Women of Rubies

In Inspiration February 24, 2023 By Women of Rubies

Meet Addie Elabor, Philly-based Nigerian Designer Who Built A Million-Dollar Fashion Business

Nigerian designer Addie Elabor is a woman cut from the self-made cloth. She launched her Philadelphia-based ready-to-wear African fashion brand D’IYANU in 2014 and has grown it into a million-dollar business.

The company, which focuses on creating culturally conscious-pieced with bold prints, features handmade and ethically sourced products from West African and the United States. Addie shares the strategic moves she made to launch her idea, build a team, and continue to grow an e-commerce business, even in troubling climates.

When did you start your brand and how did you get the idea for it? What inspired you to turn it into a business?

Addie: I was inspired to start D’IYANU at the beginning of 2013 when I realized that there was a void in the fashion world for ready-to-wear African inspired pieces that were easily accessible to people like me. There wasn’t a leading brand that allowed you to celebrate your culture in a modernized way. I asked myself “why not me?”. I immediately had this vision of developing a brand that would become the African print version of Zara or H&M. I didn’t have a fashion background, but the vision was so compelling that I had to make it happen.

At the time I was dissatisfied with my career and relished the opportunity to launch my own business with the goal of building a legacy in mind. D’IYANU was launched in January of 2014 with six women’s styles and has grown exponentially ever since.

What was the first investment you made into D’IYANU to get it off the ground? Why?

Addie: D’IYANU was launched with a $15,000 investment which came from my savings and a credit card loan. The bulk of the initial investment went into producing 50 units each of my first 6 pieces produced in Philadelphia which included the pattern and sample making, fabric, and production of the collection.

Tell us how you were able to scale D’IYANU to a million-dollar business? How long did it take you from the time you started to hit the million-dollar mark?

Addie: The beginning of 2014 was a struggle since I was still working full-time and running the business on the side. I decided to quit my full-time job in May of 2014 to focus full-time on D’IYANU. I knew I needed to invest all my time and attention in order to get the brand off the ground. With the goal of gaining more customers, I would set up at various festivals and even managed to get some products into two boutiques in Philadelphia, but I wasn’t really getting much traction.

I knew that the best place to find customers was online. At the end of September of 2014, I took a course on creating Facebook ads. That course was quite an investment, but it transformed my business practically overnight. With the help of Facebook ads and email marketing, we were able to hit $1 million in sales by the middle of 2016 which took 2.5 years from the launch date.

What makes D’IYANU unique from your competitors or other “African clothing” shops online?

Addie: D’IYANU is unique from other African clothing brands because we are the most innovative and offer the widest range of products for Men, Women and Kids. With the goal of being a lifestyle brand, we offer products that can be incorporated into our customers’ everyday life. Our product offerings include everything from active wear to formal, and office attire. Our innovative spirit is one of our core values that pushes us to explore other types of fabrics and materials so that our items are more comfortable and functional for our customers.

For instance, we use our unique African print stretch woven fabric to make dresses, skirts, pants, jumpsuits, and tops for women so that they’re extremely comfortable and accommodate curves and movement. The fabric looks like the traditional Ankara, but it has amazing stretch and softness.

No other African inspired brand is using this type of fabric. We also print African print on french terry to make our Men’s polo shirts, jogger and hoodie sets. Recently, we launched an iconic Jean Jacket with Kente inspired print for our pre-fall collection and we will be launching more denim and print products in the near future. We’re also looking forward to our knitwear pieces that will be featured in our Fall and Winter collections.

Were you the only person working on your business when you started? When did you realize you needed to hire or build a team in order to be successful?

Addie: I was the only person working on my business up until April of 2015 when I hired my first full-time assistant. I had been working out of my studio apartment up until March 2015 when I moved my operations into an official office space. I realized that my business was growing quickly and I needed the assistance sooner rather than later.

What has been your biggest challenge with growing your business?

Addie: My biggest challenge has been finding quality employees who are also a good cultural fit to fill various roles at D’IYANU. Two additional challenges have been learning to better manage people to bring out the best in them and finding senior employees they can lean on who are operating at a higher level and can provide guidance into their work.

If you knew now what you knew then, what is one thing you would have done differently to accelerate the growth of your business?

