Latest / thefashionroundtable / Why Fashion Brands Fail: Sharon Ademefun on Global sizing lies, Markups & Money

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Why Fashion Brands Fail: Sharon Ademefun on Global sizing lies, Markups & Money · thefashionroundtable

0:00
SPEAKER_02: This episode is brought to you by Flutterwave.
0:02
SPEAKER_02: Check out flutterwave.com.
0:04
SPEAKER_02: What does it take to build a business, walk away from it, and come back stronger?
0:09
SPEAKER_02: Sharon Adamefon has been building businesses around fashion and beauty for more than a decade.
0:15
SPEAKER_02: She started with Boutique, launched in 2011, and today she runs body politics along businesses in hair extensions and hair care.
0:23
SPEAKER_02: But the interesting part isn't what she has built.
0:26
SPEAKER_02: It's what she has learned along the way about Nigerian women selling fashion, building trust, surviving mistakes, and knowing when it's time to start again.
0:35
SPEAKER_02: My name is Bimi Olaterra Lagbeggi.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: And today we're talking about the business behind fashion and beauty, the lessons that don't show up on Instagram and what it really takes to build businesses that last.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: Sharon, welcome to the fashion roundtable.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
0:51
SPEAKER_02: Finally getting you here.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: I know.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: Finally.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: I know.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: I know I know you're a busy woman.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
0:56
SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: So in 2011, you launched a brand called Boutique.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: BoutiqueOnline.com.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, online.com.
1:04
SPEAKER_02: Looking back, what did you get right and what did you get wrong?
1:07
SPEAKER_03: So I would say I got all of it wrong.
1:10
SPEAKER_03: All for the most part.
1:11
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:12
SPEAKER_03: Because we'll we'll circle back around to why I say that.
1:14
SPEAKER_03: Let's just say what I did get right.
1:16
SPEAKER_03: I think that I got right that online business is going to be important in the future because.
1:23
SPEAKER_03: So you were early?
1:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was early because Boutique Online was what, 2009?
1:27
SPEAKER_03: Oh, not 11.
1:28
SPEAKER_03: No, it's 2011.
1:30
SPEAKER_03: So when I moved back.
1:31
SPEAKER_03: 2011 when I started.
1:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:32
SPEAKER_03: So it just, I was an avid online shopper already.
1:35
SPEAKER_03: I realized it wasn't something that was really done in Nigeria.
1:38
SPEAKER_03: And in my mind, I was thinking, website, just get a bit of clothes, you know, it should be fine.
1:44
SPEAKER_03: And Nigeria completely happened to me during that business in every sense of the word.
1:49
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:50
SPEAKER_03: But I think I got it more wrong than I did right.
1:53
SPEAKER_03: And the reason I say that is because I was not focused on the complete supply chain.
2:00
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
2:01
SPEAKER_03: And I think that that is the same mistake I see a lot of businesses making today.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: And what I mean by that is from the moment you have an idea to the moment that you create a sample, wear the sample, wash the sample, approve the sample, and not allow the pressure of your supplier.
2:17
SPEAKER_03: Because they'll send you a shirt today.
2:19
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure you have the same thing with shoes.
2:21
SPEAKER_03: Of course.
2:21
SPEAKER_03: Tomorrow, ready?
2:22
SPEAKER_03: Wholesale order?
2:23
SPEAKER_03: You ready?
2:23
SPEAKER_03: And I just have to block them.
2:24
SPEAKER_03: So I don't have to archive it.
2:26
SPEAKER_03: They're very aggressive and you can't compete, you know, for the most part.
2:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, and so by you wear the sample, order the sample, take pictures of the sample, upload it on the website, have it available, and have your distribution channels.
2:41
SPEAKER_03: It just felt like it was easier than it was.
2:45
SPEAKER_03: And then you'd already announced this huge launch party.
2:51
SPEAKER_03: I remember it was big.
2:52
SPEAKER_03: It was a land large, everybody was there.
2:54
SPEAKER_03: It was a thing.
2:55
SPEAKER_03: Did you get like all them whiskey?
2:57
SPEAKER_03: Everybody, too.
2:58
SPEAKER_03: All of these guys.
2:58
SPEAKER_03: Everybody performed, I remember.
3:00
SPEAKER_03: And this was not like how they are doing now, where people, everybody has, you know, the most famous person there.
3:07
SPEAKER_03: This was before people started doing things like that.
3:10
SPEAKER_03: And then I had this lunch party and I thought, oh, I'm gonna be able to catch up behind the scenes, and I just never caught up with myself.
3:16
SPEAKER_03: And so after about a year and a half, two years of trying, I just said, you know what?
3:21
SPEAKER_03: This is with opening a shop that I had never planned to open.
3:25
SPEAKER_03: This is with multiple stealing, this is with stuff never delivering, because you know, little entrepreneurs kind of have it easy now.
3:34
SPEAKER_03: No, no shade.
3:34
SPEAKER_03: I'm not taking away your hard work because it's still really hard.
3:37
SPEAKER_03: But you guys kind of have the what the systems that they have in place now, DHL business, all these things, they didn't exist then.
3:44
SPEAKER_03: So it was like It was really tough.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: It was do you have a friend?
3:47
SPEAKER_03: Can you help me send do you all the things?
3:50
SPEAKER_03: You know, the logistical issues of entrepreneurship, I hadn't thought it through, you know.
3:56
SPEAKER_03: And after a while, and with that being said, I also had other businesses.
4:00
SPEAKER_03: I had my crush that I launched at the same time.
4:04
SPEAKER_03: And I have this thing about launching two things at the same time.
4:07
SPEAKER_03: Don't know why.
4:08
SPEAKER_03: Won't be doing that again.
4:11
SPEAKER_03: But I I do want to say is I think that because I had severe undiagnosed ADHD.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: And I know a lot of people are gonna be like, mm, you started.
4:22
SPEAKER_03: I actually am one of those, I go for B doo, I reject it, I reject it.
4:26
SPEAKER_03: But when I started going to therapy and when I started doing business coaching, it was my business coach that said, you know, I think you might have some, you understand?
4:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
4:35
SPEAKER_03: And why is this important?
4:37
SPEAKER_03: Because their actions, the decisions that you're gonna make from an ADHD place, a mental health place that affects 20 people.
4:46
SPEAKER_03: So so I can if I if I look back now, I could start on Monday saying, okay, guys, we're gonna focus on these dresses, let's count this, let's take the picture.
4:53
SPEAKER_03: We have the sizing, this is what we're gonna do.
4:56
SPEAKER_03: On Tuesday, I can have a whole nother idea.
4:59
SPEAKER_03: And just decide that we're going this way.
5:00
SPEAKER_03: So why would I be frustrating?
5:03
SPEAKER_03: Why will it get done?
5:04
SPEAKER_03: Why will it even get done?
5:06
SPEAKER_02: So I totally forgot about your crash because I remember that, and you you have a thing for doing stuff that has never been done.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: So if I remember about the crash, it was one of the it was the first one where you had uh CCTV and you would give, I think, um, parents the link to actually see.
5:23
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: So see that, you know, the your kids are safe, everything is fine.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: I mean it was unheard of then.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: You know, and then other people started coming up and doing it.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: Also, same with with boutique, you know, you you were one of the first, should I say, like online boutiques where it wasn't, it's not like you.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: Were you making the clothes or were you like that?
5:43
SPEAKER_02: It was a different thing.
