Lilian Famadewa is a lawyer turned businesswoman and CEO of Elboogie Boutique. In this interview, she listed multiple taxation, rising cost of fuel, diesel, electric tariffs and naira instability as some challenges business owners face. She adds that if the aforementioned are tackled, the business environment will do better.
What is the motive and inspiration that has led you into business, more so, the business of fashion?
I am a lawyer by training. So, I worked briefly in Nigeria before moving to the United Kingdom, where I also worked briefly in a law firm. However, I always felt the need to express my potentials by working to turn money around. From my school days, I never felt comfortable waiting periodically for pocket money from my parents. So, I started using my pocket money to acquire and sell things that students needed. So, I sometimes sold drinks and even groceries from my fridge to fellow students. My love fashion and entrepreneurship, which started in the university, where I used to sell clothes, gold as well as costume jewellries and other commodities from my room, took the better of me, and I decided to face business fully. It may interest you to know that Elboogie, was my nickname in school because of my love for fashion. The name is a coinage of letter “L” for Lilian and boogie. So, while I was in the United Kingdom, I started seeking wholesale suppliers in and bringing clothes to sell in, what I can call, a mobile store in Nigeria. Seeing the success at that time, I decided to return to Nigeria and continued selling from my apartment in Abuja. I gradually saved up to open the first Elboogie store at the then 411 Plaza in Wuse 2, in 2006. It was a small shop that gradually grew, and I added more space in the same plaza. We continued to grow, and we explored supply chains in other countries such as United States, Turkey among others. In a nutshell, I believe the love to make my own money and my love and vision to see people well dressed, led me to the fashion business.
Would you say the Nigerian business environment is conducive and sane to have a thriving business?
The business environment is not a bed of roses anywhere in the world. The post-Covid 19 period has witnessed a lot of businesses shut down all over the world. I have seen many businesses reducing their sizes in different cities of the world. I recently walked to bank branch close to my residence in the UK and discovered that they had closed down the branch. This and several others happened with the many palliatives, support and incentives that the various countries provided to cushion the effects of the pandemic. Such is the experience that businesses have everywhere and periodically. Nigeria is not any different. As a fact, the business environment in Nigeria is affected by more factors than similar businesses in other climes. Factors such as poor infrastructure, for example, power, increases the cost of business. The rising price of diesel to power generators, which is almost a necessity, and electricity tariffs, continually hurt businesses in Nigeria. What of multiple taxation, some of which you do not even understand the purpose. For our line of business, the instability of the Naira to the dollars and other currencies we trade is a huge problem. For instance, you acquire some merchandise at one dollar to 750 naira and you price it as such. However, the dollar rises to 1000 naira by the time you are going to restock, and you have apparently lost your income from the first sales if you do not want to experience shrinkage of your business size. These and many others make the business environment in Nigeria relatively hostile.
Kindly share some of the challenges you face in your choice of business and how you have risen above them?
Elboogie has had its own share of nature of the business environment in Nigeria. One major issue is the decline of the Naira, which has greatly affected our pricing, as we cannot increase our prices in the same proportion as the rise in foreign exchange. So, we must become innovative and strive to reduce cost of business by adjusting a lot of our operations even the minutest details. For example, we adjust cost of power by using energy efficient appliances. You can see that our new branch, which by the way is a property of Elboogie, was built to maximise natural lighting, therefore reducing energy cost. We used plants to reduce glare and the need for much cooling. Also, we continually explore new sources of our items that have competitive prices but without compromising quality. We also manage our pricing to minimum profit margin, so that our customers will be able to afford our products and give us the advantage of quick turnovers. We are also exploring a reduction in the dependence on foreign clothing items by developing our bespoke line known as “Prestige”. Although, this is also affected by the foreign exchange because the materials are imported, the line is currently doing well, and we are working towards improving the efficiency in production. We are also working in partnership with Titoms Atelier in developing the local content aspect of our business.
What advice do you have for people who wish to tow your line of business, particularly young people?
As the saying goes the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. So, the first step is to start. However, you must develop a vision. Dreams are dreams until they become a vision, which is actionable. In doing this, you must carve a niche for yourself. Like I earlier stated, Elboogie started as a niche that I developed as a university student. You must transform your vision into actions. Continue to review your actions with a focus on your vision. Never remain in your comfort zone, so dare to explore. Many people do not want take risks and they are waiting for that “big capital”. Businesses do not often grow that way. Do not be afraid to start small; resilience, hard work, focus and continuous learning are essential in building successful businesses. For fashion business specifically, you need to be abreast with trends across the major fashion capitals. There are times I spend days walking through the stalls of different fashions stores abroad to study the trending styles. Also, you never stop learning, so you need to keep developing your capacity and mentoring people in the fashion line. I have examples of customers that have become owners of fashion stores through interaction with me. One might say that we are raising the competition for our business, however on the contrary, it helps to build our brand by making us strive to be better, daily. Most importantly, we our constantly making efforts to make Elboogie a household name. We are a business that tries to create an immersive shopping experience and one of the major elements of this is utmost customer satisfaction. We don’t just want you to come in and shop, we want our customers to have a memorable experience. We strive to personalize and customize shopping experience to suit the different peculiarities and personalities of our customers. In this manner we seek to establish enduring relationships with our customers. Furthermore, our individual customers are practically transformed into who we fondly call the “Elboogie Woman”. An Elboogie Woman is an individual styled by us and is stylish, sophisticated, excels at whatever she does and stands out in the crowd without breaking the bank #slayonabudget.
If you were to advise the government on policies to put in place for a better business output, what will it be?
There is nothing you can achieve in business without security. I will in this context quote Robert McNamara, who was the United States’ Secretary of Defence, which states that “Development means security and without security, there is no development.” So, the major thing is for the government to address security, because it is at the heart of everything affecting business output in the country. The problem of rising rate of foreign exchange in the country is a product of simple economy principle of supply and demand. People are scared of bringing or keeping their foreign exchange in Nigeria, so we continue to scramble for the little in circulation. Those that have, feel insecure to keep it here. This is also a product of unstable monetary policies. So, in this regard, government needs to develop workable and functional security plans and stabilise the monetary policies.In fashion business specifically, government needs to develop policies and plans to revive the textile industry in Nigeria. Nigerians are so talented and can comfortably produce clothing items that are significantly better than what we import. However, the cost of production will be high, and such will only be affordable by the super-rich. Clothing is a necessity of life and not a luxury. Every human, whether rich or otherwise must be clothed. So a thriving textile industry in Nigeria will significantly reduce our net imports in fashion and eventually make decent and nice clothes available to Nigerians of all economic classes.
