In spite of all the challenges, Melandrie Shoes can take pride that the business is worth millions. From his little beginning, in book vending, Olanipekun has become a success story in shoe making
By Eberechi Obinagwam
Gbenga Olanipekun, a 2014 graduate of Linguistic and Communications, Osun State University, Osogbo, exemplifies the words of Robert Schuler – tough times never last, tough people do. He saw several tough times as a young graduate seeking a career path but stuck on.
With perseverance, Olanipekun weathered the storm of disappointment, crowning it with his highly successful Melandie Shoes.
In 2015, after completing his NYSC in Delta State, he came to Ibadan to learn shoemaking, while also working as a salesman for a publishing firm.
The salesman job brought him to Lagos at some point, but that didn’t extinguish his passion to learn shoemaking and also create some designs and market them along with the books he was supposed to market.
Soon, he learned that his clients were more interested in his shoes than the books he brought to them.
“I was given a target of N25 million in Lagos. I didn’t make one sale in the first week. The second week, no sales. At every school I visited, they would tell me they already had suppliers. I would then bring out my shoes for them to look at. Within a short period of time, I sold more shoes than books. I just resigned because the company was giving me resources to perform, and the result was not coming,” he said.
Everything seemed to be perfect for Olanipekun in his shoe-making business. He even started making shoes which he sold via e-commerce stores, Jumia and Konga.
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The Black Friday nightmare
Then came the 2016 Black Friday, the discount sales that spur shopping spree. That event turned out truly black for Olanipekun.
“My store was one of the outlets chosen for Black Friday sales. I took a loan to make the shoes. I had 250 orders. I had made just about 40 shoes.
“Konga has the option of allowing you ship goods yourself to buyers or they do it for you. I chose self-shipment.
“I hired six shoemakers to help me meet the target. We got the shoes ready. At Iwo road, I alighted from the taxi I took, to reach out to the boot and remove the shoes. The man didn’t wait. He zoomed off. I thought he was trying to park well to avoid being arrested by traffic officials. No. He had disappeared.
“I can say literally that I was mad for like two minutes. I went down and forth Iwo Road Bridge like 20 times. I had told Konga that I had shipped the shoes. My colleagues were also expecting their money. It was a nightmare,” he said.
Olanipekun did not allow that experience to keep him down. He soon got loan and support from well-wishers to pick up from the ashes.
Shoes for Osinbajo
In 2018, Olanipekun made and designed shoes for the former Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo after learning that he was coming for a Small and Medium Scale enterprises (SME) exhibition in Ibadan.
He experienced a small challenge because dignitaries had taken the front row at the exhibition venue, leaving him hidden at the background.
Osinbajo arrived the Complex in company of the then Oyo State governor, Late Abiola Ajimobi, under a tight security cordon.
“I started thinking, how could I get across to Osinbajo. As he was going out, I got closer to the entourage. One of the security operatives around the vice president stopped me. I screamed at the top of my voice, ‘sorry sir I have a shoe for His Excellency’.
“The man I was talking to looked into the Shoe. He could see it was customized for the vice president. It had the APC logo and Nigerian flag. Within those few seconds, I had caught the attention of the vice president. He came and looked at it and said ‘wow, this is for me?’
“He called the governor of Oyo State, ‘my governor, this is APC shoe.’ At that point, I was star-struck. I had planned to tell him to come around and see my works. But I became speechless. The VP then said ‘let’s take a picture.’ I didn’t even make an arrangement for that. People brought out their cameras and took many pictures,” Olanipekun said.
This led to his breakthrough. It gave him a name and sense of humor that at least made-in-Nigeria shoe could be recognised and valued as Nigerians are known to be people that love and cherish foreign products.
In an interview with our correspondent, Olanipekun recounted his experience with perception of Nigerians to made-in-Nigeria product.
“Nine years ago, made-in-Nigeria product was like a virus, it was a real battle. Thank God for the rebranding that finally helped the situation.
“Logistics was and is still a major issue. Thanks to Gigi which is the only logistics company I know that does payment on delivery. Before, people would take delivery of shoes and block us.”
In spite of all the challenges, Melandrie Shoes can take pride that the business is worth millions. From his little beginning, in book vending, Olanipekun has become a success story in shoe making
“We have created a solid brand. We made a shoe for the then Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo and it made news. We have been able to run a profitable company and we have moved from a one-man business to having a number of staff, production, packaging, logistics and admin staff,” Olanipekun stated as he counted his successes in business.
On the challenges of doing business in Nigeria he said; “the challenges of doing business in Nigeria are limitless. I am being sincere, when you think you have learnt the ropes another wave just rises. I guess it is a never ending class of resilience.”
Accessing capital, insecurity, inflation, importation of inferior materials, international payments, logistics, power, multiple taxations, low sales and bad workers were what he listed as main challenges, adding that the list could keep going on. “It takes never say die spirit to remain in business,” he said.
With the hard economy, many Nigerians believe that traveling outside the country or the so-called Japa, is a means of survival or escape. But the CEO of Melandrie shoes said though the issue is something that has kept ringing in his head day and night, it is not a consideration.
He said it is not a consideration for three main reason. As a fervent Christian, the Lord did not give him that instruction to Japa. The fear of losing his business if he does is another reason he is not considering Japa. Also, his strong belief in Nigeria of becoming great again makes him hopeful.
“What will happen to all I have been investing on? Even while here, it is a crazy ride, when I leave, what happens? Nigeria will be great again and this is not a lip service. I strongly believe it. All that is needed is just getting it right with two successive governments and this nation will experience a change in trajectory”, Olanipekun enthused.
