Billionaire businesswoman, Titilope Olubisi Ejimagwa is quite simple, she is not your regular kind of billionaire entrepreneur who loves to court the media over her achievements. She is not a blowhard like some rich others.
Yet, the successful business mogul is, indeed, someone who must be taken as a role model by anyone coming into the industry, as she is acknowledged to know the rudiment of entrepreneurship.
The Lagos state born businesswoman and currently the First Black 5-Star Director and Global Icon of Longrich Bioscience. She is called the ‘Mother of Network Marketing in Africa’ for the fact that she is one of the most successful marketers to emerge from the continent. In spite of her immense wealth and influence, however, she has humility and simplicity written all over her. In this interview, she spoke about how she chose to keep her dignity intact by forfeiting her university admission because a university official demanded sex as a condition for offering her admission, how she tricked her vibrant Christ Apostolic Church member mother to become a Jehovah’s Witness member and how she ventured into business as an undergraduate, among other issues.
You studied Physical and Health Education but you are now a businesswoman. What is the correlation?
I was talking with my children recently and I told them I wanted to be a lawyer. But guess what, I was a very bad stutterer and could hardly call my name. Later, I wanted to be a journalist like you and I am like I can’t communicate. The things that interested me are not meant for me actually, but I kept on daring myself. When I got admission to study at UI (University of Ibadan), I didn’t want to go to UI because I wanted to leave Ibadan and stop being mummy’s pet. In the long run, I got to know about LASU (Lagos State University).
I didn’t even know there was a school called LASU. A friend of mine who lived in my area came and said, ‘Titi, I am in LASU.’ I asked what is LASU and she said a university in Lagos. That was how I headed for Lagos. When I got to LASU, I wanted to go for PDS but the admission officer wanted to have sex with me. I went there with a friend. Then the officer said if I would not have sex with him, he would rather admit my friend and leave me out. I said instead of giving me admission and abandoning my friend, let them give my friend admission. That was how I lost the admission and he gave it to her.
As I was leaving the admission office that day, I saw one man. The man was my family doctor’s best friend. He stopped and said I know you, and that was how we reconnected. He was the registrar then in LASU. He asked what I was there to do and I told him I was there to seek admission. That was how the man called them to bring my form. Unfortunately, the other man had torn my form and trashed it. This was in 1988. The registrar now said I should take a diploma form for PHE that would be coming out. I had to wait behind to get the form. He thereafter handed me over to Prof Okebukola. I eventually got admission. That was how I studied PHE.
How did you get your seed capital to start business?
I didn’t have a dime to start a business. I was so poor that I could not even afford to eat. I started business when I was in LASU as a student. I could easily go to Cotonou and Togo to buy earrings and sell them in the school. I was making money.
Alas, I became broke at a point. Later, a friend told me about a product called NONI, and that was in 1997. I said Margaret, I don’t have money. She gave me some cartons which I sold and made money. Later, NONI had an issue because the federal government thought it was a juice and therefore banned it in 1999. That was how I moved into selling Forever Living Products (FLP). That was where I started the real multi-level business.
There was a man called Baba Oloko. He is late now. A friend of mine told me to go and meet him. When I met him, he borrowed me N150,000 for a month without interest. I used the money to buy FLP products, which I took to Kainji. I sold the products for more than half a million.
I was not dishonest. I told the buyers that my own aloe vera gel was N4,000 whereas the selling price of the product was N2,500. When they argued that it was expensive I would say yes it is but I would tell you exactly what you need. God just helped me. Everybody that I touched got well. When God wants to bless you, He will just bless you without looking back. It is not about how good I am in sales. I am a bad stutterer (laughs). It was just God that wanted to bless me and I was equally determined to be blessed. I was available to be blessed.
I took products of N150,000 or less to Kainji and sold it for N500,000. I bought the biggest fish from Kainji. I bought two and local groundnut oil. I would drop in Ibadan to give one to my parents. They would pray for me and bless me and I would give them money as well.
The next day, I boarded a bus to Lagos to see Baba Oloko. I returned the loan and he said, ‘I gave it to you for one month, why are you returning it so soon?’ I said but I have finished using it now; why would I be keeping your money? He said this had never happened before. He was always having to look for people who borrowed money from him to get the money back. He said I was the first person who would borrow money and return it to him in one week. He said I should come any time I needed money. I said I would need another loan by month-end. That was my turning point.
Why Kainji?
When I started selling FLP, I went to my friend’s dad who was formerly with printing and minting. He said he didn’t need the products but that I should go and meet my friend, but he would pay. That was how I went to Kainji. On getting to Kainji, my friend did not buy even toothpaste from me. The husband too did not buy anything. But the husband said their Assistant General Manager Operations had an accident and that he might need my products. He took me close to his office and asked me to go and meet him.