5:44
SPEAKER_03: It was importation, it was menswear as well.
5:47
SPEAKER_03: It was a mixture of a lot of things.
5:49
SPEAKER_03: There were accessories, I remember.
5:50
SPEAKER_03: There was accessories, there was a little bit of shoes.
5:53
SPEAKER_03: And honestly, it honestly, I would say it's the baby sister of body politics, but body politics is just a lot more thought out.
6:03
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
6:03
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: Well, we're going to come to body politics.
6:05
SPEAKER_02: Body uh body politics.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: It came, it came years later.
6:08
SPEAKER_02: What gap did you see that made you say this is the business I want to build now?
6:13
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so after so I had the crash, which was very successful for about 12 years, um, and I closed it once I lost interest.
6:21
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: Because these are people's children.
6:24
SPEAKER_03: So actually, my kids end up going to my crash.
6:27
SPEAKER_03: My daughter didn't make it, I had closed it down before then.
6:29
SPEAKER_03: But at least my two kids went.
6:31
SPEAKER_03: So it was really convenient at the stage of life that I was in.
6:35
SPEAKER_03: Before I got married, I closed down boutique, sold everything.
6:39
SPEAKER_02: I remember you did a wholesale.
6:41
SPEAKER_03: I bought a lot of the things, I remember.
6:42
SPEAKER_03: Yes, I got rid of everything.
6:43
SPEAKER_03: And you know, one of the things I also realized that lets me know I have the entrepreneurial bone kind of is when I see that okay, it's time to let go, it's okay.
6:54
SPEAKER_03: But the ADHD side also makes you want to hold on.
6:58
SPEAKER_03: And I found that that was an issue I had with employees.
7:01
SPEAKER_03: Somebody would show me premium shaking, and I would think that, oh my gosh, God, you know, anointed me to turn this person's life around.
7:11
SPEAKER_03: No, especially when I was in my born-again era.
7:13
SPEAKER_03: Oh my God.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: Not that I'm not a born-again Christian, but when I was in my Jesus doesn't reject anyone era.
7:21
SPEAKER_03: Now it's a, I mean my God, your heart's era.
7:23
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
7:24
SPEAKER_03: If you're stressing because I love Jesus, but I will cut your ass out.
7:29
SPEAKER_03: I will ask for forgiveness later.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: And I'll go to my team and say, you guys, that can never happen again.
7:34
SPEAKER_03: Block me.
7:34
SPEAKER_03: And this is why I don't even talk to people directly anymore or whatever.
7:39
SPEAKER_03: But I think that um I just really learned in that moment that you really do have to be passionate about it.
7:48
SPEAKER_03: But I mean, as I was closing down, I closed down boutique and I was rounding things up with golden tots and babies, I had already started my little hair interests.
7:58
SPEAKER_03: Um, and and so I'd kind of already started Rona Beauty.
8:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, and that also came out of frustration, actually.
8:06
SPEAKER_03: I had a wig maker.
8:07
SPEAKER_03: I think I was even one of the first people to start wearing wigs in Nigeria as well.
8:11
SPEAKER_03: I had a uh with the closure and all that, I had a wig maker, and she just used to take forever.
8:17
SPEAKER_03: And so I was pregnant, I was bored, and I said, okay, do you know what God?
8:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna figure this out myself.
8:21
SPEAKER_03: There was like two videos on YouTube.
8:23
SPEAKER_03: Now, Google YouTube, it's all there.
8:25
SPEAKER_03: So I started that business.
8:27
SPEAKER_03: But what actually really made me start body politics, I was frustrated again.
8:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, first of all, I was frustrated with finding clothes.
8:37
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
8:37
SPEAKER_03: I just found it was really hard to find normal clothes in Nigeria.
8:40
SPEAKER_03: If you want to find a t-shirt with design, it's there.
8:44
SPEAKER_03: But just a plain t-shirt.
8:45
SPEAKER_03: Plain t-shirt.
8:45
SPEAKER_03: Wahala.
8:46
SPEAKER_03: It was just too much for me.
8:48
SPEAKER_03: It was really hard for me to find jeans.
8:50
SPEAKER_03: I used to go to Balogun Market.
8:53
SPEAKER_03: I remember my friend said, my assistant, Fatima, always used to say, you have to wear a disguise because they're going to charge us more.
8:59
SPEAKER_03: They're just going to know.
9:00
SPEAKER_03: So I would go like this, was even before COVID, though, I was giving them mask and hat and all that.
9:05
SPEAKER_03: But why would you?
9:06
SPEAKER_03: Just because I wanted to get a fair price.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: I wanted the 3,000 Naira price too.
9:10
SPEAKER_03: Were you the one negotiating?
9:12
SPEAKER_03: No, obviously not.
9:15
SPEAKER_03: At the moment you open your mouth.
9:16
SPEAKER_03: Correct.
9:17
SPEAKER_03: So I wouldn't even talk, but I would go with her.
9:19
SPEAKER_03: So that we would get really good prices, and then I would get the jeans, then I'd have to take to my tailor, and I always have to buy extra fabric because it was always too short.
9:28
SPEAKER_03: Because you're always have to take in the waists.
9:30
SPEAKER_03: So me and Kim Kardashian have been adjusting our clothes for the longest time.
9:36
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
9:37
SPEAKER_03: Based on big ass, tiny waist kind of things.
9:40
SPEAKER_03: And so I just realized that I'm uncomfortable.
9:44
SPEAKER_03: And I only wear the same things over and over again and I only get things made.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: But for someone who travels a lot, I would think that would not be a problem.
9:51
SPEAKER_03: Same issue in the States.
9:53
SPEAKER_03: I don't think, you know, I went to a conference.
9:56
SPEAKER_03: I so what I've been doing now, I go to at least one or two conferences a year just to keep my ear to the ground.
10:01
SPEAKER_03: I went to India to find out about fabric, which I'll talk to you more about, and just how fabric is made.
10:07
SPEAKER_03: I just had an interest to find out and just sourcing fabrics and meeting people.
10:11
SPEAKER_03: And then I also went to New York on that trip and I went to this thing called Magic.
10:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I've been there.
10:16
SPEAKER_03: I went to the one in Vegas, yeah.
10:18
SPEAKER_03: Good.
10:18
SPEAKER_03: So I went to the one in New York, I think I have in Miami as well.
10:21
SPEAKER_03: And I went there, it was a three-day, no, it was like a week, but it took me about three days to go through the whole thing.
10:26
SPEAKER_03: So it's a lot.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: It's very overwhelming.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: And I saw over 5,000 vendors.
10:33
SPEAKER_03: And out of the 5,000 vendors, three had extra large, had 3XL.
10:39
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
10:40
SPEAKER_03: And if, well, I'm gonna be honest, that 3XL really is like an extra large gig.
10:46
SPEAKER_03: And I just realized that my whole life, my whole childhood, my whole growing up, my whole issues with my body, I had Chinese measurements and white measurements telling me something was wrong with my body.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
10:59
SPEAKER_03: Because that doesn't make any sense.
11:01
SPEAKER_03: And this is not like years ago.
11:03
SPEAKER_03: I went for this like maybe two years ago.
11:06
SPEAKER_03: And I could only find a handful of people that were making bigger sizes.
11:10
SPEAKER_03: Their bigger sizes were not the real big one, it's the fake one.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: From Nigeria to the world.
