1 week ago
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More than 40 years ago, before the Kuddy brand became a household name; its laminitis was a young UniPetrol worker who spent her weekends flying to New York. During the week, she held a dependable occupation successful Lagos; connected Fridays, she boarded a nighttime formation to the United States, returning to Nigeria by Sunday morning.
She speaks with Ebunoluwa Sessou on her earliest lessons successful commercialized which came from the biggest patent medicine outlet successful Balogun Market, owned by her mother.
From her tiny quality store located connected Lagos Island successful 1986, Fashola has much than 20 shops successful Lagos, and different places adjacent extracurricular the country. She ventured into concern astatine the property of nine.
Kudi started helping her parent arsenic a young girl. That was wherever she learned to speech to customers and recognize proviso and demand.
The store besides connected her to neighbours who were already successful the cosmetics trade. One day, a trader approached her to assistance bring Fashion Fair pulverization from the U.S. She agreed. She bought the pulverization for 9 dollars, sold it for 9 naira, and made her nett from the pencils and lipsticks that came with the order. That elemental favour became her archetypal measurement into quality retail. Her gestation astatine the clip did not dilatory her down.
“By the clip I was expecting my archetypal child, I had already built a tiny but loyal clientele. Madam Bicu, a seasoned trader connected the aforesaid street, noticed my boldness and invited maine to adhd cosmetics to her mother’s cause store. With handwritten lists from customers and Dunlop slippers connected my feet, I would tally betwixt shops, buying and reselling astatine a tiny markup.
“I retrieve I would tick disconnected items connected people’s lists, tally to Madam Bicu’s store, bargain them, adhd my nett and sell.
“I continued juggling UniPetrol, play flights and cosmetics done the births of my archetypal 2 children. But by my 3rd pregnancy, I decided to resign and absorption afloat connected business.”
At first, she switched to children’s clothing, travelling to Italy and the U.K. for underwears, shoes and adjacent toast-bread machines, past a novelty successful Lagos homes, but dense goods ate into her profits truthful she stopped and returned to what she knew best, quality products.
“My large interruption came done a extremity about traders bringing car radios from New York. Curious, I asked a contact, Sabah, what Nigerians truly came to buy. ‘Relaxers’, helium replied. I had $2,000 saved. ‘People bash not adjacent travel present with that overmuch money,”’ Sabah told me.
“I gave him $1,500 to proviso ace relaxers, negotiated with an airdrome autobus operator for transport, and enlisted the assistance of hose unit to determination 16 luggages without stress. Each clip I returned to Nigeria, customers were already waiting. People thought I had nary wealth due to the fact that I travelled airy with 2 bags. They didn’t cognize my goods had already been shipped.
“With that aforesaid $2,000, I built a dependable rhythm buying, shipping, selling and reinvesting. I was making wealth without stress. My superior stayed the same; my nett went into the bank.”
Initially, Fashola sourced a fashionable planetary marque for a friend, Elvis Amadi, until the institution itself called her. Their Nigerian distributor had disappeared, and NAFDAC was looking for her. The planetary marque agreed to proviso her exclusively.
“During a sojourn to their warehouse, I noticed thousands of high-quality moisturizing soaps gathering dust. I bought them, rebranded them arsenic Kuddy Moisturizing Bar Soap, and utilized them arsenic souvenirs astatine a household friend’s turbaning ceremony. The effect was overwhelming. That was the commencement of the Kuddy brand.
“From there, I expanded into afloat skincare and make-up lines, including oculus shadows produced nether my name. I registered the trademark connected the proposal of a Ghanaian entrepreneur who admired my selling skills. He told maine I was sitting connected gold”.
Soon, truckloads of cosmetics were moving nether her label, with customers often choosing her products adjacent erstwhile identical to different brands from the aforesaid factory, not knowing it is the aforesaid contented nether a antithetic name.
“My occurrence was not lone astir quick...
English (US) ·