Luxury Reporter marks fifth anniversary, holds conference

IT was time to take stock of Nigeria’s fledgling luxury industry a fortnight ago when The Luxury Reporter magazine, a publication dedicated to showing the prospects, players and challenges of the sector, marked its fifth anniversary at The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Appraising the sector in a keynote titled Luxury Retail In Nigeria: The Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Options, CEO, Adam and Eve, Mrs Modupe Ogunlesi, explained that in the luxury sector, an understanding of what one sells and the psyche of consumers are the essential ingredients for success.

Ogunlesi, who defined luxury across different stages, said: “An experience that puts you in a bubble of euphoria, boosting your feeling of wellbeing.  Incidentally, luxury as an experience is the fastest growing concept of luxury at the moment worldwide.  In Nigeria, we are a mix of all four definitions of luxury.”

A panel discussion where issues affecting the growth and development of the Nigerian luxury sector were discussed followed Ogunlesi’s keynote. Contributing, CEO, Thistle Praxis, Mrs Ini Abimbola, said lack of data is impeding the growth of the luxury sector. “As someone who works with data, I found out that there is no available date on the local luxury sector, which makes it impossible to track the growth properly. Most of the high net worth individuals (HNIs) we have in Nigeria prefer to shop abroad. I discovered that Europe and America have data on the number of Africans who shop there and how much they spend. HNIs usually won’t shop locally, which makes it impossible to have accurate data on what they spend on and how much they spend.”

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Chief Operating Officer, PrivateJets Nigeria, Mr Omotade Lepe, explained that it had become the norm in Nigeria that when there is a change of government, the spending power of some HNIs drop.

On her part, Funmi Onajide decried the lack of proper shopping malls for luxury retail stores. She noted that the current infrastructure does not support luxury retail. “You can’t have a 5-star hotel without a 5-Star infrastructure. The kind of infrastructure available in Europe is not here in Nigeria, and if you want to create that kind of infrastructure, you will have to pay a lot to get that,” she said.

Group General Manager, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Coscharis, Abiona Babarinde, explained what happens in the automobile sector.

Speaking earlier, publisher of The Luxury Reporter, Mrs Funke Osae-Brown, narrated the publication’s journey since its founding on May 24, 2014, and the iterations it has undergone.  She disclosed that it started as a website, www.luxuryreporter.comg.ng before it began its print edition three years later.

She added that “our vision is to report on African Luxury by projecting Nigerian brands.  We are constantly in search of indigenous luxury brands that will compete with international brands.  We believe this will contribute to the economic growth of Africa. At TLR, we don’t just want Nigeria to be a consumer of luxury but also the manufacturer of luxury products that can compete with their counterparts not just on the continent but globally.”

The latest edition of The Luxury Reporter magazine was unveiled at the occasion attended by major players in the luxury sector and which also heralded the annual luxury conference.