A few years ago, I met a pregnant woman at one of the embassies; she applied for a visa obviously to go and deliver her child which she believes will give the child the privileges due to citizens of the country to which she was applying for the visa for. “I want my child to enjoy all the privileges. To start with, I am not okay with the healthcare system in Nigeria and I am grateful to God I can afford this hence my choice to travel to have my baby” she said to me.
My ‘date’ for this week is someone helping to ensure women go through the process of having their children abroad effortlessly. She is the Founder/Managing Partner, of Deluxe Childbirth Services. She is a wife, mother, career mom and entrepreneur. Iphie Chuks-Adizue graces these pages this week.
Driven by the need to share with other moms the affordable costs she was enjoying having her baby in the US, Iphie birthed the firm Deluxe Childbirth Services in 2012 with the goal of linking expectant parents to excellent but affordable childbirth services in the US.
Today, Deluxe Childbirth Services has worked with numerous clients across different continents; and has helped facilitate the birth of over 130 babies across more than 15 cities in the US; including 3 sets of twins and 1 set of triplets.
Apart from leading her team at Deluxe Childbirth to turn parents’ dreams to reality; Iphie also works at one of the leading multi-national Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies where she has almost 10years experience in brand management, media, sales and business development.
Iphie is passionate about helping women realize their entrepreneurial dreams whilst maintaining stability in their homes and relationships. She expresses this through her blog www.sheervirtuosity.com. She is happily married to Chuks Adizue; and they are blessed with 3 children – Brian, Sean and Eliona.
As a child growing up in a family of 3 children and being the first child of a teacher, Iphie learnt from a tender age how to lead, how to create aspirational standards for her siblings and most importantly how to do things herself.
As a teenager, she saw her mom at the age of 43 go back to school to fulfil her lifelong dream of being a lawyer; and she juggled this with work, travelling and raising them. “Even with all the strikes, she did not give up and was called to bar at age 55. My mother taught me how to be strong, bold and never give up until you get what you desire.”
“As a young undergraduate, I encountered AIESEC (a global platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential) and my life truly did not remain the same. I learnt to truly, multi-task, lead people older than myself but most importantly, I learnt the importance of being the change you want to see in your environment.” Iphie tells me.
Shedding light on Deluxe Childbirth Services, Iphie has this to say “Deluxe Childbirth Services is a maternity concierge service provider which is focused on linking interested expectant parents to excellent yet affordable childbirth services in the US. The idea was actually born in 2011 while I was in the US having my 2nd baby. Since I had my first baby in the US, I constantly had people asking me questions on how to go about it, what to do and how to find a hospital etc.”
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“So during my time in the US for my 2nd baby while having one of those ‘Come-to-God’ sessions with myself; I asked myself ‘Apart from your job, what do you know how to do that people seek your help on and you can trade for income?’. I jokingly responded ‘I know how to have babies back-to-back in the US; and all my friends now see me as the chief resource on that’….and immediately, a thought dropped ‘So why don’t you make it a business?” she says.
Iphie initially resisted the idea because she felt she would not be able to handle it with her job. She was also scared to launch out because she had done quite a number of ‘failed’ businesses so she was not ready to invest the time and effort into this ‘funny idea’’. “In September of 2011, I learnt that Nigeria had the 2nd highest rate of maternal mortality after India. I was shocked, scared and this motivated me to finally launch Deluxe Childbirth Services a few months later. Starting was very interesting. I had 2 young children and was pregnant for the 3rd (oh yeah…I’m a proud Igbo girl) but I knew I just had to start. I designed our first website myself with zero IT knowledge or skills and ran all the client tasks myself. I felt so humbled that clients trusted me enough to pay me even without seeing me and this drove me to exceed their expectations.” Iphie reveals to me and continues “I remember one of our first clients –Sade- who needed her blood level to go up in a week otherwise the Birthing Centre we had found offering a fantastic deal would not handle her care. She was so distressed that I remember having to find the recommended tonic online on her behalf, call the pharmacy and ask them to keep one for her and then I called her back with the address of the pharmacy to go pick it up. Thankfully, her blood level went up and she had the baby. She called me once the baby arrived and we both shed tears of joy.” She narrates.
