Meet The Boss: Tobi Olanihun, CEO WOW! Connect

Tobi Olanihun, an event conceptualizer and executor, spoke to Connect Nigeria about why she decided to start up a business in line with her passion, and gave upcoming entrepreneurs advice worth a bag of gold. CN: Tell us a bit about your professional background. TO: I hold a BSC (Hons) from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Quantity Surveying. I am an affiliate marketer with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK and also a Prince 2 Project Management Professional. I worked at one of the biggest and best run downstream oil companies as a branch manager for some years. My experience spans through business development, sales, project management and planning. CN: What is the story behind Wow! Connect? TO: The creative world has always beckoned to me as our love story spanned many years starting from my university days. I modeled, participated in activations and also tried to be a voice over artist. In university, I was involved in AIESEC, an international student-run organisation promoting business and early entrepreneurial qualities. I planned career fairs and some other events while I was vice president, external relations at some point. So even when I was employed, I was still drawn to planning events. I started with my love for doing my own projects and then decided to handle events on behalf of clients as I could totally add great value to their events too. CN: What exactly are the services your business offers? TO: We offer event organizing in all its ramifications. We plan, coordinate and conceptualize events for our clients. We offer these services for concerts, conferences, seminars, networking events, dinners and parties. Organizing fairs is one of our major strengths. We offer affiliated event services/products as well like event staffing, premiums and gifts, event collateral like badges, notebooks, tags etc. CN: Who is your business targeted at? TO: Our business is targeted at organisations and individuals who want the best of events and have a clear objective.     CN: How did you raise money to start up your business? TO: I had some savings from work and got loans from my friends and family. CN: What challenges did you face starting out? TO: Well, I am just starting out, (laughs) but seriously getting clients has been a challenge. Our business started out as a service providing company offering no tangible products. Prospective clients wanted to see pictures of our previous work which we didn’t have so we started out by doing a few ‘free’ jobs and it became easier from that point. CN: How would you rate your customers’ satisfaction level? TO: Thankfully we have been very fortunate with customers being satisfied with our work. Our clients always come back for us and always refer us to others which has been the best thing that has caused the growth of our business. CN: What is your unique selling point and why should Nigerians choose WOWConnect over competitors? TO: Our USP is our customer intelligence and service. We immerse ourselves totally into our events and people usually think we are the owners of the project/event we work on. We are project owners as well – we have events we own so we do not only execute events but we conceptualize events as well so we have the total picture of what an ideal event is. We also offer premium service delivery at an affordable cost. CN: Which books have impacted your life positively? TO: Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘’The Outliers’’ and ‘’The Tipping Point’’, and “Secrets of a Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Eker. CN: What is your long term vision for Wow! Connect? TO: We want to be one of the most notable and the biggest event management organisations from Africa and this is not being big in terms of our personnel but in our client base and conceptualizing and executing notable projects. CN: What advice do you have for those who desire to start their own business? TO: To stay focused and consistent. Turn your hobby/passion and love into your everyday job. Don’t join the bandwagon, start a business only because you feel very strongly about it and you want to add value. The thought of riches alone will not pull you through the rough days. Stay connected to other entrepreneurs and learn from their mistakes. Read anything and everything because knowledge is power. For more information on WOW! Connect, you can go to; Website:  www.wowconnect.com.ng Email; info@wowconnect.com.ng Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/pages/WowConnectng Twitter;  www.twitter.com/wowconnect