Many entrepreneurs are driven by a passion to solve societal problems. For Faith Tonibor, chief operating officer, Bliss Signature, the need for perfection and beauty is her major driving force, fuelled by her passion to have signature on every good work within and beyond her locality.
The nature of her business includes beauty lounge, event management and planning, with services in cake-making, snacks, decorations and sales of hair extensions. It also includes services in areas such as wigs and hair styling, make up and ‘gele’, including delivery services.
The dedication of Faith Tonibor to solving societal problems motivated her to go through the pain of forgoing personal expenditure to make her business a reality, even in the face of poor access to credit from banks.
“My initial start-up capital was well above N100,000, and this was achieved through personal savings, in addition to what I was able to gather while I was employed. This was a gradual process though,” she says.
Thrilled by her progress so far, she explains, “By the grace of God, we have never experienced a better yesterday.”
She further looks forward to improving beyond current levels, both in terms of customer base and the number of employees.
“With current rising population in the country, we have enough market we can tap into. We beautify their lives and make beautiful reserves,” she says.
On where raw materials are sourced, she explains,” We source our raw materials from selected outlets in Lagos like Bakers World Limited, Blue Ribbon, and Trade-fare in Lagos, among others.”
Faith says poor power supply in the country is the major challenge facing her business, stating that it hampers her expectations.
“We, most times, resolve to operating on generators, with lots of money spent on purchase of fuel and maintenance, even before any sales has been made or done,” She laments.
She adds that logistics is also a major hurdle to cross.
“We face the problem of getting goods across to our customers in time,” she tells Start-Up-Digest.
She reiterates the need for the government to create conducive business environment for micro businesses like hers to thrive.
“The government can invest more in the mode of transportation so as to reduce congestion on roads and also monitor and increase funding. These will alleviate some of the challenges faced while sourcing capital,” she notes.
On her future expansion plans, she explains, “In the long run, we plan to establish an institution with qualified instructors to give adequate teaching to every of our students.”
“Student will not just learn but will also be certified in various field of study.”
In her concluding remarks, she says, “One thing I will like to tell other start-ups is to be focused. By this, I mean whatever you start, ensure you finish it without being distracted.”
“Also they should learn to start small but have big plans and visions while they finally give room to learning every day.”
She also has few words for the government.
“As young entrepreneurs , we urge governments at all levels to create platforms for partnerships for entrepreneurs. Government should create more avenues for businesses like ours to partner with relevant government bodies, increase support and funding for new and innovative businesses like ours,” she notes.
David Ibidapo
