The beauty industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Nigeria. The industry is creating employment for hundreds of thousands of young women who are embracing makeup artistry. Opeoluwa Bankole is one of such young women. For Ope, the fact that women will always desire to look good is what convinces her that building a career in the beauty industry is a right choice for her. Like many makeup artists, Opeoluwa started falling in love with makeup products as a teenager watching her mum use them. Fast forward to few years, Opeoluwa is a makeup artist whose brand is fast becoming popular among women in her community. Opeoluwa is a final year student in one of Nigeria’s higher institutions – Yaba College of Education, Lagos. She is the owner of Dellaz Artistry. In a few weeks, she will be graduating from school not only with a degree but with a business to build on already. We recently caught up with Ope to find out more about her exciting story and how it all began.
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Bukola (for ideaslane):
What sparked your interest in makeup artistry?
Opeoluwa:
Well, my interest came up when I was 15 years. I usually use my mom’s products then. After secondary school, I wanted to study beauty and cosmetology at Opera Benson but my dad said I had to go to computer school, but the interest never died. By the time I was 21 and got into the polytechnic, for part time studies I knew I wanted to become a makeup artist.
Bukola:
What prompted you to start your own makeup artist brand?
Opeoluwa:
Well, while I was in school doing part time, I was working at the same time. So I usually would makeup for my colleagues at work and they would like it. In those days, the comments where really good. So I was like ‘why don’t you go into this thing as a business and make money for yourself since you are good at it?’ and voila! I started charging a token and seriously horning my skills on the job and today, the rest is history as they says`.
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Bukola:
Why did you have to start a business while still in school?
Opeoluwa:
Yeah… I started as a student because I know makeup is something every young lady will want -even students. Doing makeup as a student makes me engage more with other young ladies who need my services for different purposes. The school market is a large market, so why not start in school? Besides, I really needed to start as soon I could for experience purposes. I needed to learn fast, make as many mistakes as I could and improve so that by the time I will be working fully outside the school walls, I would have refined by brand.
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Bukola:
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Opeoluwa:
A lot of times, I come across inspiring contents on social media just about the time I need them most. For someone like me, social media is not just a platform to make random comments on people’s posts, it’s a place to learn, meet people, connect and better myself. I go on social media to grow my brand – personal and business and I have been achieving this. There are many people on the gram whose success stories inspire me to want to achieve my dreams and that’s why I say social media is where I get my inspiration from. For example, when it comes to makeup brands, I get a lot of inspiration from bmpro. I also love the works of Oshewabeauty and layefa. Of course I get inspiration from other people around me too.
Bukola:
What three makeup items should a woman not leave home without?
Opeoluwa:
It certainly would be her powder, foundation and lipsticks.
Opeoluwa also loves volunteerism. She has burning passion for less privileged children and this passion has moved her to start a foundation for the less privileged kids in Nigeria called dellaz FoundationNg.
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