•JUMOKE OGUN, CEO MAKARIOS Fabrics
If truth be told, they don’t come any better than Olajumoke Ogun. She is an absolutely gorgeous lady. She is blessed with a flawless skin, a fair complexion that has remained untainted and a fabulous figure that has become the envy of women and admiration of the male folks whenever she steps out. And because she has such an enchanting personality to go with her stunning appearance, Olajumoke Ogun easily becomes the cynosure of all eyes at events that she attends.
But if you were meeting Jumoke Ogun for the first time, you would be making a big mistake thinking she is only about beauty and fashion. This is because beneath that adorable looking façade lies one of the most incredibly brilliant and tenacious women you can possibly ever find anywhere in the world. Olajumoke Ogun was an accomplished banker. While working in the bank, she started with her intensely industrious husband a drinks company called King Serve. For those who do not know, King Serve is one of the leading drinks companies in the country that offer chilled drinks of different brands in large volumes at A-list parties. If you’re catering for 50,000 guests or more anywhere in Nigeria, King Serve is good to go. Some years down the line, after having taken King Serve to the top of the industry along with her husband, the delectable Jumoke decided to put her incredible flair for fashion into profitable use. And thus began the birth of Makarios Fabrics, which has transformed into one of the most flourishing fashinon brands today.
Olajumoke started Makarios Fabrics selling from the booth of her car while she was still a banker. It was when she left banking that she was able to concentrate fully on her business, built it from the very scratch and take it to the enviable height it is today. What makes Makaries Fabrics stands out, is the fact that it’s heavy on Adire. That is her speciality. And her Adire designs are simply exquisite.
At the City People Awards for Excellence where Jumoke was honoured 2 weeks ago, she had on a breathtaking Adire piece that stood her out clearly from the crowd. Everyone in the hall was stealing glances at her and she noticed too. Just before she picked up her award, City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) spoke with the Elegant looking lady. Interested customers can reach Jumoke on: 080 945 093 49.
Enjoy the excerpts.
You are one of the biggest entrepreneurs of the drinks business in the country as we speak and you’ve been in that business for a while…
Well, yes, but I am more into my fabric business now. I also do fabrics, I make my own designs, the Adire fabric. I have my own factory where I make my own designs. What I’m wearing now is one of my piece (shows off her undeniably fabulous outfit).
Wow! This is gorgeous.
Thank you
My first question is that you don’t look like someone who is into the drink business, you look more like someone who is into fabrics, cosmetics, beauty, fashion and all that.
Well, we started with drinks. My husband and I started with drinks, we run a drink company called King Serve Drinks.
King Serve has been in existence for maybe like 18 years. And my parents in law are distributors with NBL and Guinness. They have been in that business maybe for over 40 years. So we just kind of created that little serving drinks at parties from the larger parents company which is a subsidiary or super distributor with NBL and Guinness. So we did it for years and then I started doing fabrics. So my husband still handles the drink 100% while I sometimes join him. But I am doing fabrics now.
How did the concept to go into the drink business start at that time? Because you said its like how many years now? About 18 years ago, right?.
I can say that 18 years ago it wasn’t much of a common business then, it was just becoming popular in this part of the world. It was just becoming popular because there were a few people already doing it as well. Like I said, my parents in law, my husband’s parents are super distributors with NBL and Guinness. So we just looked at it and said, how can we do this business with them, you know, adding our own touch, so we said, okay, lets just start. And my husband really has a passion for entertaining people. When we are having parties at home, he is running around making sure everyone is fine. So that came from there, and fortunately I was with him and I joined him in that dream and we made it happen.
So how has it been, if you look back? How was it at the start and how is it now?
You know people drink regardless, I mean whether the country is moving or not moving. People will drink, at least you will drink water even if you don’t want to drink Alcohol. You will drink water because water is part of what we do.
So, Yes it was bigger for us in terms of having events to cover and things like that. But now there are a lot of people in that industry as, well so it is a bit of, I won’t say challenging but you know because we have more young vibrant people doing it.
People are throwing a whole lot into it now.
Yeah, that’s true, but we still have our own loyalists who would say, oh, no, they want King Serve during their event because of what we are known for. I mean, integrity is our key word, so the integrity has kept us in business, it has brought us this far and I am sure it will take us beyond where we are now.
I want to know if you could give us for free the factors that have helped King Serve survive for so long. I mean you would admit that it’s not everytime you run business in this part of the world successfully for 18 years, so what has helped King Serve?
Like I said, integrity is one, we keep to our word. Our word is our bond, our yes is our Yes basically.
And I will say consistency in our delivery, so today we are giving it 100%, tomorrow we are giving it 100%, so it’s not like today you are giving it 100% and tomorrow you are giving it 20% so that has also helped.
