The events industry in Nigeria have grown enormously in the past decade and Juliet Okolie is among the creative youth that is cashing in on the booming industry. She is the manager of Liet Nigeria, a fledgling event planning and marketing service provider in Surulere, Lagos. In this encounter with HENRY OKONKWO, she shares some of the tips on how to start an event-planning firm, the challenges and what the business is all about. Excerpts…Tell us a little about your firm Liet Nigeria Liet Nigeria is a registered company and we are basically into event management and electronic marketing service.
Educational background: I was born and bred in Jos, Plateau State; so I did my early schooling there. Later, I started my first degree in Adamawa State. But I had to stop my education when I lost my dad in 2006.
I left in my second year and came to Lagos. I got a job in a shipping company in 2007 as an accountant. But at a point I felt the urge to go back to school to round off my education, and my love for business made me study Business Administration at OND and HND levels.
journey into entrepreneurship I have been into entrepreneurship right from when I was a little girl. My dad had a flourishing importation business back then in Jos. He deals in poly bags and assorted kinds of polythene bags. I love business; so normally I go to his shop after school and from there we all leave for home. When he became seriously ill, nobody was on ground to take over the business. So, as the first child in the family of seven, I had to take charge. I was in SS 2 when I took over the business.
I have tried my hands in so many businesses. I first floated an interior decoration company that dealt in office and house fittings. But the market was so competitive for small scale enterprise to thrive. After a while, I closed shop.
Then I delved into publishing and floated my magazine, Golden City which focused on impacting morals among youths, entertainment, education, motivation and interviews with inspiring celebrities. It did relatively well in the market but we couldn't overcome the challenges of the print media, maybe because we didn’t have a good business plan from the beginning.
My turning point Our turning point came in 2011 when we set up Liet Nigeria, launched our first project tagged, ‘the chef of the mainland’, a project we conceptualised for cooking schools to compete among one another. We partnered sponsors like Ajino-moto, Crown Floors Plc and some pharmaceutical companies that supported us then. In 2012, we held the Season 2, partnering sponsors 7-Up, Ajino-moto, Gas-Express and so many other big brands that threw their weight behind us. In 2011, we had about 1,500 participants and in 2012 we had about 2,500 participants.
We could not organise the Season 3 in 2013 because of some logistic problems, but we are really planning big for it by September this year.
Handling men, material and money A tree cannot make a forest. So, Liet Nigeria boasts of a team of four vibrant youths. And I keep them motivated by verbally inspiring confidence in the team, occasionally exposing the team training and retraining and ensuring that their salaries are promptly paid, because delaying their salaries diminishes your status before them as their leader.
Starting up an event planning company The first and the most important is that you must learn the rudiments and get the basic knowledge about event planning services. Experience is very important towards setting up any firm. You must garner enough planning and organisational skills, and be creative. For me, I had to humble myself to learn from many friends that have flourishing event-planning company to get practical experience after reading so much from books and internet.
Advice to youths I hear a lot of fellow youths say that there is no money to start up a business, but I don’t think that money is an issue in terms of starting up a business. The challenge I think they’ve got is lack of determination, because when I’m determined to do anything, I see myself moving forward. I tell my friends and anybody that care to listen that no matter how small you start up a business, it all depends on how strongly determined you are and how focused you are in handling the venture.
It doesn't make sense to brag that you are a graduate, or beautiful or handsome when you don’t have knowledge and know your potentials. I say this because God has created everyone with talents and has given us two hands. So, what can you do? That is why I advise people to go and get trained. If you have problems not knowing what you want to do with your life, then go and learn handiwork. We have lots of them that are surviving with it these days in Nigeria. We young ladies going into make-up artists, some are going into fashion designing, instead of waiting for a white-collar job that may never come.
-The SUN.
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