₦airaland Forum

Pavore9:
Make l follow you show teeth! Akwa Ibom ranks as the highest crude oil producing state in Nigeria and we do not get to hear the Orons, Annangs nor the Ibibios making noise. When one raises rascals as children they will see no reason why they can not raze down their father's house to prove to passers-by that they are fearless!

It's the Ibos, who offer 3%, from both oil-producing states, makes the loudest noise. They're even trying to claim SS lands to up that number.

Technology is the new oil.
It's time to invest in Nigeria's tech field.
Nigeria is doing well. Yorubas are doing great!
May Odua bless the Republic of Nigeria.
We shall get there.

While Yorubas are excelling, others want to bomb their future away.

Oba Otudeko bags Business Person of the Year (2015) award

linkis.com/www.vanguardngr.com/f3JaE?next=1

How a Nigerian built an African e-commerce empire from his bedroom

http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/mall-africa-thriving-business-linking-shoppers-western-retailers/53881/

This British-Nigerian Duo Is Bottling Africa's Best Beauty Secret

www.vogue.com/13435459/liha-skin-care-natural-organic-beauty-shea-butter-british-nigerian/

Meet The Nigerian Woman Who Is Building The Fashion Amazon Of Africa

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2016/04/04/meet-the-nigerian-lady-who-is-building-the-fashion-amazon-of-africa/3/#71accab33145

Nigerian doll created by Nigerian man is outselling BARBIE

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2931846/Nigerian-doll-created-man-couldn-t-black-toy-niece-popular-country-s-outselling-BARBIE.html

Onanuga: Making a mark in the IT world

guardian.ng/business-services/onanuga-making-a-mark-in-the-it-world/

Nigerian breaks 187-yr-old record at University of London

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/nigerian-breaks-187-yr-old-record-university-london/

How Youtube Helped Turn A 30 Year Old Nigerian Graduate To A Millionaire Motor Mechanic

http://www.risingafrica.org/success-stories/how-youtube-helped-turn-a-30-year-old-nigerian-graduate-to-a-millionaire-motor-mechanic/

Meet The 24-Years Inspiring & Ambitious Young Nigerian Whose New Juice Is Taking The UK Over!

http://www.risingafrica.org/success-stories/business/meet-the-24-years-inspiring-ambitious-young-nigerian-whose-new-juice-is-taking-the-uk-over/

Nigerian, Apampa wins best author award in Hollywood

http://thenationonlineng.net/nigerian-apampa-wins-best-author-award-in-hollywood/

Nigerian medical-lawyer appointed as first African member of the board of governors of the world association for medical law

http://guardian.ng/news/nigerian-medical-lawyer-appointed-as-first-african-member-of-the-board-of-governors-of-the-world-association-for-medical-law/#.VeOlc5UJlow.facebook

Nigerian Shatters World Academic Record In Russia

https://www.naij.com/502444-meet-nigerian-scored-5-0-cpga-russia-shatter-world-record-photo.html

Na them sabi.

Let's celebrate these young ladies for their entrepreneur spirit!!!
Oduduwa a gbe wa o! Nigerians are doing well. Yorubas are doing great.
At Nigerians in abroad, there's really no excuse. Find a struggle and win the war.
Start a business venture and bring it home. Best of luck to each and everyone of you.

scholes0
superstar1 /super1star
modath
omenka

How a Nigerian built an African e-commerce empire from his bedroom

https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Chris-Folayan-600x300.jpg

As an Africa business coach and consultant I have the pleasure of wandering through African business news and related success stories as part of my job. And once in a while, you stumble across a story that simply sticks, because it is that good.

One of these is of Chris Folayan, founder and CEO of Mall for Africa, a new business empire on the rise that started with humble beginnings: his spare bedroom serving as his launch pad. From there, Mall for Africa would take off to amazing heights.

I caught up with Chris during a breakfast on a sunny day in Silicon Valley, California to find out more.

Chris, it was wonderful meeting you at the African Diaspora Investment Symposium in Silicon Valley in January where you left people in awe sharing the journey that lead to the immense success of your company, Mall for Africa. Give our readers some insight into your business.

Mall for Africa is an online platform designed to help shoppers in Africa buy goods online from major US and UK retailers. By ordering through us, they do not need to worry if the products they desired would be shipped to Africa at all, or if the foreign retailers would accept their local credit cards or mobile payments.

We take care of the entire process via a very simple app.

