OMOSEDE IKEJI THE CHIC, CORPORATE COBBLER

Omosede Ikeji (nee Giwa-Osagie), the brains behind Grand Cobbler Enterprises, is one versatile and self-assured young lady whose career switch from white-collar job to becoming a cobbler only takes a convinced heart. With ivy league education in the United Kingdom and mouth-watering corporate jobs that followed suits, she has the world at her feet. Determined to make a success out of her husband’s vision of establishing a world-class cobbling Centre in 2014, Ikeji dropped her personal ambition and embraced her newfound career wholeheartedly with her magic touch. As she turns 40, Funke Olaode unveils the bold and adventurous amazon who finds passion in recreating and reinventing the soul of luxury leathers.

She has a supermodel physique; tall, slim, elegant, exotic, and stunning, her glowing face commands attention. She has never worked as a model. Hers is a brain mix with beauty as she often channels her intellect towards achieving goals in various corporate establishments where she had worked both home and abroad. Welcome to the world of Omosede Ikeji, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grand Cobbler Enterprises with headquarters in Lekki, Lagos. Born in London on May 13, 1981, Omosede Ikeji (nee Giwa-Osagie) between 2003 and 2006, was at London Metropolitan University where she earned her first degree BA (Hons) in Marketing and Business Information Technology, between 2001-2003 she was at Westminster Kingsway College where she received Double Award in Business and Consumer Behaviour.

And from 1998 to 2000, she was in South Thames College where she studied Computer and E-Business Studies.
Armed with various degrees, Ikeji plunged herself into the corporate world. She started her career in 2006 with Avanti Screen Media, London, as an account executive. In 2007, she worked with Vizeum (Aegis Group), London, as a Marketing Executive. She moved to Nigeria in 2009 and joined The Quadrant Company (a Troyka Company) as Head, Consumer Services, and in 2010 as Chief Operations Officer at Metro Taxi, Opebi, Lagos.

In 2014, she became the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grand Cobbler, where she manages daily operations of the shoe and leather good repair, overseeing corporate communications, including brand and corporate issues management, consumer communications, hiring and training of technical staff, procurement and management of inventory and supervision of management staff.

“I have always desired to be an entrepreneur within the sales and service delivery side of the business, and this was influenced by the places I worked while growing up. Like many people in London, I started working very early, doubling with school. I started at 17 from McDonald’s in college and then JJB Sports as a salesperson and then to the prestigious Selfridges Luxury Mall where I worked for five years from my days in London Metropolitan University. Then I worked at Vizeum Media Group following a Career in Marketing and Business IT, which I majored in at the University before moving to the Luxury Leather Brand SMYTHSON as a Marketing Executive overseeing Asia and the South Pacific.

“At SMYTHSON, I worked closely with some of the finest guys in the business, including Mrs Cameron, whose husband became Prime Minister (he was the leader of the Conservative party at the time). She was our Creative Director. It was a close and concise but highly motivated team at SMYTHSON, and we got rapid exposure to understanding leather products and how personal leather goods are with people. Our clientele were some of the important personalities across the globe, including royal families. That experience, together with my five years at SELFRIDGES, remain valuable to the ideals and standards of my outfit, the Grand Cobbler.”

Transitioning from a white-collar job to cobbling may not be an easy task, but for Ikeji, it was a walkover though everything happened by accident. “The company was founded seven years ago. I actually become a cobbler by accident. The idea was conceived by my husband who felt inconvenienced that he had to always take his leather shoes to London to fix because the guys here were not tender enough and cared less about the value when they are fixing them. Being a typical Igbo man, despite being a very busy lawyer, he set up the business as a ‘side hustle’ to fill the apparent void and was shopping for a good manager when his older brother Chief Victor Ikeji prompted him to speak to me about it, and the rest is history.

“The dream was to have an outlet that knows the value of shoes and leather goods and how personal and special these items can be to their owners. Because we were coming into a space of uncertainty, we had to upscale to the roof in terms of quality and customer experience, deploying the top shoemaking technics, handling, machines and materials as practised in the shoemaking districts of Fermo, Le Marche or Florence in Italy. To fix an LV luggage, it has to be the same standard, and when we freshen up the red sole under a Christian Louboutin shoe, even Christian should not be able to tell the difference. Also, when we help expand the edges of Gucci, Tods or a Manolo Blanik shoes, we must handle with tact precision so that the detail of the edges is not lost to the customers’ desire to fit into a slightly smaller size. The goal is to fix leather items without comprising the spirit and detail of the design. There is a saying that a good leather can last forever if you have a good cobbler.”

For Ikeji, having a standard and glamorous office aside, customer satisfaction is key as her clientele cuts across. “Shoes, bags, and luggage are very personalised items, our clientele cut across just about everyone. From that young female banker or tech company executive who lost her top heel at a party last weekend to the Judge or top business leader and even monarchs. We see them all. Many A-list actors and musicians and many other creatives of great note trust us strictly to mind their items and throughout the years we have operated, we have consciously tried to maintain the service standard and customer experience.”

