HGCP 2021 Participants: Founder of Closer Adenike Bamigbade is all about the impact and value their products delivers to Nigerian women and girls
I sat down with Adenike Bamigbade, the founder of Closer to get to know her and how she’s empowering women to take charge of their menstrual health. Tell us a little about yourself. I’m Adenike and I work in the social development space; so I guess you can call me a social worker. I work on ideas and solutions that solve critical issues that affect young people and women. I am working on three things at the moment; raising young anti-corruption champions, improving access to employment for youth and building a sustainable way to end period-poverty in Nigeria. What is your ‘why’ i.e. bottom line, and how do you stay motivated? There are myriads of problems around us and this keeps my brain active. I am always asking; how do we solve these problems? Being an avid reader, I have read about how ordinary people create ideas that change the world, so this inspires me to keep creating, iterating and not give up trying to solve a problem I care about. Period poverty is a real issue in our world, though the main problem is poverty. However, menstrual health should not be dependent on how rich a girl is, because she is only obeying nature’s call and it’s not her fault. I have seen lots of campaigns around period-poverty, but I feel most have short-impacts, we need to create a more sustainable solution to solve this big problem. This is purely what Closer is here to address, ensuring women and girls have access to good menstrual health. What do you feel are your biggest achievements? Closer is a new business and I am overwhelmed by the acceptance everywhere I had the opportunity to talk about the idea. Working on the idea and seeing the idea come to life is my biggest achievement so far. We took our time to work on the product, identify the best suppliers and ensure the experience is great. For us at Closer, every subscriber is a real woman, and she matters to us dearly. For every profit on each Box of Closer, 10% is used to help a girl from disadvantaged home to be out of period poverty. The smile and excitement on the girl is one I can’t buy. Also, each girl writes a ‘thank you’ letter to each subscriber that donated towards her period box. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? I enjoy the fact that I am adding value to people’s lives. Closer is all about our women and our girls. We are all about the impact and how valuable our products are to people’s lives, not the profit at all. As a business, we make profits, but the experience of our women and girls is fulfilling for me as the founder. Introduce your company the way you would to a potential customer. As a woman, you ought to be in charge of your menstrual health. Closer conveniently gives women access to the best-selected products specific to their menstrual needs through a subscription-based platform. A woman’s lifecycle is largely controlled by her reproductive health starting from puberty to menopause. She is an egg-bag and her dreams can be tied to how well she is able to manage her reproductive health. With Closer, we are providing access to organic sanitary pads, organic panty liners and very important products women need each month to be in control of their menstrual health. Closer wants more women and girls to show up whether the red-visitor is around or her belly is pumped with a baby or she is in her grey-old-days enjoying menopause. We deliver the appropriate intimate care kits women in each category need without any worry. Where can people find out more about your business? At Closer, we want to take the stress off you every month. Start your subscription on our website at www.closer.ng. We also want to be with you all month round, so ensure you subscribe to our mailing list where we unfold the little secrets women shy about. You can also connect with us on Social Media on Instagram.com/closerng, Facebook.com/closerng and Twitter.com/closerng How have you carved a niche for yourself in your industry? Quality, quality, quality. At Closer, we work directly with suppliers who are producing quality products. Our sanitary pads are safer for you and the environment. Our bikini shavers are healthier alternatives. We don’t do normal, we go extra to ensure we provide quality products. This has made us distinct. Also, we are in the big e-commerce health industry, but we narrow it down to menstrual health only. This is a niche with low penetration in Nigeria at the moment, the ocean is still blue here and Closer is positioning itself rightly in that niche. What challenges have you faced first as a founder and then as a female founder? Human resource in terms of getting the right people to work on the idea. This would have been easier if there was enough capital to pay people, but I am willing to allow the business to grow and pay people at our own capacity. I do not want to take the risk of paying more than the business is making at the moment. If you were given $1m to invest in *business*, where would it go? Closer is a subscription business solving an important problem. It has the capacity to scale. With an investment funding of $1m, we will purchase more assets to aid logistics and distributions and also increase marketing budgets. With this investment, we can reach 1 million women per month and that means at least 100,000 girls will be out of period poverty every month. What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our community? Just start. I can be a perfectionist, so I always want everything to be perfect before I start. Launching Closer in March 2021 was not my ideal way of doing things but I obliged to the advice I
HGCP 2021 Participants: Titilayo Taiwo on co-founding Africa’s leading one-stop talent marketplace
