Obakoya: Combining talent agency with waste recycling
Regina Obakoya is the managing director of Aurora Global Solutions Limited, a talent agency for both creative and performing arts. Obakoya recently became a waste recyclist, turning wastes into wealth.
Regina’s Aurora Global Solutions Limited started in 2009 and was registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) the same year. Seven years after, Regina found gold in waste recycling, opening another shop for it in 2016.
She says what fascinates her most about waste recycling is her ability to share what she knows with other people, especially the younger ones.
“I have been able to take recycling into schools. I go to primary schools and you will be awed at the level of creativity these children have, even from the age of three.
They will tell you, ‘Aunty, let us join these together; aunty, let’s use this colour’. So that has really been intriguing to me, that I can actually drive those children to be creative. I preach climate change too. I tell them the danger we do the environment when we burn these wastes, for instance,” she tells Start-Up Digest.
Incidentally, Regina did not start the business of waste recycling to make money.
“Funny enough, I started this business as a corporate social responsibility. But I am amazed that people find value in it. I used to tell them that it was not for sale, that I just came to showcase them. But I realised that people actually wanted to buy. So now it’s for sale,” she states.
She says she sees herself as an embodiment of talents, being a choreographer, a TV presenter and waste recycler.
“Due to all of these, I started my own talent agency and, lately, I became a recyclist, which is the creative aspect of the arts. So I now engage painters and sculptors in the agency. So my agency is well-rounded in the field of arts,” she says.
“The recycling part is the creative part. Now, I have developed myself as a creative artist. This was my limitation in the past. I concentrated on performing arts because that was my strength. But now I am in the creative part, working with sculptors, painters and craft artists,” she further says.
Regina discloses that between 300 and 400 people have passed through her agency as models, actors, dancers, and children, while seven people directly work in her firm at the moment.
Regina wants to grow in knowledge, which is why she recently participated in the mentorship programme of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce Mentoring Programme.
But like other young entrepreneurs in the country, funding is her major challenge.
“Right now, I want to open the Aurora School. I am working towards doing something for children. People have been asking me to do something for children in this regard. But I am limited by funds. This is a vision of Aurora and I want to have a talent school where I can build creative people,” she says.
Her advice to younger people is to be patient, focused and know exactly where they want to be from the outset.
“When I was in the final year in the university and people were coming to teach us how to arrange the curriculum vitae, I did not attend those classes. I said I could never work for anybody. People were sceptical, but I knew I had some skills. For instance, I represented Nigeria in a competition in the United States. I knew I could use that for something. I was doing a lot of things, but I didn’t know where to go. Funny enough, some of my friends in the same class as me were saying they would be willing to work for me. So that propelled me and convinced me that people actually believed in me. So I can say they should believe in themselves and go for their dreams,” she said.
ODINAKA ANUDU