22—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2016
Nigerian women rocking the online business world By Kehinde Ajose
The internet has completely changed the way business is being done and more women are leveraging on this tool to start their businesses and pursue their passion. According to a report by the Center for Women’s Business Research in America, black women are part of the fastest growing entrepreneurial segment in the country, growing at a rate of 191.4% from 1997 to 2007. Technological advancements and innovations have also created low cost tools women can leverage on, to grow their businesses. In Nigeria women are breaking away from their traditional roles to starting their online businesses. This piece takes a look at Nigerian women with thriving online businesses
Saudat Salami
— Founder, EasyShop EasyCook
B
usinesses are created out of problems. •Saudat Saudat Salami is the founder of Easyshop Easycook an online business that delivers customized domestic services to the working professional who is too busy to go for shopping due to timing challenges. She revealed how she started in an interview.
“I.T fascinated me at a young age and I was good at it, but if you want to be a programmer or developer you have to be ready to upgrade your certification regularly, learn new coding skills otherwise you’d easily be obsolete and I was not ready to do that. When I was brainstorming with a close friend of mine the idea of Easyshop Easycook came about and I went online to research about it. The online groceries retail industry in 2005 was non-existent. To find out if the business was viable in Lagos, I had to do feasibility studies. When the responses were positive I went ahead to start it with my savings and money from friends and family. Easyshop Easycook has grown from just an online grocery retailer to a customized domestic outsource company targeted at the working woman. Everything we do is to make life easier for the working woman to pursue her career without neglecting the home. “
Kelechi Anyadiegwu —Founder Zuvaa
K
elechi’s achievements belies her age. She began her online fashion store; Zuvaa in 2013.The vivacious young entrepreneur saw an untapped need in the market for
•Kelechi
African textile and fashion and tapped into it. Last year she was named on Forbes 30 under 30 listfor her contributions to E-commerce. According to her: “I’m originally from Nigeria but grew up in the U.S. I’ve always looked for ways to integrate my love and pride for African culture into my wardrobe. I love wearing print and African textiles and when I would wear them people would constantly ask me where I found those pieces. I realized there was really a demand for this product so I used my experience in online marketing, web design, and user experience to create a platform to connect the talented designers around the world with consumers who were looking for these beautiful products.”
Nkiru Balonwu —CEO Spinlet
•Nkiru
N
kiru is the brain behind the popular indigenous mobile music download platform Spinlet. At a time when Nigerian musicians were complaining about monetizing their music, Nkiru created Spinlet as a platform to help them showcase and earn from their music. The company is a game changer when it comes to online sales of home grown music. Spinlet’s technology enables customers to purchase, stream, share, and discover music, while offering integration and storage of users’ music libraries, accessible globally through mobile apps and browsers. Nkiru Balonwu has a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Manchester. She also has a Master of Laws (LLM) from University College London (UCL). She has a Doctor of Juridicial Science (SJD) from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).
...Why women prefer them
•Wale Swagger
Continues from page 21 exactly what they want. If we do not charge higher, we might lose the monetary value of hours put into making each hair. So, that’s how we make up for the extra attention and care we give to clients,” he told Woman’s Own in a telephone interview. Also, the operator of one of the most popular hair salons in Ikotun area of Lagos, Bright Dread Hair Salon, who simply identified himself as Bright, attributed the high fee to the
quality of their work. “We take our time. Beside, female hair dressers can hardly do what we do. When you talk of dread locks; whether natural or artificial, we beat them to that. Talk about short hair fixing and styling, we are by far different. “We know what fits every face and we are also more accommodating. Unlike most female hairdressers who do not even care about building good relationships with or respecting their customers,” Bright boasted. True to his claim, Bukola, one of the female stylists working in Bright’s salon, said her experience with her former boss (female) was nothing compared with the months spent with her current male boss. Bukola said: “I’ve noticed that male hairdressers strive to be trendy and perfect. They don’t stick to old school hairstyles like their female counterparts do.” What makes them tick? As Wale Swagger puts it, the ability to listen to customers and
give them what they want is what makes him and his male colleagues special. “We always follow trends to know exactly what is reigning and how to perfectly make them. Some customers come with styles they found on Instagram and Google, and they are always in search of a stylist who can give them exactly the same styles. I always try to do my best by making sure I follow trends as well.
Female hairstylists “Another thing is that we tend to be more careful than most female hairstylists. For instance, if you come and tell me to make you the hairstyle called Rihanna, I will sit you down and show you the different types of Rihanna: Take a bow, Shut up and drive, Live your life, etc. If you are still confused, we Google the different styles and search until you find exactly what you want,” he explained. Swagger who told Woman’s Own he never learned hairmaking but only picked up the skill when he helped to manage his sister’s salon in Lagos, had worked in Ikeja in Lagos before relocating his trade to the Federal
Capital Territory. But things aren’t all rosy with Another male hairdresser who male hair dressers; many of them spoke from Benin City in Edo suffer sexual harassments and are State, Prosper Amahwu, said he perceived as gay in extreme simply brings to play his cases. It’s actually very natural love for common to hear cases of beautiful things. customers making sexual “Because I am advances at them. a guy, I like good Swagger however things. So when explained that such I see a girl who challenges depend doesn’t look good, I largely on the location don’t like it. I want of one’s business and her to look good, so, I crop of customers. give my best. Every “When I was in day, I also try to Ikeja, most of my improve on my customers were runs techniques to be able to girls (commercial sex compete favourably in workers). Some of the field. them can entice you “I’m most particular when they don’t have about finishing. Some money to pay for their people do not hair. But if you have understand how to self-control, you can •Bright close weave-ons easily tell them to properly. Thus, I focus come pay when they on that part because it’s have the money. Doing what people see first. I pedicure is even worse. make sure that You must have selfwhenever I am closing a control to be able to parting, I give it all of my ignore when a woman’s time. I look at it as if I am laps are exposed in the the one who wants to wear course of you treating that look. As a result, even when her feet. I cannot mix I am not around, you find work with pleasure. customers waiting for me to So, I just had to come back,” Amahwu. develop a thick Challenges skin.