I sat down with Titilayo Taiwo, the founder and chief operating officer of Terawork.com to get to know her and how she co-founded Africa’s leading one-stop talent marketplace. Tell us a little about yourself. I’m Titilayo Taiwo, the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at TERAWORK.COM LIMITED. I oversee TERAWORK’s operations; strategic partnerships and I’m also involved in building exceptional teams and driving revenue. I am a Biochemist turned Operations/Human Resources expert with over 10 years of experience that spans Wellness, Oil & Gas, Software Design & Development. I am also a partner and volunteer in various charity organizations. I’m passionate about youth empowerment and I’m very committed to building tools to help people work better together and more effectively. I also enjoy wining and dining with families and friends for relaxation. What is your ‘why’ i.e. bottom line? My ‘why’ is all about the vision and the impact opportunity, I am doing my part by using digital technology to contribute towards solving the long age unemployment problem in Africa. My goal is to see freelancers on our platform earn billions of dollars while helping millions of businesses of all sizes to grow and achieve their goals. I wake up everyday to ensure that TERAWORK grows into a company that has real impact on the lives of millions of African sellers and buyers. On motivation I regularly review our goals and progress because I find that seeing progress is a great motivator in itself, and also goes a long way in improving my self-esteem. How has your entrepreneurship journey been so far? As a result of my hands-on experience, I’ve been featured on several entrepreneurship panels and master classes hosted by Enterprise Development Centre(EDC), Webtv, Churches, Schools etc. I was celebrated by Sterling Bank Plc alongside 5 other women nationwide during the International Women’s Day Celebration in February 2020, as a founder and a leader of a company that strives to give equal opportunities to women. I’m also in the 2021 Cohort of AWS Activate Africa for Africa’s inspiring women start ups founders and leaders. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? I’ve never wanted to be an entrepreneur, let alone a serial one. But I absolutely love it now and would never trade it for another occupation. I love the freedom of being able to be wherever you want, with whomever you want, doing whatever you want to. It’s truly priceless. I love a constant challenge, and the endless opportunities to learn and grow one’s mind. I also love that as my business grows and becomes more successful, it has different challenges and needs that require me to adapt yet again and grow too. But for me the best part about being an entrepreneur is being in charge of your own destiny. When we’re born, we’re placed into a custody of our parents. Then our society. Schools. Corporations. Entrepreneurs get to break free and take control of their own lives. It’s exhilarating and rewarding. Introduce your company the way you would to a potential customer. TERAWORK is a freelance marketplace that is helping small business owners by giving them the support and access to any competent talent they need to succeed. We provide businesses with on-demand affordable and quality freelancing services in legal, accounting, social media management, software development and 54 other service categories to grow. From the comfort of their homes and within a few hours, they can hire vetted on demand professionals which enables them to focus on building their businesses and save operational costs by 40%. Our Escrow system ensures that they don’t have to pay for substandard jobs any more. With TERAWORK value is guaranteed or you get your money back. You can learn more and sign up by visiting our website at https://www.terawork.com/. How have you carved a niche for yourself in your industry? We did so by focusing on just one pain point – the hassle of hiring cost effective quality talent. Our offering of on-demand quality and proven talent with an escrow system that guarantees value or money back is unique. What would you say has been pivotal to your growth and success so far? My growth mindset; my belief that skills are built, and that new abilities can be developed through practice and effort. I strongly believe in my capacity to learn and grow, and that my intelligence can be developed. I tend to persist in the face of setbacks, take on board and even invite feedback and find inspiration those around me. I see life as an endless opportunity to figure out new things and appreciate that failure is part and parcel of learning and progressing – it’s necessary and therefore not something to shy away from. I also understand that mastery of a skill takes persistence, practice and time. What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our community? It’s actually a quote by Steve Jobs, ”Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you; the aircraft, vessels, etc. And you can change it, you can influence it…, once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again” What’s your number 1 tip for anyone struggling to overcome entrepreneurial overwhelm and keep going? Learn to do less; the first step to dealing with this is to accept that you’ll never get it all done. I know that’s hard to accept and say, but it’s a reality. Once we acknowledge that, we feel less stressed because we have less resistance to trying to do it to all. Remind yourself every day that it’s not about getting more done. It’s about getting results that matter. “Do three things well, not ten things badly.” Then outsource, that is why we created TERAWORK! Titilayo is currently on the High Growth Coaching Program hard at work to grow TERAWORK into a global talent marketplace where value is always guaranteed.