By doing this we also provide a rare avenue for leading US and UK brands to access a new consumer base in Africa at zero risk, because they ship through us. Mall for Africa takes away all the risks of fraud, charge backs, customs clearing and the inability to verify if a shipment has even arrived. We handle it all.

Now stores and major brands such as Carters, Fashion Fair Cosmetics, Hawes & Curtis, or Topshop in the UK are finally selling to consumers in Africa.

What inspired you to get this started?

I was born and raised in Nigeria and moved to America to attend college. However, I was regularly travelling home to visit my family. Each time I let them know that I’d visit I received long lists of items to bring with me from the US. This trend somehow grew in my personal circles.

Well, I found it difficult to turn people down, and one day I took more than the allowed number of suitcases to the airport and was told I couldn’t board the plane even if I was willing to pay for extra luggage.

Bottom line is that the list had become so long that I knew there was a strong demand, and when such demands are not met you have an amazing opportunity to do business.

I ended up building an app, and I first tested it with family members. It worked! Those who tried it loved it.

Today I’m proud to say that we operate out of huge warehouses in the US and UK, and we are growing the fast shipping of goods daily into Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

You launched the company with no significant resources, and have built a powerhouse of which major Western brands want to be part of. Tell us more about your growth story thus far.

Once I had completed testing and developed the site and app for one store I recall vividly making it go public after my friends and family tested it. That day I was expecting a few sales but none came in, so I reached out to family to help me spread the word. It took a few days to get orders in and marketing the platform soon became my priority to increase sales. Every day more customers registered and used the site, and pretty quickly it snowballed from there.

As a result, I moved storage from my spare bedroom to the garage, then expanded into my living room and so on. In less than a year we had our first warehouse. Today Mall for Africa is the largest online shopping platform in Africa with over 8.5 billion items for sale at over 150 US and UK stores.

Getting the Western brands to sign up with us was a major challenge. There was a lot of stereotype thinking we had to break, in particular regarding Nigeria. Now they know that Mall for Africa is taking on all risks for them, and by using us Africa is no longer a region to ignore. With us, companies have seen seven-figure increases in their sales.

Right, so Africans now have the opportunity to access leading Western products. What is Mall for Africa doing for the empowerment of African producers and brands?

Mall for Africa is also a platform that empowers Africans. For example, we help schools with books, supplies, computers and educational material. We help hospitals order equipment they were not able to get shipped to them before. We have also helped many people start businesses. One day I got an email from a lady who was so grateful for the Mall for Africa platform as she was able to order a sewing machine no one else was ever willing to bring or ship to her. When she received the item she finally started her own small business with the only sewing machine in her small town.

But there is more: Now that we have the attention of US and UK retailers knowing they can use our platform to tap into a powerful African consumer market at no risk, we have started to turn the dynamics around a bit. We want them to stocks African brands in their shops thus empowering our African designers to sell from our platform, too.


Tell us about your expansion plans.

We plan on expanding to Ghana, Tanzania, Congo, Ethiopia, Botswana and more African countries where we are currently doing some market analysis. We also have great affiliate/reseller programmes that help with our in-country expansions. Allowing people on the ground and in-country become part of our family and growth story.

Finally, you have certainly become an important role model for Africans, in particular those in the diaspora who want to do business and worry about lacking start-up capital, the risks, or even relocation. What is your advice to them?

You can’t succeed if you don’t start. Start your idea with friends and family being your focus group. Also make sure the market is in need of your product and then push ahead. In Africa it’s key to have connections in place. Make sure you build them.

Have a great marketing plan. The American or British marketing plans will not work in Africa. You need an African marketing plan. Always seek advice and mentorship from those in the country you wish to serve. Take the company as far as you can with your proof of concept, then seek investor start-up capital, as I have done.

The further you can take the idea yourself the easier it will get funded – and the more fundable you will become for investors. It’s a journey worth taking because you contribute towards Africa’s success while building your own – and that’s a journey filled with joy.

http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/mall-africa-thriving-business-linking-shoppers-western-retailers/53881/

Let's celebrate these young ladies for their entrepreneur spirit!!!
Oduduwa a gbe wa o! Nigerians are doing well. Yorubas are doing great.

scholes0
superstar1 /super1star
modath
omenka

[size=15pt]This British-Nigerian Duo Is Bottling Africa’s Best Beauty Secret
[/size]

www.nairaland.com/attachments/3704876_00lihabeauty_jpeg0b0771d70d89f456a2577b5b9602df3e