Addie: I would have hired a marketing team sooner in order to scale faster. I was doing way too much in the beginning and naturally I couldn’t handle all of our marketing needs.

What is your advice for someone who wants to start an e-commerce business?

Addie: My advice would be to make sure that the product you’re selling has a unique selling point and tells a story that will resonate with a sizable audience. Set aside a marketing budget and make sure to leverage social media marketing early. Lastly, start building your email and SMS list pre-launch so that you already have customers on launch day and continue to grow that list post-launch, since email and SMS marketing offers the biggest return on marketing spend.

Source: Bauce Mag

In Inspiration February 21, 2023 By Women of Rubies

Oluchi Madu: Exploring The Creative Side Of Children Builds Self-Confidence

Oluchi Madu is a talent development coach who helps people to discover, develop and monetize their creative abilities so they can function in their ruling domain. She is an efficient and highly organized professional with extensive experience in Human Resources Management.

She is also a public speaker who has authored four books to her name: Divine Asset, The Seed of Greatness, Every Challenge is a Message and Talent: The Money Magnet.

Drawing from her wealth of knowledge as a talent development coach, she founded Talent Maximization With Oluchi Madu, a platform where people are trained on how to discover, develop and maximize their creative abilities to reign in their ruling domain.

Oluchi is happily married with children and lives with her family in England.

She shares her story and the inspiration behind her book in this interview.

Who are you?

My name is Oluchi Madu, a Family Life Practitioner who majors in Talent Maximization.

How it began? Journey to writing

The Lighted Candle is an experience and research-based novel which I created from a challenging experience our daughter had with a school teacher when she was 4 years old. Her class teacher instructed a classmate to flog her because she could not assign a pronoun to a name written on the board.

The teacher went further to call her unprintable names and this experience got our daughter’s self-esteem and confidence badly battered. It got so bad that she developed an irreconcilable hatred for the English language and school in general.

We moved her to another school thinking that it was something a change in environment was going to rectify. Little did we know that it was going to be a long and stressful journey, started researching the things that can make her come back to her usual happy bubbly confident child, then in the course of the journey and discovered something very interesting, talking about the power of the creative abilities of children.

I discovered that a child that explores his creative abilities easily builds self-confidence knowing that there’s a particular thing that he’s very good at. Our daughter loves singing and playing musical instruments, so we got down to work to ensure that she explores her love and talent for music and that was the miracle she needed. She became that confident child we’ve ever known and started writing songs and stories.

She recently won a director’s award in her school – best in the English language here in England. I decided to share my result-proven findings with as many families as possible in form of a novel.

Where can we get the book?

The Lighted Candle is on Bookplaze and Amazon. Just a click on the link below will direct the buyer to the site to purchase https://oluchimadu.com/

Writing Process?

I documented our daughter’s recovery process from damaged self-esteem and my experience as a Talent Maximization Coach. It took me 6 years to write this book because I was studying, implementing, and recording all my findings, processes and results.

What’s the book about? And where it was published

The lighted candle is an experience and research-based child-self-training and parenting tool created in form of a novel. It is a documented process of how children battling with low self-esteem, peer pressure, academic challenges, and non-connection with parents, can build their self-esteem, enjoy a deep connection with their parents, excel academically using their creative abilities, develop and leverage social capital, and become great in life.

This book is needed by every growing child to learn how to jump every hurdle set by life and navigate to greatness. It is also a tool needed by parents, teachers and every child handler to understand children’s varying personalities and the best way to connect with them.

The lighted Candle introduces every child to his or her great personality. It teaches how to navigate through stages of childhood, grow and leverage social capital and attain greatness using creative abilities.
Every child is designed to be great if only he is shown his Lighted Candle and how to use it to illuminate his way and also lighten the paths of others. It was published in Nigeria by Worital Publishing Company.

Why should families read the book?

Reasons why every family should have The Lighted Candle;
1. The Lighted Candle introduces every child to their personalities and creative abilities.
2. It is a self-training tool. This means that with this book, a child can train himself on how to navigate through life challenges.
3. It is a tool that teaches children how to build self-esteem and become a person of positive influence.
4. The Lighted Candle is also a tool that teaches children how to build and leverage social capital to become great in life.
5. It teaches children empathy and emotional intelligence.
6. The Lighted Candle is a tool needed by every parent, teacher and child handler, to understand children’s personalities, how to connect with them and how to help them leverage their creative abilities to become who they are created to be.