HGCP 2021 Participants: Bethel Bekee, the founder of Whip-Smart Service Providers Limited on working everyday to improve families.
I sat down with Bethel Bekee, the founder of Whip-Smart Service Providers Limited to get to know her and find out more about her business. Tell us a little about yourself. I was born in River State and then I relocated to Lagos about 3 years ago. I am the last born of 5 siblings. I am very passionate about family because family is the basic unit of life and I have great affection for children. I love to travel, I love studying and enjoy cooking. I am the kind of person that jumps into every available opportunity and sometimes I create my own when I need to. I worked with international organizations for over 5 years before I started my company Whip-smart Service Providers Limited. Tell us a bit about your background – how did you get to this point? I’ve always been resilient and persistent, a go-getter. As soon as I graduated, I made sure that I became independent. I started working at a hospital where I would get referrals from consultants. I have had the privilege of working in one of the best pediatric hospitals in Abuja. It was such an amazing experience because my love for kids is just enormous. It was while I was working there that I got another referral to enter into the NGO space. It took about 2 years for me to finally take the bold step of resigning my good paying job where I was close to getting promoted to start my business. It was a tough decision but I am glad that I made it. What is your ‘why’ i.e. bottom line? The fact that I’m helping families is so fulfilling, I am driven by the knowledge that I am helping young women to better themselves and families to thrive and groom their children into adults that will one day contribute positively to society. In my line of business, everyday you get to see a different version of yourself, and seeing a better version of myself everyday is one thing that motivates and drives me to go out there each day to conquer. Describe a typical day for you? I start my day by praying as soon as I wake up, then I’m ready to go. At the office I start by reviewing work from the previous day to ensure that tasks are completed as they should be. Once that’s done I look through my to-do-schedule made the previous night and ensure I carry on those activities diligently. I show up every day motivated, and I reward myself for jobs completed. I like to surf the internet every day to learn something new. My work involves a lot of creative problem solving and leadership skills. After work, I go home where I take a little nap to rest before I begin planning for the next day. In the evenings I either read a book, watch tv, or take an online course before I sleep. What do you feel are your biggest achievements? In 2017, I got two certifications from University of Washington, which was a big deal for me. I now also have certifications in sales and marketing. Starting up my company in 2018 was one of the bravest steps I ever took and one of my greatest achievements. In the last 3 years, we have served over 400 families and we’ve mentored over 400 staff and helped build their professional skills. I am also proud of the fact that I’ve built a strong team responsible for following up, staff management and supervision. We have developed better strategies to meet our weekly and monthly targets, and it’s been tremendously encouraging to meet those numbers. We’ve advocated for a number of domestic staff and have pretty much done everything possible to dignify the profession. What or who has been your greatest influence in business and why? My dad, he is an engineer whose job is dedicated to solving problems and improving lives on a daily basis. He has a great work ethic which I admire very much. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? The best part of my job is client satisfaction, just seeing the gratitude and knowing that I did something that will change someone’s life for the best. My least favorite part are the endless activities that form part of the journey to client satisfaction. There are so many things that have to be put in place for a customer to be satisfied. It is a tough task especially if you’re like me and you’re always striving to be the best at what you do. Introduce your company the way you would to a potential customer. Whip-Smart Service Providers Limited is a domestic staffing recruitment company. We help families and homes recruit skilled, experienced domestic staff and caregivers. We carry out background checks and medical checks. We train, supervise and monitor our staff, then outsource them to clients in need. We offer our services for the least amount of money, and we do this by offering different packages for different clients. Our mission is to help our clients get the right help for their family. You can see more about us on our website at https://whip-smart.org.ng/ or like our Facebook Page. What would you say has been pivotal to your growth and success so far? Consistency, remaining consistent makes all the difference. Every entrepreneur must stay consistent in their journey, they must be patient and resilient. Give your best everyday to your business and someday you will see your business grow and all your dreams come true. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur a) Critical thinking (b) Customer service and C) Analytical problem solving skills What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our community? You must realize that being a business owner can be a lonely journey. It is all about rocking the boat. You have to consistently and
HGCP 2021 Participants: Founder of Jasmine Ultra Blue Solutions Susanne is motivated by seeing people around her succeed.