By now, you probably know that shea butter is the kind of rich, nourishing skin ingredient you’ll want to find listed on the back of your favorite body lotion—and not, say, lathered on whole-wheat toast for breakfast. But even natural beauty devotees would be hard-pressed to pinpoint what the stuff is actually made of, or where on earth it comes from. If you grew up in an African household (or as part of an extended Nigerian family, like this writer), then you’re likely familiar with the look and feel of raw shea butter—crumbly in texture, bumblebee yellow in color—at the very least. “There’s a lot of demystifying that needs to be done around shea,” says Abi Oyepitan, one-half of the British duo behind Liha, a new organic skin-care line that’s gaining a cult following out of London. “I think you could easily call it the ultimate African beauty secret.”

Made from the nut of the karite tree that is native to West Africa, the shea butter that Oyepitan and company cofounder Liha Okunniwa have bottled might be some of the best on the continent. As well as handcrafted African black soap and coconut oil, their line of artisanal products includes pure golden shea butter, a strain rich in vitamins A and E that’s particularly great for treating extra-dry skin types. “The nut itself looks like a conker and is mashed up and kneaded by hand over a course of two weeks in the village,” says Okunniwa of their golden shea that is sourced in southern Nigeria. “Though it’s pretty labor-intensive work, it’s something that women have traditionally done in Africa—in fact, they call it women’s gold because it’s gotten so many women out of poverty.”

While Oyepitan, a former Olympic athlete, and Okunniwa, an art book publisher, met at university in the U.K., they both have roots tracing back to Nigeria. “There weren’t so many people on campus with natural hair,” says Oyepitan. “So we bonded over natural hair remedies.” A custom, considered approach to beauty informs all the products in their line—so if you were wondering who exactly is infusing their tuberose-scented coconut oil with freshly plucked petals by hand every day, it’s these two. It’s in that same DIY spirit that Liha launched its Kitchen Beauty workshops, a series of pop-up events across London that pulls back the curtain on the making of shea butter, and how it can be used as a base with essential oils for a host of tailor-made hair- and skin-care recipes. “I think the idea that you can use what’s in your kitchen and improvise with your routine is very African, while the use of plant essences comes from a British tradition,” says Okunniwa. “My mother is English and was an aromatherapist, so she was always wrapping us up in oils when we had colds as kids instead of sending us to the doctor.”

https://thandiekay.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/liha-beauty-group.png

Though there are no plans to bring Liha workshops to the States just yet, American fans of the label can get their hands on the line’s new Beauty Kit, which includes the ingredients—shea butter, a choice of two essential oils including rose (uplifting!) and rosemary (relaxing), an empty pot for your creation, and full instructions—to get started on whipping up the perfect shea butter soufflé. And given that all you’ll need to grab from the kitchen cabinet is a mixing bowl, whisk, tablespoon, and some olive oil besides, the rest should be child’s play.

For more information, visit lihabeauty.co.uk.


http://www.vogue.com/13435459/liha-skin-care-natural-organic-beauty-shea-butter-british-nigerian/


Mynd44 lalasticala

amaben2020:
Mehn, you are filled up with bile, hatred for other tribes and you are really on the path of doom. Yoruba can never be better than other tribes as you think and feel free to keep deceiving yourself with your superiority complex. I laugh, I just dey laugh

You sound so sure of yourself. Better wake up.
This is my last reply. I can't be wasting my time with a chestbeating coward.

amaben2020:
hahahahahah, chestbeating is really fun bro, way better than ewedu eating

That's why you sound so hungry.

amaben2020:
then die a coward bro, another yellowbar idiat down, hurray!!!!!!!!!

can't wait........

And you shall die a chestbeating Ibo coward.

amaben2020:
sorry to burst your bubble bro, I would rather be a brave Fulani man than be a coward from Yoruba land, you people claim to be neutral but are the green snakes we have. continue to keep quiet at your detriment and please keep the Oduduwa rant and childish god bless yellowbars to your self. we don't need it..... proudly 5% but most importantly proudly not from Yoruba land

I'd rather be a coward Yoruba man than a 'brave' Ibo man.
We all know what Ibos considers bravery and that's why they're at the bottom of the totem ladder.

Spanner4:
See even small children dey carry weapons

I'm sure those children voted.

I pity those children - Their voters

Mtchewwwwww

I'm surprised he didn't give Cameroon a chesbeating ultimatum.

I expect Allison Madueke to talk next.

.

He should know. I'm sure they've aided him on several occasions.

