Ever had times when you felt you had to give up on your dream or vision because you lacked the required financial capacity to commence or continue?, Bola Adenle's story will surely inspire you not to give up.
Bola Adenle, CEO of Bola Fashion Empire shared with Attain, her journey to success in the Fashion industry, her passion to help SME's start thier fashion line and her big dreams which she is on the path of achieving.
Read the full interview below:
Please kindly tell us about yourself?
Omobolanle Adenle is my name, I'm a fashion entrepreneur, linguist, writer, social media marketer, business consultant, public speaker and an upcoming on air personality.
Tell us about your business Brand(s)?
Bola Fashion Empire and Cheapest Boutique was established to empower small and medium scale entrepreneur pitch their own fashion line with little start up capital. While Cheapest Boutique is the only Nigerian based fashion store that presently empower small and medium scale entrepreneur pitch their own fashion line with little start up capital, Bola Fashion Empire caters for the fashion needs of the high class in the society.
What birthed your business vision and when was it birthed?
I was attentive enough to hear the cry of young ladies, men and women who desire to break free from poverty and have passion for fashion but lacks knowledge and enough money to kick-start their own business which was what birth Cheapest Boutique where I presently empower small and medium scale entrepreneur pitch their own fashion line with very little start up capital. Students, youth corpers, graduates and even workers who need a side hustle to generate extra income are now their own bosses through my fashion line and making their cool money. I focus more on empowerment than the gain which is why it is only in cheapest boutique that you can get quality for less at most affordable resealable factory rate. Bola Fashion Empire caters for the fashion need of the high class while Cheapest Boutique caters for the fashion need of the middle, low class and SMEs across the globe.
What were the main challenges you faced early on in your business and entrepreneurial journey?
With no startup capital grants from anybody nor government I determined to break all the barriers and start a business, as an undergraduate of OAU I had to sit down and count my cost to include business with Academics, I had to engage the skills I've acquired over time to provide the initial startup capital and it was highly challenging combining academics with mobile hair stylist business and other legitimate business I ventured into to raise capital and birth my dream business.
What was the biggest challenge you ever faced in your entrepreneurial journey
The biggest challenge I faced in my entrepreneurial journey is raising initial start up capital to get started
How were you been able to overcome those challenges?
I was able to overcome the challenges because I had skills I have acquired over time and which I put to work and granted me the start up capital I needed to birth my dream business.
At what point did you begin to achieve success in your entrepreneurial journey and how did it happen?
Whatever I lay my hands upon always prosper by the grace of God. When I was an undergraduate mobile hair stylist I was successful but had to stop the business because it was consuming my time to study, when I translated into a bead maker to ease my stress, it was a success till I decide to put it aside because it was consuming my time, when I travel to the northern part of the world to hustle it was an huge success till I made up my mind not to go there again because of an attempted rape case while going about my business. When I launched my importation business manual e-book online, it was a huge success which was sold out to thousands of people. When I finally launched into fashion business, it was a huge success from my undergraduate days till now that I now have an offline and online store where I sell my stocks.
I became more successful and had larger customer base when I launched my brand online and I was able to reach out to the global world with my product and services.
What would you consider your greatest achievement ever in your entrepreneurial journey?
My greatest achievement so far is the joy of seeing many young ladies and guys like me who use to trade their body for cash and some that use to be in illegal business becoming self employed legitimately through my fashion line and making their own legitimate money. One of my greatest achievement as well is emerging as a winner in an enterpreneurial summit organized by a Nigerian blogger 0nobello where I won cash price and was featured among the winners in THIS DAY MAGAZINE and I won another one earlier this year and won a cash prize as well from OAK AUTOMOBILES. Being featured as a woman of rubies on Guardian Newspaper was an achievement for me to share my hustle and inspire others to greatness. My interview on air with the famous olajumokeworld, the bread seller turned celebrity was an achievement and an oppurtunity to share my hustle and also inspire others to greatness.
If you could go back in time, what are the changes you would have made in your business/ entrepreneurial journey?
Every challenge I faced and I am facing at the moment, molded and is molding me into a better brand daily, I have no regrets because if I never tried some route before I may never have knowledge of handling some things I face now.
What should we see you doing in the Future?
I see myself having a Fashion University in Africa with certification that can match any BSC degree across the world. Bolas Empire will soon be a global offline and online world market to get quality for less in area of fashion and beyond Fashion.
As an upcoming on air personality, I will be launching an entrepreneurial program on air soonest where entrepreneurs across the globe will be featured to share their hustle and inspire others to greatness.
What's your advice to someone just starting out in business/entrepreneurship?
If you desire to go into entrepreneurship to experience the excitement that entrepreneurs experience, forget it and find a job. Nobody tell you what is behind the glamour you covet, behind every glamour you behold are untold stories and years of consistency, hard work, commitment, dodgedness and the ability to focus on one right thing unto a conclusive end.
For those that just get started, I will implore you to keep working on becoming a better brand daily, learn from your mistakes and keep growing, build credibility even as a small brand and on the long run your faithfulness and consistency will be highly rewarded on the long run, things won't always be smooth in business, take time to learn to improve yourself and your brand by reading, attending seminars, collaboration and always learning from people that have gone ahead to birth the dream in your heart.
What are your other interests aside business
I'm a certified Linguist from Obafemi Awolowo University and I engage my linguistics knowledge to handle many writing and audio visual works. One of my interest is writing and I'll be launching many books that will impact value soonest, I'm the founder of the group “Business Men and Women Worldwide” on facebook and business consulting is one of my interest. I love writing, sketching fashion design patterns, I love speaking and I've been actively involved in some public speaking experience since the beginning of this year.
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