I sat down with Susanne Onuminya, the founder of Jasmine Ultra Blue Solutions to get to know her and find out more about JUBS. Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Susanne. I am a Biochemist, Safety professional and public health enthusiast. I was born in Lagos and I am married with a beautiful daughter. I worked in clinical health, oil and gas and sales industries before I became an entrepreneur. I love networking, meeting new people and making friends and my passion is helping people. What motivates you? I am motivated by seeing people around me succeed, knowing that I’m providing a solution that impacts a lot of lives is what drives me. I love knowing that my daughter will be proud to call me her mother one day. Describe a typical day for you. I’m usually awake up by 6:00 am, then I make breakfast and get my daughter ready for school and drop her off. After dropping her off , I watch a live motivational video while doing my morning exercise. I usually start my word day with meetings, then I do my work for the day and courses on my HGCP curriculum. Around 2:00 pm, I pick up my daughter from school and continue working. After work I bond with family, and then later I do more HGCP courses. What do you feel are your biggest achievements? My biggest achievements …, I don’t feel like I have achieved them yet. I’ll say being part of HGCP 2021 and Future Females Business school. My biggest achievement will be when we finally open a physical JUBS center. What do you do for fun/relaxation? I hang out with my friends. I also read books – mostly business books, motivational books, medical books or books written by women. I also enjoy watching movies. If you had to write a book, it would be on what and why? Oh, I’m definitely going to write one, on transitioning from your 20s to 3os. Your 20s are Smooth, your 30s are not and nobody tells us these things. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? I’d say being able to see your vision for your business come to life. Introduce your company the way you would to a potential client. JUBS is a health solutions provider. We have an Ultra Blue Women Support group where we give support and educate women on living a healthy lifestyle. We also offer convenient health services to our clients such as vaccinations, diagnostics, and medical services. We have full time and locum doctors that provide services to our clients. We also sell health products such as supplements on request by customers as part of our packages. We sell to upper and middle class millennials. We started with women but have expanded to sell to men and also corporate organisations. You can read more about our services at https://jasmineultrabluesolutions.com/ What was the inspiration behind JUBS, what led you to taking that first step and setting up your own business? I saw a need and decided to provide a solution. After I had my daughter, I needed to lose weight because of health complications. I tried many different things that just didn’t work. This experience helped me realise that a lot of women have a need for convenient health services to meet their needs with ease of access and minimum disturbance to their daily schedule. I started with Ultra Blue Women Support Group and then expanded to all our present products and services. What’s been your favorite mistake that you made in your business and what did you learn? I’d say winging it instead of properly structuring the business, foe example believing that an aspect of the business is too small to structure and set up standard processes for. We are now at a point where we are almost restarting the entire business because we have to establish standard processes to make sure that it’s structured properly and running efficiently. What challenges have you faced first as a founder and then as a female founder? I have actually been extremely blessed in my journey as a business woman. I have received access to a lot of resources as a female founder. There are also a lot of opportunities to network and for growth. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur? Innovative, networking (charisma), handle many things at the same time What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule? Delegating is very important as it allows you to stay focused on your vision. One must also maintain a healthy balance between optimism and realism. What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our community? You need people everywhere – inside and outside the business. Having the right people around you makes all the difference. What business-related book has inspired you the most? (or, what is your favorite book) ? Hmm, I’ll say Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. This is a book by Nell Scovell and Sheryl Sandberg. Susanne is currently on the High Growth Coaching Program hard at work preparing JUBS to grow and scale to being a household name in the health industry. You can stay tuned to JUBS on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/ultrajasmine?_rdc=1&_rdr and follow Susanne on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the_health_aficionado/.
