Personal shoppers attest to seeing an interesting shift in the spending habits of the ultra-wealthy. The Covid-19 lockdowns meant an unexpected rise in their business. 



With retail most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, both companies and consumers have had to revisit their shopping philosophies. And this also applied to Africa’s vast contingent of luxury personal shoppers and high net-worth individuals, who would otherwise travel abroad for their Louis Vuittons and Valentinos. The retail therapy continues online for those with deep pockets and greater choices in a world of evolving e-commerce.



For the retail entrepreneurs, this has meant consistently reinventing the wheel – and this time, they seem to be laughing all the way to the bank.



Take 31-year-old United-Kingdom-born Nigerian Lisa Omeleh, the founder of Classles, a company that has grown from being a personal shopping service, specifically offering discounted luxury goods for its members, to a social media-based personal shopping brand, with over 300 annual clients.



A typical day for Omeleh pre-Covid would involve attending luxury fashion events such as London Fashion Week and having private meetings with the head honchos of high-end brands on behalf of her clients. These days, she spends most of her time tapping into her enormous network of luxury resellers and shopping assistants from some of the world’s most premium brands like Cartier, Tiffany and Hermès, to source the best products for her affluent customers.



“The most expensive items will typically be jewelry and Hermès Birkin bags or Kelly bags. If I am sourcing Hermès bags, I usually do a 10% to 20% commission on top of the bags. The bags range from $10,000 to $11,000 (resale price) and then if you are talking different types of skins such as crocodile or alligator, it can go upwards of $30,000. Jewelry can go from $14,000,” says Omeleh.



Her clients, she says, are the daughters of presidents, wives of governors as well as high net-worth individuals. Omeleh has seen her business grow, but Covid-19 ushered in a new era, one in which her clients rely on her expertise to keep up-to-date with fashion trends on the other side of the Atlantic.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/lisa-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50712 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/lisa-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/lisa-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/lisa-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/lisa-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/lisa-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/lisa-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I have made much more money and doubled my income in the pandemic than any other time because I assume people are bored and are shopping or are looking for something to do.” <cite>– Lisa Omeleh</cite></blockquote>
</div></div>



“A lot of people see fashion as frivolous but it is a necessity for a lot of people. I have made much more money and doubled my income in the pandemic than any other time because I assume people are bored and shopping or looking for something to do. Or they are hoping that by purchasing expensive items, they have something to look forward to when the lockdown is over. Also, a lot of my relationships with sales assistants on the shop [floor] is bearing fruit and they are sending me stuff so I can push out to my clients because they still need to make their sales even though the shops are closed,” says Omeleh, who has seen an average spending of between $15,000 to $20,000 per client since the pandemic hit last year.



It has been a good run for Omeleh, who graduated from the University of Greenwich in the UK with a journalism and public relations degree, but stumbled on a career in fashion.



“I felt I was always good at building strong relationships with clients and I made a lot of contacts with people abroad and on the ground here in the UK as well, so I transferred the skills to my business. It got to a point where I was making more money than my nine-to-five and I haven’t looked back since,” says the astute entrepreneur.



With Covid-19, Cassandra Okoroafor, of Bespoke Luxury Shopper Limited, also noticed a similar spike in her personal shopping business.



“When the pandemic started in March, I only made $11,000 and then, by May 2020, it was crazy and I had an influx of new clients,” she says.



Her journey into the glamorous world of luxury personal shopping began in 2016 when she was doing her master’s program in London. At the time, she was looking for a way to earn extra cash and stumbled on the idea of personal shopping. After creating a business plan, Okoroafor decided her niche would be primarily focused on helping unconventional ultra-wealthy clients who do not have time to shop on account of their busy schedules.



Similar to Omeleh, Okoroafor’s business utilizes social media to attract clients through glitzy images of products and by selling an aspirational lifestyle.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Cassandra-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50710 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Cassandra-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Cassandra-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Cassandra-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Cassandra-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Cassandra-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The middle-class clients compensated for the sales when my wealthy clients cut back. Sales went up by 31% in 2020 compared to 2019.”<cite>– Cassandra Okoroafor</cite></blockquote>
</div></div>



“The business moved me away from the traditional view of depending on men to survive and taught me that I can work and buy everything by myself. The biggest challenge was getting clients to trust me. You are asking people to spend over $9,000 for items and coming from Nigeria, with the stigma of scams, it affects people’s willingness to trust you. Even now, I leave my name as ‘Cassy’ because if I use my surname, some clients may start thinking I am from Nigeria and all the negative stereotypes that come with it,” says Okoroafor.



To overcome this stigma, she and Omeleh rely heavily on referrals from other clients. At the start of the pandemic, Okoroafor noticed an interesting shift in spending habits among her 200-strong clientele spread across Nigeria, Ghana, the UAE and South Africa.



“I have the ultra-wealthy clients and the normal middle-class clients. I noticed my wealthy clients cut back on spending on luxury items during the pandemic and they were more into wellbeing products and more comfort clothes to wear at home. But then, my middle-class clients started spending a lot of money on luxury bags and shoes and I think it had a lot to do with staying at home and doing nothing. I was calling it ‘boredom shopping’, they didn’t have anything to do and they spent more money at home trying to pass the time.”



By December 2020, her wealthy clients returned mainly because they had to buy gifts for family and corporate clients during the Christmas period.



“So, it was good for me because the middle-class clients compensated for the sales when my wealthy clients cut back. Sales went up by 31% in 2020 compared to 2019,” says Okoroafor.



To make profit on commissions requires an uncanny ability to handle a number of costs as well as uncertainties in the supply chain. Firstly, you have the issue of sourcing and logistics to contend with.



“Sourcing and logistics are the hardest part because when you are doing high-priced items and so many of them at a time, you have sleepless nights because you are trying to sort out shipping. Shipping to Nigeria is not as straight-forward and can be very expensive. For example, if you lose an item, there isn’t much insurance on that product. I only had a shipper lose one item before and that was a lot of headache,” recalls Omeleh.



Then, you have the issue of fluctuating currencies to deal with.



“Another problem is exchange rates and trying to convert the naira to pounds. So, you need to figure out how to incorporate that into the business in order to make a profit. For the first year, I didn’t make that much money,” says Okoroafor.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Abisola-Ola-Saheed.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50709" width="346" height="433" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Abisola-Ola-Saheed.jpg 512w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Abisola-Ola-Saheed-240x300.jpg 240w" sizes="(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px" /><figcaption>Abisola Ola Saheed</figcaption></figure></div>



Her clients spend more on jewelry than any other item. The growth in her business has led to Okoroafor diversifying her portfolio to accommodate more demands.



“Firstly, I have VIP Sourcing, where I have to source rare items like Hermès bags. For example, in 2020, I sourced a three-toned croc Hermès bag and it was shocking to source that during a pandemic. I even sourced a bike from BMW once and it is the highest service I offer clients. Then, I offer services like buying home décor and clothing. I charge a personal shopping commission on items, which is 10%. Then I create pieces for clients and charge a fee for styling them as well,” she says.&nbsp;



The personal shopping industry attracts professionals from all backgrounds. Take the case of lawyer-turned-CEO of Hays Personal Shopper Limited, Abisola Ola-Saheed.



She started out in this space in 2015 initially for its flexible working hours as she started a family. Today, it is turning over more than her legal job and after making a career switch as a full-time personal shopper, Ola-Saheed is also reaping the unexpected rewards of the lockdown.



“2019 was my biggest year followed by 2020. The pandemic has not affected me in anyway because people are still shopping. My clients are saying if they die, no one will enjoy their money so, they would rather shop and enjoy themselves now than save. In 2020 alone, I had over 200 clients,” says Ola-Saheed.



Her secret is giving her clients as much attention as they require in order to close a sale.



“We shop for high net-worth clients and we source hard-to-get pieces. You are being trusted with a lot of money so with the amount of money coming into your hands, you need to give them 24/7 attention.” &nbsp;



By all accounts, it seems the trend, especially with wealthy African consumers, is geared towards stress-free, bespoke shopping. Brands are also increasingly leaning on personal shoppers and their loyal client base to help them retail hard-to-sell products during the lockdown and as a result, for now, it appears the market remains favorable for enterprising Africans in the diaspora willing to go the extra mile – and the last mile – to meet the insatiable shopping demands of their clients back home.

