This week we feature Lola Olusola, who we actually spoke to in April 2013.
At the time she was excited about moving back to Nigeria to launch her
online fashion label, so we decided to follow up to see how things have
been since she moved back. This interview is particularly interesting
for people who are thinking about moving back to start up businesses in
Nigeria. Hear in her own words the challenges of registering and running
a business in Nigeria, her thoughts on the Ecommerce revolution in
Nigeria, what she thinks about the ‘Nigerian Online Shopper’, her views
on the state of development in the country, and many other tips and
advice you certainly do not want to miss!We spoke to you in April 2013, why was your first interview anonymous?
No particular reason. I thought the earlier MBTN interviews were conducted anonymously, so my name never featured. Even though I wasn’t particularly pushing for anonymity, I think it panned out great actually because it meant I didn’t give away too much about the brand as it was yet to launch.
MBTN comment… Hmmm!!
When we caught up with you last time, you were excited about moving back to Nigeria to launch your fashion label, so how have things been since?
For the record, my name is Lola Olusola, and I moved back to Nigeria in May 2013 to set up an online store called Ella Matthew (www.ellamatthew.com) that retails women’s clothing online. When I moved back, I was really excited (and I still am). Things have kicked off on a great note. The website has launched and is accepting and delivering orders. I do think my goals and priorities have been adjusted to reflect the realities of what it takes to set up and run a business on the ground in Nigeria.
Interesting! Really want to hear more. So when did you launch the brand officially.
Ella Matthew launched November 25th last year and a lot went into setting it up. Like I mentioned earlier, I moved back in May 2013, and if you remember, my plan was to launch the business in July, but given the way things work in Nigeria, it took a bit longer. Supposedly, simple things such as business name registration, setting up logistics and organising photo-shoots ended up taking a lot more time than I’d anticipated. But I was adamant that the foundation had to be right and it was worth the extra time investment and looking back, I’m glad I took this route. Those extra four months really gave me the time I needed to really understand how things work in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos. And it gave my staff time to really get used to our systems and have a more in-depth knowledge of the business and products.
What did the launch process involve?
It involved a lot of things; Things that people wouldn’t necessarily even think about. From customer surveys and focus groups at the very start to drawing creative concepts, budgeting and financial management, photography, branding and packaging, logistics, product and supply chain processes and other things such as website design, development, project management and training. Thankfully, from my previous working history, I had a good working knowledge of how things would work.
I think I had a small challenge with quality control and this is probably what delayed process the most. I returned quite a few things to be redone. People don’t necessarily understand why I wanted things to be as close to perfect as possible but for me, all these little things were going to matter in the overall customer experience and management of operations.
