I kicked out investors trying to take over Terra Kulture – Bolanle Austen-Peters

Bolanle Austen-Peters has narrated how investors nearly forcefully took over Lagos cultural house Terra Kulture.

In a chat with Chude, Austen-Peters said the investors tried intimidating them, but met their match in her.

According to her, this happened after the original owner of the bank who had invested in Terra Kulture died and a new owner came on board.

“You have something called hostile takeovers. When people invest in your business and they own the majority [stake] after a while, even if it’s your baby, you can lose the business,” she said.

“So they had invested… I had a beautiful relationship with the original founder [of the bank]. But then, the king died. And another king came that I didn’t know. And that we didn’t know. So, we locked horns.

“And there is a tendency that, because I am petite, and I look cute, people don’t know that it’s not by size. He wanted to fight; I gave them. We fought: court, MOPOL. I kicked them out of my business. Who are you?

“You think because you have billions somewhere, you think you can intimidate me? Nah. I own my business. I kicked them out. You and your bank, go. They forget that I’m a lawyer. My dad is a lawyer. My sister is a lawyer.

“My brother is a SAN (Senior Advocate of Nigeria). And my husband has a Ph.D. from Oxford in Law.

“Some family members never expected that we would be here 18 years later. I’m never in a hurry. Nothing fazes me. When you say someone is going there, I’d say we’ll catch up and overtake.”