Are you a first-time author? Otherwise, how did your other books fare?

The Lighted Candle is my 5th book, my 1st book is titled Divine Asset, 2nd – The Seed of Greatness, 3rd – Every Challenge is a Message and my 4th – Talent, The Money Magnet.
Which are all selling and making impacts.

What next now the book is written?

The purpose is to share the solution that I found with as many families as possible. So, we’re on a mission to ensure that The Lighted Candle get to as many families as possible.

Growing up

I was raised by the best parents anybody would want to have. My parents, especially my father, prepared me for greatness. I have always been a confident child who oozes great leadership qualities because my father inculcated those qualities in me. With these qualities, I find myself always picked by the spotlight wherever I go. So growing up, I was the head girl in my primary and secondary schools.

Favorite author?

My favourite author is Dr Myles Munroe of the blessed memory. Through his books, I found my path in life.

If in-charge of National matters

If I should find my way into the educational system of Nigeria, I will change a lot of things.
1. Our educational system will be reformed to be a platform where talents are refined.
2. Teaching jobs will no longer be for those who cannot get other jobs but for those who are qualified and are passionate about teaching as a career.

Sell yourself

If there is one thing I love about myself, it is my idea of success. I see myself successful when people that come in contact with me learn the things I have succeeded in.

I don’t like people around me suffering and begging for means of livelihood because God has given every human being on earth all we need to become wealthy and great.Talent is the seed of greatness but many people don’t seem to understand this.

So as a Talent Maximization Coach, I set up an academy called The Talent Maximization Academy where we teach people;

1. How to discover their talents and the audience their talents are meant for.
2. How to develop and refine their talents to be sellable.
3. How to monetize their talents and explore the business of their talents.
So this 2013, we have a goal of raising at least 1000 people who’ll record mind-blowing successes using their talents. So we crashed the tuition fee to accommodate as many people as possible who may have a problem with funds.

Sell your book

The Lighted Candle is my 5th book. My 1st book called Divine Asset is an inspirational book specifically designed for women. This book reveals the treasures and the influence women have that some do not know about. It teaches women how to discover and leverage these treasures to become great and live as the queens they are designed to be.

My 2nd book called The Seed of Greatness teaches about Talent, Vision and Purpose. It explains the relationship between Talent, Vision and Purpose. It reveals how people can create a lifetime vision from their talents and live a life of purpose.

3rd book, Every Challenge Is A Message just as the name goes explains why people should not see challenges as all negative.

It details how people can turn challenges into positivity, while the 4th book, Talent: The Money Magnet teaches how people can build transgenerational wealth with their talents.

My just-published book which is the 5th and is called The Lighted Candle.

1. The Lighted Candle introduces children to their personalities and creative abilities.
2. It is a self-training tool. This means that with this book, a child can train himself on how to navigate through life challenges.
3. It is a tool that teaches a child how to build healthy self-esteem and become a person of positive influence.
4. The Lighted Candle is also a tool that teaches children how to build and leverage social capital to become great in life.
5. It teaches children empathy, emotional intelligence kindness and compassion.
6. The Lighted Candle is a tool needed by every parent, teacher and child handler, to understand children’s personalities, how to connect with them and how to help them leverage their creative abilities to become who they are created to be.

**How did you get to know worital, your experience and what makes worital different.**

I actually stumbled on Worital on Emeka Nobis post and started studying them on Facebook. Working with Worital is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

I’ve had an amazing experience with Worital to the extent that the business relationship will be a lifetime journey. I can go to bed with my two eyes comfortably closed knowing very well that I will get the best from them. The touch of excellence in all their works is simply captivating.

Team Worital works with authors to ensure that they record huge success as authors. They do not leave authors after publishing their books. They work with the authors to make sure that the books serve the purposes for which they are published. Fola is exceptionally designed for the vision of Worital.

On being a Woman of Rubies?