Just look at these shameless politicians forming innocent.

Wasn't Dinoshi Maloshi one of the 40 thieves who neglected his senatorial responsibilities to follow Saraki to court?

fulanimafia:
I was honestly impressed with the way he called out Britain's hypocrisy and their corruption supporting systems, and even went to the point of telling Cameron to face his Panama scandal on live British TV.

Thank God that big head is not a total waste.

lmaooo.
It's a waste, but when we compare him to T. Orji, Stella Odua and Obanikoro, he's not a total waste.

donphilopus:
Don't tell me you don't know this guy has dumped PDP? Anyway, never expected you to know. .All you know is Tinubu or Amaechi after wasting all your time in Romance Section.

lmaooo

lmaoo

UK Calls Nigeria corrupt
Thailand calls Igbos drug dealing criminals

Both are true, but some people would only agree with the former. See the dude's flat.head. Damn


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASnWhwzL-Y

diagro:
Oh, it's no longer "Malaysia abi Chinese" ? See how ur judgment has got warped by tribalist desperation.

Those are your destinations. Thailand-China-Malaysia.
Stop making noise dunce, the fact that Thailand singled y'all out should concern you instead of blowing hot air on NL.

I agree with

3. Lynxx - Here comes a fine rich dude with no iota of sense, nigga should just say no to rap, and invest his money positively For the betterment of Nigeria, instead of wasting it.Lynxx is a curse to Hiphop.
He once said- * You Fit play monkey post with monkey? I don't know what this means but this Guy is just a slowpoke in a human Form.
Here he goes again- *My jollo6 music no be rice and stew*
This guy need to be flogged outta the music industry.

How did this guy even get into rapping? He can't sing, He can't even rap.
Thank goodness someone else noticed it.

diagro:
U are not even sure of who said it. & yet u shamelessly said it any way.

lmao as if this is a new video. Please shut up. Thailand custom officer said it.
You can't swallow one and ignore the other. Both accusations from UK and Thailand are correct.

CSTR5:
You are sick. Go and have your head checked.

You sound frustrated and bias.
UK calls Nigeria corrupt - You loved it.
Thailand singled out Igbos as drugdealers - You're pissed.

Both claims are true by the way.

CSTR5:
That is why i love the UK and infact the rest of the developed western world. They say it as it is. Regardless of whose ox is gored, even if it means the prime minister.
If it were in Nigeria, some tajus would ask buhari to shut down the newspaper calling it an IPOB news.
sick people.

Why didn't you love Malaysia abi na Chinese for saying it as it is about Ibo people being criminals? Make I find that video for you.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qD-mwouPsQ

ahaz:
just as ure happy d way f ulanis killed d status and kidnapped falea..ure also happy about the Hausa Fulani hegimony..God. bless the Niger delta

You sound like an imb.ecile. What's Falae and Fulani got to do with my reply?

LastMumu:
This sh1t isn't even remotely funny.

Wadasco:
this is ridiculous,
nafdac coming soon

Shut up!
Had this been in Anambra, y'all would have been calling it 'industrious'.

I'd have asked for a Lambo

EastanPower:
Buhari should run his vindictive government with proceeds from the sales of kwilikwili & donkwa.

All regions should control their resources.

A shameless and bigoted old man that classifies citizens as 5% & 95%

We shall see!

Old man that is behaving like a primary school kid.

This bigot is threatening IPOB and the militants but how many fulani militia aka herdsmen have soldiers killed despite all their atrocities all over the country?

The swamps are a very difficult terrain, let's see how the Nigerian Army can manage there.

I know that you yEASTful fungi are very happy as if the consequences won't affect you. Very short minded and short-sighted hateful things.

Later una go claim that things are harsh in this country. Why won't it be harsh when lazy touts keep blowing up pipelines?

Just don't deny this later when the military intervenes because I know Ibos will cry more than the bereave (ND Avengers).

If IPOBS/ND Avengers aren't the coward we know them to be, why not take the military heads on? Last I heard, Nnamdi Kanu and his rogues of senseless supporters have weapons of mass destruction hidden somewhere.

For now, attacking pipelines will only ensure that the lower class suffers. Nigeria's politicians, whom you should be targeting, are still living large.

-----------

As for SW governors, this is the time to diversify our economy.

- Bitumen, gold, technology, agriculture, etc

May Oduduwa continue to bless Yorubaland.

mars123:
please be the only ediot here abeg.

lmaooooo