11:16
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11:35
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11:42
SPEAKER_02: So my question is if you were to say, if someone were to say, okay, tell me about body politics, what is their focus?
11:49
SPEAKER_03: So body politics is first of all, you're gonna walk and you're gonna find your size.
11:53
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
11:54
SPEAKER_03: If you don't find your size, it's probably not healthy BMI-wise for us to go any bigger than that.
12:00
SPEAKER_03: No, it's true.
12:02
SPEAKER_03: I didn't say that you're fat.
12:04
SPEAKER_03: Because we go all the way to 5XL.
12:07
SPEAKER_03: You really need to know.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: So that means I mean, but really, I don't want to say anything.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: Because you know, today's world, if you say anything, it's fat phobic.
12:14
SPEAKER_02: I agree.
12:14
SPEAKER_02: For me, I just felt medically.
12:17
SPEAKER_02: This forget what's good.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: This was a good stopping spot.
12:21
SPEAKER_02: I didn't even know you go as far as 5XL.
12:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we go from size zero to size 30.
12:25
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
12:25
SPEAKER_03: And this is because in skims, right?
12:28
SPEAKER_03: No shade to skims, I'm a size 20.
12:31
SPEAKER_03: Where?
12:32
SPEAKER_03: How?
12:33
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
12:35
SPEAKER_03: And it goes back to what I was saying at Magic.
12:39
SPEAKER_03: The European size, do you get?
12:42
SPEAKER_03: What is plus size?
12:43
SPEAKER_03: We are Africans.
12:44
SPEAKER_03: And this is ask them.
12:45
SPEAKER_03: I'm always arguing with my with my suppliers that you guys, Chinese body and African body is not the friend.
12:53
SPEAKER_03: Follow my size chat.
12:54
SPEAKER_03: Follow my size chat.
12:56
SPEAKER_03: Just even getting them to cooperate has taken years.
12:59
SPEAKER_03: I understand.
13:00
SPEAKER_03: So what I'm saying is, even going to Yankee, I just got tired.
13:04
SPEAKER_03: I got tired of going places.
13:06
SPEAKER_03: You get try and get a pair of jeans.
13:09
SPEAKER_03: I'll even go to the big girl shop.
13:11
SPEAKER_03: So the Lane Bryant, the Torrid, and the rest of the video.
13:15
SPEAKER_03: That was my place.
13:16
SPEAKER_03: Still come back, readjust.
13:19
SPEAKER_03: And I just said, God, I don't want to do this anymore.
13:21
SPEAKER_03: Like it really affected my social life.
13:24
SPEAKER_03: It affected me going out because now it's a situation of I can't just walk in my closet and pick something.
13:29
SPEAKER_03: It was now, I had my when I lose weight in one year clothes, when I would do this, and I just realized that no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not living.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: And there's so many cute outfits with my body on it that needs my body in it.
13:45
SPEAKER_03: And so I first decided that with body politics, I only want to make clothes with stretch.
13:49
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
13:50
SPEAKER_03: All my denim, all my skirts, everything has stretch.
13:52
SPEAKER_03: Stretch is a hack because your body is political and body politics.
13:58
SPEAKER_03: Because sometimes you could be a size 12 plus.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: I'm on my time of the month.
14:03
SPEAKER_03: I ate too much this week.
14:05
SPEAKER_03: Why must that clothes now be abandoned because of it?
14:08
SPEAKER_03: You can wear stretch clothes and be like, ah, okay, I know I need to watch it.
14:12
SPEAKER_03: You know, you know when you've added weight or whatever, but why should it now be eliminated from my closet?
14:18
SPEAKER_03: That was number one.
14:19
SPEAKER_03: Number two, I'm huge on dressy casual.
14:23
SPEAKER_03: I love looking good at home.
14:25
SPEAKER_03: I love wearing loungewear.
14:27
SPEAKER_03: I love feeling comfortable.
14:28
SPEAKER_03: And so a lot of these things was, I was looking for it for myself.
14:32
SPEAKER_03: You know, and I just always find that I fall into these things.
14:36
SPEAKER_03: It's not that it just really happens.
14:38
SPEAKER_03: But if I can describe body politics, I would definitely say it's kind of a little bit of everything.
14:44
SPEAKER_03: You know, we have our athletics, we have our at leisure, we have travel, we have evening wear.
14:50
SPEAKER_03: We're going into suits.
14:51
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: Like corporate wear.
14:53
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's cool.
14:54
SPEAKER_03: Because same reason, same reason.
14:56
SPEAKER_03: I just want some good, stretchy corporate wear.
14:59
SPEAKER_03: That way I sit down, I'm not hearing.
15:03
SPEAKER_03: I don't want a I have big thighs with plenty of cellulite.
15:07
SPEAKER_03: I do not want a slip up my bum.
15:11
SPEAKER_03: I don't want it.
15:12
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
15:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, and I just find that even finding cute conservative clothes is very hard.
15:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I want to show, but just sprinkle, sprinkle.
15:25
SPEAKER_03: Not too much.
15:26
SPEAKER_03: Too much.
15:26
SPEAKER_03: And I feel like it's either you look like Yawo Jesu or a fashion Nova model or something like that.
15:33
SPEAKER_03: And it's just like I I'm, you know, and so I feel like I'm in that kind of middle space.
15:40
SPEAKER_03: But then I want it for quality.
15:42
SPEAKER_03: But then why are you charging 600%?
15:45
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna get to pricing.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: So you've had access, of course, you have access to resources, networks that many young entrepreneurs don't.
15:53
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: So is having money and access enough?
15:56
SPEAKER_03: Having money and access is important, but it's certainly not enough.
16:01
SPEAKER_03: And I, you know, I kind of said something on my story, so these people think like I just went on my stories one day, and I was just thinking to myself that come, all these people that started their business with$500 or I started with 10K and now I have 10 million.
16:15
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, God, I started with thousands of dollars and I still do not have this.
16:20
SPEAKER_03: And so I went online and said, look, you guys, some people are gonna start with zero and make loads.
16:25
SPEAKER_03: Some people are gonna start with loads and lose zero.
16:28
SPEAKER_03: But what I'll tell you is if you can have the impatience to improve, you can start over as many times as you need to to get it.
16:36
SPEAKER_03: They carried it, it became a debate.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: Oh, but you know, they would twist it, you know, a lot of times they twist things around.
16:41
SPEAKER_03: Funny enough, I think they actually tried for this one.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: I thought it was not a good thing.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: No, no, really.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: No, because I actually I'm not, I'm not, um, I'm not blinded to my privilege.
16:52
SPEAKER_03: Do you get I I can understand how I can piss people off.
16:55
SPEAKER_03: Do you get what I'm trying to say?
16:56
SPEAKER_03: I really do.
16:57
SPEAKER_03: But I think what people understand, well, I feel like, and I always say this: if I had crowdfunded, if I had raised an IPO, if I had angel invested and lost all the money, because that's what a lot of them do, and that's because they're tired.
17:13
SPEAKER_03: Do you get it's it's you it's tiring, you're drained, and so you're like, well, let me live the life small, let me feel successful, and then tomorrow the whole thing doesn't work out, whatever, whatever.
17:22
SPEAKER_03: People will still respect them.
17:25
SPEAKER_03: But God forbid, do you understand that you are giving the money?
17:30
SPEAKER_03: It's now a whole nother conversation of nepotism, it's a whole nother conversation of undue or unfair privilege.
17:39
SPEAKER_03: Regardless of whether I borrowed it or whether I was given to me, you still have to steward it and do the work.