I see myself as a woman of Rubies because I am releasing the treasures in me to the world. Any willing mind that comes in contact with me will either succeed or succeed. I do not give up on willing minds. Like a proverbial woman in the good book who gave up her coins to look for a lost coin, I can give in my all to ensure that a willing mind succeeds.

Then I am so passionate about my family. My husband Charles Madu is my soulmate and my most favourite person in the world. Together we created a beautiful world for our beautiful children where the gifts of every family member find expression and we enjoy priceless bliss. We don’t joke with natural creative abilities because we understand that talent is the seed of greatness.

In Rubygirls February 18, 2023 By Women of Rubies

Supportifly Celebrate Valentine With Exercise Book Donation

Supportifly celebrate valentine with its “School is not scam” exercise book donation project. The initiative which kicked off last year is aimed at fighting miseducation, and helping to reverse the trend that education isn’t profitable.

For the special valentine exercise book donation, the Supportifly team visited Ijokodo High School and Cheshire High School, and sensitized the students on the importance of staying in school, getting good grades and making their parents proud.

Founded by Philanthropist, Bolarinwa Kashif, who believes in the power of education and committed to using his platform and resources to create change in the education sector in Nigeria.

Bolarinwa Kashif-Mr. Fly — Bolarinwa Kashif, CEO- Fly Multi Company

Asides the school project, Bolarinwa who is also known as Mr. Fly, create jobs, and gives back to the society by supporting vulnerable persons, empowering youths and children of low-income homes.

Speaking on the reason why his team decided to give back, the astute business man had this to say;

I am committed to restoring hope, educational value and create a better Nigeria. I want these children to know that education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

The philanthropist has been recognized by several organizations across Nigeria for his contribution to the society.

His Fly Fitness gym, which is another arm of his business has become a safe heaven for pregnant women, where they are assisted with free stressless delivery through healthy exercise, the gym boasts of world-class equipment, and it is one of the most visited in the ancient city of Ibadan.

Supportifly Book donation — Supportifly Team member with the students

The Supportifly team will be visiting more schools through out the year, and using it’s social media platforms to financially support the downtrodden, vulnerable and helpless who are in dire need.

The Supportifly team led by Bolarinwa Kashif O and Bolarinwa Haishah O, supported by their amazing team,; Olasunkanmi Olayinka Habeeb, Yusuf Balkis Oluwakemi; Samuel Lance Momodu, Olokede Oluwatobi Samuel, Jimoh Awawu Folake, Aluko Shahudah Folashade and Rufai Ojo Ibrahim.

See more photos from the outreach below;

In Career Gems February 16, 2023 By Women of Rubies

9to5Chick Launches Search For 100 Top Career Women In Africa

For the third time in 3 years, the remarkable impact of outstanding career women is set to take the centre stage as 9to5Chick announces a call for nominations for its 100 Top Career Women in Africa.

Launched in 2020, the 9to5Chick’s 100 Top Career Women in Africa is a distinctive recognition that brings to the spotlight the accomplishments and contributions of audacious women in the business and corporate sector. Previously, this recognition was exclusively for women in Nigeria but has now expanded its focus to honor and celebrate women from all over Africa.

Founder of 9to5Chick, Glory Edozien (PhD), believes that “corporate African women do great work but rarely receive the recognition they deserve.” Many who are so focused on hardwork have deliberately shunned the spotlight thereby denying the emerging generation of female visionaries the opportunity to learn from their expertise and get inspired by their work. By recognising these women, we secure a thriving future for the next generation of audacious women.

This recognition also serves the IWD 2023 campaign theme #EmbraceEquity as 9to5chick seeks to celebrate women who challenge gender stereotypes, and have broken the glass ceilings in their respective fields, forging positive change, especially in fields that are male dominated.

Nominations are currently ongoing and are set to close on 20th February, 2023. Click HERE to nominate your top career women.

Meet The Judges

For this selection, 9to5chick has set up an advisory panel consisting of 5 independent judges with passion and demonstrated history in identifying and selecting women deserving of this recognition. They will be reviewing the nomination list alongside the founder of 9to5chick, Glory Edozien. These judges are:

Funke Amobi

Funke is a globally recognised Human Resources professional and multiple award winner. She has over 25 years of experience across Oil & Gas, Banking & Telecommunications sectors and currently serves as the Regional Head for People & Culture Nigeria & West Africa for Standard Bank Group with the responsibility for shaping the people and culture strategy across six countries.

