Dr. Ifyugo Mgbemene is the Chief Executive Officer, Leo Ela International Limited, a company specialises in producing beauty touch products that is favourably competing both national and international. Ifyugo, in her emancipating spirit right from her growing up believed in working for herself to become a big entrepreneur that would provide jobs for many. That she has actualised today by engaging many Nigerians to work especially the youths in her factory, thereby reducing the rate of unemployment in the country.

However, Lady Ifyugo, who loves to study to bring out the best in her and advance among her equals got her university education at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where she studied pharmacology and graduated in 1995. 

The indefatigable lady of substance proceeded to Lagos State University to bag her master’s degree in business administration in the years 2002/2003. She went further to get another master’s degree in environmental resources. As an erudite scholar, she earned a Ph.D in health insurance from Common Wealth University through an online distance learning which spanned from 2008 till 2012.

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In this interview with Moses Nosike, she reveals how she started small and today her company has tremendously expanded, hence she advised it is good for start-ups, entrepreneurs to always aim big and start small when you don’t have all the capital required. Excerpts:

Could you please tell us what are doing?

I’m an entrepreneur, I produce beauty touch cosmetics, cleaning of all house products, perfumes and beauty hair products etc.

What motivated you into entrepreneurship?

My father was a successful business man from Onitsha. They call them Omata, and for over 25 years, my father had been my mentor. Naturally and within me I loved to be a producer. If you were there when I celebrated my 25 years anniversary, some of my friends who came around confirmed it that I used to say it during our unviersity days that I would like be a producer, own my own company, while my friends were saying they would like to work in oil companies and I told them that I will be my own oil company. I never knew that in life I would have something to do with oil company. Among all my friends, I was the one that has something to do with oil company, yet my own boss. Another motivation is that right from my growing up, I like to be an independent person, and that is the way my daddy trained me. So I always like to do things by myself.

How long have you been into this production line?

I registered my company 25 years ago as a business, even before I went for youth service and my father who is late now knew what I can do. So I started his encouragement boosted my moral. But aside that, becoming an entrepreneur is in me because I like to work for myself and do something by myself. For instance, I can paint, my mother is an artiste and a teacher. So I was raised by a teacher. I have the combination being born and brought up in Onitsha by a mother who was a teacher and father who was a business man.

So the first thing I saw while growing up was business; how to make money. That is what we know Anambra and Onitsha for. I grew up there and what my mind was telling me was go and make money. Then, I went to school because my mother was brought up in Enugu and she taught us the importance and value of education. And from my daddy, he taught us how to do business.

Can you tell us what it takes to be a successful business woman?

It takes a lot of things to be a successful business woman. First, success doesn’t come easily, you have to be aware of that. Part of business success is hardwork and anyone working with me that is not hardworking I drop the person because you can’t meet my target and you can’t help me to move forward. I keep only friends who are ready to move with me to success. Those that are only interested to consume and are not ready to sacrifice and allow business to grow to maturity I don’t involve them in my personal and business lives. For instance, if you eat up the yarm that you need to cultivate for some years to fill your yam barn so that tomorrow you will not hungry and lack, how do you survive? For you to be successful in business, you need patience to nurture that business to grow. You have to start small. Most great business people you see today started both their live and business small. I started small and grew with time. When I started my business and I told my friends, it looked funny, even my husband didn’t believe me that I can make it. It was my daddy that believed me, though I lost him. He was a fighter, a man of timber and caliber, and that made his kingsmen game him a title, Okoro kan nze. He was a politician too. The fact is that Igbos believe that when you plant a corn, you have to allow it germinate then nurture it till harvest season. In the same way, that is how entrepreneurship works. That is what Igbos are being known for. Even though the process may take you years. This is what helped me in business. I didn’t steal money, or went for bank loan. I started small till this level I’m today. Till tomorrow I still work in my factor. My children and my relations living with me then were going to the factory to work even the smallest boy in my house, Ebube was carrying cartons because that is the way to make it in life, hardwork.