17:46
SPEAKER_03: You still have to do the work.
17:48
SPEAKER_03: And this is what I will say for myself.
17:50
SPEAKER_03: I feel like I'm just after in Nigeria, I'm getting to my what 10th year, 12th year of entrepreneurship.
18:00
SPEAKER_03: I realized that I was winging it.
18:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
18:04
SPEAKER_03: I was just because the money was there, I was just keep on going.
18:08
SPEAKER_03: And a lot of these our aunties and uncles that we see, that is what we see.
18:13
SPEAKER_03: And we're now saying, oh, longevity, longevity.
18:15
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
18:16
SPEAKER_03: It's just we've decided to keep pumping money into something that we're not doing the numbers on.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: If you were not from a privileged background, sure, would you have become an entrepreneur anyway?
18:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah.
18:29
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
18:30
SPEAKER_03: 100%.
18:31
SPEAKER_03: I think that.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: So my first business I started, I was in boarding school.
18:36
SPEAKER_03: And do you remember the Argos catalogs in boarding school?
18:39
SPEAKER_03: There was this big catalog where you could just flip through.
18:42
SPEAKER_03: So they had this straightener from Babylist, I'll never forget.
18:45
SPEAKER_03: And it you could change the plates of the straightener.
18:48
SPEAKER_03: It could be crinkle, it could be the big curls, it could be the straightener.
18:52
SPEAKER_03: So we had this huge long haul.
18:54
SPEAKER_03: I went to this school called the Royal School in Bath in England.
18:57
SPEAKER_03: Really posh school.
18:59
SPEAKER_03: I was like one of two black black people.
19:01
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
19:02
SPEAKER_03: That was us.
19:03
SPEAKER_03: And so I put a little post, I talked to the preceptress or whatever you want to call her.
19:09
SPEAKER_03: I put a little poster, and it would be like, okay, if you I have three appointments before breakfast.
19:13
SPEAKER_03: If you want to curl your hair.
19:14
SPEAKER_03: If you like your hair curled, it's 50p.
19:17
SPEAKER_03: If you want two braids, it's a pound.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: And so that's how I started my first business.
19:21
SPEAKER_03: Then my second business was Tuck.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: So aka snacks.
19:25
SPEAKER_03: Oh gosh.
19:26
SPEAKER_03: So back in those days, all these Oreos, Rits, and all that, they weren't, there was not that much international trade.
19:32
SPEAKER_03: You had your British snacks and you had your American snacks.
19:35
SPEAKER_03: Now you have your Oreos in England, which have their own recipe, and you have the American, but it was only American.
19:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:41
SPEAKER_03: And we used to have those trunks, like you see them on Harry Potter coming.
19:44
SPEAKER_03: And my school looked like Harry Potter school.
19:46
SPEAKER_03: To God do maybe it looked like Harry Potter.
19:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:48
SPEAKER_03: So you had these trunks.
19:50
SPEAKER_03: And um, so I used to sell my American candy because people couldn't get it.
19:55
SPEAKER_03: It's different.
19:56
SPEAKER_03: It's different from yeah.
19:57
SPEAKER_03: And then I was friends with the seniors, so they had more tuck days.
20:00
SPEAKER_03: So I used to also have a little thing where I would buy tuck and then sell it on the black market during the week because you were not allowed.
20:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
20:07
SPEAKER_03: You get you are not allowed it during school.
20:10
SPEAKER_03: So it's always kind of been part of some way.
20:13
SPEAKER_03: And I naturally walk into a place and kind of calculate if the person is making money or not.
20:18
SPEAKER_03: There will always be signs.
20:19
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
20:20
SPEAKER_03: So I think it's a part of who I am.
20:22
SPEAKER_03: I think it's in my blood.
20:23
SPEAKER_03: I think I'm very like my dad in that way.
20:26
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I think I definitely would.
20:29
SPEAKER_03: Um and I also think that I would probably be maybe even a better business person.
20:35
SPEAKER_03: Because I feel like sometimes having too much can also make you a bit lazy.
20:39
SPEAKER_03: You always want to hire someone to do the job.
20:42
SPEAKER_03: You know, I um I didn't even know we had money until I was like 21, to be honest with you.
20:47
SPEAKER_03: I'm around please.
20:49
SPEAKER_03: No, I'm being I'm keeping it above 50.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: That's when I moved to Nigeria.
20:53
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
20:53
SPEAKER_03: I've lived a very normal life.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
20:56
SPEAKER_03: Outside of my schools, I've always worked.
20:59
SPEAKER_03: I've always had a job.
21:00
SPEAKER_03: Even when I was in high school, because I wanted to have five pounds a week, I used to clean the changing rooms.
21:05
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
21:05
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
21:06
SPEAKER_03: I've always worked because my dad will give you just enough.
21:10
SPEAKER_03: He never let us know.
21:12
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
21:13
SPEAKER_03: And then we will go on holidays, like normal holidays.
21:16
SPEAKER_03: You go to the cruise, you go to Disney.
21:18
SPEAKER_03: It's not like when I take my kids to Disney now, we're going to Disney VIP because I'm not queuing for anybody.
21:24
SPEAKER_03: My dad will queue.
21:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah?
21:26
SPEAKER_03: So there's no there's I'm sorry, I can't imagine Chairman queuing that's true.
21:29
SPEAKER_02: Which is cap.
21:31
SPEAKER_03: The cap we will have the ears.
21:32
SPEAKER_03: Do you know I I should have brought my Disney pictures?
21:35
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
21:36
SPEAKER_03: It was very, we had money to do stuff, but it was very normal.
21:40
SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to explain it.
21:41
SPEAKER_03: It was not like what people were.
21:43
SPEAKER_03: Out of the ordinary.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: There was no PJ, there was no do you guys.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: It was normal.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: It was above.
21:48
SPEAKER_03: Yes, we all had a nice room and a nice house, but it was not something that I felt like, oh my gosh, you are rich.
21:54
SPEAKER_03: I never grew up that way.
21:55
SPEAKER_03: Up until my senior year of college, I was a babysitter.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: Professional babysitter.
22:01
SPEAKER_03: And so this is why I know stuff.
22:03
SPEAKER_03: You know, this is why I started the crash.
22:05
SPEAKER_03: Because I'd actually been a caretaker for kids for like five years.
22:08
SPEAKER_03: So I feel like it was when I came to Nigeria that people now kind of started being like, Oh, that you know you guys, you guys have bread.
22:17
SPEAKER_03: And so when I was like, Dad, do we have money?
22:19
SPEAKER_03: Like, it was just but have you not heard David say this before?
22:23
SPEAKER_03: He said, I have money, you don't have money.
22:25
SPEAKER_03: He doesn't say that what?
22:27
SPEAKER_03: No, he he he just doesn't answer the question.
22:29
SPEAKER_03: My dad is just a very chill person.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to explain it.
22:33
SPEAKER_03: It's not that he didn't answer the question, but he didn't say yes.
22:37
SPEAKER_03: We have money.
22:38
SPEAKER_03: But loud to my to my kids, he'd be like, Yes, tell them you're a boss, you are rich.
22:41
SPEAKER_03: I said, Daddy, that DVG has entered your has entered your spirit.
22:45
SPEAKER_03: So I think I would have been a better business person, but that doesn't mean I'm not learning.