Yemi Faseun

Yemi is a business leader with over 30 years of multi-sector, multi-function experience. He is currently the Chief Talent Officer at YT Talent Officer and was a two-term elected council member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM). He has received a number of global recognitions such as Top 8 HR Thought Leader in Africa, Top 50 Personality on LinkedIn, 2022 Top 200 Global Thought Leader among others.

Osayi Alile

Osayi is the CEO of Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation and has over 25 years of experience across different sectors. She is an experienced Council Member with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organisation management industry. She has also been named one of the African Women of the Year in 2015.

Nkiru Olumide – Ojo

Nkiru is currently the Africa Regions Executive Head, Marketing Corporate Communications & CSI at Standard Bank Group. She leads a diverse team across African countries to deliver business objectives through Brand Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Corporate Social Investment. Over the course of her 20 years across career, she has gotten several recognitions such as Leading Woman in Marketing and Communications 2016, Marketing Personality of the year among others. She is also a published author of the ‘Pressure Cooker-Lessons from a woman at work’ and is a female enthusiast.

Tewa Onasanya

Tewa Onasanya is a British-Nigerian publisher, philanthropist, Author and Mindset Stylist. She is the Founder/CEO of Exquisite Magazine Services Ltd, the publishers of Exquisite Magazine and the organizers of EMAC Walk and ELOY Awards. Tewa has been featured in numerous international and Nigerian media which include the CNN, BBC, New York Times, Wikipedia, Punch, Guardian, Thisday, Vanguard and more newspapers, Television and Radio stations. She has won several awards internationally and in Nigeria.

Nominees will be judged based on excellence in leadership and performance, personal accomplishments, commitment to sharing knowledge and have challenged gender stereotypes

This list will be released on the 27th of March 2023 and will consist of 100 women in 20 categories:

Healthcare
Energy
Media and communication
Technology
Financial services
Environment and Agriculture ● Development
Management and consulting
Hospitality and event management
Legal services
Marketing, Advertising and PR
Recruitment and HR ● Engineering ●
Public services and administration
Telecommunication
Aviation
Oil and gas
Beauty and Fashion
Manufacturing and FMCG

Nominate a deserving career woman today by clicking HERE

(https://forms.gle/PQ5sjxwnPcbi2n4s5 )

9to5Chick is Africa’s leading career development platform for women, founded by Glory Edozien (PhD). Its mission is to help women in mid and senior-level careers build visibility and thought leadership, while also assisting organisations in identifying, training, and retaining top female talent.

In Career Gems January 8, 2024 By Women of Rubies

1. Taaooma:

Maryam Apaokagi, popularly known as Taaooma is a content creator, actress, social media influencer, comedian, and cinematographer. She was born 28^th of February, 1999. She spent her childhood days in Namibia but later attended Kwara State University where she studied tourism and travel management.

Taaooma began her content creator journey in 2015 and came into spotlight in 2019 with funny skits centered on African parenting, mothers and ways in which they discipline their children incredibly with a slap. Taaooma is topping the rank of female content creators with 3.5 million followers on Facebook, 4.4 million Instagram followers and a whooping net worth of $65,000.

2. Kie Kie

Bukunmi Adeaga-Ilori, popularly known as Kie Kie is a content creator, actress, TV personality, fashion icon, and model. She was born 20^th of June, 1990. She went to a private primary and secondary school in Ibadan then proceeded to Bowen University, Osun State where she studied mass communication and advanced to the London School of Business where she obtained a master’s degree in marketing.

Kie Kie started appearing in skits in 2019 and grew to fame over the years through consistency and dedication. She has 2M followers on Instagram and 1.2M Facebook followers and an estimated net worth of $800,000.

3. Bimbo Ademoye

Bimbo Ademoye is a popular actress and household name in the Nigerian movie industry .

Bimbo was born on the 4^th of February 1991 and attended St. Margaret’s Primary School, Ikorodu then Mayflower Secondary School in Ikenne and advanced to Covenant University in Ota, Ogun State where she studied business administration. Bimbo has 267k Facebook followers and 2.4 million Instagram Followers always on the lookout for her funny videos.

