‘Entrepreneurs need creativity, innovation to sustain their businesses’

Yejide Elugbaju is the founder and CEO of Rivah Beauty Limited. She is a make-up artist with a vast experience in the beauty care industry. In this interview with JOSEPHINE OKOJIE, she reveals what inspired her to establish the business and what start-ups like her must do to ensure their business is sustainable.

What inspired you to move into the business?

As much as this may sound like a cliché, my love for fashion and wanting to make people look good led to the establishment of Rivah Beauty. I really love looking good and also want to make others look good as well. This raised my interest in beauty care products. Initially, I was just doing it for fun, experimenting on my face, family and friends who were willing to allow me make them up. I was getting a lot of recommendations, so I decided to improve my skills. I took some classes free of charge on YouTube, watching a lot of videos to experiment what I have learnt. I also enrolled in a make-up school to learn more. I began to get contracts from friends and family to make them up on special occasions, which I was doing with a lot of passion. I began to see the opportunities and the huge desire of people wanting to look good. To key myself into it, I established Rivah Beauty last year.

What was your initial start-up capital, and how has your business grown since starting?

I started my business with N50, 000 and I am still investing in it. Ever since I started, my business has grown tremendously and also the demand for our services.

What challenges have you faced as an entrepreneur since starting?

Despite that we have local beauty care products that are good as the imported ones, most ladies still have high preference for foreign beauty products. Trying to change my client preference of foreign beauty products and convincing them that our local brands are as good as the ones imported is a big challenge. Most of them believe that they cannot look beautiful once the products are local brands. Another challenge is high competition in the industry. In Nigeria, everybody thinks they are experts when it comes to applying make-up and this is killing the industry.

You talked about high preference for imported products. How can government address this issue?

Things are far better now, but truth needs to be told, government needs to support those growing local brands so that their prices can become competitive. We have a lot of imported beauty products that are far cheaper than our local brands. The issue of standards must not be compromised. Various regulatory agencies must ensure that our local brands meet international standards.

How have you been surviving economic downturn?

The funny thing is that I have not even been looking at the country that way. Yes, I am aware there is economic downturn, but I notice that there are people making more money this period. So, why can’t I? This is why I decided to turn all my passions into reality and profit off them. I still have some projects in mind, but gradually, all will unfold. Despite the state of the economy, a lot of people still want to look good and this means business for us.

What will you tell your younger self?

Stop procrastinating and do what you have to do because opportunities do not wait for you to be ready; you just have to take it when it comes.

Have you taken any loan before?

No, I have not. Luckily, I have family members that have been very supportive.

Government is talking about diversification. What role can the beauty care industry play?

Makeup is not going out of season any moment and once the government can invest in locally made products with improved quality, this will give us higher international recognition in the beauty care industry, which itself, is a very big and lucrative industry. This, in turn, benefits the country at large.

What is your advice to other entrepreneurs, especially the young ones that want to venture into your kind of business?

If you must continue to stay in business, you must be creative to continue to meet the needs of the people. There is a lot of competition in the industry, so it is only creativity and innovation that can help you sustain your business.