22:51
SPEAKER_03: Now I'm a very good business person, but I think that having too much or having access to too much too soon is also a big um issue.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: All right.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: All right.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: So if I take uh if I think of your businesses, you've done, especially the fashion-oriented one.
23:07
SPEAKER_02: You've had boutique, you still have runner hair, you still you have runner beauty, which is the products and everything, and then now you have body politics.
23:15
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: What have you learned about the Nigerian woman's relationship with her body and fashion that some brands don't understand?
23:24
SPEAKER_03: Um that's a very, very good one.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: I I've learned that 90% of us have an issue.
23:32
SPEAKER_03: Some form of eating disorder, some form of body dysmorphia.
23:36
SPEAKER_03: And it's in the little things.
23:38
SPEAKER_03: You go out to dinner with your friend, instead of how to order and eat, you now start to explain that today is cheat day.
23:43
SPEAKER_03: This is part of it.
23:44
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
23:44
SPEAKER_03: Just eat.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: It's part, no, but it's part of the issue.
23:48
SPEAKER_03: And that's because we in Nigeria, in Africa, in the black community, women have been judged based on how they look.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: So we're sensitive about it.
23:56
SPEAKER_03: But I've also learned that every woman wants to look good.
24:00
SPEAKER_03: It's just either they don't know how or they can't afford to.
24:04
SPEAKER_03: Every woman wants to look good, every woman wants to buy into quality, everybody wants to feel that they're looking their best.
24:14
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I and that's from all walks of life, and I've I I've noticed that.
24:22
SPEAKER_02: So I went to Nefertiti's salon because I had to record season two of the fashion round table, and I knew I just wanted to get my hair braided with lush hairs, dancing curls.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: So I proceeded to Nefertiti to get my hair done.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm super excited because this is gonna be the first time that I'm actually gonna do like an entire season with braids, so this should be fun.
24:45
SPEAKER_02: They were very fast.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: I arrived in my hair already washed so that everything will be fast, and before I knew it, they were pretty much almost done.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: In the middle of doing this hair, I had to get something to eat.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: I had the most delicious tacos and had a cocktail.
25:00
SPEAKER_02: My goodness, look at how beautiful this hairstyle is.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: I've never actually done this hairstyle of braids.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: Like I said, I use the Dancing Curls extension color one and color 33.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: Make sure you get yours.
25:13
SPEAKER_02: Visit Nigeria the LushHairafrica.com to grab yours and elevate your look today.
25:18
SPEAKER_02: Can't wait to find different ways to style this hair.
25:22
SPEAKER_02: What did selling hair teach you about that selling clothes didn't?
25:27
SPEAKER_02: Because you that hair we've had so many conversations we have.
25:32
SPEAKER_03: What did selling hair teach me that clothes did not teach me?
25:38
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I think that selling hair is the steroids version of women want to look good.
25:46
SPEAKER_03: Really?
25:46
SPEAKER_03: Yes, because I get pissed off about my hair.
25:51
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
25:51
SPEAKER_03: Ah, are you joking?
25:52
SPEAKER_03: Are you telling me you've not been to Saloon?
25:54
SPEAKER_03: I want to cry.
25:55
SPEAKER_03: Especially in that London America where you know that their strong face is not gonna do nothing.
25:59
SPEAKER_03: At least in Nigeria, they will still begin and say, Emma is fine.
26:02
SPEAKER_03: They will not do that in abroad.
26:04
SPEAKER_03: My hair, abroad.
26:06
SPEAKER_03: You know, when you want to travel, you quickly do your hair.
26:10
SPEAKER_03: I think women are very um sensitive about their hair.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: And rightly so.
26:18
SPEAKER_03: Our hair is difficult unless it's not.
26:20
SPEAKER_03: Do you get what I'm saying?
26:22
SPEAKER_03: So I'm really happy for the natural girl, hair girlies that have it on lock.
26:26
SPEAKER_03: I do not.
26:27
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
26:28
SPEAKER_03: And I care so much about how I look.
26:31
SPEAKER_03: I care so much about how my hair makes me feel.
26:35
SPEAKER_03: And I and I've I noticed that about um women.
26:40
SPEAKER_03: But I think that what I also, the difference I'll say is this with hair, because my hair is way, way, way, way, way more expensive than my clothes.
26:52
SPEAKER_03: Um look at it now.
26:54
SPEAKER_03: Hello.
26:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, it's the walk now.
26:57
SPEAKER_03: You see the walk.
26:58
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
26:58
SPEAKER_03: Um, I think with clothes, well, I fall into this with clothes.
27:03
SPEAKER_03: I don't really believe in buying expensive clothes.
27:06
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
27:07
SPEAKER_03: Me personally.
27:08
SPEAKER_03: I believe that there's some things that are worth it.
27:11
SPEAKER_03: So, like now, when I'm hearing that a wedding dress is$10,000.
27:15
SPEAKER_03: A wedding guest dress, let me guess, not wedding dress.
27:19
SPEAKER_03: Dress, so guests, so they're all the same price now.
27:22
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
27:24
SPEAKER_03: I remember for my wedding, I paid$2,000.
27:27
SPEAKER_03: Well, my husband paid$2,000 for my dress, and I paid for all my bridesmaids' dresses.
27:32
SPEAKER_03: Everything.
27:33
SPEAKER_03: And I had 13 bridesmaids, and I paid for all my um not bridesmaids, the hostess's dresses.
27:41
SPEAKER_03: So there was an additional like four or five people.
27:44
SPEAKER_03: So altogether, I spent less than 10,000 for the whole thing.
27:48
SPEAKER_03: For everything.
27:49
SPEAKER_03: For everything.
27:50
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
27:50
SPEAKER_03: But that comes back to is where I went to.
27:54
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
27:54
SPEAKER_03: Because I just feel like there's certain things that I'm just not willing to pay for anymore.
27:59
SPEAKER_03: You know, so I don't believe in overly expensive clothes.
28:03
SPEAKER_03: Like I'm turning 40 next year and I've made an executive decision.
28:07
SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say this, that I will not be participating with any Nigerian designers directly.
28:15
SPEAKER_03: It's your bed there now.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: No, it's not because I don't want to.
28:18
SPEAKER_03: I'm so pro-Nigeria and it pains me as somebody who's in the industry that I can't do that.
28:23
SPEAKER_03: But I think that the piece is now being taken.
28:26
SPEAKER_03: In terms of pricing?
28:27
SPEAKER_03: Pricing, service, results.
28:31
SPEAKER_03: I know what I went through.
28:33
SPEAKER_03: After for David's wedding, White's wedding, I first of all hired, you know, as they do now, do you first hire stylists?
28:40
SPEAKER_03: That one gave us mood board.
28:42
SPEAKER_03: Mood board up and down.
28:44
SPEAKER_03: Why was it?
28:45
SPEAKER_03: And I and I started first though.
28:47
SPEAKER_03: I started, I was the earliest person.
28:51
SPEAKER_03: I won't say that she messed me up, but I'll just say that she didn't do her job.
28:54
SPEAKER_03: So now you didn't do your job, the designer didn't do your job.
28:57
SPEAKER_03: Who's in Miami looking crazy?
28:59
SPEAKER_03: Me.
29:01
unknown: Me.
29:02
SPEAKER_03: Everything was a last-minute Holy Spirit situation.
29:04
SPEAKER_03: God just said, I will not put you to shame, my daughter.
29:07
SPEAKER_03: That's what happened.
29:09
SPEAKER_03: And and and and real God I beg.