And her parent’s reaction to her newfound career? “It wasn’t easy for them to relate with, but I was already at the point of responsibility in my growth stage and could take charge of career decisions. Marriage brought me to Nigeria because my husband made it clear whilst dating that we would live in Nigeria. It was somewhat my early days when we started The Grand Cobbler, so my family in London still had concerns with how I was transiting and settling in Lagos. I had worked in corporate settings both in the UK and Nigeria, and my parents didn’t have a problem relating with those because they were both similar to what I did back in London, but the switch from corporate circle to being a cobbler must have been a little worrying for some because it sounded awkward on the surface until you have an experience of what our vision is about.”

The last seven years, according to her is being awesome. “It has been a very rich experience and full of so many hurdles that we have to surmount on a daily in order to keep up our service standard. The transition from being a white-collar corporate executive to a semi-blue-collar was challenging, but overall, we think we are happy with the extent to which we have pushed the vision. As a cobbler, you see beyond the shoes and must imagine the pleasure you cause to the customer. It is like bringing back life and recreating or reinventing the soul and essence of an item. It is much more than work but a connection, and without tenderness and a genuine desire to cause happiness, you cannot achieve a good repair.”

Recently, Omosede Ikeji turned 40. “Frankly, for me, age is just a number, but we have to be grateful and show gratitude for the gift of life. I don’t believe that upon attaining 40 years, it is all over for you in terms of development. History is awash with people who failed all their lives but later impacted the world even after 40 years of age· Honestly, the last 10 years would be the most beautiful years of my life because, within those years, I had all my kids and watched them grow. It is such an amazing experience nurturing children.”

Born in London into the popular Giwa-Osagie family from Edo State, Ikeji admits that it was a privileged being born by hardworking parents who inculcated good values in them.

“My parents were both administrators in government departments. My Dad worked for the School Boards while my Mom worked at the education department in Westminster. They are both happily retired now. Having lived in Nigeria for almost 12 years now and looking back, I could frankly say that it was a great privilege to have been brought up in the environment we were brought up. And generally, as children of immigrants from Nigeria, there is a huge and positive pressure on you by your parents to make something meaningful out of your life. The average immigrant Nigerian parent somehow knows how to help navigate their kids into making something out of their lives, and for that, I can’t thank my parents enough for the positive influence.

“Growing up in London was a mixed grill but overall, it was awesome while we were young. I had the privilege of growing up and making friends with multi-ethnic and multi-racial kids of all cadres. We were regular and very active kids who all freely interacted with each other without discrimination. I grew up in South London with a huge black population and very multi-racial.”

Very often, people are of the opinion that the children from renowned families such as the Giwa-Osagies get favour as a result of their family’s influence. In Ikeji’s case, she is happy to have come from that family, and at the same time, she is true to herself. “My parents are not affluential in the sense that I presume you mean. They were regular hardworking folks with great dignity and contentment. For that, I am grateful for their influence. And for my maiden name, I honestly cannot remember the name opening any doors for me (certainly not while I was in London) or relying on it for any advantage or privilege. It is a great family (together with the larger Oloke family comprising Belo-Osagie, Edo-Osagie, etc.) with some of the finest crop of professionals in just about all the major fields, and I am proud of that heritage of excellence. I have been married for a little while, and people in Nigeria hardly know me by that name.”

Ikeji is an energetic young woman that enjoys working hard as well as playing hard. Being an ambitious individual, she constantly strives for the best. She enjoys travelling and has been fortunate to have travelled across South America, Asia, and North Africa, and across Europe. “I enjoy meeting people from all around the world and learning about new cultures.”

Ikeji has been happily married for 12 years to her husband, whom she met as a teenager and courted for 10 straight years. Recalls on how they met with nostalgia…” We met in 1998 on my first visit to Nigeria as an adult. I was only 18 years, and he was in his early years at the University of Ife. We met at my uncle’s house in Festac. He was friends with my cousin, and we took an interest in each other that morning, and it continued to develop, we continued with phone calls (very expensive then) and many letters, and then I started to come back more often, and he visited London later, and we got married in 2009. I feel like I have known him forever.”

Ikeji as a career woman is also a loving wife and doting mother to her kids whose busy schedules have not in any way affected her obligations towards her family.

“It is just by the grace of God to mix all motherhood, family and work in a very demanding place like Nigeria, too many needless distractions from the core of your work like power, water and so much more you have to generate with the emergencies that come with them. In the end, scheduling and being disciple with your time and routine has proven to be helpful.”

Life at 40, what is next for the London City Girl who turns Lagos cobbler?
I will continue to build on all successes and leave behind the failures and disappointments, taking only the lessons learnt. And life at 40? “Frankly, I only have gratitude for all that life has thrown at me. I was able to make my choices and the outcome that followed, good or bad. In all, I am very grateful for the grace of God.”