photo credit: Bellanaija.com
Life is an endless possibilities. There's just enough for anyone to do. There are always things to do, more to discover, and dreams to build. Whatever you decide to do, there's always a way for it, if you are determined and if you are perseverance.
Most great things in life, are birthed out of necessity, so, it's no wonder that Ruff 'n' Tumble came out of Adenike's need to provide good and affordable clothes to her children. Who then is Adenike Ogunlesi?
Adenike Ogunlesi is an inspiring Nigerian entrepreneur, a mother of three and founder of Ruff 'n' Tumble, Nigeria's largest children's clothing line, that caters for boys and girls between the zero to sixteen-years of age, one of Africa's best with over 60 employees along with many distribution outlets in different parts of Nigeria and in some West African region. She is a mentor to Junior Achievement of Ngeria and Fate Foundation.
Adenike opted out of school in her second year as a Law student at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. She was 19 then. She went back home, but was bored at home and was unsure of what to do, she decided to join her mother in her tailoring business, when her mother asked her to come and work for her instead of being idle at home which she, her mother hates. Her mother's business was making tie and die and sewing them into modern styles. Joining her mother, made life exciting again for young Adenike. They started working together in her mother's tiny shop with her and her mother, the only employees, until 1996, when she started her own business.
"I started my own business in 1996, I had three small children and my mother's clientele was very demanding. I took a break to be with the youngest until she was three. Then I got restless. I have a lot of energy and it has to go somewhere. I wasn't finding the kind of clothes I wanted for the kids, the kids ran out of pyjamas, so I made some pyjamas for them and when the playgroup met, I took them along to show. I had orders right away. I started travelling with a suitcase full of samples, selling from the booth of my car. I added shirts and shorts and skirts and expanded the line fast. I went to a bazaar and sold out right away. That was good market research. I started in on the bazaar trail, showing up at every one with my clothes, a cooler full of drinks, and the three kids. I made money and put it back into the business. I took photos of the kids wearing my clothes and put them on billboards They love it. It fills them with confidence." She tells peacexpeace.org
Adenike succeeded against all odds, no degree, no money to hire professionals, plus the stress of convincing people to believe in her dream, and she also has to take of her family. Today, she stands tall in the lists of African women entrepreneur. One thing we learn from Adenike, is her ability to use resources available to her to build a brand, from selling her clothes from the back of her car, to using her kids as models for her designs when others were using cut out photos from foreign magazines, to maintaining on focusing on home market.
According to her, if 40 percent of thee 120 million people in Nigeria are children, I have the potential of a huge market here, with this mindset, she maintained her export only Nigeria and along West African Coast.
LESSON: No condition is enough reason for you to quit.
