Showing posts with label success story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label success story. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

FIVE LESSONS FROM CHIOMA IKOKWU’S AND KIKA OSUNDE’S SUCCESS STORY

image of kika good hair and chioma good hair

If you’ve not been in a hole the past couple of years, then you must have heard about the dynamic duo, Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu. Popularly known as Chioma Good Hair and Kika Good Hair, the beautiful ladies are co-founders and co-CEOs of the wildly successful hair, beauty and lifestyle company, Good Hair Limited.
They started Good Hair Limited in England while undergraduates at the University of Birmingham. From the humble beginnings of the Good Hair brand, Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde have grown their business into a successful international brand. Testament to this is the vast patronage of their hair products among celebrities including Rihanna, Kelly Rowland, Genevieve Nnaji and others.
We took some time to reflect on their journey, and came up with some lessons on how Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu have been able to grow such a massive brand from an operation which started in their dorm rooms. Let’s share our findings;

1.       Make a business out of your passion
Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde had always loved amazingly good hair. They used to buy from other vendors and wear them so beautifully that friends and family would ask where they sourced their hair from. This trend continued till they did some research, found suppliers online who were cheaper, and decided to go into business for themselves.
The truth is that the entrepreneurship journey has its up and downs, it is never all rosy especially during the early years. Being passionate about what you do is one sure way to keep faith and keep pushing even when the going gets tough.
This has been true for Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde because just like any new business, they faced several challenges but their genuine love for and interest in good hair and helping women around the world look beautiful kept them going.

2.       Study the market
Chioma and Kika say that the first thing they did post their decision to go into the hair business was to study the market.
You need to know whether the market is suitable for whatever it is that you’re bringing to the table because an idea might be more appealing in some geographical areas and not so much in other areas. Asides from this, you also need to know your ideal customer – will your product or service be appealing to younger or older people?
This can never be overemphasized because wonderful sounding ideas have occurred to people and they rush to implement only to find out that people are not interested in what they are offering.

3.       Never compromise quality
According to Chioma Ikokwu, one of the things that made her look to the internet to source other suppliers (in the days they were yet to start their business) was the fluctuating quality of weaves and extensions she bought from her then suppliers.
Because of this, they decided never to compromise on quality in their own venture with Good Hair Limited. This single decision has paid off handsomely as one of the factors that keep their customers always coming back is Good Hair’s rock solid guarantee of quality.
The business partners, Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde go as far as travelling across the world to meet their respective hair donors and manufacturers just to ensurethat standards are upheld.

4.       Employ the best staff and continuously train them
When Chioma and Kika started out it was just the two of them, but as business grew they had to employ staff to help in various aspects of their operations. They quickly found out that mediocre staff sometimes sabotaged business relationships that had required a great effort to set up.
This time coming from Kika Osunde, she says that one of the greatest challenges Good Hair faced as a business was sourcing the right staff and training them to acquire the necessary skills for the job. Also, especially in Nigeria where staff retention rate is low, you will have to keep employing and training, to keep up with new developments in the industry and to replace other staff that may leave the organization.

5.       Create work-life balance
In the beginning when it was just Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu, Kika Osunde was in charge of maintaining their Facebook page, which was the main channel for advertising and marketing their business. Things got so hectic and she worked overtime so much that her health suffered till she realized that every business must have opening and closing hours.
The lesson here is that if you overwork and neglect your health, soon, you won’t be strong enough to continue growing your business. So, it is extremely necessary to maintain a healthy work-life balance even as you give your ultimate effort to tasks.

Hopefully as you apply these lessons to your own entrepreneurship journey, you’ll experience success similar to that which Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde enjoy with Good Hair Limited.
Good Hair Limited is on Facebook and Instagram as @goodhairltd or visit www.goodhairltd.com