African American woman opening packages of shoes on sofa

The Luxe Factor: A Boom In Business For Personal Shoppers

Chika Madubuko is using technology to connect the at-home elderly to trained care-givers in Nigeria.



THE GLOBAL DIGITAL HEALTH MARKET IS growing by leaps and bounds and billions, and Chika Madubuko, the CEO and Founder of Greymate Care, is wanting to make the most of it whilst creating impact. With money not the only objective, it was the opportunity to serve those who needed quality healthcare the most that guided her.



Born in the northern region of Nigeria, Madubuko attended the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Anambra State, where she studied microbiology, before progressing to biotechnology and bioengineering at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom (UK). 



“All I wanted to do at the time is solve problems with bio-tech, with everyday biological systems, creating drugs and industrial solutions,” says Madubuko.



After graduating, the third-born child in a family of five children, decided to take a leaf out of her entrepreneurial parents’ handbook and venture into business development and sales in the UK before relocating to Nigeria to continue as a business development manager at Novus Agro, a multisided platform that organizes smallholder farmers into accessible groups for all those who want to transact with them.



By that stage, Madubuko had already caught the entrepreneurial bug and was looking for new direction. 



“When I was about to leave the UK, I toyed with the idea of creating a homecare startup and I was a certified care-giver but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. Given my success in business development, I decided to give it a try and some people told me this was a real problem Nigerians were facing.”



The cultural norm in Nigeria is that when a loved one is sick, other members of the family take care of the person. Traditionally, this role was reserved for wives or mothers who stayed at home. However, with the significant gender shift in recent years and more women employed or entrepreneurial and no longer staying at home 24&#215;7, this has led to challenges for the elderly who need round-the-clock home care.



This is where Greymate Care comes in. Born out of the personal pain Madubuko faced when looking for a care-giver for her grandmother in the village, she based her service offering around providing trained professionals to care for vulnerable family members.



“Greymate Care is an online platform that connects the elderly to vetted care-givers right [in] the comfort of their homes… In Nigeria, there is no database where you can simply go and find a care-giver or someone who has been trained and background-checked. Greymate Care solves that problem by training people who want to become care givers and making sure they have guarantors and they are available to be deployed to your home. We reduce the turnaround time of finding a care-giver from about two months to let’s say an hour or maximum 48 hours.”



Each care-giver on the platform has to provide two references who act as guarantors for the individual and those references have to be in senior positions in credible organizations to qualify. That extra check has made Greymate Care a trusted provider in Nigeria, says Madubuko.



A recent article by Deloitte estimates that sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to become the fastest-growing region in the world in the area of e-health.



The proliferation of these services is mainly driven by rapid adaptation of mobile technology as well as the internet.



Deloitte estimates the mobile penetration rate for the continent is close to exceeding 80% with a large number of the population utilizing mobile phones for not only communication but also integrating business services.



Greymate Care is hoping to tap into this growing trend to provide access to health information and curb the shortage of good healthcare professionals especially in remote areas.



Greymate Care is hoping to tap into this growing trend to provide access to health information and curb the shortage of good healthcare professionals especially in remote areas.



For Madubuko, a major impetus for her new healthcare company is to provide employment through working with global agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme to train youth to become care-givers, an initiative that has created over 1,000 jobs on the e-health platform thus far.

IMG_0019 (2)

Meet The Entrepreneur Who Is Changing the Game In Geriatrics

London-based Ghanaian entrepreneur and computer science specialist Patrick Adom is inducting children into the fascinating world of jigsaw puzzles while teaching them about African culture.



AS COUNTRIES begin to grapple with the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, rapid adoption of activities outside the traditional content- streaming platforms is now beginning to gain traction.



The puzzles market is one such. Focusing on jigsaw and 3D puzzles as well as board games, it was estimated to be worth a staggering $11.88 billion globally in 2019 and on track to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.6% from 2020 to 2027, according to Grand View Research.



The lockdowns implemented the world over spelled disaster for many who lost their jobs and livelihoods.



But Patrick Adom, a computer science specialist, saw a silver lining. Inspired by his daughter, the IT professional decided to see it as an opportunity and take a chunk of the lucrative puzzles market with his African-inspired creation, Very Puzzled.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Africans are patriotic and want to pass down their heritage to their family. So, our sales have grown..”</blockquote>



Known for its success in improved visual and enhanced cognitive skills, Adom wanted to create a jigsaw concept that not only helped people learn more about Africa and the African diaspora, but also something that was fun and engaging for the whole family.



“I wanted children to be able to also learn without realizing that they are learning anything, and [offer] something the family can do together and start a conversation and use that to do further exploration on their own,” says Adom.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50050" width="357" height="237" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Very-Puzzled_9-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 357px) 100vw, 357px" /><figcaption>Photo supplied </figcaption></figure></div>



After graduating from Kingston University in the United Kingdom (UK), where he studied Computer and Information Systems in 2000, Adom continued his further education with an MBA in general management from Liverpool University before working in various roles within the IT industry.



But throughout his career, the entrepreneurial bug which bit him when in secondary school, where he would buy and sell hip-hop posters to his fellow classmates, was always looking for an awakening.



“I saw that there were not a lot of things around my daughter that focused on her cultural heritage and I thought jigsaw puzzles were an innovative route that nobody was doing. I found an illustrator and it so happened that the illustrator had a map of Africa that was very bright and colorful that resonated with me and so I reached out and asked if it could be customized for me.



“They agreed and I paid them and they delivered the customization I wanted. I then looked on a platform called Alibaba and from there, I was able to secure a manufacturer in China. I made 100 pieces to test the market and reached out to black-owned shops in London to generate buzz about the products and also using Instagram and social media to let people know about the product,” says Adom.



His hard work paid off. Very soon, the products were out and people were buying it.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I made 100 pieces to test the market and reached out to black-owned shops in London.”</blockquote>



Now, Adom has his eyes set on raising further investment and funding to expand the company’s unique offering. He began drilling down and creating puzzles for other countries like his hometown Ghana, South Africa, and Jamaica. 



“Africans are patriotic and want to pass down their heritage to their family. So, our sales have grown and we continue to add more stockists to our list and that helps grow the business as well. We reached the bold decision to approach a number of premiership clubs to make their own jigsaw puzzles for them featuring their intellectual property and we got licensing agreements with four premiership clubs so that was a huge success for us,&#8221; says Adom. 



The move comes at a cost as Adom has to pay licensing fee to the clubs, a risky move but one he needs to make to help broaden the appeal to a wider pool of consumers, the key to draw in the ever-elusive tranche of investors who will eventually help his business scale, and he can make his own indelible mark on the map of Africa.

Patrick Adom

The Entrepreneur Who is Piecing Africa Together One Puzzle At a Time

A look back at Ghana&#8217;s closely-contested 2020 presidential elections, and views from both sides.



On December 7, 2020, 13,434,574 votes were counted in Ghana’s 2020 democratic elections. Vying for the head of state position were two opponents who had faced off at the ballot box twice before, former President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo representing the New Patriotic Party (NPP).&nbsp;



In an economic climate ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic and a number of catastrophic political tensions that have temporarily decimated peace in countries like Tanzania, Guinea and Uganda, the eyes of the world were once again firmly fixed on Ghana, a poster child of democracy for the African continent, after seven peaceful transitions of power in its 30-year democratic history.



For President Akufo-Addo, this was the fourth presidential election he had campaigned for back-to-back since 2008. This time, however, his campaign strategy was based on his track record. He urged Ghanaians to remember his pledges in the NPP’s 2016 manifesto which promised, among other things, to abolish fees at public and senior high schools, ensure each district has a factory and a hospital, and establishing a special anti-corruption prosecutor.



“I think President Akufo-Addo has delivered on everything he promised and where he has not delivered, it is still a work in progress. There is now free education in public schools, which has helped thousands of children be able to get an education, and factories and hospital construction have began in each district. Nobody is perfect but at least we need someone who has a vision that the country can follow at this time and that is what President Akufo-Addo and the NPP have. Where is the vision of the NDC party?” asks Emmanuel Asare-Amankwa, a businessman in Ghana.



