Shina Eddo’s name will surely ring a million bells in the eardrums of a lot of people who are well-informed about gentlemen’s club business in Nigeria. He started out by putting up a unique strip club, Titty Bar, with a partner,Tony; a liaison that didn’t last longer than expected. The Don, as Shina is fondly called by all and sundry, having left Titty Bar, now known as Club Unique, for his partner, Tony, searched for a high-class avenue where his kind of revue would be well-appreciated and he settled down albeit comfortably at 17, Joel Ogunaike Street, GRA, Ikejaarea of Lagos where he erected a magnificent edifice, an exotic gentleman’s club named, The Cave, Aficionados’’ Lair and the biggest strip-club in the whole of Africa nay the largest in the world.
Shina, who has since become an enigma in the esoteric world of nightclubbing business, is celebrating a year anniversary of the club. The amiable man of dignity is leaving no stone unturned to give an impressive and eventful first year’s anniversary comeSaturday, February, 11, 2012 at his dome, The Cave. For those who don’t know this business tycoon and an entertainment impresario too well, he’s a perfectionist par excellence, with a driving force that is unrivaled. In this interview with News of the People’s Alonge Michael, the self-styled man of many parts revealed his success secrets and his plans to extend his business tentacle all over Lagos and Nigeria at large. Enjoy it.
Let’s meet you
My name is Shina Eddo; I’m a fun-provider, the CEO of The Cave Bar, a complete and all-round entertainment centre where all your desires for fun are met within a twinkling of an eye.
How long have you been into the business?
I’ve been into the business for more than five years. I started by building Titty Bar, now called Club Unique, before I built The Cave, Aficionados Lair located in the upscale Joel Ogunaike, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos metropolis.
You might have been faced with some challenges; can you give us a brief of these challenges?
A couple of challenges, the biggest was trying to raise money, because of the size of the project, I needed a huge sum of money to complete it and I did this without any form of loan from any bank, no money from any shady deals, I raised the money all by myself on the street. So, it wasn’t easy coming up with such huge amount of money, but I thank God for His mercies. At the end of the day, I was able to raise enabling resources required to complete the project.
Like how much do you think you sank into this gigantic project?
We are looking at about $1.7Million, that’s about N250Million or something in that neighborhood.
Wow! So how much is The Cave worth now?
Looking at it presently, The Cave is worth a whole lot of money now; we are looking at about $2.5Million, aboutN400Million or thereabout.
How do you source for the dancers or strippers as they call them?
The girls always come looking for the dancing job. Once you have the perfect place and the perfect ambiences for the strip concept, the girls come looking for you.
Certainly, you must be spending a fortune maintaining them on a daily basis?
Of course, you must maintain them to keep the business going, and it’s not an easy task at all. Maintaining them is even more expensive than maintaining the club itself but for a don like me, it’s my game and I know how to go about it.
If the club is not making money; do you still continue servicing them?
The club makes money all the time. There is no time we don’t make money. So, we are able to take care of our girls very well and as you can see, they are always happy doing what they know how to do best.
How much money do your girls make then?
They make enough money to take care of themselves and their families as well, but they are very, very happy with what they are making here at the Cave.
What kinds of people are expected here?
It is strictly for the high class. That is why it’s called The Cave, Aficionados Lair, meaning the rich and comfortable people’s coven
Do you actually have the Aficionados coming?
Of course, we have all the Big Boys coming, because this is the place for them to be.
Don’t you think this kind of idea would be well-applauded on the Island where we have the major aficionados living?
Yeah, you are right, we are thinking of setting up a place on the Island, which is even going to be four times bigger than The Cave.
How soon are we expecting this?
As soon as possible, it has even been named and registered already; it is just for us to start the building and all that. I had a chat with a particular soft-sell magazine reporter in 2007, and I told him that I was going to build the biggest strip-club in Nigeria, he thought it was another joke, but at the end of the day, it came to pass and the Cave is the result, so if I say another big project is in the air, then it shouldn’t be contested, because it’s already finished and sealed by the almighty Father.
What is the secret of your success?
The secret of my success is that combination of straightforwardness, truthfulness, steadfastness, boldness, humility and most of all, Godliness. You have to strongly believe in God, once you have all that in place, you are bound to be successful.
You’ve been sounding too religious, are you a strong believer?
Yes, I’m a strong Christian, a devoted Catholic of some sort.
Can you marry a stripper?
If I was looking for a wife, yes, it depends on the girl; I wouldn’t be concerned about what she does. If she meets up with my specifications, then she’s got me and she would be my wife. There is no harm in marrying a stripper, it’s a profession abroad, even some bankers and white collar job executives do it as a form of entertainment, most strippers are not prostitutes, it’s just another kind of job and they love it.
Is there anything you feel the government should put in place to make the business easier and better?