We do an event and people are like, oh wow, your delivery is so fantastic, the service is fantastic and they refer you and they keep referring you. So I mean that answers that, that has kept us in that business. We keep getting referrals because of our excellence in delivery and I will say the third point would be updating ourselves on what is happening. So we are not backward, we keep updating ourselves, we know what is reigning now, what is happening now?
What is the demand in that drink industry? So once you get the demand and you are able to meet the demands of people, you can’t go wrong. So, that has helped us and I’m sure it’s helping a lot of people too.
Is it your fabrics business that’s being honoured here today?
Yes it my fabrics business.
So at some point you decided to run with your business, fabrics , how did that evolve for you?
Well, so I was doing King Serve with my husband like I said and I went into banking, I was in banking for a while and then came out and I said what can I start doing on the side? You know, it was meant to be a side thing, while I was still doing the drinks with my husband. So I started it on the side and this baby that I was nursing on the side blossomed into this thing I have now to the glory of God.
I have always had a flare for fashion, for dressing men up, cause I started with men fabrics. I look out for things like that. I love to dress men up in native and so I started with the men and now I kind of just found myself selling to women as well. Because people will see me and say oh, I just love what you are wearing, I just want to look like this, and I am like okay, I think there is something there. Let me start making business out of what people see and like, you know, so that’s how I started with the women and I started doing my own designs. I just draw something, give it to the people that are going to do the Adire and they are like oh wow! And when you start sewing things like that, you will be like so how can I make money from this thing that people like? And I am like okay, then I started making small
small change.
As a little girl growing up, did you pick your flair for fashion from maybe mum or big sis?
My mum, I would say. My mum had a salon not a fabric store, she had a salon but she has always been very creative, she is late now. She was very creative, I think I got it from her. I got the business attitude from her.
So what is the name of your fabric business?
Makarios fabrics
Where did you coin that from?
Its a Greek word, it means blessing, so every Greek bible you see Makarios is there representing blessing.
How old is Makarios?
So, like I said, I resigned 2011 from the bank and I started selling from the booth of my car. I got a physical store in 2017 and that was when I started my factory as well. My factory is in Ede, Osun State.
So it’s that big now.
Well, if you say so.
Considering that you metarmorphosed from selling from the booth of your car to producing, that is a big deal. So why Adire?
So like I said, when I started with men, I will just draw something and I walked into a store and I saw this young guy selling Adire from his bag. So I said oh, I like this, and I bought a few pieces and I liked the uniqueness of the fabric.
You know every Adire fabric is hand made , so there is a lot of love that goes into making it. It’s not like you are making Adire that is massively produced, and it is not like you can not massively produce Adire but it’s unique. Every piece is unique, and I love unique things. I don’t like something that is for everybody, you know I love the uniqueness so I think that is the major attraction for me just having these very beautiful unique pieces.
You walk in somewhere and you are the only one wearing it.
Like right now, I am sure no one is going to be wearing my style, my design, at this event.
And this is not the conventional kind of Adire, right?
I still bring in the fabric, I still kind of import the fabric and then design it, which is why it is like this.
Okay I was going to say that.
That’s why you think it’s different from the stiff brocade, I mean we have those ones too but I put out more of these ones, the Chiffon, the soft silk, you know, things like that.
How has the response been like?
Adire is the In thing now, everyone is wearing Adire. Everyone is going local now, because like I tell people, you walk into one of these international stores and you are buying your dress 100 pounds and that dress is not uniquely made for you, there are going to be like 10-20 other people wearing your 100 pound dress, your 250 pound dress.
But when you wear your Adire, lets even assume it’s 50 thousand naira and it’s only you, there is something that does to you. I mean, I am the only one that has this dress.
So your fabrics is getting an award today, how do you feel?
Well, I feel good, I am happy to be here. I am happy that City People recognizes the brand.
These days that the dollar keeps hitting down the naira and you are bringing in a lot of quality fabrics from outside the country, how do you cope?
Is anyone coping? We are not. But I believe in numbers, so I try not to add a lot of profit. My profit margin is just there, but I run with numbers, so I mean, it’s affecting everyone but, so, far we are above waters so I give God all the glory. So everything is just by the grace of God. Its locally made, it’s not as expensive as the laces and so, that still gives it a bit of comfort. You know I sell all kinds of fabrics in my store and I can tell you for free that Adire is the fastest selling fabric for me.
That’s where the dinner and the lunch, and breakfast is from.
And I can understand that despite the dollar situation you still try not to compromise on quality, right? Won’t your designs come a bit expensive?
So the truth is, it’s not for everyone. That’s what I tell myself. My fabric is not for everyone, its for those people who love uniqueness, who love quality.
*For more enquiries, you can reach Jumoke on 08094509349