Want to do business with the United States from Africa? DO NOT MISS THIS VIRTUAL SUMMIT
Over the years, the United States Government has funded a number of agencies and platforms to support African companies to do business with both the U.S. government itself and with the U.S. private sector. To provide more clarity on ways in which the U.S. can assist in growing African businesses and entrepreneurs through trade, investment, and technical assistance, Africa.com is organising a one-day Virtual Summit – if you are a Motherland Mogul looking to expand your business into the United States, this is not the one to miss! This Virtual Summit will bring thousands of c-suite executives and decision-makers of African businesses together with high ranking U.S Government and business officials. It will be held on Wednesday the 14th of October 2020 with the following panel sessions: Register for The Virtual Summit Here Panel 1: View From The Very Top The Summit kicks off with keynote remarks by the highest-ranking U.S. government official responsible for relations with Africa, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, The Honorable Tibor Nagy. Then, the Chairman of the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (President and CEO of GE Africa) Farid Fezoua, will deliver keynote remarks from the private sector perspective. Panel 2: Hear It From The Agency Heads A panel discussion featuring the Chief Operating Officer of Prosper Africa, a new U.S. government initiative that brings together the resources of over 17 U.S. Government agencies to connect the U.S. and African businesses with new buyers, suppliers, and investment opportunities. Joining this panel are the ‘Africa heads’ of some of the key U.S. Government agencies that do business with Africa, including the International Development Finance Corporation (formerly OPIC); The Export/Import Bank; USAID; and the U.S. Africa Development Foundation. Panel 3: Hear It From African Business Heads The third portion of the summit is a panel of very senior African business leaders who have done business with the U.S., who will provide their perspectives on their experiences and guidance to those who seek to follow their footsteps. Panel 4: Views From Ambassadors Country-by-Country The fourth portion of the summit is a panel of U.S. Ambassadors to several key African countries who will speak about the resources available specifically in their markets to support African businesses. This event is free so don’t miss this opportunity to take your business international! Register for The Virtual Summit Here
“I LEFT THE USA TO PURSUE MY PASSION IN NIGERIA.” MEET UGOCHI NWOSU, FOUNDER OF RELIANCE CLINICS
Not everyone owns up to their purpose especially when it takes you from one continent to another. Ugochi left the United States to pursue purpose in Nigeria. Ugochi is the founder of Reliance Clinics. She’ll be sharing insights into her life as a medical practitioner, health tips, the numerous challenges she faced and how she was able to overcome them. Who is Ugochi Nwosu? I was born in Nigeria and lived there until I was 7 before my family immigrated to the United States. That was where I did all my schooling. After my undergraduate degree, I did my residency training in the States also until I returned back to Nigeria in 2019. This kick-started my goal to start a business that provided quality private healthcare services. What are you passionate about? Healthcare! I really want to live in a world where everyone has full access to adequate healthcare. In Nigeria, the rate at which people in their early 40s and 50s die is really alarming. All of these can be avoided. I just want to help people live healthy and productive lives where they get to see their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. Although this would be beautiful, it’s not easy. If people want to live till their late 80s, it starts from now. So, I want to keep educating people about this. What ignited the spark to start Reliance Clinics? For me, the inclination to work in healthcare came since my undergraduate studies. I learnt about the possible challenges, the requirements and mapped out the areas to make an impact. It was important to be properly grounded in what I was planning to do to avoid making any silly mistakes. I also worked with a whole lot of NGOs to ensure I had a feel of what I was about getting myself into. I didn’t really plan to start a business for myself. The decision to do that came after I kept searching for an NGO to work with but couldn’t find any at that point. This made me start looking for other possible opportunities. During my residency training, I met people who were interested in digital healthcare services and connected with them. They encourage me to just do what I need to do because no one makes actual change by talking and observing. It was great for me because I didn’t see myself as someone that could take up that level of responsibility upon myself. The plan had always been to work for someone who was already doing the things I needed to do. That’s basically how the business came alive. How was the startup phase of your business? I’m not going to deny the fact that everything was new to me. Firstly, we had to scout for a suitable location, then we had to figure out a way to get supplies for the clinic and basically test these supplies yourself because everything had to be reliable 100%. For funding, I met the founders of a health insurance company during my residency training so things sort of worked out for me in the sense that they needed a trusted clinic that they could send patients to so they kind of gave me the initial funding for the clinic. What business challenges have you faced and how have those