That vision it seems was enough to propel President Akufo-Addo to the top position once again with 6,730,413 votes representing 51.59% of the votes, narrowly beating former President Mahama’s 6,214,889 or 47.36%.



“Usually in an election, it is normal for the winning party to also win a majority of the seats in parliament but this was not the case. The NDC have actually won a majority of the parliamentary seats and that shows you that there is something wrong here,” says John Dumelo, an actor-turned-politician with the NDC party.&nbsp;



Dumelo contested for the Ayawaso West parliamentary primaries, also losing by a tight margin of just 2,000 votes. The leading actor with over 3 million followers on Instagram is still happy about the impact his candidacy has made.



“I think it is important for the youth of Ghana to join politics because we need to have a voice in our own future. I run in a state that was traditionally an NPP stronghold and we lost by only 2,000 votes so it shows you that people were desperate for a change. I know I have made an impact.



“I decided to run because as an actor, you are limited by how many good deeds you can do. How many bore holes can one build in a village, or how many philanthropic acts can you do before actually making real change? By being in politics, you have the opportunity to influence the law and that is real power and real change,” avers Dumelo.



President Akufo-Addo may have his work cut out for him in his second term. Out of the 275 parliamentarians, his party lost a handful of seats and only secured 137 seats against the NDC’s 136 seats. 



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Dumelo-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49330" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Dumelo-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Dumelo-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Dumelo-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Dumelo-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Dumelo-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/John-Dumelo-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I think it is important for the youth of Ghana to join politics because we need to have a voice in our own future.” – John Dumelo</blockquote>
</div></div>



“The loss of a clear majority is going to be a challenge for President Akufo-Addo to easily implement his policies and his vision for Ghana but it is certainly not impossible. Ghana needs strong leadership and I believe President Akufo-Addo is the best man for the job especially after the way he handled Ghana’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Victor Oppong, a stock-broker in Ghana.



On the top of the president’s agenda is implementing the $17 billion program to boost growth in Ghana’s economy. His win is one that is welcomed by the investment community in Ghana. In August this year, President Akufo-Addo ushered in the opening of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat in Accra, a pioneering project by the African Union’s Agenda 2063 that will create $3 trillion of GDP.&nbsp;



“The country has demonstrated the confidence it has in President Nana Akufo-Addo by voting him to stay in office. This confidence is also demonstrated by the business community who clearly are excited about the opportunities that the CFTA will bring particularly with a Ghana Beyond Aid agenda. Ghana through exemplary leadership has shown resilience and robustness in the face of the pandemic and recovery has accelerated.”



“By end of the third quarter, FDI had climbed up to over a billion dollars through projects in mining, energy and manufacturing. And this is instructive of the confidence of investors in the Ghana story. Aggressive reforms will continue to ensure a very competitive investor and business climate. All in all, continuity and sustainability in the good Ghana story, satisfactory control of the pandemic, a robust economic recovery and revitalization plan will do well for Ghana going forward,” says Yofi Grant, CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.



‘A Man In A Hurry’



Valerie Obaze, the daughter of President Nana Akufo-Addo and entrepreneur, spoke to FORBES AFRICA after the win:“Less than 24 hours after hearing the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission declare Nana Akufo-Addo (my father) as the winner of the 2020 presidential race, we as a family are all relieved. This is despite the confidence with which we approached this election, believing strongly that his excellent leadership over four years was more than enough for Ghanaians to give him a second term. However, elections and anxiety are not all that unfamiliar to our family. We have been here before.&nbsp;



“To know Nana Akufo-Addo personally, like I have the privilege to do, is to know a selfless man, who is constant, perseveres and has a heart for his people. He has dedicated his adult life to the struggle for a free, democratic and prosperous Ghana.&nbsp;



“Our father is a workaholic and at his age, we even wonder where he gets his energy from. He enjoys working and we sometimes feel sorry for those who work closely with him. He is in the office everyday from morning to midnight and even then when he gets home you would be lucky if he doesn’t move straight into his study.  



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-683x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-49332" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-683x1024.jpeg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-1365x2048.jpeg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-300x450.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-600x900.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Valerie-Obaze-scaled.jpeg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“To know Nana Akufo-Addo personally, like I have the privilege to do, is to know a selfless man, who is constant, perseveres and has a heart for his people. He has dedicated his adult life to the struggle for a free, democratic and prosperous Ghana.” – Valerie Obaze</blockquote>
</div></div>



“He is a man in a hurry: to see his country develop; the lives of the people enhanced, and Ghana become an example for the rest of Africa. I am excited about his second term because it coincides with the agenda to finally build an integrated Africa. My father will play a major role in this, especially with Ghana as the secretariat for AfCFTA. The election is over and in his words, “time to get back to work”. We as his family will always be proud of how tirelessly he is working to make his dream to see Ghana holding its own in the international realm come true. He has restored confidence in the Ghanaian and we are all excited about the future of our country, and by extension, our continent.”

GHANA-VOTE

The Road To A $17 Billion Program To Boost Ghana’s Economy, and Words From The First Daughter

To improve Africa’s chances and ensure the safe storage of Covid-19 vaccines, Zeynep Harezi, and Karpowership based in Istanbul are working on innovative power generation solutions.



There is still a strong debate about Africa’s chances of receiving the Covid-19 vaccines when they become available in 2021: how will the continent store it?



Although organizations like GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, are closely working with global pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and AstraZeneca to ensure that Africa does not get left behind, there are other important considerations the continent needs to consider when it comes to receiving inoculation.



One such factor is the availability of consistent power to keep the vaccines refrigerated in order to remain potent and safe. According to a Reuters report, most vaccines require cooling of between two and eight degrees Celsius with the Phase 1 trials of the Covid-19 vaccine requiring storage in an environment as low as -80 degrees Celsius.



According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 50% of all vaccines are destroyed due to issues like temperature control. To improve Africa’s chances and ensure the safe storage and implementation of the vaccines, Zeynep Harezi and her Karpowership organization is hoping to introduce innovative power generation solutions that will enable Africa to succeed in not only the fight against Covid-19 but also power infrastructure development.



The 32-year-old Turkish-born managing director of Karpowership has a background in philosophy and economics, having graduated with a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. Harezi once dreamed of becoming the president of Turkey when she was a child, a choice that was greatly influenced by the country’s first female prime minister at the time. But it was her uncle who would set her sights on helping Africa improve its power infrastructure.



“When I was six years old, my uncle would tell me that he was going to build power plants inside ships and send them to countries all over the world. But he would also tell me about the mermaids in Atlantis so I was never sure where the line of reality was and where it was just story-telling,” recalls Harezi.



But her uncle’s stories were not tall tales after all. In 1996, the family-owned business entered the energy sector in Turkey when there was privatization of it. At the time, Karpowership was the first company to have an export licence and began exporting electricity from Turkey to Iraq.



“Then, many mining companies in Africa approached us and said ‘can we please build land-based power plants for them’ because they could not get reliable electricity and we told them instead of building land-based power plants in remote locations, we could build them inside ships or on barges much faster and with a better design to have increased efficiency and we can deliver them much faster than land-based power plants,” avers Harezi.



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:36% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49312" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ZH-2020-New-Fave-1-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The long-term vision is to eradicate non-access to electricity. Everyone in the world should have access to electricity; it is a basic human right and we have the technology to deliver it.”</blockquote>
</div></div>



So, the organization began building floating power plants for mining projects in Africa. But before they could sell them to the continent, the Iraqi minister of energy requested an energy power plant for their southern city that had access to the sea. Harezi had just the right floating power ship to send. The next two power ships were subsequently supplied to Lebanon before finally their first supply was delivered to Ghana in 2014.



“The long-term vision is to eradicate non-access to electricity. Everyone in the world should have access to electricity; it is a basic human right and we have the technology to deliver it. As Karpowership, we can deliver baseload utility scale floating power plants to the remotest countries in the world with the highest risk of execution and construction, and we can deliver in less than 30 days. So, there is no excuse for anyone in the world to have no access to electricity and we can do it at a very low cost,” says Harezi.



