By Kehinde Ajose

YEARS back, the makeup and beauty industry in Nigeria was not in existence because the territory was new and there was a lot of cynicism surrounding it. Those days only celebrities and the fashionistas wore makeup.

Today, all you have to do in order to be convinced is to attend a typical party called Owambe to understand how vibrant it is and the huge opportunities that abounds in the industry.

Temitope Sedi, an Illumin8 and Buntricia’s Total Package trained beauty entrepreneur and makeup artiste advocates that more women need to tap into the booming beauty industry in Nigeria.

“A Euromonitor International report valued the beauty and personal care sector at $595.8m in 2011, up from $439.8m in 2006. It also predicted that by 2016, Nigeria’s young yet increasingly sophisticated population will drive industry sales to $620.2m.

A lot of people complain that we are have too many makeup artistes. I don’t support that notion. As long as we train more women who understand the business and have deep passion they will succeed. A lot has changed. People are more aware and conscious about their personal image.

I am a makeup artist; I run a makeup school and the growing need for training shows that there is a market for what we do. The beauty industry is empowering more women than any other industry and women need to tap into the booming beauty industry in order to be self- reliant.

She further adds that women should empower themselves by acquiring the right skills.

“Over the weekends, makeup artists make so much money, doing what they love. Women should quit depending on their significant other and begin to empower themselves with the right entrepreneurial skills. Gender is not an excuse for failure”