Olajumoke Lawoyin’s first degree was in law (LLB) from the University of Ibadan. After obtaining her BL from the Nigeria Law School, she worked with Zenith Bank Plc for six years before proceeding for a Master’s degree (LLM) in International Energy Litigation from City, the University of London from 2012-2013. On completing her programme, she moved back home and co-founded Lucy.ng with her other brilliant co-founders.
CN: How would you describe Lucy.ng and the services your business offers?
Lucy.ng is an online gifts superstore. We make it easy for individuals and corporate bodies to order personalised merchandise used as gift souvenirs at occasions and events, corporate gifts and promotional items for marketing and advertising. We also have a new product line called the “Gift Registry” that will be launched very soon.
CN: Who is your ideal customer?
We are a B2B and B2C company, so our ideal customers are:
- The individual: Not surprisingly 80% of our customers are mostly women aged 21-65, either middle or upper class, working or business owners with little or no time to attend to other things, who love excellence and want value for money.
- Corporates: Our ideal corporate customer is both small and big businesses. They are ambitious brands with big plans to reach out to as many potential customers as possible to grow their market share and customer loyalty using corporate gifts and promotional items.
CN: When did the business launch, and what were your biggest challenges starting out?
Lucy was launched on the 1st of October 2014. Our biggest challenges starting out were mostly 3rd party factors such as reliable delivery partners, reliable suppliers, etc but that has been solved for a long time now.
CN: What has the response been like since you started?
The reception has been fantastic, Nigerians are now more than ever receptive to the convenience of e-commerce. Our fear initially was, would people want to transfer huge sums of money to make orders since we don’t sell single items, and we couldn’t even try the payment on delivery model because of the nature of our business? Surprisingly we earned customer trust from get go with repeat business as proof.
CN: Which entrepreneurs inspire you?
Mark Zuckerberg, Tony Elumelu, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Tara Durotoye and a bunch of others.
CN: What is your unique selling point and why should Nigerians choose Lucy.ng over competitors?
Excellence. You are assured of the quality of products, our service to you as per purchase to delivery is topnotch, and our prices are highly competitive. I really wouldn’t see why anyone shouldn’t choose us. We put the customer first every step of the way.
CN: Which books have made a difference in the way you think and live?
The Bible, Napoleon Hill’s
Think and Grow Rich, Malcolm Gladwell’s
David and Goliath and a lot more.
CN: What do you consider to be the best career decision you have ever made?
Co-founding this start up with the other co-founders rather than going back to the 9-5 job I had prior to that time. It was a scary time taking such a huge step but with the competent team I have, a sustainable business model we’ve got in place and realistic expectations, I knew I was making the right decision.
CN: What advice do you have for Nigerians who long to start their own businesses?
Start, just start.
Address: 12a, Mabinuori Dawodu Street Gbagada, Lagos
Website: www.lucy.ng
Phone: 09090001509
Email: info@lucy.ng
Twitter: twitter.com/lucydotng
Facebook: facebook.com/lucydotng
Instagram: instagram.com/lucydotng
Read all about Lucy.ng
Click here to contact Lucy.ng directly
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This article was first published on 22nd August 2017 and updated on November 6th, 2017 at 9:26 am
jehonwa
Joy Ehonwa is an editor and a writer who is passionate about relationships and personal development. She runs Pinpoint Creatives, a proofreading, editing, transcription and ghostwriting service.
Email: pinpointcreatives [at] yahoo.com
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