challenges shaped your mindset? One major challenge has been hiring and training staff. For those in healthcare, the quality of services offered has to be nothing but excellent. Most times, doctors, pharmacists, nurses etc expect some things to be done in some certain way based on what they’ve seen before or something which might not necessarily be the right thing. When you tell this category of people that there’s a standard that should be met and we’re not going to overlook that standard just because we’re operating in Nigeria, it turns into a situation where it feels like you’re telling them that they’re not properly trained or something so that was a major challenge for me. Another challenge we had, in the beginning, was dealing with patients and staff who were used to things being done in certain ways and then we do them in totally different ways. For instance, most patients that come to our clinic are used to being given so many drugs even for not so serious cases. When we give them just 1-2 drugs, they feel like we’re not treating them the right way or we don’t really care about their wellbeing which is why we’re given them little amounts of drugs and that’s not the situation at all. What have you learned so far from running this business? When it comes to hiring, you have to ensure that those people actually have the skills they claim to possess. It’s mandatory that you do. I’ve learnt over time that you have to be very intentional when deciding who to bring on board, how to evaluate their skills and how to train them so that from day 1, they can actually deliver. Ugochi is a participant in the High Growth Coaching Program 2020. Catch up on her business journey on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
“I Turned My Love For Food Into A Business” Meet Comfort Oluwasesan, CEO HealthyTreatIb
Anyone can achieve the unimaginable and that includes you! After battling with high blood pressure and depression, Comfort had to relearn everything she knew. She was determined to have a success story. Today, Comfort is the CEO of HealthyTreatIb, an HR consultant and also a visual artist. Who is Comfort Oluwasesan? While growing up, my parents felt I was going to study journalism or law because I always had my way with words. They didn’t know I had plans to study applied arts. I didn’t get their full support at first but eventually, they gave in because they knew I was really handy. I enjoyed getting things done with my hands so much. Geeting handy is just a piece of the iceberg. Another interesting fact about me is my love for food. I really love food! Yes, I admit I’m a foodie even my favourite TV programs are food shows. I can’t just get enough of it. This was where the passion for the business came from. I’m a very fun person and there’s really no dull moment around me. What ignited the spark to start HealthyTreatIb? Remember I said I love food? That didn’t do justice to how much I enjoy food. When it comes to everything related to food, I’m there! I could cook for hours without even realizing it. I just decided to go into it once and for all and help people enjoy what I enjoy when it comes to food. During the early stages of my marriage, it seemed like things were going bad. At some point, I was hypertensive, anxious and even went into depression. My blood pressure rose drastically. To be honest, I felt like I wasn’t going to survive it. This went on till I met a cardiologist who made me understand that I was only experiencing all of that because of stress. He emphasized the benefits of adopting a very healthy lifestyle. He went further to say how having a healthy meal plan, proper attention to the body and constant rest can help someone live without sickness and health problems. This was what made me start the restaurant. I wanted to create an avenue for people to be able to eat right! What would you say is the heart of your business? The drive for my business is the fact that I believe people should be able to eat healthy foods. Healthy eating doesn’t necessarily mean eating boring food. We always want to provide solutions to the problem of food. So the heart of the business is providing quality services for our clients anytime and any day. What business challenges have you faced and how have those challenges shaped your mindset? If anyone tells me that there’s a business that doesn’t have challenges I’d tell the person that I can fly because every business comes with its own challenges. When I started this business, it was a whole lot! It was not easy! At the early stage of my business, I once attended to this client who put me through hell. I had to spend hours convincing her that she had nothing to worry about. After the meal was eventually delivered, she practically insulted everything I had done. I really felt terrible. She compared me with someone who had already been in the business for years! I didn’t let that weigh me down. I evaluated my business and mapped out the things that were not working well and made sure I improved on them. What have you learned so far from running this business? I’ve learnt that consistency and patience are very key factors when it comes to business. There are days you make sales, there are days you don’t. On both days, you should ensure you do what you’re supposed to do. If you’re not consistent, people would forget you. For patience, Rome was not built in a day. You have to believe that as your business grows, things would definitely get better provided you keep doing all the things you need to do. Perseverance is also an important lesson I’ve learnt. You just have to keep going regardless. Comfort is a participant in the High Growth Coaching Program 2020. Catch up on her business journey on HealthyTreatIb,.
