian system as a way of improving the economy. Excerpts:

What is English Manner Nigeria all about?
The English Manner Nigeria, operating under franchise of the English Manner, UK, and the umbrella of the Etiquette Connection, is an international trading company offering tuition in interpersonal, social and business skills, international business diplomacy, cross cultural integration and protocol, household management and cultural tours in Europe, UK and Asia for a diverse and discerning clientele of high net-worth international clients.

What does English Manner offer?
We offer a wide range of group trainings and personal tuition options at a variety of locations in London, and our other affiliated country franchises. We also offer diverse range of etiquette and protocol courses developed with a global touch, from Essential Corporate Etiquette to public speaking, elocution, interview and presentations; we are introducing a Nigerian and African etiquette course to cater to the idea of culture preservation. We have trained and specialized tutors who are able to extend our training offer beyond our most popular “off-the-shelf” courses, in areas such as wine appreciation, voice tuition and elocution, fine art and culture, and our expert consultants offer a diverse range of programmes. We also viewed the business of personal development holistically and our offerings are tailored to create value in individuals, groups and commercial organisations. The segment of product and services offering is provided in divisions highlighting distinct and individual propositions.

After 11 years of speaking to the company to establish the English Manner franchise here in Nigeria, until last year when the firm’s Managing Director, Jimmy Beale, came to Nigeria and you succeeded in transmuting to him your enthusiasm for the franchise. What inspired that?
I realised that there was a gap in the system and besides we have a lot of brilliant people in Nigeria, but the social skill, the ability to relate with other people, relate with colleagues when they find themselves in international gathering was difficult for certain people. You are brilliant, you know the work, but you just can’t relate with people and relating with people does a lot more than even your education sometimes. Because the world is a global village, you find that ignorance is no longer an excuse. You find people going for meetings abroad, we need to know how to behave when we get there, like somebody coming to Nigeria and strictly stretching out their hands to greet a king, you should know that you should prostrate, no matter where you are coming from, who you are, no matter the colour. If you find yourself working in a multinational set up, you should know how to write proper email, protocol is important and that’s what etiquettes is all about, which is why it is set up here.

Is the centre for children or adults?
We have the session children, adult, diplomats, public holders, etc. We have for individuals and young ladies who want to better themselves, probably they’ve graduated from school and then want to brush up on their personality. We have the beauty pageant contestants; we train them on how to walk and everything about the contest, so there is a lot that we offer here.

There has been a lot of complaint about westernization and its negative influence on Nigerians, how do you go about that?
That is why we have the African and Nigerian etiquettes, which is the new thing we are adding to the curriculum. We are not forgetting that it is very important, so that our children know where they are from and at the same time, when they find themselves anywhere in the world, they can blend. So we are not westernizing, even in our summer camp, they will be taught the African and Nigerian etiquettes, to know everything about Africa and Nigeria, they will also learn about Nigerian history and culture. Forgetting the education, the social skill is what we are teaching even as an educated person in different academic fields, they will know now to interact with different people from different part of the world.

What other projects do you have coming up?
We have the summer camp here in Nigeria, which will run through out every week in July 2017 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00p.m, as every week has its activities lined up to engage our children. It covers good manners, clear speech etiquettes. If we can give children confidence, they will become confident adults and have self-esteem. We have trained personnel who will tutor the children. Diane is here in Nigeria to help train the personnel and supervise the classes.

Mrs. Diane Mather, you are a Senior Tutor at the English Manner, UK, tell us about the company
The company was founded in 2001 by Alexandra Messervy, a former member of the Queen of England’s Royal Household and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, who during her career, regularly consulted with VIP residential households and hospitality clients in the area of staffing, training, planning and management and is recognized for her attention to detail and exceptionally high standards. The English Manner operations have grown steadily from a base in the south-west of England and it is now full-fledge international consult with operations across continents such as the United States, India, China, Dubai, Australia and, now, Lagos, Nigeria.

I think people are realizing how important it is to have good manners, both socially and in business. Things must be done orderly and in the right and suitable manner. The way you talk, walk, interact, dress, smile, eat, timeliness, your confidence; people are judging us subconsciously and consciously. We teach people what they need to build relationships in business, and also the preparation they need in social gatherings, social etiquettes matters a lot.

Why choose etiquettes rather that lecture people on how to make money like other companies do?
Because it is actually etiquettes and good manners that make the world go round. Good manner opens the doors for education because people work for people. Good manners are the basis of everything because if you just want to make money and you don’t have good manners, you won’t have many friends and in the end you have no business contacts. We should value and respect others and you must value time because that is one of the constraints here in Nigeria, people don’t keep to time. They attend meetings or functions behind schedule, they show up late not knowing that time has value and has impact in the growth and development of an economy, because time is money and every time is precious and, if wasted, the economy runs short of the money to be derived at that moment. So Nigerians must value time.