Celestina Maryjane Benneth not only finds joy in seeing her parents recover from ill health but also finds pleasure in making shopping an easy task for her clients. In this interview, she speaks about her dual career and what her enterprise, Olori Adesewa does.
Aside being a nurse, was there any other career you had in mind to go for?
Aside becoming a nurse, I had always wanted to be a medical doctor as a child, but during my secondary school days everything changed. I found myself developing passion for nursing instead of medicine, in the end, I had to follow my passion. I decided to study nursing and ever since then, it’s been a wonderful journey and experience helping and taking care of people.
How have you been coping as a nurse with the Covid -19 pandemic?
As a frontliner, I do my best to take the necessary precaution, maintain social distancing, wear my face mask always and use my hand sanitiser at every interval. I also encourage others to do so and get vaccinated. By doing this, every one will be safe and the influx of patients will be minimal.
How did you become an online vendor?
I was in Ibadan for a friend’s wedding in 2018 and I needed to get my shoes, clothes and bag for the occasion. I found it difficult to go to the market due to heavy traffic at markets like Gbagi, Ogunpa and Alesinloye. Fortunately for me, I was surfing the internet and I saw some fashion items displayed on my friends’s page, I liked some things there so I called her to make inquiries and how to get them. She promised she would deliver them and it was fantastic seeing that I’m relieved from the stress of going to the market the following day. I was like wow! Just like that? So I messaged her to know more about the business but she didn’t respond.
Then again, I was surfing the internet after I made some research on the business then I saw some interesting things and I said to myself this is another level of financial freedom”. I love business because I grew up with my grand mother who was very industrious and had always encouraged us to be business-oriented to enable us to have money to put food on our table asides what our education will bring.
I made enquiries and I started buying from someone, it was quite challenging buying from her because she has to make profit as well, by the time I add mine and display it on social media they would complain it’s expensive.
Luckily for me, the first set of people that bought from me were my circle of friends and relatives. Their patronage was a huge motivation and encouragement for me. By the time I began to post my items on different social media platforms and also run sponsored Facebook ads, I started getting customers and was making sales. Those that bought from me also referred their friends and when I saw the way I was growing every day, I had to create a name for my business and that was how Olori Adesewa empire was berthed.
A venture like this can’t be a sweet sail, what are the challenges?
The major challenge that I had at a point was the fluctuating rate of dollars, how it affected prices and cost of shipping them down. I no longer buy from Nigeria, I now belong to a group of people in the same line with me. We ship our goods from China and we use dollars in buying those things anytime the dollar rises it affects our purchasing. This, in the end, makes fixing the price challenging because we want to maintain our customers by making our accessories affordable.
Again, logistics is another challenge. Most times, I find it difficult to get a suitable logistics company that will deliver goods to customers on time. We are getting better by the day to handle the challenges. I am getting to understand the business and for every hiccup that comes up from the logistics side of the business, I look at it closely to find out where the mistake came from then I try to work on it so it won’t occur next time.
How do you cope as a nurse and also running your online store?
Being a nurse is not easy, it’s very tasking, but all thanks to technology. I sometimes give myself a pat on the back because I wonder how I do it. I try as much as possible to balance both so no side suffers any neglect that will lead to complain. My store is operational only online, I upload products especially when there are new stocks and arrivals, I also go to my DM to check for orders and work on them by sorting the ones that have been paid for and ready for delivery. I go through my review page to get review and see where to work on.
Do you think government’s decision to restrict unvaccinated citizens from public gathering is right?
The government should set up vaccination centres in different areas in the country like market places, churches, entertainment centres and shopping malls so people could get easy access to the vaccines. When this is done, we can now talk about restricting people that are not vaccinated from public gatherings.
What has been your motivation?
My motivation comes from assessment of my progress. Seeing that I am not where I used to be few years ago and looking at where I am now, I have made positive progress in my nursing career by helping people in times of need. In my own little way, I love to see them happy. The progress I am also making in my online fashion business, the fact that there is an OloriAdesewa empire where you can get all your fashion needs at one stop, people accepting my brand and seeing me as a fashion plug/health consultant has been a strong motivation for me to be a stronger and an accomplished person in the society.
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