Adenike Fagbemi, the founder and creative director of BrandTell Nigeria Limited is passionate about showcasing Nigerian brands to the rest of the world.
Inspired by the strong desire and passion to help brands, especially small businesses who are in need of assistance to showcase their products and services.
“We discovered that brands, especially small and medium scale enterprises, are lacking some salient knowledge about how to protect their image and use modern strategies to grow their businesses,” she says.
“This made us decide to commit ourselves to the act of grooming and nurturing brands. Hence, helping them create an appealing image for their brands and in the long run drive sales,” she notes.
To support businesses showcase their brands, the young entrepreneur established BrandTell Nigeria Limited in 2021. “I’ve learned over time that building a public image for clients, irrespective of their aim, can subconsciously go a long way in advancing their visions,” she says.
“Entrepreneurs need good visibility to promote their services, the same as an individual who is aiming for something positive in the future. They all need the noise, and I make the noise for them, responsibly and impactful,” she further says.
The young entrepreneur is also the founder of NixxHash Communications – a business that provides digital support and media to small businesses. “Along the line, I and my team felt the need to spice things up a bit and we came up with BrandTell Nigeria.”
Since starting, BrandTell Nigeria has grown steadily and consistently. According to her, the business has been able to build trust among its clients while creating a niche in the industry.
“Our ability to create a trending niche for brands and gain a positive reputation and acclaim has been a substantial contribution to us getting bigger,” she notes.
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“So, I can confidently say that we’re not at the same level as when we started. We’ve been experiencing exposure as a brand and have dispensed value through every platform at our disposal,” she recalls.
“The tenacity at which we serve others is bouncing back at us in beautiful folds. We are proud of our progress and we look forward to scaling more heights,” she adds.
BrandTell currently has 25 employees with 15 of them working remotely and 10 in person.
In answering the question on the business expansion plan, she says the business plans to increase its offering in the short run while in the long run, it wants to expand its operation to other African countries.
According to her, the business has digitized its processes to survive the impact of the pandemic outbreak. “As a brand, we had to evolve with the trend that was controlling the market space by utilizing our social platforms to focus more on creating awareness, building brand loyalty, creating value, and offering our services to our audience.”
In evaluating the country’s PR industry, she says the industry has evolved and the opportunities in it now lie in digitalization.
On the major hurdles challenging the business, she states that finance has remained one of the major issues confronting the business.
Also, she says the inability of BrandTell to sign up top celebrities as brand ambassadors have prevented the business from getting some top deals.
Speaking on why most start-ups fail with three years of establishing their businesses, she says most of those businesses that failed were established on wrong expectations.
“This is basically because the founders didn’t seek to know more about the business. Moreover, some start-ups run the business like a hobby, which will get the brand nowhere.” “Startups need to change their mentality about collaboration¸” she advises.
On her advice to other entrepreneurs, she says “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. You chose this path, but don’t start any business ignorantly of what it entails to run it successfully.”
“Get all the knowledge needed to stand out in that chosen niche. In addition, have a mentor. No one promised that it will be a smooth ride; however, it can be a great one in the long run when you follow the right principles and you are flexible enough to utilize market trends to your advantage,” she advises.
“Doors won’t just open, you need to work tirelessly and be consistent. Business won’t be rosy every time. There are downtimes and high times. Regardless of the times, don’t stop believing, don’t stop showing up. The major break is closer than you envisage,” she adds.
