Ngozi Nzegwu and I

Experience is not the best teacher; you can read it up, hear it out but do not wait it out! – Ngozi  Nzegwu

What is worth doing at all, is worth doing right - Me

 

So, this week we are going to be celebrating one young, dogged, strong willed and God loving woman I know. I met this woman some 24 years ago but really got to know her sometime in 2009. She challenged me with her will power and determination. Her drive to pursue and recover greatly inspired me and pushed me towards reaching for my own goals. Join me as we encourage and celebrate our growing entrepreneur for today… Alonge Ifeoluwa.

Hahahaha, sure I got some of you. Well, today I decided to go by the injunction of the many people who have said countless times that I put myself up here too. Oh well, I’m one of us aren’t I? I’m one of those young and blooming entrepreneurs determined to positively transform the world. So today, I will also answer questions on what I do, what inspired me, how the journey has been so far and the big picture?

 

What I do…

I am in the business of transformation. Glee which means intense happiness is a name that was birthed from the desire to put smiles on particularly, every woman’s face.  At gleemakeovers, our goal is to transform everything we touch into something beautiful so, we specialise in areas like makeup artistry, jewellery making, bag making e.t.c. taking each one at a time. Our aim is to train and empower young people in any of these crafts they desire to learn. To make every young person have a sense of worth, alleviate poverty and in turn boost the economy of our country.

 

My Inspiration…

The God who gave me the ability to make and style people’s hair without any prior training, who has so blessed my heart and hands with an unquenchable passion for crafts is my greatest inspiration. Having had my fair share of confusion, naivety and of course poverty, I resolved that I was going to have to do something to ease other people of their stress and struggles. Basically I am constantly inspired by my burning desire to teach people how to ‘catch good fishes’.

The Journey so far…

I tell you, it has been one hell of a journey indeed. I started since university days where I hardly went home for the holidays but stayed back in school to learn and learn and learn. I learnt several crafts, ranging from makeup to bead making to wireworks jewellery (oh I made good money from this) to catering, bag making e.t.c. wheew! I have spent a lot of money learning even as I organised trainings too.

I remember one training program I organised on OAU campus. I made posters, got lots of people to register and already bought the materials that would be needed for the training. The registration fee was 500 naira while the training itself was 5000 naira which included all the materials they needed. Upon the registration of over 25 people, I felt comfortable enough to spend my own money in getting materials for 25 people so that when they resumed for training and paid their fees, their materials will be on ground. Oh well, 2 days to the training, our ever great OAU went on strike and ordered all students to vacate the school premises. My God, posters wasted, my money hanging, I didn’t even know how to cry. By the time we resumed, there was already the rush for exams and even though I eventually did the training, there were only 3 people in attendance.

That shook me, but couldn’t stop me. I kept at it, travelled to Benin republic (that’s one hilarious story for another day) trained people there, in French by the way. Travelled to Jos for my NYSC and practically spent all my ‘alawee’ on training people for free. I have been very broke and hungry many times but thank God for my confidence and pride in my ever available garrium sulphate, I still look fresh and ‘biurriful’. So far, it’s been one rough and ‘almost giving up’ journey but I strongly believe it will get smooth really soon.

The Big Picture…

To build an empire of young people who are professional in their arts. To be a home where young people are discovered, developed and empowered to dominate their world. To be a driving force to the economy of this nation, Africa and the world at large.

Now, to our girl entrepreneur for today…

 

Name: Ngozi Nzegwu

Business: DUGO Limited

Post: Managing Director

Industry: Souvenirs and Branding

 

1.       Started her work experience in the banking sector

2.       Didn’t have any exit strategy by the time she was ready to leave the bank

3.       Always had the desire to do something creative and add value

4.       She discovered that for every business, information is important and always sort more information about her business.

5.       Didn’t have the money to start and the fear of the unknown scared her but didn’t stop her

6.       Her greatest challenge was borrowing from early on in her business to purchase equipment from the bank and not being able to pay back. She learnt the hard way never to use short term funds to finance the purchase of fixed assets

7.       She learnt to monitor her cash flow from start so she did not confuse activity with profitability

Her Advice to us…

1.       Pay attention to every detail

2.       The greatest investment we can make is in the lives of people

3.       Spell out and never change your fundamental core values

4.       Start where you are and do not lose your identity, stay focused

5.       Take time to read especially autobiography of successful people

6.       There are so many things that will catch your eye but only very few will capture your heart; that is your passion!

 

Now lets talk!

1.       We really need to get financial knowledge about our business from scratch. Like Tara Durotoye once said, write down every single detail of how your money comes in and goes out

2.       If you are like me and cannot get a good grasp of the mathematical jargons contained in all this financial calculations, get the basic knowledge and get someone trustworthy to handle it for you while you supervise it.

 

 

 

3.       Information! Information! Information! Let your ears always be on ground for new gist in your industry. What kind of people do you follow on your social media pages? Follow those in your industry so you can get first-hand information on trending news or programs. For example, for young entrepreneurs out there, we talked about TEEP on this blog when it was still on, and now we are letting you know about YESGrant.

4.       Be excellent at what you do, pay attention to every detail

In all, discovering yourself is a journey worth travelling, go all the way!

Hey, remember TEEP2016 I mentioned some posts ago? Oh well, I was privileged to be among the 1000winners chosen from all over Africa.  I am super excited and super grateful. It’s gonna be a long journey of mentoring, getting trained and getting financial help and trust me, I will keep you all in the loop as the journey progresses.

As for YESgrant, kindly check them out on www.yesgrant.com so you can get all the information you need

Till next week peeps, when  I bring you the most unique of all these women so far, keep learning!