Oluwatosin Abejide is the founder and chief executive of Rheevo. A make-up artist with experience in the beauty care industry. Abejide is among the country’s leading makeup artists creating a niche in Nigeria’s beauty industry.
She has always loved looking good and making others look better, an attribute that drew her to the beauty care industry.
Abejide started her make-up business for fun, experimenting on her face, family, and friends who were willing to allow her to make them up.
“I started doing make-up for fun in 2013 but started my business in 2015,” she says.
Also, her desire to kill boredom during strikes embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) inspired her business.
At some point, recommendations started coming in and this prompted her to improve her skills in the craft.
“ASUU was on strike for about six months. I had lots of time & energy but had nothing to do, so I decided to learn make-up with the advice of my mum,” she says.
“After the training, I went back to YouTube, and I started practicing daily. I taught myself the rest along the way and thankfully I’ve had the past eight years and a series of upgrade classes to perfect my craft,” she explains.
She then began to see opportunity and the huge desire of people who want to look good. So, like an eagle-eye, Abejide launched House of Rheevo in 2015 while still an undergraduate.
Read also: We have hidden opportunities in cosmetic industry; Sandra Thomas
The young entrepreneur had no start-up capital when she launched her business. Lessons for upcoming entrepreneurs is that you can kick start a business with zero capital.
“I honestly did not have start-up capital. I bought a few items of makeup from time to time,” she recalls.
Since starting, the lawyer-turned-entrepreneur says her business was growing slowly because she had to prioritize her education. “I could not take certain jobs and couldn’t do a lot of things, because I was a student and my priority was my academic success,” she says.
Currently, the business has begun growing exponentially since she completed her undergraduate education. “The business has been growing exponentially, especially in the last year when I graduated from law school,” she notes.
In 2020, House of Rheevo launched a new line of products called Queek – an instant brush cleaner that cleans and sanitizes make-up brushes on the go and also started a training arm of the business.
She notes that the worsening insecurity situation is a major challenge confronting her business as she has had to turn down jobs owing to the security challenge.
Also, she says the high cost of production and huge infrastructural gaps is other challenges facing her business. She adds that the industry is highly saturated and makes people look down on the profession. “Most people treat makeup artists disrespectfully because Nigerians still view makeup as a low job.”
To address the issue of high production costs, the young entrepreneur constantly cut off unnecessary expenses and looks for cheaper alternatives. On the insecurity issue, she only provides home services for recognized clients.
She urges the government to address the high insecurity rate in the country and bridge the huge infrastructural gaps.
On some of the business expansion plans, she says House of Rheevo plans to have a training school to train upcoming makeup artists in the long run and launch more beauty line products in the short run.
On her advice to upcoming entrepreneurs, she says “gather as much information as possible about your industry. Knowledge is power and access to information saves you from a lot of mistakes.”
“Put the necessary structures in place right from the beginning, I know it’s easier said than done but it’s better for your organization in the long run,” she advises.
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