SheaMoisture Spotlight on Hospitality Queen: Frances Omanukwue – CEO Pro Event Hostess Hub
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 Frances Omanukwue Frances N. Omanukwue has over seven years’ experience as an Event Hostess and Event Coordinator. She is also the author of “Becoming A Profitable Event Hostess” which is the first event hostess book in Nigeria. After seeing the potentials in the event hostess industry and how young ladies can maximize this opportunity to be financially independent while bridging the unemployment gap, she started empowering young ladies through event hostess jobs. To increase the number of young ladies who will benefit from this opportunity, Frances founded “The Pro Event Hostess Hub,” a social media platform to groom young ladies who will not only attain a level of financial independence but most importantly, will be hostesses that abide by the ethics of the industry. Recently, The Pro Event Hostess Hub was nominated amongst the top 15 Most Creative Businesses in Nigeria by Global Entrepreneurship Network-Nigeria. Frances interests range from entrepreneurship to volunteering. In her spare time, she loves to volunteer for many causes that cut across health and young women empowerment. Frances tells us more about how she started providing jobs and supporting young women in her community. Connect with Frances on her Website, Instagram, & Twitter… How I started thePro Event Hostess hub… After graduating from the university and not being able to find a job, coupled with encountering some financial challenges on the home front, I decided to look for ways to survive as well as support my family. At the time, I started working as an event hostess which is what most people refer to as an usher. As I grew in the industry irrespective of the setbacks, I observed how the money I earned over the years had helped my family especially my siblings in paying for tuition and fees, as well as sorting out their personal needs. With this realization, I started linking more young women within my community to event hostess jobs. Over time, they’d come to tell me how the opportunity had helped them to pay for school fees or sort their other financial challenges in school, learn a trade and are about to start a business. Seeing the difference it made in their lives, I decided to take it more seriously so that by doing so, I can help other young women irrespective of their location. How I’ve impacted my community since starting this business… So far, I’ve been able to link more than 100 young women to event hostess jobs which they have used to raise money to support themselves in school, learn skills and start businesses of their own. Some have also used this opportunity to learn skills that helped them get into corporate employment as well. 3 things I struggled with at the start of my business… Understanding how to structure the business: I struggled with this in the beginning but I started going for training and I have definitely gotten better since then. Training existing and new event hostesses: It wasn’t easy to convince them to go through the training process at first, but from the feedback and results of other ladies who have attended our training, others can now see the benefit of it. Business Acceptance: Initially, I struggled with convincing people to accept my brand. However, through constantly promoting our work, more people are starting to understand and value the importance and benefits of event hostessing. 3 interesting facts about myself… I am naturally an introvert but people think otherwise. I love driving and playing video games. Learning about new things excites me a lot. My fave skin, hair care product… Shea butter A message to SheaMoisture & She Leads Africa… I am really excited and grateful to She Leads Africa and SheaMoisture for providing a platform where women can showcase their businesses and how they impact their communities. You can find SheaMoisture products at Youtopia Beauty stores nationwide and on Jumia. Sponsored Post.
SheaMoisture Spotlight On Award-Winning Midwife: Tolu Adeleke-Aire – CEO ToluTheMidwife
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 Tolu Adeleke-Aire Tolu Adeleke-Aire is the CEO and founder of ToluTheMidwife. She is an internationally trained, dual-qualified healthcare professional. Tolu is an accomplished senior midwife and nurse. Tolu has over ten years of clinical and management experience. She completed an MSc in Healthcare Management, after which she worked with the reputable UCL (Department of Nutrition). Tolu founded ToluTheMidwife to create a holistic experience for families. One that included preparing, supporting and empowering expectant parents as they transition to parenthood. She does this through evidence-based health education. One parent at a time, Tolu is living her business mantra, “save a mother, save a child, save a community.” To learn more about Tolu’s business and connect with her, visit her Website, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. ToluTheMidwife Healthcare Solutions, how did you start? I started ToluTheMidwife Healthcare Solutions (officially) in 2018. The aim is to prepare, support and empower expectant parents as they transition to parenthood through evidence-based health education. At ToluTheMidwife, we offer Antenatal Classes, Postnatal Classes, exclusive “With Woman” services and Dads Antenatal Classes #DadsAntenatalNg. Through effective health education, we can influence a positive change in health behaviors. This will drastically reduce Nigeria’s maternal and neonatal mortality rates. We truly believe that informed and empowered parents will Save a mother, Save a baby and Save a Community. What was your motivation? While still working in England, I visited Nigeria often because I always wanted to move back. So during one of these visits, I read an article about the atrocious maternal and neonatal mortality rates. I instantly became obsessed. That article made me struggle to understand why so many women die just because they are having a baby. On further research, I noted many women lack basic evidence-based health education. As a result, I created Tolu the Midwife to fill this gap, with the hopes of saving mothers, babies, and communities. What makes your brand stand out? I would say our dads antenatal classes, #DadsAntenatalNg. We are the first to incorporate antenatal classes for dads in Lagos and possibly Nigeria. Society expects men to understand the beautiful yet challenging changes that happen to women during pregnancy. To support their partners in labor and in the postnatal period. All that without being taught, educated, informed or even supported. This is grossly unfair, drives men away and generational patterns are subconsciously repeated. Our holistic approach covers the transition to parenthood right from conception for both men and women. Another thing we do is offer our couples, round the clock online maternity support through our exclusive “With Woman” packages. Couples feel very reassured knowing there is a midwife available to answer all their questions and alleviate any anxiety or refer them to the hospital (if required). Can you tell us one 1 to 3 things you struggled with as a business owner and how you overcame them? 1. Time management: I had a demanding full-time job and was starting a business in Nigeria. It was very challenging and I found no matter how hard I tried, the “naija factor” would disrupt my plans. I am currently working part-time, as this gives me enough time to focus on building ToluTheMidwife and The Maternity Hub (Nigeria). I am also able to attend various courses which have been extremely helpful in building my brand. 