Africa’s population growth is higher than other regions, hence the demand for electricity surpasses the planned increase of power supply. This means there is always a gap between supply and demand. This is a natural fit for Karpowership. Harezi says it can deliver between 25% to 80% of a country’s total electricity on one ship in less than 30 days. And there are “other advantages too” of this model.



“The regular infrastructure-related challenges of Africa are usually to do with project finance, construction risks, execution risks and the timeline. So, a project is usually promised to be operational in three years where as the project finance only lasts for two years and the actual construction takes another three to five years. So, the project that was promised for three years ends up not being finished for another eight years,” says Harezi.



Such solutions could give Africa a fighting chance in the Covid-19 vaccine race. With the company currently providing most of the national electricity in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Senegal, it seems poised to disrupt the African energy sector in a pandemic era.

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Floating Power: ‘No Excuse To Not Have Electricity’

FRANCE-AFRICA-FORUM

African Of The Year: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The killing of innocent Nigerians and the agitations on the streets and social media see the world appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to put an end to the police brutality in Africa’s biggest economy.



After nearly two weeks of protests calling for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Unit (SARS) by the youth in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari finally addressed the nation last night in a televised statement, which many Nigerians find disappointing and lacking empathy.



He urged protestors to stop demonstrating and advised the international community to be mindful of fake news. To the surprise of the country’s 200 million inhabitants, President Buhari did not mention anything about the killing of peaceful protestors in Lagos. According to a report by Amnesty International, at least 12 protestors at Alausa and Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos were massacred during peaceful protests by the Nigerian military.



This latest development happened as the state government in Lagos on Tuesday, October 20, imposed an indefinite round-the-clock curfew which led to military forces converging at the melting point of the protests at the Lekki Toll Gate, where shots were fired directly into the crowd of peaceful protestors.



“I cannot believe this is Nigeria. There is no reason why peaceful protestors should lose their lives. This is completely unacceptable and we need the soldiers responsible for this heinous attack arrested and brought to justice immediately. The fight is not over and we will not be intimidated,” says Tobi Bello, one of the protestors who was at the Lekki Toll Gate during the unfortunate incident.



In an Instagram live, which had more than 150,000 people watching, Obianuju Catherine Udeh, known popularly as DJ Switch, could be seen with other protestors shouting and trying to save the life of a victim of the gun violence that ensued at the tollgate.



Amnesty published a report which highlighted at least 82 cases of torture and ill-treatment and extra-judicial execution between January 2017 and May this year against members of SARS. In response to the protests, President Buhari disbanded SARS on October 11 but protests continued amidst a call for greater reform.



The killing of innocent Nigerians has sparked an international appeal for justice and for President Buhari to put an end to the police brutality and killings in the country.

NIGERIA-CRIME-POLICE-DEMO

#EndSARS: The Protests And Cries That Have Paralyzed A Nation

Just as the country celebrates its diamond jubilee, police brutality protests in Nigeria and the disbanding of a rogue unit.



Kunle Martins vividly recalls when he almost lost his life in Lagos because of an iPhone 6. The day started on a positive note. He received a delivery of the new phone sent by his family the night before, in celebration of his 25th birthday, to his flat in Surulere.



“This was my dream phone and I had been telling everyone how I was saving up to buy it and never expected my family to give me such a generous gift,” says the young man who works as a customer service operator for a leading bank in Lagos. After setting up his phone, he set off for work as he usually does around 5AM to catch the local bus to Victoria Island.



Then things took a sinister turn.



“As I was approaching the bus stop, an unmarked car pulled up in front of me and two men with guns forced me into the back of the car where there were another two men in the back seat. They tied my hands and let me lie down on the floor as they searched my pockets. I thought they were armed robbers initially but they said they were from SARS and they had been following me because they suspected me of being a Yahoo boy (internet fraudster).”



“I tried to protest and they slapped me with the back of their gun and broke my front teeth. There was blood everywhere. They asked me how a young boy like me could afford such an expensive phone. They drove me to an ATM and told me to log into my account to prove that I was not a criminal. I had only N40,000 ($104) in my bank account to take me to the end of the month. They cleared all my money and took my phone and left me by the side of the road,” says Martins.



This was not the first time he had been harassed by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigerian police force.



“I am always being stopped by SARS especially because I carry a laptop bag and they use that to determine whether I have money or not. I explain that I work with the bank, show them my work ID and I always ensure I have about N1,000 ($2) on me and my wallet hidden whenever I move around in Lagos. Most of the time, they push me about, slap me and take the N1,000 naira.”



This time he was not so lucky. His story is part of the ongoing outcry of young Nigerians against years of police brutality, kidnapping and even murder committed by the SARS unit. With protests breaking out across Nigeria over the past five days, the #EndSARS social media campaign has ignited widespread anger both locally and with the Nigerian expatriate communities around the world.



Established in 1992 with the mandate of putting an end to violent crime and the high prevalence of robbery in Lagos, SARS operated as faceless, tactical teams that traveled in unmarked vehicles.



“The idea was to create a special police unit that could blend into the community without being noticed and disrupt the growing criminal elements across Lagos who were known for carrying out violent armed robberies. They were created to act as a last line of defense to protect their fellow Nigerian brothers and sisters, not torture them,” says Obinna Johnson.



On a rainy night out with his friends, he was stopped by two SARS operatives who demanded they pay a bribe before they were allowed to proceed to the club. When he refused, the SARS officers opened fire in the air and asked them to step out of the car and lie face down on the muddy floor.



“They then proceeded to search our pockets to take our money and searched our cars to take the Hennessy bottles that we had bought for the party we were going to and left,” recalls Johnson.



Nobody ever files a police report mainly due to fear of reprisal and also because they believe nothing will ever be done. The anonymity was considered vital for taking on the criminals that terrorized Lagos at the time but over the years this has led to abuse against Nigerian youth. There have been widespread allegations of the SARS unit targeting well-dressed youths, those with tattoos and dreadlocks and harassing them for money, torturing and even killing those who resist.



Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, puts the blame on the failure of the Nigerian authorities to bring an end to the gross human rights violations carried out by SARS.



“This unit has consistently used torture and other ill treatment to carry out police investigations. We have also uncovered torture chambers within the Nigerian police as well as countless testimonies of people being detained and tortured which is against their fundamental human rights despite the 2017 anti-torture act,” says Ojigho.



The global human rights organization have documented some 82 cases of abuse and killings since January 2017 to May 2020 as highlighted in their report Nigeria: Horrific reign of impunity by SARS makes mockery of anti-torture law.



The widespread demonstrations have led to the government dissolving SARS this week but Nigerian youth and victims of this corrupt unit say this is only the beginning.



“We are demanding immediate release of all arrested protestors, justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families, setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of all police misconduct (within 10 days), a psychological evaluation and retraining of all disbanded SARS officers before being redeployed and an Increase in police salary so they are adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens,” says Banky Wellington, a Nigerian singer and politician.



According to a report by Reuters, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has promised that the government would bring police officers responsible for misconduct to justice after protestors were met with a harsh response when police opened fire with live ammunition against demonstrators.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229008074-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48378" width="414" height="276" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229008074-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229008074-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229008074-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229008074-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229008074-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229008074-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px" /><figcaption>Protesters demonstrate outside the Nigeria High Commission in central London. (Photo by Kirsty O&#8217;Connor/PA Images via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



Young people between the ages of 17 and 30 are the most at risk of arrest, torture or extortion and are a significant population of the demonstrations taking place all over the country.



“It is unacceptable that the police will shoot with live bullets at peaceful protestors. One person lost their life and we must find those responsible and bring them to justice immediately,” says Tolu Ogunlesi, special assistant on digital media to the president of Nigeria.



The governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in a recent tweet advised “we are setting up a trust fund to compensate the families of police brutality in Lagos state” even though no amount of money can reduce their pain. The trust fund will be supervised by a team appointed transparently by members of the public.



But will there be real change after the protests are over?