This woman-led startup bets it can help African businesses grow faster
As Sub-saharan Africa lags behind in the World Bank’s 2020 ease of doing business report, one woman-led startup thinks it can help entrepreneurs grow their companies in this tough environment. After years of mentoring startups and running businesses in Ghana and Nigeria, Munachim Chukwuma started IB Consulting in February 2019 to help founders overcome operating challenges she also had to face as a young entrepreneur. Munachim and her team believe they’ve found the recipe to help African business grow quickly with their innovative and affordable service model. Why Nigerian startups are struggling to grow. According to experts from Harvard University, startups that want to stand the test of time must learn new ways of operating and behaving. This is difficult for a lot of entrepreneurs because these new ways tend to be completely different from their start-up roots. Most startups struggle to grow and scale either because they do not know how or lack the proper structure and strategy. This is where we come in. Munachim Chukwuma – Founder, Ibobo Consulting IB Consulting believes that African entrepreneurs struggling to grow their businesses must realize they are in a different phase of their business life cycle, and therefore must change. IB Consulting’s growth recipe for startups. To help entrepreneurs struggling to scale, Munachim and her partners created a service model that combines strategy consultation, negotiation, and content creation. IB Consulting bets its 3 service tentpoles are what entrepreneurs need to grow faster despite the difficulty of doing business in Africa. We decided to focus on strategy consultation, negotiations and content creation as a company because we realized most of the challenges most businesses face in today’s society are tied to those three areas in one way or another. Munachim Chukwuma – Founder, Ibobo Consulting In addition to its unique service model, IB Consulting promises clients efficiency, personalization, and great service. Why you should watch out for IB Consulting. In less than a year, IB Consulting is proving it is not just all talk. The company reports that since February, it has helped over 10 business owners rebuild their structures and execute action growth plans. It’s also not just about the money for this company this woman-led company. They have done some pro bono work for new entrepreneurs who could not afford to pay for some of our services. In 2020, the company plans to expand aggressively to reach, help and educate help businesses across Africa. We intend to grow over the next year of business and reach more people across the continent, as we also reinvent our business and launch more products that can meet the needs of our prospective clients. Munachim Chukwuma – Founder, Ibobo Consulting Visit https://iboboconsulting.com/ for more information on how IB Consulting can help your business. Sponsored Post.
The Millionaire Housewife’s rules for every side hustler
Whether you are looking to make some extra income or start a business while working, side hustling is no small feat. You must learn to balance your commitments, stay consistent and grow while you’re at it. Temi Ajibewa, founder of The Millionaire Housewife Academy – an online platform that has helped over 5,000 women start their online businesses, shares her golden rules for side hustle success. Rule 1: Discover Your Passion Your passion could be an issue you feel strongly about or something you do effortlessly. Side hustles based on passion tend to be more sustainable because you are self-motivated to go on even when things get tough. If you are not sure what your passion is, here are 3 ways to get started: Look out for things you do well without incentives and recognition. Ask people who know you what they think you are passionate about. Consider problems people often ask you to solve because you find them easy to solve. Rule 2: Turn Your Passion into Profit Doing what you are passionate about is one thing. Knowing how to make money from your passion is a whole different ball game. Here are 5 basic steps I teach my clients to monetize their passion. 1. Find the problem your passion solves Your passion cannot bring you money unless it solves a specific human problem. For you to monetize your passion, you have to discover the hell your passion can get people out of. If you cannot find a hell, you might not have a monetizable passion. It is best as a hobby. 2. Find your money tribe The next step to monetizing your passion is finding people who are willing and able to spend money on solutions to their problems. These people are your money tribe. If you are not sure how to identify your money tribe, ask yourself this question – If I throw a concert, who will be first in line for tickets? 3. Turn your passion into a skill To have a passion valued by other people, you must be able to do it competitively well. When this happens, your passion becomes a skill. You can prune your passion by volunteering, learning through a mentor or taking online classes. 4. Create a product from your passion Your passion must become a product or service for you to make money from it. A great way to turn your passion into a product is by teaching people what you know for a fee. When I started to monetize The Millionaire Housewife Academy, I created e-books, DVDs and online classes to teach people what I knew about starting and growing an online business. I always recommend starting off with digital products because they are easier to maintain and become lifelong assets people all over the world can buy. People pay for products and services, not passions. 5. Promote your hustle You must shamelessly promote your passion if you want to make money from it. You can’t afford to be shy if you want your passion to be more than a hobby. If you are nervous, start off by promoting your hustle to people in your network. Price is only an issue where value is in dispute. Once people realize the value they’re getting from you, paying you becomes non-negotiable. It all starts with finding and monetizing your passion. Learn more about how to start a successful online side hustle at The Millionaire Housewife Academy.
