Those who know Boluwatife Ebunlomo would agree that she is a goal-getter.
She holds a master’s degree in English and is a recipient of several awards.
In the events and logistics industries, she is a pacesetter. She founded NUBE Events and Logistics in 2010 and has made remarkable impacts on the fields since then.
It all began as a passion for anything related to hospitality. Way back in the higher institution, Ebunlomo worked with a family friend who was a decorator and would contract her to provide hostesses for events.
According to her, those simple ushering jobs turned out well and landed her referrals.
“When we saw the prospect in what we were doing, it became necessary for us to be more professional,” she says.
“I had to engage the services of a poise coach who brought out the best in us and then in 2009 we officially launched an ushering outfit,” she explains.
From there, the entrepreneur saw the need to start coordinating and managing events, having realised that her team were practically providing hostesses for clients.
This gave birth to the event coordination arm of the business.
“Today, we have grown to become one of the foremost event planning companies in Nigeria,” she says.
“We also run a rental and logistics company, ‘I Run Errands,’which is one of the leading logistics companies that offer first-class pick-up and delivery services. The new addition to our business portfolio, Akanke Eleso, is our fruit supply business,” she discloses.
Ebunlomo is a certified member of the Association of Professional Party Planners and Organisers of Nigeria (APPOEMN) and a member of Rental Professional Society of Nigeria. She has bagged numerous awards for her entrepreneurial skills and for being a vibrant personality in the event industry in South-West Nigeria and beyond.
She says that apart from providing services to individual clients, her brand has been privileged to work for the likes of Ogun State Government, Nigerian Stock Exchange and the like.
The entrepreneur desires to create a platform for business owners in the event industry, especially those operating in the South-West part of Nigeria, to express themselves. This has culminated into a project called ‘My Grand Event Ogun State,’ which serves as a veritable platform for all event vendors and business owners to learn, network and showcase their brands. She further explains that the first edition held in 2017 and has since been running till date.
Explaining reason for her motivation as an entrepreneur, she says, “The fear of failure inspires me to do more. I am an optimistic person and a goal-getter with a ‘can do’ spirit. Therefore, I cannot afford to fail. The fact that a whole lot of people look up to me and draw inspiration from me, seeing me as a role model, means I cannot afford to fail them. And there is a target I am working towards and I cannot afford to drop the ball.”
“We have been giving back through empowerment, having trained about 500 ushers, supervisors and coordinators as well as those who want to start up their own event companies,” she says, when asked about her contribution to the economy.
“We are proud to say that we are the only events company that steadily trains and retrains its workforce from time to time. With the rich bouquet of services that we offer, our brand has evolved into a one-stop shop in the hospitality industry, especially in the South-West,” she explains.
She further says the NUBE brand is known for thorough dedication to details when it comes to service delivery.
The serial entrepreneur says it has not been all rosy for her. She recalls that when she started, she had challenges in areas like putting a structure to her business, book-keeping and accounting. Appropriate pricing was also a challenge, but she was able to effectively deal with that.
Ebunlomo advises budding entrepreneurs to develop passion for whatever business they intend to venture into.
“Do not go into any business because others are in it. You must be sure it is a business you love. You must also be sure about your location and their needs-the business you aspire to must meet a need for it to be viable,” she says.
“You must also go all out to get the right skills required to make you a professional in that field. Strive to get the needed certifications required to get. Offer quality services that will set you apart. Attend seminars and workshops to improve yourselves and then learn to leverage on the people in your circle,” she adds.