“Nigerians are always outraged but they now know that it never lasts. It is just a matter of time and people go on with their business. The victims are the ones who feel the pain. For those who have died at the hands of SARS, it is over, they have been killed. After trending the hashtag and being outraged for a few hours, they will move on but the families will never move on and then you are left thinking who is going to be the next victim,” says Aisha Yesufu, the hijab-wearing revolutionary leading the #EndSARS protest.

EndSARS Protesters Block Highways In Lagos

Nigeria Dissolves SARS But The Youth Demand Justice

A look at the never-say-die Nigerian film industry’s emerging money-spinning trends.



POPULARLY KNOWN AS Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry is the world’s second-largest producer of commercial cinema, and also accounts for 5% of Nigeria’s GDP. It is estimated that over 2,500 movies are produced each year in Nollywood with the industry employing more than a million people. Ingenuity and resourcefulness have always been a trademark of Nollywood, from homemade movies to ground-breaking blockbusters over the past decade. But the industry is not without its share of controversies. On the one hand, you have the never-say-die attitude of Nigerians combined with the glitzy and glamorous red-carpet events with celebrities attracting multi-million-naira brand endorsements. But underneath, the industry is characterized by a lack of funding and piracy, which has consistently robbed filmmakers of their revenues. But Covid-19 has led to a halt in Nollywood production decimating millions of dollars in earnings for the industry. The pandemic’s arrival has led to producers looking at new ways of staying afloat as well as focusing on higher-quality movies for streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon who are hoping to take a slice of the 200-million content market. FORBES AFRICA spoke with three of the key players in Nollywood to find out about the current state of the industry and what trends will affect its future. 



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<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">‘Nollywood Offers A Gateway To A New Opportunity In Africa’</h3>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Mo Abudu, CEO, EbonyLife Media</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-703x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48273" width="323" height="470" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-703x1024.jpg 703w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-206x300.jpg 206w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-768x1118.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-1055x1536.jpg 1055w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-1407x2048.jpg 1407w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-300x437.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-600x873.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-scaled.jpg 1759w" sizes="(max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px" /></figure></div>



Abudu began EbonyLife in 2013 by launching a premium TV channel and in the same year, the company announced its first international partnership with Disney Media Distribution EMEA on the iconic hit series Desperate Housewives, bringing a new take on the series’ darkly comic view of suburbia to African audiences. In 2018, Sony Pictures Television announced a three-year deal with EbonyLife TV, In January this year, AMC Networks (USA) announced its partnership with EbonyLife to produce Nigeria 2099, an Afro-futuristic crime-drama created by EbonyLife and in June, Netflix signed a multi-title deal with EbonyLife to create two original series and multiple branded films and a series. Abudu shares more:



How has Nollywood evolved over the years?



The Nigerian entertainment industry is currently going through a renaissance. While historically, Nigeria has been dependent on oil and agriculture to subsidize its economy, Nollywood is rapidly taking over this role, not just in terms of content creation, but also in terms of distribution within Africa and the rest of the world. It’s inspiring to see more stories out of Nollywood told by Nigerian creators, and using resources found in Nigeria.&nbsp;



As a result, there is an international desire to invest in Nollywood stories, to make investments in productions within the nation’s borders, and hence elevate the quality of output to make it more appealing to a global audience. For example, among the highlights of our partnership with Netflix will be a film adaptation of Death and the King’s Horseman, a play by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka, and a series based on Lola Shoneyin’s best-selling debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. Nigerian entertainment is no longer just for Nigeria, but also the world.



How far can Nollywood go in the global content marketplace?



The new interest in black culture and the questioning of colonialization’s legacy has resulted in international interest in Nollywood. Nollywood can draw upon the rising momentum in the United States and the United Kingdom in particular and offer viewers a wide array of works by black creators. Global streaming services are now offering more curated content to subscribers than ever before. Now, millions of people have access to content from Nollywood. EbonyLife’s first feature film Fifty, the only film selected from Nigeria, and one of only five films from the entire continent of Africa from 238 films selected globally for screening at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival, became the first Nigerian film to stream on Netflix in 2015. Our other film projects licensed by Netflix include The Wedding Party 1 and 2, Chief Daddy, and The Royal Hibiscus Hotel. Recently, Netflix acquired EbonyLife’s most popular drama series: Castle &amp; Castle, Fifty: The Series, Sons of the Caliphate, and On The Real, amongst others.&nbsp;



What are the current trends you are noticing in the content space and how is Nollywood adjusting to those trends? 



Nollywood offers a gateway to a new opportunity in Africa – in light of the recent racial tensions around the world, broadcasters are now more committed to commissioning relevant and authentic content reflecting the lives of global black audiences on an ongoing basis. There is a new desire, in short, for authenticity, or people speaking from their own experiences, telling stories from their unique perspectives. Nigeria has a historic tradition of exhibiting emotional, dramatic, and dynamic, rich content. Nigerian audiences have always been unafraid to see social issues mixed even into otherwise escapist entertainment. New media and the craving for new ideas has made Nollywood creators interested in exploring new formats for storytelling. Nigerian creators are also seeking outside training and resources to produce films that meet high international standards of visual and artistic interest. To meet this demand, EbonyLife is setting up a creative academy to build a bridge to the sub-Saharan African film and television industry, towards a value chain based on international best practices.&nbsp;



How has Covid-19 affected the Nigerian entertainment industry? 



In light of Covid-19, many international film festivals and global conferences have gone online, which has enabled more Nigerian creators to gain access to new audiences through live streams and virtual spaces rather than physical sessions that are more costly to attend. As a result, the online move has opened doors for virtual networking and building opportunities with Nigerian creatives in the industry. The pandemic also forced Nollywood to work differently, to become more technology-driven in a manner that reaches more specific niches, including black audiences all over the world.&nbsp;



There are now more reasons than ever to connect people around the world via the internet. The fact that more people are watching content on the small screen versus movie theaters has, in particular, caused this shift. Despite the halted production and gradual move back with increased health insecurity and insurance costs, interest in film-making remains high in Nigeria. The loss of jobs has balanced with opportunities for innovation. There has been a greater focus on pre-production, story development, writing and post-production work virtually.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">‘We Have Stories The World Hasn’t Heard’</h3>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Omoni Oboli, Actress, Producer and Director</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-746x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48276" width="413" height="567" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-746x1024.jpg 746w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-219x300.jpg 219w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-768x1054.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-1120x1536.jpg 1120w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-1493x2048.jpg 1493w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-300x412.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-600x823.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px" /></figure></div>



Oboli began her career in 1996. Her company, Dioni Visions Entertainment, has produced blockbusters in Nigerian cinema, with such films as Being Mrs Elliott, Wives On Strike and Okafor’s Law which was an official selection at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Her movies are on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Iroko, and other streaming platforms. Her views on the movie business:



How would you describe the current state of the Nigerian entertainment industry?



The Nigerian movie industry needs a major boost to spark the flames that are clearly unwilling to be put out. Unlike other forms of entertainment, movie producers have only the sales and release of their movies to make their money back. With no serious checks and curtailing of the nature of piracy and no aggressive protection of intellectual property, we’re pretty much left to our own individual means of getting our money back from our work.&nbsp;



While all areas of entertainment are touched, I’m more specific about the movie business. We’ve been able to push our products far and wide with little resources, so it’s clear we have what it takes to break the ceiling given the talent that abounds, but without the structured means of having good returns on our investment, it’s hard for so many who are in the industry, especially those who are not at the top of the food chain, to make ends meet. There’s hope, and that’s the hope many hold on to.&nbsp;



What factors would you say have contributed to the global demand for Nollywood?



The first would be the obvious one: migration. With Africans everywhere in the diaspora, our movies, music and brand of comedy, and stage performances, are being demanded by them first, and then by others who see the infectious frenzy around our work by Africans everywhere. Our movies and entertainment bring a nostalgic feeling. The next is our unique stories. We have stories that the world hasn’t heard, or nuances to the same stories that breaks the monotony of the often-recycled stories.&nbsp;



What we may lack in production value, [compared to the likes of Hollywood and Bollywood], we are able to hold our audiences with the storylines, which are different, but resonate with everyone who watches them. Also, with the internet and social media, we can see the cross-cultural advantages that come with the global village and the growing yearning for inclusion and diversity. Whatever the reason, we love what we see with the popularity of our work.&nbsp;



Do you think Nollywood has what it takes to compete in the global content market? 



