Director/CEO of Cocoa Africk, a perfume company, Anna Awoliyi, tells TERH AGBEDEH, why everyone should endeavour to leave a ‘sweet’ impression.
The delectable Awoliyi was at the just-concluded Lagos International Trade Fair, which held at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Onikan, Lagos, where she introduced perfumes made by her company to the Nigerian public.
Wowed by the reception she got at the fair for the perfumes, the UK-based Awoliyi, who partly grew up in the FESTAC area of Lagos, talked about her plans for the future.
She said: “From next year, about January, we are going to be getting into make-up. Make-up may take a bit longer, however, handbags and sunglasses will be more of a quicker thing and we are starting on January 15.”
But why perfumes? The answer from Awoliyi, whose daytime job is in anaesthetics in a London hospital, is that it is “one thing that people remember when they meet you, and you should leave a good smell lingering with them”.
The young lady, who has a degree in biochemistry and a master’s in project management, further explained that people just believe that looking good is everything, but smelling good also adds to everything. “It just finishes the package.”
She lamented that a lot of Nigerians don’t leave a good smell when you walk pass them.
For Awoliyi, this should not be the case.
She, however, said that the positive reception she got at her stand at the 10-day fair has not only surprised her, but has also blown her mind.
“It just shows you that Nigerians want luxury goods. Nigerians want something beautiful; we are not about whatever anymore,” she declared.
Like most start-ups, Awoliyi said her number one challenge is finance, since one of the most important issue in starting a business is money.
Running cost, she explained, “is very important because we are obviously trying to make money. But money is being spent as well.”
But what would make someone take the London perfumes over others in the market?
“One, it has got a NAFDAC number, which took ages to get; really difficult to get. And a lot of perfumes don’t have one. Then there is safety, a lot of people might have asthma and giving them things that have got chemicals that are not meant for human consumption (could hurt them). So you are secure that it is actually a safe product. And most importantly, it lasts long on you. A lot of people have actually had positive response on the fragrance; so I am pleased with it,” she said.
Awoliyi, who said she has so far employed nine graduates, disclosed that the perfume is produced outside the country, but that there are plans to begin production locally in the nearest future.
“That would create employment for chemistry students. It is also an industry that will employ people from various disciplines. So I think it will be good to take them, even before they finish university. So, that is the thing that we are going to be looking into and we are actually working on right now,” she explained.
For now, she is producing in France, China and Italy.
So where can one go to get her products, which she said are of international standard but focused on the African market, particularly Nigerians, at the moment in the country?
Awoliyi responded that although her presence at the fair is to link up with distributors who would buy wholesale from Cocoa Africk, it would soon list the local shops that would display the products on the company’s website.
“I would say that everything is related to people. Even at work, people say, ‘you smell so nice’. And it gives you a mode of conversation. So, people want to remember you. That is that lady that smells lovely. And I think that is very important. And it makes me happy when I see that people are happy.
“If you put someone under anaesthetics, you don’t want to be leaning over them and they don’t smell good,” she said responding to the question on how different anaesthetics is from perfumes.