29:12
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
29:13
SPEAKER_03: And this thing has happened systematically.
29:16
SPEAKER_03: So now what am I doing?
29:18
SPEAKER_03: I'm starting to get pissed off again, and I'm getting the itch.
29:21
SPEAKER_03: Because if you can't do it, it can't be that hard.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: Sharon?
29:25
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
29:26
SPEAKER_03: Are you going to open another business again?
29:28
SPEAKER_03: I'm not opening another business, but I am going to have an evening wear line.
29:32
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
29:33
SPEAKER_03: So you have a wedding at four.
29:35
SPEAKER_03: You should be able to come to my shop at 4 30 and find out.
29:38
SPEAKER_03: Wear your clothes.
29:39
SPEAKER_03: We have in-store alterations.
29:42
SPEAKER_03: Get your alterations and go.
29:44
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
29:44
SPEAKER_03: And you shouldn't be spending over 300K.
29:49
SPEAKER_03: That is fair.
29:50
SPEAKER_03: Do you get what I'm trying to say?
29:52
SPEAKER_03: I just think the pricing, and if I'm gonna pay for the pricing, I need to feel like I'm being looking at the city.
29:59
SPEAKER_03: It needs to make sense.
30:00
SPEAKER_03: I'm not willing to do fittings in the middle of the night anymore.
30:03
SPEAKER_03: You can't come to my house at 10 p.m.
30:05
SPEAKER_03: telling me Robinson.
30:06
SPEAKER_03: We have all done.
30:06
SPEAKER_03: For those of us who've seen it.
30:08
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
30:08
SPEAKER_03: And so I feel like that is where the stopgap is for me.
30:12
SPEAKER_03: The service angle of what we're asking people to pay for.
30:16
SPEAKER_03: So for me, I now want to come in, provide a really good service, provide quality.
30:23
SPEAKER_03: And I want you to be able to say, wow, I bought this skirt for a hundred and hundred K.
30:28
SPEAKER_03: I think it's really good quality.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: I've enjoyed it.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: Let me go back and get the other colours with my full chest.
30:35
SPEAKER_02: Do you think that Nigerian consumers want affordability or do they want the feeling of luxury in an affordable price?
30:43
SPEAKER_03: Um I think it depends on the mindset of the person.
30:49
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
30:49
SPEAKER_03: I think that the more insecure they are, the more expensive they want it to be.
30:53
SPEAKER_02: I think that there's a correlation between people who turn to like they it must be expensive.
31:02
SPEAKER_02: It must for them to feel.
31:04
SPEAKER_03: But I think that that has a lot to do with background, no shade.
31:09
SPEAKER_03: Do you understand?
31:10
SPEAKER_03: I totally understand.
31:10
SPEAKER_03: I think that it's a it's a um, it's just like, you know, there was a time the Holy Spirit said to me, you buy all these things, like these hermes bags and all these things because it's becoming a part of your identity.
31:24
SPEAKER_03: You know, and I think that I see a lot of people that I know you can't afford that, right?
31:29
SPEAKER_03: But because it's a part of your identity now, what will people say?
31:32
SPEAKER_03: I need to post an idea, I need to give them.
31:34
SPEAKER_03: That give them whoever did it.
31:36
SPEAKER_03: Put you in trouble, will put you in serious, you know, trouble.
31:40
SPEAKER_03: So I do think that there's a lot of people that the way you price things, they would judge and say it's not good quality because it's cheaper.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: But then there's a sect of people who know that this could be more expensive and they really appreciate it.
31:54
SPEAKER_03: And I have a lot of clients like that.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: If I was in an event yesterday, a girl came up to me and said, I just want to let you know I'm one of your clients.
32:00
SPEAKER_03: I'm really, your stuff is really good and I really appreciate the pricing and stuff like that.
32:05
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then you have the category of people who obviously they can't afford it.
32:09
SPEAKER_03: So they're obviously gonna always say that your stuff is too expensive.
32:12
SPEAKER_03: But I think that a lot of us fall into quality at a reasonable price.
32:17
SPEAKER_03: What's the price range for body politics, for example?
32:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, body politics ranges between, I believe, 50k and 200k, 250k.
32:28
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
32:28
SPEAKER_03: So I mean, I don't know how the pieces that go up to like 250k.
32:33
SPEAKER_03: So that's like more of our evening where like we have a really fun evening where coming out.
32:39
SPEAKER_03: That's the ones that kind of go up there, and that's just because of the quality of the material, but I also make a lot less of them.
32:46
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
32:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, so that it's not like a head.
32:49
SPEAKER_03: That's not the main thing that you're it's not the main thing.
32:51
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
32:52
SPEAKER_03: So you see, body politics did not start off considering evening wear.
32:56
SPEAKER_03: Evening wear came along because I wasn't getting what I needed, and I just don't understand why it has to be that way.
33:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah.
33:04
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
33:05
SPEAKER_02: So you've experienced selling in different ways.
33:07
SPEAKER_02: You've had a website, you've done social media, you also have, you've had physical retail stores as well.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: Which one has changed the way you sell?
33:15
SPEAKER_02: And which one do you sell the most from?
33:17
SPEAKER_03: Social media, obviously.
33:19
SPEAKER_03: Um and I think I well, not obviously, but obviously for me.
33:22
SPEAKER_03: Um it's definitely changed the way I sell.
33:25
SPEAKER_03: I think that I've learned from my mentors, the Kardashians, there's nothing like incidental selling.
33:34
SPEAKER_03: And it's just like incidental exercise.
33:37
SPEAKER_03: So I'm not intentionally exercising, but because of what I'm doing today, I happen to be burning calories.
33:42
SPEAKER_03: So the same thing like with your clothes.
33:44
SPEAKER_03: If I just wear body politics and run a wigs every day and I'm posting about something random.
33:49
SPEAKER_03: So the other day I was posting about what I learned in Bible study, but as I was doing it, I was putting my wig on.
33:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
33:57
SPEAKER_03: I find that that is what sells over a period of time.
34:01
SPEAKER_03: So it's a matter of you saying, okay, I know it's gonna take baby two months to be convinced or to be influenced to do this.
34:08
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna keep pressing until that she until she's influenced to do that.
34:12
SPEAKER_03: And then when you finally get them in the shop, you need to make sure that team member is ready to take it home.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: Whereas today, I got a call saying, Oh, we went to your shop, your shop girl was rude.
34:26
SPEAKER_03: She didn't know anything about the thing, she didn't know the prices, she didn't know the this, she didn't know the that.
34:32
SPEAKER_03: And because this thing happens to me now, I am so much more empathetic to um business owners because I know they told them.
34:42
SPEAKER_03: I know they trained them, I know that this was done.
34:45
SPEAKER_03: And so, even for me from the back end, I'm re-hauling a lot of things.
34:50
SPEAKER_03: And the number one thing that I'm putting in place is monitoring.
34:54
SPEAKER_03: In Nigeria, if I was to do this business in Nigeria in abroad, I think that if I had a strong team of 15, 20, it would be good.
35:05
SPEAKER_03: But to do it here, you need double.
35:08
SPEAKER_03: Because who is going to make sure that they do it?
35:12
SPEAKER_03: That it needs to be someone's job to make sure that they do it.
35:16
SPEAKER_03: So, like before now, or I'll get a stock store manager, and then I also want them to be talking to the stock room, and I also want them to be shooting content.