There is no easy way to make it. So anybody that knows what he is doing in business shouldn’t spend his capital. Obi Cubana said recently that people should go and work hard. One other things is that, as a business man be strategic in business, minimise profit to maximise it. In business, you must know when to move, study your environment. Produce what people will buy and tomorrow they will come back to buy. I made sure that whatever we are producing for the public must be in order. It took us years, but we are still moving forward. Our products have NAFDAC registration numbers and we are not hiding. 

We have our market strategies where treat our distributors well and sometimes we grant them credit facility and after two weeks they pay back. Again, you need to generate your own power to cushion the effect of epileptic power supply which is major challenge to every business, especially those in the production process. Another one is attitude of your employees who would always want you to pay them huge salaries without considering factory overhead expenses and other expenditure the company is carrying. Some of the them want to be boss and they don’t know when you started.

What have been your experience since you started producing beauty touch in Nigeria business envionment?

When I started production, I started small, till I grew to the level of attending exhibitions. I have been on world exhibition with my products the first time it was held in Nigeria 2004 and it was published in BusinessDay Newspaper with the caption, Lady cosmetics dazzles Obasanjo. It was also aired in Television. There was another one published with a caption, Kanu Cosmetics is lion in the market place. I have been moving. I also go to R&D, Research and Development, and I have been upgrading my machines to suit the modern way of producing beauty products. We foresee the future and we prepare for it and that is why our products are of international standard. 

However, to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria is easy and at the same time difficult. But I advise anybody to start small. As I tell you now, there is machines in my factory I can handle them. But the major production challenges in Nigeria is poor power supply and cost of transportation and empployees’ attitude. Sometimes my husband would help me convey my goods from area of purchase to my factory. Even my children do help my business online, they order things when I asked them to do so, sometimes from abroad.

How do you source your materials?

Some of the materials we use for production are sourced from from US, Korea etc. because I have a big factory. Some machines I imported from Korea I use it to braid hair attackment. I started making hair attachment since 2005. I produce tablet soaps which they call Kanu soap. We were formerly called, Kanu Cosmestics before we changed to Beauty Touch. Since I left University I have been working. 

I worked in Pharmacy department in General Hospital,Gigawa. I have won state award in Gigawa, automatic employment in 1996. But I didn’t want to go back to hospital, then I had registered my company. I had also lectured physiology, pharmacology and drug supply in School of Health Technology, Gigawa state. I resigned officially when I got married and relocated to Lagos in 1997. Then I started producing some products and that was how I got my money. I didn’t take any loan from any bank, I got some contract to produce for some companies like Johnson Wax in 1999. Then in 2004 or 2005 thereabout, I won another contract against Gongoni Company in Port Harcourt and that was in millions. God was kind to me and my business. I didn’t involve family money. I received prayer from Rev. Father Osigwe, His blessed memory and Rev. 

Father Idibe, blessed memory. 

They were my mentors and spritial fathers. My grandmother also blessed me before she died.

Since the Covid-19 that affected global business transaction, and cost of product is increasing on a daily basis, how are you coping in terms standards and others?

Though it has not been easy with production process especially since the advent of Covid-19, but that has not made me to reduce standard of our production or change cost. Reason being that I work in my factory, before Covid-19 broke out I went to New York in 2015 and bought some newly automatic machines. 

As I knew, before Covid-19 we had started producing sanitizer for companies and friends. We didn’t know that pandemic would break out. In production, if you know what you are doing, you can be able to navigate.

 For instance, when the prices of plastic and chemical increased, since we are in a competitive market, I didn’t want to drop in standard. What I did was to maintain the standard and increased cost just little. My strategy has always been little profit with rate of turnover will sustain your customer. You don’t drive away your customers with high prices.

What do you think government should do to curtail inflow of fake products from some of the Asian countries?

Government is trying. We are the governments. When you go abroad, businesses are owned by individuals and they pay tax. Our government is working. When they came to my factory, they gave me the standard I must meet in production before they gave me NAFDAC registration number, it took years. 

They really did their work. It was stressful, but you must do it well. Why I said they are working is that even in abroad there are still fake product. Even here in Nigeria many people produce fake. So for us to be free from it, those producing fake have to stop it first.