Ife
Salam is a young entrepreneur who is so passionate about skincare. She puts God
first in everything she does and believes that she could achieve whatsoever she
sets her mind to do. Ife is a pretty lady who is well read. She has studied
both in Nigeria and overseas and recently became a member of the Chartered
Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM). She has a Master’s degree in
International Business Management, at the Middlesex University, London, (where
she gathered her business acumen). She has a BSc in Economics from the Covenant
University, Ogun State, Nigeria, and also took 2 courses, Judgement and
Decision making and Navigating Through Organisational Complexities from the
prestigious Harvard University.
Having
gone through every step to become a chartered personnel manager at CIPM, Ife
has a good advantage of understanding human skills. Her impeccable sense of
judgement and decision making can be traced to the trainings she was exposed to
at Harvard University. With such an intimidating CV, Ife decided not to pursue
a white collar job but decided to pursue her passion and become a problem solver
for many Nigerians.
CITY
PEOPLE’S DAMILARE SALAMI met with her at her Lekki office last week and she
spoke about her skincare business. Below are excerpts.
You
have such a very huge and intimidating CV, what are you doing in Skincare
business when you can get high paying jobs out there?
The
thing is you have to follow your passion. I feel like no knowledge is lost and
no business is too small or too big for any knowledge. This is just one branch
of the business; we plan on expanding so we are still going to have more
branches across Nigeria. The skills I have, the knowledge and all the academic
qualifications are what I’m using to run the business and they are what is
making it grow and become successful.
You
recently opened a Skincare mega store in Lagos, what’s the product all about?
Kiehl’s
Nigeria is a skin care brand. It’s an international organisation and we are
actually selling the products in Nigeria now.
So Kiehl’s Nigeria is a skincare brand that produces for men, women and
even babies; because our products are made from naturally derived ingredients
and we use that to maintain your natural skin complexion and texture. We do not
go beyond the natural skin complexion so we don’t have any bleaching ingredient
in our products. Even when you have discoloured skin, our products will tone it
back to its original position. So Kiehl
just helps to maintain the normal black skin you have.
Is
that why you look this beautiful?
Laughs... of course, I don’t even use makeup, I hardly
do, if I use makeup, I just want to; so that’s what we’re trying to achieve,
making people have their glow with their natural skin.
Kiehl’s
was established in 1851, why is it just coming to Nigeria now?
The
thing is, we may not be able to question that, the brand originated in France
but has its headquarters in New York and we cannot answer questions as to why
it was not in Nigeria earlier then when, it came. The reality is that it was
brought in by a Nigerian. The brand obviously has its goals and aspirations per
year. It’s not in all African countries but it’s in South Africa and Nigeria.
It is only left to you as an individual to bring whatsoever brand you want into
your country.
How
long have you been in the skincare business?
The
thing is, I have been in so many businesses, I’m a business person by heart and
by nature, so I wouldn’t say specifically this skincare business, but I would
say that I have the tenacity to do everything that I really want to do and as
regards to skincare, Kiehl’s itself has been in business since 1851 and I have
been a skincare enthusiast for over 15 years now. I’ve personally been using
Kiehl’s for over 10 years, and everyone who knows me knows me with Kiehl’s. I’m
almost like a brand ambassador. (Laughs) so basically even before this, Kiehl’s
is a brand that works. I had very bad blemishes and I had a very bad skin in
terms of pimples, discoloration and all of that. I’ve tried so many brands; you
know I’m not supposed to mention anyone so that I do not spoil any brand while
trying to promote this one. Trust me; I tried a lot of brands, expensive brands
and even normal ones. But this is the only brand I would say worked for me.
Meanwhile, getting Kiehl’s personally for me was a hassle, because obviously,
it’s not a Nigerian brand, so I have to always travel to get it all the time.
And you know, skincare products are not things you can always send people
because of travel luggage rules. So, that’s where the passion started from
because I knew a lot of people were facing the same difficulties too.
When
did Kiehl’s Nigeria start?
The
product started selling online last year November and just a few days ago, we
opened a store where people can come in and shop for their cream.
Between
November and now, what can you say about the acceptance of Kielh’s in Nigeria?