Sure it does. Nollywood started as the outlier; the great stories (product) with a poor wrapping, but has metamorphosed into the more presentable work we see today, and improving and competing with contemporaries the world over. We may not have arrived where we’re going, but where and what we are right now is far from, and better than, where we used to be. We have the stories, and with new stories to tell, the world has come to appreciate what we’re saying, and with time, has grown to appreciate and celebrate how we’re delivering it. With better returns on our investment, we can see more and more works of great art with each year and each producer pushing the envelope to give our stories more life and present our stories in its raw yet easy-to-watch format that resonates with all audiences. With the growing love the world has for our music, and its expression by us through our movies, we have seen more foreigners beginning to appreciate our candid presentations that are closer to our reality than if they were shot by a foreigner who may have the means to do justice to the production value, yet lose the essence that makes it authentically Nigerian. You can’t separate our stories from our mannerisms and language and culture.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">‘The Progress Of Nollywood Is In Leaps And Bounds Now’</h3>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Richard Mofe-Damijo, Actor and Producer</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-822x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48275" width="369" height="459" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-822x1024.jpg 822w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-241x300.jpg 241w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-768x956.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-300x374.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-600x747.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833.jpg 853w" sizes="(max-width: 369px) 100vw, 369px" /></figure></div>



Mofe-Damijo, popularly known by the moniker ‘RMD’ is one of the most successful actors in Nollywood. At 59 years old, the veteran actor has starred in over 75 movies and is also a qualified lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property. Over his acting career, which spans a period of 37 years, he has won every best actor award there is as well as is the only actor who has won the prestigious African Movie Academy Awards twice for best actor along with receiving a lifetime achievement award. He is the founder of RMD Productions which produces content for DSTV as well as is currently developing a slate of docu series in Nigeria. He is also starring in a lead role in Netflix’s first original Nigerian series.



How far has Nollywood come over the years?



The progress of Nollywood is in leaps and bounds now and there is a lot of collaboration with other film-making countries in the world. The streaming services have been very kind to us in Nigeria, so Nigerian movies have a very strong presence on the Netflix and Amazon platforms&#8230; So, in terms of impact, they usually say we are the second-largest film production industry in the world or the third, always between Hollywood or Bollywood and the good thing is we are in contention.&nbsp;



Covid-19 has been a major threat to the industry but just like the never-die spirit of Nigeria, we are all back again and making sure we keep producing movies.



What factors have led to the proliferation of Nollywood on the global market?



The authenticity of our stories means we tell our stories in the best way we can. We don’t have access to funds as most Hollywood or Bollywood movies will have. What we do here is like performing bypass surgery with forks and knives because of the limited funds. Technology has improved so we have embraced technology in production. So at least the standard of production has increased significantly. This has accounted for the big box office movies we have and created the cinema-going culture.&nbsp;



Nigerians are also getting cast in international movies now and we have more or less affected the whole of the West African region and African continent and a lot of them are now also looking inward to tell their own stories. Nigerians in the diaspora are constantly looking for ways to connect back home so our movies have become a tool for them to connect. The reason Netflix is here is because they know we can compete; our films are beginning to speak for themselves.



What new trends are shaping the stories being told in Nollywood?



Producers are looking to get their movies to the point where we can get our movies to be judged for international awards now and this means we are going to get more authentic stories from Nigeria.&nbsp;



This is something that will help boost our movies globally.

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The Blockbuster Named NOLLYWOOD

Opening Day Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2017

A NEW CAPITALISM: Views From The Top

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The New Tycoons Ready For The Next Normal

Ada Osakwe’s business growth in Nigeria was fraught with struggle, but she is now fighting the injustice meted out to her as a female entrepreneur in the early days.



Most democratic societies consider themselves – on the surface at least – to be gender equal. But while legislation may not discriminate against women outright, real equality is still a long way off. The answer to greater empowerment and more profitable leadership may lie within women themselves.



Ada Osakwe, founder of Nuli Juice, a healthy ‘fast food’ company based in Lagos, Nigeria, believes the time for women to act is now. Osakwe catapulted Nuli Juice from a single-brand organization to a multi-category, multi-brand beverage giant. But that story almost didn’t materialize.



On September 1, 2016, Osakwe was celebrating the highlight of what was a journey that had taken almost four years in the making. Her juice company had just opened its first flagship shop in the cosmopolitan hub of Ikoyi, Lagos, and the young female agripreneur was the talk of town for her innovative approach to empowering local farmers by sourcing raw materials locally.



The next day, disaster struck.



“I was lying in bed and I get a call from one of my guys who said there are people here at the shop with bulldozers and I need to come. I got in my car and the streets were blocked off. There were police officers with guns all over the place,” recalls Osakwe.



Her shop was part of a group of four female-owned businesses being ransacked by the Nigerian police over the landlord’s alleged failure to pay taxes due to the Lagos State government.



“This was like 8AM and I said to them ‘we are tenants’ and they didn’t listen to us. We couldn’t reach out to the landlord. I made some calls to the relevant people in Lagos State and nothing happened. I said ‘don’t do this’. We are employing people, even squatters have rights and I pleaded with them to stop.”



Her cries for help went unheard and in that one morning, all her hard work came crashing down.



Ironically, a week before the demolishing of her shop, Facebook founder and American internet billionaire Mark Zuckerberg was in Lagos with the government celebrating the trip as a testament to their support for the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Lagos.



“It was really tough. A woman-owned business in agriculture, which was the focus of the government for youth job creation with over 15 youths employed in the store, was destroyed that morning,” says Osakwe.



For her, the experience was a bitter pill to swallow. She had turned down a lucrative position to follow her mentor, Akinwumi Adesina, as he made the transition from agriculture minister to the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), in pursuit of making her mark on the world.



After graduating with a first-class honors degree in economics from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom (UK), Osakwe began her career by working in investment banking in London. After two years on the trading floor, she was introduced to the AfDB where she secured an opportunity in France at the age of 24.



“I think I was the youngest person to be ever employed by a development institution and it was such a transformational path and it really set me on the path for who I am today. I worked hard, took minutes and people began to notice the effort I put in.”



Osakwe was right in the heart of what she felt was her calling at the time, driving Africa’s development, but she started to question whether there was more she could do.



Her goal was on making more of a direct impact on the African continent and the people she knew.



“It’s so easy to be in these institutions and you are traveling business class meeting different ministers in different countries and it is tempting to stay in that position but I had this burning feeling to do more,” recalls Osakwe.



After working in the infrastructure team where she was a part of the financing of the Lekki Toll Gate project, a multibillion-naira infrastructure project in the heart of Lagos, Osakwe decided to do an MBA in the United States (US) and transitioned into the private equity space.



“At that time, the African government was investing into private equity because I felt it was a way to truly support entrepreneurs. I worked with a company called Actis which was the biggest private equity firm for emerging private equity funds and ended up in New York with an African-focused fund.”



Osakwe was beginning to feel more at home making an impact with local entrepreneurs. A chance encounter with the team from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, a nonprofit organization pushing the advancement of youth entrepreneurship in Nigeria, brought her attention to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.



“I met with the minister of agriculture at the time, Dr. Adesina and I took a flight to New York and what was supposed to be a 30-minute conversation, lasted three hours. We talked about plans for the youth in agriculture and it was a fun conversation. I was like ‘this is a minister’ and he was talking about the private sector and funds for the agriculture sector and when I left, I knew I would be working with the firm,” says Osakwe.



That was a lifetime ago. After working with the AfDB for four years, she knew it was time to venture out on her own. That eureka moment was sparked by two startling statistics Osakwe came across.



Firstly, Africa was spending about $40 billion on food imports that could be grown locally. Furthermore, Nigeria’s total importation amounted to about $11 billion on fish and tomatoes.



“I was like what is happening to our farmers? So, the wheat farmers in the US are getting richer and our farmers are only small-scale farmers and struggling. Something had to be done,” she says.



