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We are all fond of gifts and souvenirs, but I’m sure we would be even more ecstatic about custom made and Nigerian-centric souvenirs. Connect Nigeria interviewed Jaffar Inegbedion, CEO Pandora Souvenirs and found out all about his unique products and how his business came to life. CN: What does your business do and how does it solve people’s problems? JI: Pandora is a promotional merchandising company focused on the design, production and sale of contemporary souvenirs and collectibles, positively showcasing indigenous culture and landmarks in Nigeria. We recognize a peculiar gap in the souvenir business especially relating to tourism-based gifting, wherein visitors to and from Nigeria are exposed mostly to traditional art and craft. Pandora offers an alternative to this existing range of traditional products by introducing more contemporary products such as decorative fridge magnets, key rings, pillow cushions, drink ware and a host of other exciting items with a new perspective to design and produced to match global standards.

CN: Where was the idea for Pandora Souvenirs birthed? JI: At home in a conversation with a friend where we discussed university memorabilia. CN: Is your product easy to market? What gives you a competitive edge? JI: At Pandora our perception of the market is driven by a philosophy based on “the product”. We focus on developing keep-safe products combining a unique blend of exciting design, best quality and functionality which make our products very appealing and easy to sell. We are currently in the process of developing one of the most efficient multi channel retail platforms with an objective to grow Pandora into a recognisable regional franchise. We currently maintain a partnership programme that signs-on resellers who display and sell our products at various retail locations and an online affiliate aspect that allows customers access to our products on the online platforms of our affiliates and also through our Facebook and online stores.

CN: What would you say has been your greatest challenge since starting your business? JI: Contemporary indigenous souvenirs until recently have not been very popular in Nigeria and so starting our business has had several challenges which include:

Getting retail stores to carry our products
Pricing; because there aren’t many competing products, maintaining the price and value of our products has been very tricky.
Adapting product displays to suit the peculiar needs of the resellers.
Acceptability of our perspective to design which initially was considered “too contemporary”.

CN: What motivates you? JI: An unusual appetite for success. CN: What are your favourite types of souvenirs? JI: I am very attracted to Bone China CN: What would you say was the defining moment that took your vision from a dream to reality? JI:The moment I saw our first set of pre-production designs. CN: Who are your target audience? JI: We hope to develop products that appeal to a wide range of customers but our commercial products are tourism based and so we expect a majority of our customers to be visitors to and from Nigeria.

CN: Do you have any plans for corporate social responsibility? If yes, what are they? JI: We hope to soon identify an area of corporate interest and develop a specific CSR plan that will be sustainable and positively impact our resident community. CN: If you had to give three business tips to every person considering starting a business in this industry, what would they be? JI:Good understanding of all aspects of the business is greatly important in order to be responsive to challenges that most certainly will come up, build a business model that’s easy to scale, collaborate and share ideas easily with people in similar business. CN: If you were given capital to further your business, where would you invest it? JI: We would invest to localize the production and customization of our products in order to improve on delivery time, reduce cost and replicate our model in other sub-regional cities. CN: If a genie would grant you three business wishes what would they be? JI: Our only wish is to be the most commercially successful business in our industry.

CN: What are your plans for the next few years? JI: We plan to work hard at quickly understanding our key success factors, mastering our business model and growing our brand across other regional markets. CN: What role does the Internet play in your business? JI: The Internet plays a greatly important role in our business with particular regard to digital marketing and online sales. We recognize the virtual marketplace as soon evolving into the most recognisable sales channel in this part of the world especially as more people have access to the Internet and so it remains a very important aspect of our business planning. CN: Would you like to expand outside of Africa? JI: Yes we would like to expand outside Africa. CN: What is your favourite quote? JI: “If there is a way to do it better…find it”- Thomas Edison CN: Who is your business role model? JI: Mayer Amschel Rothschild CN: What’s the best book you’ve read this year? JI: I honestly have not been able to start any book this year but I look forward to reading a book by Steven Johnson called “How We Got to Now” See contact information for Pandora Souvenirs below. Address: Block A1, House 115, 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos Phone Numbers: +2349031388557, +2348180000918 Email: info@pandorasouvenirs.com Website:http://www.pandorasouvenirs.com