4. Maraji

Gloria O Bimbo Ademoye loruntobi, also known as Maraji was born on the 6^th of February, 1997 and is a native of Edo State. She completed her elementary and secondary school in Edo state and advanced to Covenant University where she studied International Relations.

Maraji began her content creation journey in 2015 by miming the songs of Nigerian musicians and they keep reposting her content that is how she accidentally became a celebrity. She was featured in falz and Yemi Alade’s music video. Maraji has a whooping 1.6 million Instagram followers and 66k Facebook followers always eager to watch her comedy skits and engrossing videos.

5. Dat Warri girl

Oluwatoyin Albert, popularly known as Dat Warri girl is a Nigerian dancer, actress, On-Air Personality (OAP), comedienne, and content creator. She was born on the 26^th of December from the Yoruba ethnic group but spent her early days in Warri, Delta state.

Dat Warri girl went to Delta State University, Abraka where she studied Theatre Arts. She has 686K Instagram followers and 677k Facebook followers.

Datwarrigirl-womenofrubies — DatWarrigirl

6. Kemz Mama

Kemi Ikuseedun, popularly known as Mummy Wa or Kemz Mama was born on September 26, 1996 in Orile, Iganmu, Lagos state. She attended Bell University, Ota ogun state where she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and bagged a master’s degree in management from University of Lagos State.

Mummy Wa is a qualified member of ICAN and a trained actress from Emem Isong’s Royal Arts Academy. She has 726k Facebook followers and 371K Instagram followers and her role as Mummy Wa in Mr Macroni’s comedy series brings smile to many.

Nigerian content creators — KemzMama aka Mummy wa

7. Flora222

Gabriel Omozele, popularly known as Flora222 is comedienne and actor who was born on the 2^nd of November. She is from Edo state and graduated from Ambrose Ali University where she offered Theatre and Media Art.

From an early age Flora loves being in front of the camera and that sparked her interest in content creation and after her tertiary education she went into acting full time and is doing well for herself. Flora222 has 631k Facebook followers and 310k Instagram followers.

Nigerian content creator — Mizgabbie-Flora222

8. Jessiekaey

Jessica Anagor, also known as Jessiekaey was born early 1990s and attended a boarding school for her basic education.

Jessiekaey began her content creation journey in 2019, and her comedy centered around African mothers and their relation to their daughters. She came into spotlight after releasing the skit about how course mates behave during exams; that video was reposted by Kraks TV and speedily gained traction, with numerous shares. She has 548K Facebook followers, 153k Instagram followers and an approximated net worth of $50,000.

In Inspiration February 7, 2023 By Women of Rubies

Ogechi Adili Addresses Struggles And Vices Prevalent In The African Society In New Book

Ogechi Adili is a creative writer, content creator, educator and impact strategist who loves using writing as an expression. She is the author of the fast selling book; Lady Justice Has Been Raped, a novel that reflects the vices of unforgiveness and injustice prevalent in a typical African society via the lens of a young Nigerian Beauty Olaedo.

This book has connected Adili with people from different parts of the world, including Nigeria, Canada, India, Namibia, etc. It has also given her audience with dignitaries such as the Chief Justice of Edo State (Rtd), the president of the Association of Microfinance Banks in Nigeria – Dr. Joshua Ukutu.

She is also the author of the book: Fiction Writerz Juice; a guide for writers and all who intend to make their writing juice flow.

She has served as the Chief Editor of the UNIBEN Watchman Campus Magazine, a magazine that contains exciting and life-changing articles and stories. It also captures the undergraduate experiences and aims to model youths to change negative narratives and draw them to their Creator.

Her short story, The World As a Very Small Ball, was selected and featured in the Anthology of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

Ogechi Adili is passionate about making an impact. Hence, as a Tourism Community Development Service President, she undertook projects with her team to help young people and sensitise the girl child on the need to become a pillar of the society.

She has volunteered at several organisations where she received certificates of recognition.

In this interview with Women of Rubies, she shares the inspiration behind her new book; “Lady Justice Has Been Raped” , and the importance of challenging gender stereotype