Olufunke Okoro has mastered the business of procurement and merchandising in Nigeria. With over 15 years of experience in her field, she has diversified into raising new-age leaders in the industry. A graduate of Psychology from the University of Ibadan with a Master’s degree in human resource management from Middlesex University Business School United Kingdom, she is the Managing Director of Dumare Limited. Her company services major companies such as NNPCL, Total Energies, Zenith, UBA, Oando, Stanbic IBTC, MTN, 9Mobile, ATC Nigeria, Pernod Ricard, Bank of Industry, KPMG among others. In this interview, Olufunke, who is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management and Institute of Management Consultants, reveals what makes her tick. ROTIMI IGE brings excerpts.
From procurement to human resource management, how did you get into merchandising?
My first degree was in psychology from the University of Ibadan, and I did my Master’s in human resource management at Sussex University. When I finished my master’s, I came back to Nigeria. I’ve always been a businessperson, even while in school.
When we go on summer breaks, I buy clothes to sell to my friends, and by the time I finished school, I knew I wasn’t going to work for anybody. I knew I was going to start my business. When I came back in 2007, I started a facility management company, which still operates today.
Merchandising is not the easiest business. How do you make it work?
Something I’m passionate about is my phone. You can never catch me without my phone. I’m always online, I’m always researching and browsing. So, with my friends, anytime we see something interesting, I search for it and I always find it. Anywhere in the world, I pride myself in the fact that there’s nothing in the world you’re looking for, I’ll get it for you. Sometimes, we would see something in a magazine and I might find it in somewhere like Indonesia for example.
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Is that the same thing a personal shopper does?
Yes, but not as a personal shopper, because it though it started with just my friends, it wasn’t just for clothes, it was for anything literally. It might just be a piece of furniture. If someone says they want a certain kind of chair, I’ll ask them to let me see if I can get it in China or somewhere.
One day, I just thought realised I could turn it to something else. I’m from Iseyin, Oyo State, that’s like the Aso Oke capital of Nigeria. When we were younger, we used to visit, and I had an auntie that used to weave clothes. So I started bringing those clothes to Lagos to sew things. I started sending them to my friends abroad in the States and other places.
I also started going to Abeokuta in 2013 to make prints and send them abroad. That started as the first chain of business for Dumare. We then started selling to suppliers on Etsy and Amazon. I didn’t want to stay small.
When COVID happened and some of my corporate clients would call for something, and we couldn’t import, that was when we started thinking of how to manufacture some of these things here. This was how the manufacturing arm of the business started. We started manufacturing some basic things like bags, notepads… we started trying to source for leather. We’ll go to the north, get leathers, bring them. We have a factory in Mushin.
So during COVID, because nobody could bring anything from China or anywhere, especially the PPEs, we started making those things we could. In Lagos, for example, we supplied about 200,000 locally-sewn nose masks. That made us look inwards and decide to take this production thing seriously. The reception has been very good with our clients.
That also exposed us to another part of our business, the supply chain. Going to the North, we interfaced with farmers, herdsmen, people and we saw the produce. So I’ll go, come back with baskets of tomatoes that maybe bought for N2,000, baskets that we would normally buy here, N70,000 or N80,000. One day, we just thought about opening up another channel, produce. Now we go to the supply chain, the raw materials.
So now we have clients that we link to produce for products like chocolates, biscuits. And we are like the locals, where we go between them and their suppliers so they can concentrate on their production. Then the procurement part, we do procurement for a lot of companies, banks, and multinationals.
You seem to have known business was your pathway. Why did you bother with Psychology?
I believe psychology plays an integral part in what I do today. In building my relationships with my suppliers and even my clients, my knowledge in psychology helps me manage relationships better, especially with my clients, and dealing in the business terrain in Nigeria. With your clients, you have to understand each client, each of their needs, and how to approach and manage them. So definitely, I think it’s played a very, very important role.
How did the name Dumare come about?
I got the idea from a 2Baba song. I think it was 2012 or 2013. I really liked the song, and there was a line in it that said ‘Edumare don bless me.’ When I was going to start my business, I just thought, why not? That was how I got ‘Dumare’.
What are some of the challenges and business lessons you’ve learned along the way, particularly those that are peculiar to Nigeria?
With Nigeria, a lot of ‘gbas gbos’ will happen to you. But if you want to be successful, you just have to keep at it. As a startup, to get people to take you seriously can be challenging, especially as a woman in the business. I’ve gone to industries, and people will say, “Is that not Oga’s girlfriend?” People undermine and stereotype you because they perceive the business to not be a serious venture. I tell people that the merchandising industry in Nigeria is a multi-billionaire industry, but a lot of people don’t know that.
Also, getting clients was a bit difficult. Convincing people that it’s not a hobby and a real job was a challenge. Thank God for growth. Today, when you talk about corporate clients, goods, and corporate merchandising in Nigeria, I’m in the first five or 10. That’s only happened because I’ve kept at my craft. I’ve continued to push and try to break the glass ceiling. Those problems are no longer problems. If I go somewhere to pitch, people can identify the brand, ‘Dumare’. That confidence has been built not just by what I’m saying, but over the years of hard work that I can show.
What are the challenges now?
My greatest challenge right now is the economy. Like most businesses in Nigeria that deal with forex, we have to reprice and recost items every other day. The exchange rate yesterday is no longer the exchange rate today. That’s a big challenge. When you give quotations today, by the time we’re done negotiating, the price has gone up, and it’s a major challenge.
What do you think separates you from every other merchandiser, or procurement expert?
For me, it’s my ability. I’m not just a procurement person, I’m also into supply chain, production, and manufacturing… the business is multifaceted. Most people who operate in my industry are probably importing. I export, manufacture, and have a steady supply chain. I don’t know anybody that does all of that.
In terms of manufacturing, how do you manage? A lot of people that manufacture locally complain about the quality of the work being done. How do you manage that?
It’s all in quality control. We have our own factory. We have the people that always make sure the finishing is extraordinary. I have a fantastic team that works with me.
Many clients are known to ask for locally-made products. What do you think is the reason for that?
Everybody is sensitive to what’s going on. There’s no dollar to trade. So, if we want to grow our economy, that’s the way to go. We all have to put in our quota to do that. It’s ridiculous some things we bring in. Why should I have to import a notepad or a pen? These are things we should be able to do.
What in your background prepared you for a life in business?
My mother was a serial entrepreneur. She taught me everything I know today. Ever since I was a little child, I’ve always been a business person. My daughter is like me. She’s just 10, but she can sell anything. So, I think it’s in the blood.
I grew up seeing my mother do business. My father was a medical doctor, and my mother was a nurse. They founded a hospital together. But my mother has just always been the business-savvy one. She drove the business. I remember growing up in Ibadan. She’d come to Lagos to get corporate clients.
If you were to define your style, what would it be?
I’m very classy but simple.
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