Unemployment Pushed me to Success

Adeola Shyllon

House of Amearypearl is one of the reputable names in Fashion, Beauty and Jewelries in Lagos. It was founded by Adeola Shyllon, who went into fashion after a stretch of unemployment. She has grown the brand to become a household name with strong appeal. Adeola strongly advocates utilising social media platforms for profitable activities and not just as a means of wasting time and human capital. She speaks to Tosin Clegg about unemployment, getting into the fashion business, challenges of running a business and why youths should shun idleness, amongst other issues

How l got into online fashion and beauty business

I am an Engineer by profession, I was in the university for seven years, no thanks to ASUU. But after two years of job hunting, post-NYSC, I went back to what I enjoy doing most, business. I have always been a businesswoman, selling all sort of fashion items back in university days, ranging from clothes, shoes, jewellery, bag, and hair extensions. That was how HouseofAmearypearl was birthed.

Major challenge

My major challenge has been to literally do everything all by myself, such as posting goods, taking orders and having them sorted out for delivery. This is because my business is a very delicate one, it’s really not easy. You know how gold can be, you can’t really trust anyone with it, and it’s quite delicate. Another challenge is to attend to all my customers at the same time. If you spend too much time with one, another will complain you are ignoring him or her. To crown it all, it is very capital intensive and no one can even support you. Bank loans are also not an option to facilitate running the business because their interest rate is just too high.

Role of the social media

Social Media is very key for business growth. God bless the creator of all social media apps, you get to interact with all kinds of people all over the world who will patronise your business and you even get to be friends with some. It is unfortunate that some people do not use their social media handles well. Rather than utilise it well, they are careless to the extent that they block opportunities that can set them on the path of breakthrough. Entrepreneurs should not fall into this trap because social media is a space where you don’t know who you are talking to and impressions matter in business.

The joy of being a woman

Women are special beings and tend to excel in most critical aspects of life. A woman always does well in leadership positions. I feel it’s very very important for women to be independent. ‘Our money’ is different from ‘my money’. It doesn’t speak well if you wait on someone to foot your bills, so it’s okay to strive, it’s okay to hustle. There’s no shame in making your legit money. What makes us exceptional is consistency and our top notch customer service and new business strategies.

We also want to make sure everyone owns gold this year and I tell everyone how important it is to invest wisely because of bad days. So what we did lately is that we introduced deals matching lightweight jewelry together and make them really cheap for everyone.