How vision and persistence drove a facilities management pioneer in Nigeria

Executive overview

Most people abandon new pursuits when they encounter closed doors, lost money, and no support network. Collins Osayamwen built Nigeria's facilities management industry from scratch — without mentors, local training, or the ability to travel — by holding onto a vision of what the profession could do for his country.

The turning point was an internal question: not "what pays?" but "what am I here for?" That reframe unlocked a career built on purpose rather than economics.

Vision without visible support is still vision — and it compounds.

Finding the right profession

• First career felt promising but was riddled with corruption and sharp practices
• Asked himself three questions: Am I happy? What legacy am I leaving? What impact am I making?
• Stumbled onto facilities management through online research — no local practitioners, no university courses existed in Nigeria
• Joined a European FM association and began receiving journals to self-educate
• Lost over $3,000 in conference fees when the organising company went bankrupt; visa refused five times

The role of vision in sustaining persistence

• Vision gave Collins a picture of what FM could do for Nigerian infrastructure and business productivity
• Friends advised him to quit; he kept going because the materials he read matched what he saw around him — assets rotting, billions wasted on infrastructure with no maintenance
• Government spending billions on buildings then letting them decay made the profession's value proposition obvious
• Vision doesn't require visible proof — it sustains action when nothing physical confirms you're right

Reframing failure

• Failure is information, not a verdict — each attempt shows what can be done better
• A poorly attended regional conference triggered the thought: "go international"
• That same setback led directly to founding the Accra chapter of IFMA in Ghana
• Failure may be pushing you toward a bigger stage, not signalling you to stop
• Comfort-zone thinking prevents people from discovering their full impact

Finding your own driver

• Most people choose careers based on economics or others' expectations, not passion
• Until you find the thing you'd do without pay, you cannot operate at your highest level
• Misappropriation of public resources often comes from people who entered a field purely for money
• The honest question most people avoid: why am I here? What mission have I come to fulfil?

Building a profession in a sceptical environment

• Nigeria carries a reputation problem amplified by media focus on a small fraction of bad actors
• Collins was strip-searched at borders for carrying a Nigerian passport
• His response: treat those experiences as irrelevant friction, not defining barriers
• Nigeria has educated youth, vast natural resources, and enormous productive potential — largely unreported
• His message to outsiders: invest and teach; dependency on grants and aid is not sustainable