The government has done so well, especially the Lagos State Government led by His Excellency, Barrister Babatunde Fashola. And also, the entire members of the Lagos State House of Assembly led by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Kuforiji for legalizing this form of entertainment and giving us permission to go ahead with our businesses. And in return, we make sure we pay our taxes as responsible citizens and also regulate the patronage of minus in whatever capacity, either as customers or as dancers. I pay my own tax and the taxes of all my workers, so this will tell you that we are building a nation that we will all enjoy tomorrow.
Are you actually contributing to the society; if yes in what way?
Of course, we are planning, in the next couple of months, to light up the whole street. And this, we are doing in conjunction with the Onigbongbo Local Development Council, we want to create a beautiful city out of GRA, making it look like Las Vegas in the United States of America.
When are your opening days?
We open everyday. Sundays and Mondays are free. Tuesday to Thursday, we collect a token of N3000 per head. Then Fridays and Saturdays, our peak days, we charge N5000 respectively and our customers are not complaining at all.
What is your philosophy of life?
Well, take life the way you see it and be optimistic in everything you do. Aside that, you must believe in God and everything you want to achieve in life, with God by your side, consider everything achieved.
There are other strip clubs around, though none can control this magnanimous crowd and ambience, what is the relationship like with them?
We are all in good terms. At times, when they close, they come to my place because we always close late. We close at about 6:00am and most of them close at about 2am or thereabout. So, they come to my place to unwind and spend the remaining part of the night. Our relationship is very cordial.
With the proliferation of strip clubs in Lagos now; what stands you out?
Number one, the club itself is highly exotic. Everything we have in the club is exotic, starting from the interior and erotic ambience. Another thing is that, when you come into The Cave, you don’t feel like leaving, if you want to sleep, our chairs are very comfortable for that, we have all sorts of drinks; we have the largest bar in any club you can think of in the whole of Africa and one of the largest in the whole world. So, when you see the beauty of the bar and the lightings, you don’t feel like leaving. We have over thirty girls dancing at the same time, so whatever you want is within your reach. And nobody is being disturbed at the Cave, you can dance anywhere and do whatever you want to do, nobody bothers you as long as you, are not filming or recording the dancer with any means whatsoever.
In the event of disaster or unforeseen circumstance; how do you start up?
It is going to be very difficult because if I had done 419 or raised the money illegally to set up the business and something happened to the business, I won’t be able to control it because I got the money fraudulently. But a situation whereby I hustled for my money with God by myself genuinely and a business I was able to nurture from the beginning to the end and at the end of the day, still achieved my goal, it’s going to be very difficult for things to turn around. The reason being that, something you started from the scratch can never turn around because you built it till it got to that point. So, if it is going down, I’ll know it and I will stop the downward trend because it’s my game, it would only have to go up not down.
Aside the entertainment thing you are into, is there any other business you do?
The club business itself is hectic enough. So, it is very difficult for you to combine this with another business except you want to die early.
What is your greatest fear?
Hmm, my greatest fear: not dying early, so that I can actualize all the good things that I have planned out for the society. I still have that of Island/Lekki to build, which is going to be much bigger than this place, the Cave. It’s going to be the largest in the whole solar system, the largest club ever built by man. I want to achieve that first. There are other things we are also planning, like the one that’s going to be in Apapa too. You don’t have to bother yourself driving all the way to Ikeja to enjoy striptease because you have one around you. And again, they are all differently named and registered already, all being owned by Shina Eddo. These are the two major tasks before me, before the year runs out.
If everything is well-placed, how do you intend to run the three together, considering the kind of person you are?
Delegation! Like now, I have my three brothers working with me, Tayo, Kola and Ade. The one on the Island could be managed by Kola and the one here, where we are running presently maybe handled by Tayo or any of them and the other person will run the one in Apapa. Mine is just to go round and make sure everything is in place. Another thing again, my brothers are all honest. That honesty runs in our family, so I’m not afraid of anyone of them. if they tell me it’s one million, it’s one million, if it’s five million, it’s five million I don’t doubt them.
How long have you been operating The Cave?
By the grace of God, by February 11th, this year, The Cave would be ONE!
Are you throwing any party concerning that?
Number one, it is on a Saturday, secondly the gate fee is supposed to be N5000 but it would be free for that day and we are going to have a whole lot of side attractions, so we are using this opportunity to invite everybody to join the fun train on that beautiful night. Maximum security is guaranteed, Special Police Patrol Teams would be on ground within and around the neighborhood to protect and control awkward situations.
What is your last word?
My last word is for everybody to be optimistically inclined and to be prayerful always because without God nothing can be achieved. Whatever you think you want to accomplish in life, pray to God Almighty in truth and in faith, do no harm or injustice to your fellow human being, try as much as possible to give aims to the less privileged in the society and to be truthfully transparent always in every endeavour and everything shall be granted you the way you ask for it from God.
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