2. Funding: I was unable to secure a personal space as I had planned and this threw me out of sync. I froze the plans I had for the classes for a while. However, I am currently leasing spaces as required for my classes (pay-as-you-go) and this is working out really well. How have you managed to stay above the noise in this industry? As a brand new start-up, we are trying new and exclusive services such as dads antenatal classes and baby massage classes and evaluating the response we get from our clients. We also constantly monitor maternal needs and trends. Do you have a personal experience that taught you a business lesson? I didn’t consider the third party factor and it left me devastated at the start of my business. As an example, I write the handbooks for the classes and have them updated throughout the year. I gave the first book to a printer and I didn’t receive them on time for the very first class. It made me upset because when I did receive them, they were not fit for purpose. So when I updated the books again and sent them to the printer, I monitored every single step to avoid a repeat of what happened before. It was a really helpful learning experience for me because as a startup, I can’t afford to have a stain on my reputation, so I take all the necessary steps to ensure it doesn’t repeat itself. What impact have you made on your community since starting this business? I would say being able to make pregnant couples feel informed and empowered about their pregnancy, birthing options, and postnatal care. Most of them report feeling less anxious and worried because they know we are one call away. They also ask the midwives and doctors to complete all aspects of their antenatal check-up. The women have their personal antenatal
SheaMoisture Spotlight on Finance Queen: Anie Ufia – founder of Kolo Lagos
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 Anie Ufia 22-year old Ufia Aniebietabasi is the CEO and founder of Kolo Lagos. She is a Mass Communication graduate from the University of Lagos. After an experience where she was shocked to find out that she had no savings of her own in a bank or anywhere else, Anie made up her mind to create a system that will make savings fun and a priority for her. Seeing the immediate results it had on her finances, she was determined to help other young people like herself, take control of their finances. You are sure to either catch Anie preaching the gospel of financial freedom or on the lookout for opportunities with which she can drive social change. Connect with Anie and her business here Website, Instagram, Twitter Tell us about Kolo Lagos. Kolo Lagos is a proudly Nigerian brand that is passionate about bringing back the saving culture in a unique way. We aim to achieve this by encouraging people to save money in a piggy bank, popularly called “Kolo” in Nigeria. Our kolos are made from quality tested wood and specially handcrafted with love in Nigeria to help people curb overspending, grow a saving habit and stay disciplined while at it. How did you turn this habit into a business? I started Kolo Lagos during my final year at the University. I suddenly realized that I had zero savings, not in the bank or even in a piggy bank. This made me buy a piggy bank for myself and discipline myself to save money. I bought one from a carpenter that was introduced to me by a friend. Since it worked for me, I told my friends about it and everyone wanted a piggy bank so they could save money as well. That was how the journey began! Having a niche business, how do you make your brand stand out? At Kolo Lagos, our kolos are crafted and designed to promote the rich and beautiful culture in Nigeria and Africa. They have also added an innovative touch to an old approach of saving money which was used since the days of our forefathers. The reusability of our Kolos has also added a modern twist to it and is the ‘WOW’ factor that attracts our customers. Can you share with us 3 things you struggled with at the start of your business, and how you overcame them? The major challenge I struggled with at the start of my business was building brand loyalty. It was a new business and with the prevalence of online fraud, most people are scared to make a purchase from an online store. However, as the business grew, people began to trust us enough to refer us to friends and relatives. I have now moved from selling kolos to just friends and family but to people who discover us via the internet. Another big challenge I struggled with was finding artisans who knew their onions, could deliver neatly done jobs, and deliver them on time. I am glad that I have overcome that challenge since I have a particular one I now work with… Tell us about a personal experience that translated to a business lesson for you. My first business lesson was before I even began my business. I had given a fashion designer a fabric and style to make an outfit for me. I decided to come to get it at the allotted time the tailor gave me, but despite the sufficient time I gave, my dress wasn’t ready. It was quite annoying and frustrating, to say the least. So I took that lesson with me to Kolo Lagos when I started it. Working with artisans means that I constantly have to follow up, make calls and even go there physically if need be, just to ensure that everything is done well and on time. That experience stayed with me and has been a major lesson that has helped my business. What impact have you made in your community since starting your business? Since starting my business, I have impacted my community by speaking at workshops and seminars to both young and old people about money, and why it’s important to maintain a healthy saving lifestyle. What is your 2019 goal, and what have you done so far to achieve it? My goal for 2019 is to get more local distributors within Nigeria and at least one international distributor in order to achieve the goal of selling 2,000 kolos this year. I am currently speaking with someone who is interested in becoming an international distributor. Share with us 3 fun facts about yourself I love food. Food loves me. Food makes me happy. I know how to play drums. What’s your fave skin care routine? My skin care routine is done at night when I get to nicely cleanse my skin with my organic skin products, and prep for the night before going to bed. How do you feel about promoting your brand on She Leads Africa, courtesy of SheaMoisture? To be totally honest, I am still in utter shock even as I type this. I remember when I applied for it and a part of me