For many who are surprised at the phenomenal growth of Sonaira Business World, one of Nigeria’s leading online and offline retail business, the company’s CEO, Sonia Omon-Obehi Ovuehor has made it clear that the business wasn’t built overnight.
“I started business over a decade ago as a very young student,” she avowed. “I sold cosmetics, thrift clothes, shoes and bags; then I worked intermittently during the incessant strike by academic staff union. A major career experience I had was working as an intern in the now defunct AFRIHUB, UNIBEN branch. It was an ICT company; my computer skills accelerated while working with there and this skill opened windows of opportunities for me after my first degree.”
She continued: “After graduation, I worked in a telecommunications company, a construction company and lastly a beauty company before moving on to birth my own small and medium scale enterprise.”
On starting Sonaira Business World, Ovuehor said, “We’ve been rendering skeletal services since 2015 but started fully in 2017.”
The business had survived challenges such as theft and fire, she disclosed. “Our clientele base is strong and keeps growing daily. This is the reason we regard our clients as family,” she said.
Presently, Sonaira Business World has expanded into various business areas including formulation of natural skincare products as well as bulk and retail supply, human hair importation and supply, adult and children’s fashion, adult pleasure toys, real estate consultation, global courier and logistics.”
Asked about her motivation for diversifying Sonaira Business World into different areas and concerns instead of concentrating on one type of business, she offered an insight: “My motivation might have come from my experiences as a child. Growing up, I watched my mom run several businesses, petty trades and even a daily paid job at times. This gave me the insight of how possible it is to make money from several sources.”
Sonia Omon-Obehi Ovuehor added: “Few years ago, I read several books from motivational speakers like Brian Tracy, Robert Kiyosaki and other notable authors. One phrase that kept recurring was “multiple streams of income”. Then in 2014, I joined the Pan African Institute for Entrepreneurship and Community Development and we did a full course on MSI (Multiple streams of income) and it became clearer to me that in today’s world and economic climate, one cannot survive with one income alone; the ability to have various sources of income like I learned as a child is very vital. My indefatigable zest for having multiple streams of income has snowballed into acquiring several skills with the desire to improve daily on each one of them.”
Running multiple businesses, Sonia Omon-Obehi Ovuehor opined, is a no brainer for those that understand the dynamics of time. “You can’t physically be everywhere at once but it’s possible to monitor several businesses today through advanced technological gadgets,” she averred.
She said further: “I don’t see myself as someone running several businesses; I see myself as having multiple skills and knowing how to apportion time to each one of them periodically.”