It’s
already an established brand so the acceptance has been great and I wouldn't
say people just accepted it as soon as they saw it, we had to do our own
promotions too. We had to convince some other people to give it a trial and
they've come back for more, but we also have some clients who have been using
the products in the past but also had difficulties like I did to get the
products here in Nigeria; so they are quite pleased.
You
just mentioned now that Kiehl’s is expensive, considering the economic
situation in Nigeria, how do you intend to compete with other brands?
When
I mentioned expensive, I don’t mean high overboard, I mean our products vary
for every class of people. We have products of 10,000 – 15,000, we have
products of 20,000-25,000, and we have 40,000, within that range. I’m talking
from an average Nigerian’s point of view. It could be expensive for a few
people but anyone who spends on Kiehl’s always comes back for more. I’m not
trying to brag, it’s just the truth. You know that when you buy this product,
you have a guarantee that you are buying a product that’s going to work. So a
lot of people actually don’t mind splurging on themselves to spend because some
people buy bags and shoes worth 150,000 naira and more so you spending 15,000,
20,000 or even 40,000 on your skin is not too much; it depends on how you look
at it. We have middle class people too who can afford it and we have skincare
products that are more expensive than Kiehl’s. So, I would say we are in the
middle. We are not cheap but we are not high overboard that many people cannot
afford; we are just there in the middle where anyone can afford. We have
clients who actually save up and some of them will say, I will come next month
when I get my salary so we have salary earners who we cater for, business
professionals and passersby. It depends on what the client really wants; we
have small sizes, medium sizes and big sizes of products. If you don’t want to
go for the big sizes, you can actually start with a 10,500 worth of product and
you find your way up.
What
products do you have and what problems do they solve?
We
have a lot of products. We have a wide range of products. Our products range
from your face care, body care hair care and lip care, everything on your body
really, our products solve. If you have
damaged hair we solve that, face issues, we solve that, discolorations,
pimples, dry skin, oily skin, etc. We have oil-free products, for dry skin, we
have products that hydrate your skin, we have products that clear your skin if
you have dark spot or discoloration, we have body products that tone your skin
appropriately to its original complexion and make it more even, we also have
products for damaged or very dry lips. We have products that can help you
resolve any skin issue that you have. We also have beard oil for the beard
gang, we have antiperspirant roll on for men, we have body creams, we have body
soap, I cannot mention all the products in this interview, trust me, you need
to come into the store to see the variety of products we have.
How
do you intend to make the brand known nationwide?
Emm...
honestly, that’s internal information you know. (laughs). Well, we are in Lekki
right now but we have clients from Abuja, from Port Harcourt, from Warri,
Delta, so many places. We always deliver nationwide. So the fact that we are in
Lekki does not mean you cannot buy from us. We have an online presence, we are
on Instagram @Kiehls_Nigeria, we can also be reached on 07045701460, our email
address is Email: kiehlsnigeria@gmail.com and Lagos office is situated at Viva
Mall, 5 Emma Abimbola Cole Street. Lekki Phase 1. People follow us on
Instagram, people call us, they order and we deliver their goods promptly
across Nigeria. We still sent out deliveries this morning as well. It’s always
an everyday thing when we send out deliveries across Nigeria. So, as we are in
Lekki, we are not limited to Lekki. We are actually catering to all the people
across the country. Notwithstanding, the physical presence of the store is
going to keep expanding from Lagos to other states. We have other states in
mind and we are going to be relaying that information as time goes on and we’ll
obviously call you back (laughs) when we open other branches as well.
You
did a sales promo, what was it all about?
Yeah,
we did a sales promo for our store opening where we gave 20% discount on all
our products but we are back to normal prices now. But obviously, we will keep
having promos from time to time.
What
differentiates Kiehl’s from other skincare brands in Nigeria
All
our products are scientifically tested and they are made with naturally derived
ingredients. We use fruits like orange, cucumber, pineapple, normal fruits that
you are able to eat. In terms of scientific testing, we are 100 per cent sure
that every ingredient has its accurate percentage in each of the products. We
make sure that we do not have an excess of any ingredient in any product. Our
products are very gentle on the skin no matter how many ingredients are
contained in one.
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