Iphie further tells me she has had amazing clients who have challenged her to get better “!Clients that have turned to sisters and close friends overnight. Each client taught me something new. I remember Dipo from Port Harcourt. I used to think I was professional but after working with Dipo, I had to step-up my game. I developed templates for our jobs in line with how my clients wanted to see the information and not necessarily how I would have liked to present it.” Says Iphie.
To Iphie, God was and is still an integral part of Deluxe. In her words, “I remember one of my first clients; she had her visa interview in Abuja and we had gotten her the needed documentation from the embassy. She went for the appointment and the consular officer said he needed a letter from the Hospital. Hospitals almost never give letters so immediately she told me this, my heart sank.”
“I got home, said a prayer and immediately the chorus of Mary Mary’s ‘Can’t Give Up Now’ dropped in my heart. I began to sing the song as I called the hospital….and guess what? The call was over in less than 2 minutes, no questions asked and I received the letter in my inbox 5 minutes later.” Whao!! Truly inspiring I must say.
Speaking about challenges, Iphie says her personal challenge has been juggling it all -having a demanding 9-5 job and still coming back home to attend to her business, husband and children. “However, God has been good and my husband has been super-amazing. He is my biggest support, fan and spring board for bouncing off new ideas….I simply would not have been able to do this all without him.”
Working with an FMCG for 10years, Iphie has gathered quite a lot of experiences as she works for an FMCG that is focused on developing its people and so she has been exposed to different roles, assignments and learning opportunities.
And for her professional challenges, she says “one of the first major challenges I encountered after running the business myself for almost 2 years was letting go and allowing my team handle the relationships with clients. I had lots of concerns but I had to bite the bullet if I wanted my business to grow sustainably without overwhelming me. So I automated systems as much as possible, put in place trainings and detailed task guides showing what to do step-by-step; and it has helped to a large extent.”
Three years and counting Iphie says the experience has been awesome, interesting and rewarding. “We expect new entrants into this industry soon and we have already started to see a few; so our focus for the next few years is to distinguish ourselves from the pack through more innovative novel products and services. Our goal is to ‘be recognized as the leader in the Medical Concierge Industry.’ Iphie reveals.
For her, one major reason parents want to have their children abroad is because they would get access to better care with additional perks such as automatic citizenship for the baby. “Also sometimes the cost differential of having a baby in the US compared to the cost of childbirth at the hospitals they already patronize in their home country is not so significant; so for them, it’s a case of why not spend slightly more and get even much more”.
Since she shared briefly on costs with me I decided to plunge deeper as I asked what the entire process involves and the fee and she brilliantly gives it away. “Well, the process involves having adequate funds to cover all medical bills and living costs while in the US. It also involves ensuring all logistics –Hospital, doctor and accommodation- are sorted before arriving the US; and that’s where we come in as we help get the best costs and all needed documentation needed for visa purposes and during entry into the US.”
“The cost of childbirth in the US varies depending on the city where the mom will be having her baby. Costs can be as low as $5500 for a vaginal delivery to as high as $25,000 for a C-Section delivery. However, working with us our objective is to ensure you get the best possible cost no matter where you will be staying. As such, on an average our clients end up spending about $6,000-$7,500 for a vaginal delivery and about $9,000 -$12,000 for a C-Section delivery; largely driven by their choice of cities.”.
Iphie’s parting words really inspired me and I say so because she said “I stumbled on a quote by Nelson Mandela a few years ago…and it has always kept me fired up so I’d like to share. He says ‘There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.’ ”
“So don’t underestimate yourself…don’t short-change yourself. Take a big bite of life! There is a purpose for which everyone was born; and when it’s found…life just has new meaning.”
KEMI AJUMOBI
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