35:24
SPEAKER_03: I've now realized you cannot do that in this environment and get excellence.
35:28
SPEAKER_03: The store manager is for the store.
35:32
SPEAKER_03: Give her her daily checklist and let it be brainwashed into her brain that this is what you need to do.
35:40
SPEAKER_03: It's the only form of learning for me that I have after 12, 13 years of business in Nigeria.
35:46
SPEAKER_03: I think that we take our good people and we want them to do too many things.
35:51
SPEAKER_03: And then they become crap at everything because you're overextending them.
35:55
SPEAKER_03: I'm now realizing focusing on the job description, keep the task simple, keep the task repetitive.
36:03
SPEAKER_03: And that's all you're asking of them.
36:04
SPEAKER_03: Keep it simple.
36:06
SPEAKER_03: Keep it really simple.
36:08
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
36:08
SPEAKER_02: You've had to reinvent yourself more than once, you've opened businesses, you've closed businesses.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: How do you know?
36:15
SPEAKER_02: And that's the reason why I have you here, because you've you are you are a businesswoman for the longest time that I've known you.
36:21
SPEAKER_02: How do you know when to fix a business, change it, or walk away?
36:25
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, God, for ADHD diagnosis.
36:29
SPEAKER_03: Number one way you know is you need to have people to talk to about it.
36:35
SPEAKER_03: And it needs to be people that understand it, not your friend.
36:39
SPEAKER_03: Nigerians don't want to let go of anything.
36:41
SPEAKER_03: There are many businesses we know that they should have been gone, closed down.
36:45
SPEAKER_03: But because of legacy, legacy, they're rather legacy.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: It couldn't even be shame, you know.
36:50
SPEAKER_03: Why?
36:50
SPEAKER_03: What but is it not shameful to keep something open that's crap?
36:54
SPEAKER_03: I don't even want to mention a makeup artist shop that I went into and I was personally heartbroken.
37:01
SPEAKER_03: Because this person is on everything.
37:03
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
37:03
SPEAKER_03: Mentorship, you know, that's why I don't want to mentor anybody because I don't know, I know what I'm doing, but I'm not there yet.
37:09
SPEAKER_03: Let my thing fully click properly, then I can come and say, okay, this is what you can do.
37:13
SPEAKER_03: I don't want to advise anybody right now.
37:16
SPEAKER_03: And so when I see people advising, I want to make sure that as you're advising, you are also doing because to do the two is yeah is really, really, really challenging.
37:25
SPEAKER_03: And I think that number one, have people to talk to.
37:29
SPEAKER_03: So create an environment of open communication in your business where you can come back and talk to someone and say, hey, what do you think about this?
37:37
SPEAKER_03: I'll give you an example.
37:38
SPEAKER_03: I wanted to um get so I recently signed up with a PR agency, which is great for Nigeria.
37:47
SPEAKER_03: And I started looking at other PR agencies in other places.
37:51
SPEAKER_03: And after being at work for like a week, going around to the different departments and all those things, I realized that no, if you go and get all this attention, these people will mess you up on the back end.
38:03
SPEAKER_03: Your back end isn't ready to go.
38:05
SPEAKER_03: And so now we have to go back to the international PR people and say, hey, listen, I want to be at this event this year, I want to be at this event this year.
38:13
SPEAKER_03: Let's see how that goes.
38:15
SPEAKER_03: Once I've got this sorted, once I've got distribution where I need it to be, then we can circle back around.
38:21
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
38:22
SPEAKER_03: But it took me having conversations with people.
38:24
SPEAKER_03: Because you know what I'm saying?
38:25
SPEAKER_03: Because you have to talk it out.
38:26
SPEAKER_03: And you have to talk it out with people who either are in the industry or working with you.
38:31
SPEAKER_03: I have a personal business coach.
38:34
SPEAKER_03: And by the time you finish talking a bit, you'll start to realize that okay, now is not the time for that.
38:40
SPEAKER_03: I think that's the maturity that has come now.
38:42
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
38:42
SPEAKER_03: Because sometimes you'll be like, oh no, it's on the docket, we've already talked about it.
38:46
SPEAKER_03: Let's let's try and do it, let's try and make it work.
38:49
SPEAKER_03: And then you now convince yourself that, oh, but it was a good look.
38:52
SPEAKER_03: Good look that cost how much?
38:54
SPEAKER_03: That what happened?
38:56
SPEAKER_03: Do you get?
38:57
SPEAKER_03: And I and I always tell my PR people, I don't want to be famous, I don't need it.
39:01
SPEAKER_03: Do you get if if it's not going to make me a sale, I don't want to.
39:07
SPEAKER_03: I'm not interested.
39:08
SPEAKER_03: Please.
39:09
SPEAKER_03: I don't, I, I don't, I don't want to be blown for being blown.
39:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
39:12
SPEAKER_03: Do you get it?
39:13
SPEAKER_03: It's about business for me.
39:15
SPEAKER_03: Otherwise, I I like my little, you know, kind of semi-laid-back life.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: If not for them, they won't even know us.
39:22
SPEAKER_03: Let's be honest.
39:22
SPEAKER_03: Let's keep it real.
39:23
SPEAKER_03: They won't know us, Jerry.
39:25
SPEAKER_02: Your customer could be in Lagos, while your photographer could be in London, your fabric supplier could be maybe in Dubai, and your clients could be living in New York.
39:34
SPEAKER_02: This is literally how fashion businesses operate now.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: You could have a Nigerian designer selling a collection to customers maybe in the UK, for example, pay a supplier in the UK while receiving payments from clients in the US.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: That's where Flutterwave's treasury offering comes in within F for B, Flutterwave for Business.
39:53
SPEAKER_02: You can hold multiple currencies, including pounds, dollars, derams, euros, whatever it is, and use them when you need to pay your international suppliers or receive money from global clients.
40:05
SPEAKER_02: So instead of every international transaction becoming a whole separate headache, Flutterwave gives you a way to manage that money as part of the platform.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: Because your fashion business may have started in Lagos or wherever it is in Nigeria, but that doesn't mean that your customers' suppliers or opportunities are staying in Lagos or even Nigeria.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: Make sure you check out flutterwave.com.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: When do you know it's time to walk away from a business?
40:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, I I think that that's a different thing for each person.
40:34
SPEAKER_03: But I think that I don't think it's about knowing because if it's about passion, you can convince yourself of anything.
40:41
SPEAKER_03: This is why I'm still in it to a certain extent.
40:45
SPEAKER_03: Because I think that during COVID, I think that I should have shut down completely and come back in 2025 ready to go.
40:54
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
40:54
SPEAKER_03: So what I mean by that is shut down, get whoever out, get the right people in.
40:59
SPEAKER_03: But I was still holding on.
41:01
SPEAKER_03: I was very much in my Christianese era.
41:05
SPEAKER_03: God has done it, God has done it.
41:07
SPEAKER_03: And God was like, more right, shell.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: I didn't send you there, or you know, that kind of thing.
41:12
SPEAKER_03: So you have to go through these phases.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: What I'll say is this I think as black people, because I don't want to narrow it to Nigerians, black people, Nigerians, I think that we start things we have the money for, we don't invest in things.
41:26
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
41:26
SPEAKER_03: And there's a difference between the two.
41:28
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
41:28
SPEAKER_03: If someone comes to me and says, ah, Sharon, let's start this business, they say it's only about 100K.
