Adenike Ogunlesi is a Nigerian entrepreneur, whose success story is an inspiration to a lot of young women today. Her story showed that not having a university degree, or being a full-time housewife is not an excuse to not succeeding. Ever heard of Ruff ‘n’ tumble? That’s Adenike Ogunlesi.
Born on July 14th, 1959 to a medical doctor father, and a Scottish fashion entrepreneur mother, Adenike Ogunlesi grew up in a polygamous home in Ijebu-Ode. She had her secondary education in Ibadan, Oyo State, before gaining admission to study Law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. After her second year in the university, she had to drop out because she did not feel law was her thing and she only studied to be a lawyer because of her father.
After leaving the university, Ogunlesi seemed not to know the next step to take; she had no vocational or entrepreneurial skills and she had just left the process of obtaining her degree in law. She was later encouraged by her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Okuboyejo to join her growing fashion brand named ‘Betti O’, as an apprentice. While learning under her mother, she grew an interest in making all kinds of clothes for women and children. Her time at Betti O helped her discover her love for fabrics, and how to stylishly weave them into comfortable outfits.
Ogunlesi became very good at sewing clothes and after a while, she left her mother’s shop to be on her own. It was after she left her mother’s shop that she started earning money from sewing clothes for people. She not only sewed for others, her children were also beneficiaries of her talents. Mrs. Ogunlesi used to sew lots of clothes for her children and when their pajamas were worn out, she would replace them with another one sewn by herself. This repeated process was the main inspiration behind what is the biggest child clothing line, in West Africa.
Making pajamas for her children was fun for Adenike Ogunlesi, as she made a different design every time her children needed a new one. This inspired her to make lots of readymade pajamas for kids and sell them. It was in 1998, she officially began selling children’s clothing and her shop
-the boot of her car, indicated she had a humble beginning to her journey as an entrepreneur.
When Mrs. Ogunlesi began Ruff ‘n’Tumble, she had only one ‘employee’; her mother who served as an inspiration and even helped her discover her love for creating wonderful clothing designs. Apart from selling from her car boot, Ogunlesi also went to local markets and bazaars to sell to direct customers and other people who would resell her clothes. She was also very quick to advertise at every given opportunity, and also maintained a very good seller-to- buyer relationship with a lot of her customers.
As a result of the combination of her amazing designs and entrepreneurship qualities, Ogunlesi began to experience a growth in sales. This growth also meant expansion and she had to bring in lots of quality tailors as employees. In 2000, Ruff ‘n’Tumble was a raging force in markets, and she opened her first store in Ikeja GRA, part of Lagos. To improve her business know-how, she enrolled in the prestigious Lagos Business School.
From then, Adenike Ogunlesi has not taken her foot off the pedal; she has taken Ruff ‘n’Tumble through many advanced stages. Her brand is till this present moment, the most respected and innovative clothing brand in Nigeria. Ruff ‘n’Tumble has a warehouse, a factory, many retail outlets in different parts of Nigeria and distributors around West Africa.
Apart from Ruff ‘n’Tumble, Ogunlesi also owns Trendsetters and NaijaBoysz. These brands were created to design adult wears, and are currently competing with other major brands in the Nigerian market. ‘Nike’ as she is fondly called among friends, is a Non-Executive Director at Lafarge Holcim Plc, and a founding member and first president of the Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW), at the Nigeria Employer’s Consultative Association (NECA). Adenike Ogunlesi, is also an advisory board member and mentor at WISCAR (Women in Successful Careers), a mentoring programme for young women. Her works also extend to the church of God, as she is the Coordinator of The Marriage & Family Life Unit at the Catholic Church of the Presentation.
In memory of her mother, Mrs. Ogunlesi founded The Betti O Foundation. This foundation helps young people learn soft skills, and teach them how to use these skills to make money. So far, hundreds of young people and women have been beneficiaries of The Betti O Foundation, and have excelled in their various businesses with the little amount of money they were able to raise as capital. This foundation also partners the Lagos State Ministry for Wealth Creation and Employment, to help train youths in the art of fashion designing. She also founded the ‘I Share Cuz I Care’ Foundation; which runs a programme that gives quality education to orphaned children, or children living on the streets.
Her awards and recognitions include:
• Female Achiever in Children’s Fashion at City People Awards (2001).
• Fate Model Entrepreneur Award at the FATE Foundation (2005).
• Female Game Changer in Children’s Fashion at the Glam Awards (2014).
• Creativity and Excellence at Nigeria Entrepreneur Awards (2014).
• Diamond Woman at Diamond Band Awards (2014).
• Business Woman of the Year at CNBC Africa (2014). I