When I knocked, the person who opened the door had tribal marks. I greeted and knelt down. He asked to know what I wanted. When I told him, he asked me to fill out the form. When I entered, the boss told me he was taking care of himself and already feeling okay and that he didn’t need my product. Along the line, an angel walked into the office. ‘Wow!’ The man that entered screamed. These drugs, I have been looking for them. In short, do you have this, do you have that? Before he finished, the boss that said he didn’t need my product said, ‘Would you drop it and get out of my office. Is that why you are in my office? Do what you have come for and get out! The man apologised and while leaving asked me to see him in his office. That was the angel that God sent to me.
The boss did not just end up packing everything. He said your products are very good, abi? What can you recommend for me? He bought for himself, his wife and his children, and I doubled the money. I am not that nice when it comes to money (laughs). I always told them my products are more expensive because I will give you exactly what you need. So if you want value, come to me, but if you want anyhow product, go somewhere else.
I read Physical and Health Education and I major in Physiology. So I am not just a marketer; I am telling you how your system works.
How were you able to sharpen your marketing skills?
Have you forgotten I am a Witness? You can’t be a Witness without really knowing how to be convincing. We learn all this.
What gave you the idea to start making money right from school?
I am Ijebu now. I love making money. I don’t like begging. I don’t like asking for money.
Who showed you the way to Cotonou to do that kind of business?
I was getting N2,000 per month as pocket money. A lot of my colleagues were getting N500 per month. I was really, really a big girl, but at the same time, I don’t like going broke. I like making money. Who gave me the idea? I was in sports because I did PHE and we always travelled. We were always going shopping each time we travelled. In the process, I saw some Alhajas selling GL. ‘Alhaja, this GL is very beautiful, I can sell this thing in the hostel,’ I would say to the women. I stayed in the biggest hostel in LASU then. That was how I started buying them. It wasn’t that there was any idea. I had the money with me. I had a tip from the school that they would give us. I had a tip from the state that they would give us. I fought judo for the country. I participated in sports back then, especially NUGA. LASU then was doing very well in NUGA and Law. Those were the two things that brought LASU to the limelight then. We were always the best in judo and tennis, but we struggled with other schools in football.
What is your business philosophy and who is your role model?
You want me to say the truth? I have only one role model: Jesus Christ. He is the best teacher that ever lived. What do you need to know about teaching, about marketing, about convincing, about anything? Everything, Christ has it. There is nothing new that I am doing. I give no credit to myself. All glory goes to Him.
After you finished with FLP, what was your next line of action?
I left FLP in 2001 because there were no more sales. I was buying so much without really recruiting. In FLP, I grew to a senior manager level. But if you do not meet a certain target monthly, you will not earn. Why would I keep buying what I would not sell? I thereafter moved to Tianshi. Since 2004, I became the best on the continent.
You are into real estate. What differentiates your own real estate from others?
While I respect and appreciate everybody, I believe in quality. Like my rice, I can’t sell what I cannot eat. I believe that anything you want to do, do it very well. I wanted to go into real estate early but I know for sure that the cost of land is different. The cost of cement, plumbing works, electrical is the same. The only difference is the cost of land. Being a businesswoman, I like to make money. I ask myself, how much will I make in the next 15 years? Anything I am building and I don’t make my money back in 10 to 15 years does not make sense.
We are building one in Ikoyi. I just believe in quality, the right price, right place. It is actually Eko Towers that was built for me. I may only have to build one in a year but that one would be worth my name, my time and my efforts.
When I asked about your role model, I was thinking you would mention your dad. What kind of person was he?
I love my dad so much. He was a man of wisdom; he was an honest person. You can’t know my father and get wrong. He would tell you the truth no matter what happens. If you see me, you see my dad. We are only two that look like him. My dad influenced the choice of everything I did.
Do you have any succession plans as a businesswoman?
I was talking with someone today and she said aunty, your kind of wealth is different. Yours is about empowering people. How many wealthy people do we have in the country and even the continent that has churned out millionaires like them? Very few, if there are. People like to give fish to others without teaching them how to fish. That is the difference between me and other people. Many people in my network are multi-millionaires monthly. Well over a million of them are earning millions. I don’t want to say weekly because you may think I am exaggerating. Trust me, hundreds of thousands among them are earning multi-millions weekly or at least millions of them are earning millions monthly.
That is enough for me. I come from a sharing environment where you don’t eat the bread and give the crumbs. We share the loaves. That is what makes me very fulfilled. When I travel to any state in this country, you will think it is the governor that is coming. I won’t even see my handbag or phone. Somebody will be holding this, another will be holding that. That has been happening for almost two decades now. If I go to the UK, it is the same thing. In the US, it is the same thing. In Asia, it is the same thing. The crowd at the airport waiting for me. What again are you looking for?
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