41:34
SPEAKER_03: The now businesswoman in me knows that it's so much more than 100K, but 100K will get you started.
41:40
SPEAKER_03: The now business person in me will say, I'd rather spend$10,000 on a consultant who is going to go to all the factory, who is going to go to all the places, who is going to tell me this is how much it costs, and let me know that, okay, if you want to do this business, yes, it's a hundred thousand dollars to start.
41:56
SPEAKER_03: But for this business to be sustainable, your salaries are going to be this much per year, your this is going to be this much per year, your this is going to be this much per year, and you are going to need$500,000 for this business over a period of five years.
42:11
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
42:12
SPEAKER_03: Does that mean you spend all?
42:14
SPEAKER_03: No.
42:14
SPEAKER_03: You now say, okay, year one, this is our first target.
42:17
SPEAKER_03: Year two, this is our next target.
42:20
SPEAKER_03: If you are not meeting those targets, you will know it's time to, okay, let me stop.
42:25
SPEAKER_03: If you decide to to keep going, your stop is five years, isn't it?
42:29
SPEAKER_03: Because that's what you've you've budgeted for.
42:32
SPEAKER_03: So I think that we need to your strategy, your plan, your detailed plan.
42:38
SPEAKER_03: So, like now, I'm going to UK in three weeks' time.
42:43
SPEAKER_03: I need to know what I'm doing every single day.
42:46
SPEAKER_03: And I want to know how much it's going to cost me.
42:48
SPEAKER_03: So I know I'm wearing this wig.
42:50
SPEAKER_03: My social media team have let me know you're going to do this, get ready with me.
42:53
SPEAKER_03: You're going to do this, you're going to do this, you're going to do this.
42:56
SPEAKER_03: The next day you're going to do, you're going to do this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
42:59
SPEAKER_03: So now, before I know it, my whole trip, somebody would, it's already planned out, but not just planned out, it's costed out.
43:06
SPEAKER_03: And I want it costed out six months from now, so I can decide if I want to spend that money.
43:12
SPEAKER_03: Not the day before I book my ticket and then I'm now, you know, upset about it.
43:16
SPEAKER_03: So I think that if you have a plan, you know if the plan is working or if the plan is not working.
43:22
SPEAKER_03: I don't think that it's a question of how you feel.
43:25
SPEAKER_03: I think it's a question of what did you plan and what did you invest.
43:29
SPEAKER_03: So money running out, hello, you have to stop.
43:34
SPEAKER_03: We said this and this and this needs to happen in order for this to happen.
43:38
SPEAKER_03: If these two things didn't happen, even if the third one happened, the two didn't happen, you have to stop.
43:43
SPEAKER_03: So if you plan yourself, you put a strategy in place and you hold yourself to that, at every junction, you're going to be forced to ask yourself do I continue or do I stop?
43:55
SPEAKER_03: I think that when people fall into things for too long, that's when they continue never.
44:00
SPEAKER_03: Never ending.
44:01
SPEAKER_03: But when you sit down and you say, I'm investing in myself and I'm going to invest for the next five years.
44:07
SPEAKER_03: But in order for me to go and do the next trench of payments, because this schedule is also your payment schedule.
44:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
44:13
SPEAKER_03: In order to move to the next trench, I need to make sure all these things have been done first.
44:18
SPEAKER_03: If they've not been done, that's your answer.
44:21
SPEAKER_03: The problem is we don't ask those questions because it's scary.
44:24
SPEAKER_03: It's scary to find out how much stock you've bought when you've overbought.
44:28
SPEAKER_03: It's scary to find out how much money you need to really get the business working.
44:33
SPEAKER_03: And even if you do invest in that, what if the people you hire are not the right people?
44:38
SPEAKER_03: So I think that structure is your guide.
44:41
SPEAKER_03: If you don't meet your targets on that checklist, then it's not ready.
44:47
SPEAKER_03: Just like I tell my people, you can post it on Instagram or any social media outlet.
44:52
SPEAKER_03: Has a photo shoot happened?
44:54
SPEAKER_03: Has the factory made sure that the distribution has gone to Yankee?
44:58
SPEAKER_03: Is it in London?
44:59
SPEAKER_03: Is it in the US?
45:01
SPEAKER_03: Is it in our store?
45:02
SPEAKER_03: Have we been have the prices been confirmed?
45:05
SPEAKER_03: Have they labeled this?
45:06
SPEAKER_03: So by the time they do all these checklists, that will let you know whether you can post it or not.
45:11
SPEAKER_03: I think that we don't create enough checklists for ourselves to just move on because of religion, because of God, we do it, because of we have it, this role, we go run arm.
45:24
SPEAKER_03: We have to stop this.
45:26
SPEAKER_03: If we're going to be competitive business, if you want to be Instagram business and Insta famous, then keep going, sis.
45:32
SPEAKER_03: But if you know that I want to compete with schemes and I want to compete with these people, you're going to have to create a budget for that consultant.
45:40
SPEAKER_03: There's nobody, there's some doors that you can open by yourself.
45:44
SPEAKER_03: But what is the point in paying all that money?
45:46
SPEAKER_03: Because we've seen it so many times where we'll see our Nigerian brands go out there, they've got their suffrages pop up and all that.
45:52
SPEAKER_03: You come into their store in Nigeria and it's like it's nothing there.
45:57
SPEAKER_03: So I think that strategy will really determine whether you can do it, which is why the funds is neither here nor there.
46:06
SPEAKER_03: You can have funds and no strategy and just waste the money on big looks.
46:12
SPEAKER_03: And then the looks don't and the noise, and then the noise actually gets you nothing but noise.
46:19
SPEAKER_03: Once the dust settles, you've made no sales, you've made, and I'm talking from experience here.
46:23
SPEAKER_03: So it's not like I'm I'm talking for I'm talking about my own P.
46:27
SPEAKER_03: And so either you're gonna come and say, ah, okay, I've made this mistake so many times, I don't want to make it again.
46:33
SPEAKER_03: So, like me personally, I'm 39.
46:34
SPEAKER_03: So I'm using this 39th year to get all my stuff in order.
46:40
SPEAKER_03: I'm restarting, I'm acting like I'm restarting.
46:43
SPEAKER_03: So my first year of business now is going to be 2027.
46:47
SPEAKER_03: I get you.
46:48
SPEAKER_03: That's how it has to be because if we backlog, it's just gonna be too much.
46:52
SPEAKER_03: So right now, all I care about is admin, admin, admin, standard operating procedures, who is in charge of this, who is doing what.
47:00
SPEAKER_03: If it works after six months, after the first quarter, then I'll continue.
47:06
SPEAKER_03: And if my next step works, then I'll continue there.
47:09
SPEAKER_03: But I want the financing or at least the financial plan for the next five years.
47:14
SPEAKER_03: That doesn't mean we're doing that.
47:16
SPEAKER_03: But I want some, even if I don't have it, I want an avenue of how I'm going to get it.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: At least plan for it and not wing it anymore.
47:23
SPEAKER_03: Not wing it.
47:24
SPEAKER_03: Because when people say all sorts of things, they don't know the cost of what it is that they want to, you know, implement.
47:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Sharon.
47:34
SPEAKER_02: This was fun.
47:35
SPEAKER_02: This episode was brought to you by Flutterwave.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: Visit flutterwave.com.
47:40
SPEAKER_03: It was fun.
47:41
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
47:42
SPEAKER_03: Thank you guys.
47:43
SPEAKER_02: This was interesting.