SHEAMOISTURE SPOTLIGHT ON THE FASHIONPRENEUR: SEKINAT AMOO – CEO OMBRE WOMAN
SheaMoisture is the enduring and beautiful legacy of Sofi Tucker. Widowed with five children at 19, Grandma Sofi supported her family by selling handcrafted shea butter soaps and other creations in the village market in Sierra Leone. Sofi became known as a healer who shared the power of shea and African black soap with families throughout the countryside. She handed down her recipes to grandson Richelieu Dennis, who founded SheaMoisture and incorporated her wisdom into the brand’s hair and skin care innovations. SheaMoisture products and collections are formulated with natural, certified organic and fair trade ingredients, with the shea butter ethically-sourced from 15 co-ops in Northern Ghana as part of the company’s purpose-driven Community Commerce business model SheaMoisture has partnered with She Leads Africa to support and showcase Nigerian women who support their communities. About Sekinat Amoo Sekinat Amoo is the CEO and founder of Ombré Woman. Despite having an academic background in science and research, Sekinat made a switch and started Ombré Woman to provide classy ready-to-wear pieces for women. Ombré Woman is a female-led and for women fashion brand that empowers women by helping them look and feel their best without compromising on style and comfort. After spotting a gap in the fashion industry for ready-to-wear pieces, Sekinat decided to start Ombré Woman to provide stylish and comfortable ready to wear clothes infused with African prints. Her goal is to make very fashionable pieces to help women become more confident and look their best, without losing their comfort. You can connect with Sekinat and her business on Instagram What motivated you to start Ombré Woman? I started my brand because I had a passion to empower and build confidence in women through their everyday looks. I also spotted a gap in the fashion market for work and casual wear infused subtly with rich African prints, which really inspired my fashion journey. My desire to help women look and feel their best also led me to add an extra touch to the clothes I make. I made a decision to infuse the fabrics with rich African prints in order to create unique, trendy pieces that can be worn over and over again. The clothes are specifically made to flatter the feminine silhouette and be multifunctional so that they can be worn in the workplace or elsewhere. What makes your brand stand out? There are quite a few things that have helped Ombré Woman stand out, from our unique business type to how easy and accessible we’ve made our clothes for our clients. We are also very committed to giving back to the community and helping other women with our business. Some of the ways we’ve ensured our brand stands out in the saturated fashion industry are: My brand is built as a “for women and run by women only” business. Our business has a prime, central and accessible location for our clients. We offer customization services for our Ready-To-Wear (RTW) items, which gives our clients control over how they look and feel in our pieces. Also, we ensure that our clients receive their clothes when and how it was promised. Absolutely no disappointments! We empower other women through direct employment and artisans by giving them scrap materials to make their designs with. What are three things you struggled with when your business kicked off and how did you overcome them? One major issue we had was getting the right people to build the business. After a few fails, we took a step back and started to recruit our staff through trusted government agencies. On our own part, we provide them with incentives that add value to their lives. Another thing was getting high-quality materials for making clothes. This was a big issue because not having the materials we needed meant that the clothes won’t get made. So what we do now is use a few local vendors whom we found. We also supplement with international alternatives when we can’t find what we need locally. When it came to business finance as well, I wasn’t the most knowledgeable person and I didn’t want my business to suffer. To combat this, I did a lot of reading, took courses and sought external input as well where necessary. How have you been able to stay or rise above the noise in this industry? For me, I have remained very focused on our “why,” which is to ensure that we are helping our clients look and feel beautiful every day. We also ensure that we are delivering the best quality they can have at an affordable price. Lastly, we are constantly evaluating our business processes and training our staff to ensure that our service is top-notch. Did you have any personal experience that taught you a business lesson? When I just began my business, I had a big issue with budgeting and it almost affected my cashflow. Since I all of a sudden experienced a rise in my personal expenses, it was a bit too much to handle at first and almost became an issue. When I got the situation under control, it taught me how to plan better. I now plan my yearly budgets and funds allocation for the business ahead so that there are no surprises. How have you impacted your community since starting this business? As I mentioned earlier, my brand is very invested in giving back to the community in general and women in particular. Some of the ways we have done this is through providing employment via direct and indirect forms of labour. We also offer paid internships for our newly trained staff. To reduce any form of waste and help with sustainable recycling, we also send our scrap pieces back to local artisans. The artisans are able to use them to make a living by making items like pillows, rugs and carpets. What is your goal for 2019? And what have you done so far to achieve it? I had two major goals for 2019 and they were