After making a series of small investments in two startups as an angel investor, Nuli Juice was born. Today, the company has 10 stores across Nigeria with a further expansion in its product portfolio to include homegrown coffee. Her brand is also stocked in all major retail outlets including Spar and Shoprite.



“The food industry is a $3 trillion industry and Africa is not on the map. You don’t go to Tesco in the UK and pick up a spaghetti that says ‘made in Nigeria’ or ‘made in Togo’; you see ‘made in Spain’. We have to change this.”



Osakwe is deliberate about changing the narrative of how agriculture is seen in Nigeria. Her goal is to use her platform to fight the injustice she suffered as a female entrepreneur in the early days of her business.



“It has been a struggle. The gender issue is a real thing for a woman in Nigeria and I see it when I am raising money. Women have to be resilient. As an entrepreneur, you will get the nos and sometimes your store will be demolished and you will get the police threatening to shut you down because they want a bribe, but you have to believe in that bigger plan and vision for where you want to see yourself,” says Osakwe.



And for her, that vision is to see Nuly Juice, an indigenous Nigerian brand, on the shelves of all major international retailers across the world.&nbsp;

Ada red 3

A Demolished Shop That Built A Success Story

With the economic crisis and people in her country going hungry, for Ronke Bamisedun, standing by and doing nothing was not an option.



Almost every industry has been adapting to life during the Covid-19 pandemic. While small businesses might not be an industry, they contribute tremendously to millions of people in Africa. With the demand shocks that have been created by the virus, we can see decreased consumer spending, which has consequently led to temporary business closures.



An adverse effect of the pandemic in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous economy, is hunger. The Covid-19 lockdown, which has been implemented in the country since May, is causing thousands of unemployed youth to resort to desperate measures to keep hunger at bay. The situation was so dire that it has caused Latti Ronke Bamisedun, founder BWL Agency, an award-winning strategic communications agency based in Lagos, to take a temporary pivot and focus her efforts where it is needed the most.



“When the lockdown started across the world, all our clients pretty much pressed pause on all our work. This is the first time in almost ten years that I have not worked. You know, I tried to figure out how best to use this time and then I was driving during the lockdown to the supermarket and I drove past a group of youth in Lekki and they had started carrying placards that said ‘please feed us, we are hungry’ – there were about 150 of them on that Admiralty Road and I knew at that point that I had to do something to help.”



Her efforts almost caused a stampede as the hungry youths collected all the donations in a split second. Bamisedun then set up a social media page and started raising more funds to feed the youth. They used a local church in Lekki, a suburb of Lagos, as a distribution center and began feeding the street children in the area. In just over a few months, the food distribution operations have spread to different parts of Lagos.



“We started with 300 meals and as donations increased, we went to about 1,200 meals a day. Once Lekki was sorted, we identified other areas that needed our help. One of the locations was Victoria Island, a commercial hub and with all the businesses closed, there were a lot of people by the park who had been neglected so we started distributing there too. We did about 300 meals daily before we moved to Ikoyi where we also distributed about 150 meals daily,” says Bamisedun.



Since its inception, Bamisedun’s food donation campaign has provided meals to over 40,000 people. The change from the corporate world she is used to has given Bamisedun a deeper sense of connection with Nigeria where she grew up as a young girl before relocating to the United Kingdom (UK) to complete her secondary education. After graduating from Birmingham City University with a BA in Media and Communications, she joined Kaizo PR in London, where she worked on a number of campaigns including House of Marley, a range of eco-friendly audio products by Bob Marley’s family. After relocating to Nigeria, she joined Grayling, an international communications firm where Bamisedun was hired to support the African expansion of the business.



“I was in that role for a year before the company decided that Nigeria was too volatile for them at the time and that was how I started my own agency.”



That was the serendipitous moment that birthed the BWL Agency. The company has since handled brand campaigns for some of the most reputable brands in the country such as Pernod Ricard and Universal Music Group as well as non-governmental organizations like the United Nations Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.



The coronavirus has sometimes been called an equalizer because it affects both rich and poor, but when it comes to food, the commonality ends. It is poor people, including large segments of poorer nations, who are now going hungry and facing the prospect of starvation.



“This project further opened my eyes to the inequality and injustice in the country and as such, we are working out a long-term plan to ensure that these vulnerable communities do not go without. Nobody should go hungry,” avers Bamisedun.



The sudden loss in income for millions of Nigerians who were already living hand-to-mouth along with the collapse in oil prices has made the hunger situation an especially precarious one for the country. Some parts of the country are already experiencing looting and break-ins amid frustrations and worries about hunger. For Bamisedun, standing by and doing nothing is not an option.



“Weirdly enough, this season and this project has given me a sense of belonging and I am determined to do what I can to ensure that this country becomes somewhere we can all call home. I didn’t know that we were going to be doing over 1,500 meals a day across four communities. I just wanted to help. For me, this has been a time to serve others and it really has been a humbling experience,” she says.

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The Nigerian Distributing Food And Hope For the Neglected

Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina has been re-elected to serve a second five-year term as President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on Thursday, August 27, 2020, by the Board of Governors of the bank. According to the official statement by the AfDB, the globally-renowned development economist and World Food Prize laureate and Sunhak Peace Prize laureate, received a 100% of votes of all regional and non-regional members of the bank.



The election took place on the final day of the 2020 Annual Meetings of the AfDB Group, which was held virtually for the first time in the bank’s history.



Bismarck Rewane, a leading economist and CEO of Financial Derivatives, says, “The re-election of Dr. Akin&nbsp;Adesina&nbsp;is an epoch-making event for the African continent. It goes a long way towards erasing the stereotypical image of Africans in general and Nigeria in particular as lacking in the discipline of transparency, accountability and governance. For the institution, the African Development Bank,&nbsp;it provides&nbsp;a major opportunity for it to play a more catalytic role in the development of a continent in dire need of liberation from the pangs of multidimensional poverty,&nbsp;a debt trap and&nbsp;anaemic economic growth. The&nbsp;AfDB is&nbsp;expected to become more dynamic under the stability of the leadership of Akin&nbsp;Adesina&nbsp;especially with the increased shareholder funds and depth of intellectual capital that&nbsp;it currently possesses. It is in fact a new day for Africa.”



“Congratulations to Dr Adesina for his re-election&#8230; The shareholders of AfDB could not have selected a more appropriate person to support Africa to &#8216;build forward together&#8217;&nbsp;post-Covid-19.&nbsp;He is not only a passionate and visionary leader but also has the execution capacity and empathy to help Africa unleash its great potential. AfDB is a unique organization founded by all African countries in the 1960s and subsequently joined by non-African countries in an exemplary partnership to build a first-class ‘AAA’ entity. It is an organization that responds to Africa’s needs like no other entity because it has Africa’s DNA embedded in it,” says Arunma Oteh, academic scholar, University of Oxford, and former Treasurer and Vice President, World Bank.



In December 2019, Adesina, known for his trademark bow-tie and his keenness for continental development, was the recipient of the African of the Year award and was on the cover of FORBES AFRICA.

Photo by: Kelechi Amadi-Obi (www.kelechiamadiobi.com)

Akinwumi Adesina Re-Elected President Of The African Development Bank Group

In Lagos, savvy entrepreneurs in the beauty business face-off the Covid-19 economic crisis by glamming up their online offerings.



From always being fascinated by brushes and make-up products and their ability to enhance a person’s physical appeal, Rasheeda Adeosun, one of Nigeria’s leading make-up artists today, was close to this profession from the beginning. When she was about seven years old, her mother ran a hair-dressing salon in Lagos, where Adeosun would spend most of her time but the interest in taking up beauty as a career came much later in life when she herself became a mother, to three children.



“While I was pregnant, I was working for Lloyds in their headquarters in the United Kingdom and I fell really ill. After I had my twins, my husband said ‘your friends are always coming around asking you to do make-up so why don’t you do something like that’. Obviously being at home, I said I will give it a try,” recalls Adeosun. She posted her wedding pictures on Facebook and people began to take note of her talent.



“People were like ‘who did your make up’, and I said ‘I did it myself’. That is when business started booming. A number of bloggers, like Linda Ikeji, posted [about] me and that is when the customers started coming in.”



But the early days were a struggle. Unlike today’s standards in the beauty business – characterized by significant access to resources and industry entrepreneurs, who can provide mentorship, as well as practically no barriers to entry due to platforms like YouTube and Instagram – Adeosun had no one that would help turn her passion for make-up into a business.



“So, I used to work for nothing and sometimes I would only have £20 left but I always say to people not all free jobs are bad jobs and I did a lot of free jobs in the beginning but I always say I gained a client later,” says Adeosun.



But that was a very long time ago. Today, she is one of the most sought-after make-up artists in the UK and Nigeria, with her established brand, OTS Beauty, boasting some of Africa’s leading celebrities like Tiwa Savage, as exclusive clients. The bridal look has undergone an overhaul. New-age make-up artists like Adeosun are the reason behind it. She has perfected her signature style which comprises of natural and contemporary looks in tune with the trend and she has gained a reputation of amping up the glam quotient of brides on their big day.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47303" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-600x600.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2126DAE2-6F04-4487-8092-DAD55E4E00CD-80x80.jpg 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Rasheeda Adeosun of OTS Beauty</figcaption></figure>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;I used to work for nothing and sometimes I would only have £20 left but I always say to people not all free jobs are bad jobs and I did a lot of free jobs in the beginning but I always say I gained a client later.&#8221;</blockquote>



This has created a huge demand for her bridal make-up services, which constitute a bulk of her revenue. In addition to this, she can charge a premium for campaigns, video shoots and photoshoots. She charges a uniform price for both celebrities and regular clients, often bringing in anywhere from £3,000-£4,000 on a good month.



But like many industries, the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that entrepreneurs like Adeosun are now faced with an uncertain future as economies continue to implement physical restrictions in a desperate attempt to curb the spread of the marauding virus. Adeosun has seen her biggest cash cow all but vanish overnight. This has led her to pivot her brand to survive the new normal.



“I am now doing a lot of online stuff. Most of my following is not from the UK but rather from Nigeria and Ghana. So, doing online classes has helped. Even though it hasn’t brought in the type of money I am used to, it has helped me make ends meet. Also selling lashes online has helped me to bring in money,” says Adeosun.



There is really no business that has not faced the wrath of Covid-19 as more and more enterprises are being forced to shut their doors due to the nationwide lockdowns in place.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="682" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503-682x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47304" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503-682x1024.jpg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503-600x901.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503-768x1153.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503-1023x1536.jpg 1023w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_3503.jpg 1364w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" /><figcaption>Nnenna Okoye of Youtopia Beauty</figcaption></figure>



Nnenna Okoye is an Accounting and Finance graduate from the University of Kent in Canterbury in the UK and is now a beauty entrepreneur. She is the owner of Youtopia Beauty, which initially began as an online beauty shop but has over the years morphed into a physical space offering everything from beauty products to skin serums. A bad case of acne, which lasted for over eight months, was the catalyst that helped her to pivot from her nine-to-five job and enter the scary world of beauty entrepreneurship.



“At the time I thought ‘what can you do with your eyes closed’ and you know you love doing and enjoy doing it and still make money from it. And products were the only thing I knew how to do but it was scary and I didn’t know where to start from,” says Okoye.



After failing to get local products that would help her with her acne problem, she had to resort to ordering the products from abroad.



That was when she had her eureka moment. From a beauty blog, she broadened her horizons into the world of beauty distribution and created an e-commerce site where customers in Nigeria could order online. Once business took off, she began introducing her own line of branded cosmetics, the first of which was her best-selling Youskin Vitamin C Serum.



“I felt that vitamin C is the most essential product in every beauty routine especially in Africa where we have exposure to the sun and a lot of pollution. We have about eight products in our line today,” says Okoye.



The company has had to make several changes to its business model over the years. Firstly, Okoye’s dream of creating the Amazon for beauty products was short-lived due to the logistical challenges in Nigeria.



“When I started, people did not have that trust to use their cards online and they had Jumia, which had an order without paying method but they are a much bigger company so they could afford to do that but we couldn’t. So, we had to devise a method where we could also do it properly,” says Okoye.



Her Nigerian consumers wanted to see the products and have a mini consultation before purchasing and it soon became apparent that Okoye would need to open a physical space in order to attract her consumers.



And that is exactly what she did. Youtopia Beauty now had a physical address and an online presence and the move led to an influx of sales.



Since then, the company has been enjoying unprecedented growth. In addition to Youtopia Beauty and Youskin, Okoye subsequently launched the Beauty Hub, a one-stop shop catering service for all the beauty needs of the Nigerian woman. Then disaster struck. Nigeria’s Covid-19 lockdown order came into effect in March and since then, Okoye’s beauty space has remained closed.



“Since the lockdown, we have seen a total decline in people walking into the Beauty Hub which has been disastrous. I shut down completely because we couldn’t do anything due to the curfew in place in Lagos. In the middle of May, I decided not to stop selling,” says Okoye.



Luckily, her major sales came from the distribution of her products, which were still being sold in essential shops like pharmacies and supermarkets that were still allowed to open their doors during the lockdown.



“Because of the pandemic, people couldn’t go out and now people who didn’t care about their skin decided that this is the time to focus on skincare. So, we are selling out on our skin products with some of our lines selling about 100 soaps a day. I have actually seen my numbers rise in the skincare products category but not the make-up line and Beauty Hub,” says Okoye.



Kwame Opoku, CEO of Reset Global and a futurist, describes the trend of increasing sales in the beauty industry during a pandemic as the ‘Lipstick Index’. “Research has shown that historically, an increase in lipstick sales occurred during difficult times like the 9/11 crisis in 2001. This was first established by Estée Lauder who saw their lipstick sales double during this period and this is used as a reliable metric to gauge consumer confidence,” says Opoku.



Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu are the owners of Good Hair, a high-end provider of quality hair products for the discerning and upwardly-mobile professional woman. The starting prices for their hair units can fetch up to a $1,000 a piece. Over the years, the brand, which the women started when they met in university over 12 years ago, has attracted the crème de la crème of society like the First Lady of Ghana and the wives of politicians.



“We saw a gap in the market. There were less than 10 people selling hair and it would sometimes take you up to a year to find a good supplier. So, the market was ready for us. Girls our age could not attain and have access to luxury hair. We always knew we wanted to be a luxury brand and fresh and we targeted young professionals, our aunties and affluent people,” says Osunde.



Their love for premium hair has been supported by their wealthy clientele over the years, which has resulted in the two diversifying their brand with a presence in the UK as well as launching the Good Hair Space in Nigeria with a beauty salon, a barbershop as well as a restaurant and bar.



Today, however, the hair market is a lot different. They have still stuck to their unflinching compromise for good quality hair but are no longer the only players in the space. Instead of only a few suppliers, there are now thousands of people selling hair. The proliferation of social media means it is easier to find suppliers from all over the world. Furthermore, cheap hair products from China provide affordable alternatives to premium hair which has created a mass market.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="682" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Facetune_09-07-2020-20-47-12.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47307" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Facetune_09-07-2020-20-47-12.jpg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Facetune_09-07-2020-20-47-12-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Facetune_09-07-2020-20-47-12-600x901.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Facetune_09-07-2020-20-47-12-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" /><figcaption>Kika Osunde</figcaption></figure>



“Even though the salon is closed, we are still selling hair to clients in Nigeria and the UK,” says Ikokwu. “In Nigeria, we offer a product and a service and in London, we only offer a product. So now, we focus on selling our products. We have started creating more content to increase the demand of our hair units and sales have surged during this period. We definitely fall into the lipstick index- the only thing that has changed for us is the delivery times as the post office wasn’t open six days a week anymore in the UK.”



For most entrepreneurs in the beauty space, content remains king. Providing engaging content to their followers either through tutorials and giveaways to keep online audiences engaged has become the new norm if they want to keep building brand loyalty. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to changes in every industry and for the beauty sector, these new changes will require entrepreneurs to put in more hours in front of the camera and utilize social media to remain connected to their consumers, until the world returns to a semblance of its former self.

Author: Peace Hyde

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA