Ogey Emefiele is a renowned interior design, hotel, and beauty entrepreneur. She’s the founder and CEO of Goodland Africa, an integrated interior design and real estate company; she’s also the founder of Geycci Beauty, a beauty, wellness, and skincare brand; and she’s the group managing director of 2020 Hotels and Apartments, a hospitality brand in Nigeria.
Her creativity, expertise, leadership skills, relationship-building skills, team management abilities, and unwavering passion are personal assets that make her indelible. Dogged, determined, and driven. She believes that true power lies in harnessing and effectively managing one’s gifts and personal assets. Aside from her expertise in interior design, hotel, and beauty entrepreneurship, she’s a business development expert who has scaled businesses from ideation to profitability.
She’s a wife, mother, and mentor to young women across Africa.
In this edition , we discussed her business journey and her social impact projects.
AFC MAGAZINE: As an entrepreneur who has developed a good number of businesses from ideation to profitability. Why do you think entrepreneurship is important?
OGEY : Entrepreneurship is important because it announces visionaries. It brings about development, and I believe the whole essence of the concept is to help humans be proactive and solution-driven.
For instance, I am a creative entrepreneur, and being a good one requires me to think ahead. I am always future-driven. I am never about the now but the future. So entrepreneurship is an important concept because it announces visionaries and gives them the opportunity to determine what the future should be.
AFC MAGAZINE: What is the greatest accomplishment of your career as a business executive?
OGEY : I would say the greatest achievement of my career as a business executive is to witness the establishment of every business I have pioneered.
Growing up, I have always aspired to be in the corporate world, but life takes unexpected turns, and goals and aspirations change.
Just before I got married, I had an offer to work for a prominent organization, but all that changed with a conversation with my husband.
He reshaped my perspective and the entire career path I envisioned. So we began building businesses.
Growing our own businesses has exposed me to a vast array of experiences. Anyone who knows me understands that I research extensively. If I enter any industry or sector, I can conquer it within a short period of time. This positioned me as a business professional because I could enter unfamiliar spaces, industries, and sectors and conquer them. I began to see that business development was really for me because I was gifted at it.
My goal was to scale every business I pioneered. Once we reached a certain growth point, I’d bring in experienced managers to take over, and then I’d move on to another business.
So, I’ve opened, developed, and scaled businesses. Which now gives me the title of business executive, and that’s something I take immense pride in.
AFC MAGAZINE : How did you start your company, GoodLand?
OGEY : Goodland is my baby. Yeah. Of every company I own, Goodland is dear to me. I started Goodland from scratch in 2014.
Goodland is a real estate company, but the concept of the real estate I wanted to build was not the concept of real estate that was common. I needed to make it like a lifestyle business. Because I love beautifying spaces.
As a matter of fact, my first project under Goodland was my kitchen. I’m a woman who hears the Holy Spirit. And I hear the Holy Spirit in three major places: in my house, my bathroom, my room, and my kitchen. So I needed to renovate my kitchen.
I spend more time in my kitchen because I love good food a lot, so I needed the kitchen to be renovated as much as my bedroom is my sanctuary; I needed my kitchen to be my second sanctuary.
So I planned it, designed it, and then got it executed. So that was a boost of confidence to launch Goodland on a full scale.
I also got the name Goodland during the course of renovating my kitchen. Yes, Goodland came as an inspiration from God.
The name Goodland is also a testament to my story. The story of God taking me from grass to grace. You know, grace is the place of good luck, the land of milk.
In 2017, we needed to launch Goodland around the world. But all I had was N700,000. I couldn’t establish the business properly.
So when we started getting projects, people would ask us, Where’s your factory? Where’s your showroom? We didn’t have a showroom, and we didn’t have an office. So what we did was get a piece of land on lease; the land actually belonged to my sibling, hahaha, and we constructed it like a zinc factory. And when my staff are working there, they’re under excruciating heat.
So we didn’t stay there for more than six months. We then moved to our factory in Kubwa.
That was a trying season for us, and then God helped us. We got a space where we built another factory that was a lot more comfortable.
We grew. We made mistakes. And today we have the mega good land. And if I must say so myself, it’s becoming a household.
AFC MAGAZINE : How does your company’s business look now compared to when you first started?
OGEY : Absolutely! There’s a huge difference between when we first started and now. We’ve improved significantly in both service and product quality.
GoodLand is a product- and service-based company. When we started, we didn’t have the same level of quality control for furniture finishing. Today, when people visit our showroom, they often can’t believe our furniture is made in Nigeria. In fact, we sometimes take them on tours of our factory and show them the fabrics we use to convince them. Our competitive pricing also reinforces the idea that imported furniture wouldn’t be this affordable. So, quality control is a major focus for us.
In terms of employment, we’ve learned from past mistakes in hiring people who lacked the necessary capabilities and experience. Today, thanks to our growth in capacity, human capital, and finances, we can hire more qualified staff. We’re grateful to God for our progress, and it motivates us to keep improving.
AFC MAGAZINE : What is the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?
OGEY : That’s a great question! Being an entrepreneur throws a lot your way. But in this part of the world, in Nigeria specifically, I’d say the hardest part is managing human capital and finding the right employees. It’s definitely tougher than in some Western countries.
There, people tend to be more career-driven. Put them in the right role with the right tools and environment, and they flourish. In Nigeria, it’s different. A lot of people aren’t necessarily looking to excel or leverage their work to accelerate their success. It’s a constant challenge to find people who truly align with the company’s vision.
So, based on my experience in business and management, I can confidently say that in Nigeria, the toughest hurdle is employment. Managing human capital is a real struggle.
AFC MAGAZINE : What point did you look at your company and consider it a success?
OGEY : The turning point for me came when we finally secured the right equipment for the factory. You see, GoodLand specializes in project-based furniture production for hotels, restaurants, and big projects. Reaching this level meant we needed top-notch equipment to deliver the perfect finish. I even had to travel internationally to find the machinery that met our standards.
That was the moment when both my team and I felt we’d reached a significant milestone. We could finally produce any furniture we envisioned, exactly how we wanted it, with the right tools in hand. It wasn’t the pinnacle of our vision, but it was the springboard to our success. We still have a lot of equipment on the wishlist, but at this stage, we have the core setup needed to tackle any project-based furniture production with confidence. That’s the level that made us consider GoodLand a success story in progress.
AFC MAGAZINE : Tell us about your social impact project for female entrepreneurs.
OGEY : I am passionate about empowering women! One of my flagship projects is the Kingdom Business Ladies Network (KBNL). It’s a network designed to support female entrepreneurs by providing faith based resources , fostering collaboration, and promoting growth.
The core mission of KBNL revolves around female development, which we achieve in two ways:
Supporting Rural Women Entrepreneurs: We identify women in rural areas who have the drive and vision but lack the resources to take their businesses to the next level. We then step in and offer them the support they need to achieve their goals and empower them to move forward.
Connecting Established Women Entrepreneurs: We also identify successful women entrepreneurs and connect them with the right channels to further accelerate their growth.
Think of KBNL as a network built on relationships. We actually have another social network in the works, focusing on female entrepreneurs across Africa. We’ll share more details about that exciting initiative soon!
AFC MAGAZINE : How do you achieve work-life balance?
OGEY : Honestly, I’m still figuring out work-life balance! But here’s what works for me as much as possible: I do put in a lot of hours, but I’ve learned the importance of creating a space for myself to recharge. As an interior designer, I knew this industry would be demanding, so I designed my personal space to be a sanctuary.
Beyond my sanctuary, a few other things contribute to my work-life balance:
AFC MAGAZINE : How do you stay motivated to achieve your goals?
OGEY : Impact is what gets me going! Knowing that I can make a positive difference in someone’s life, a project’s success, or the growth of a company or group of people – that’s what keeps me fired up.
These are the forces that keep me motivated and drive me to achieve my goals.
AFC MAGAZINE : How do you remain knowledgeable about new trends in lifestyle and hospitality?
OGEY : That’s a fantastic question! Staying on top of industry trends is crucial for my success, and I take several steps to ensure I’m always in the know.
In hospitality, we’ve implemented a company policy of hosting quarterly training sessions. These sessions feature industry leaders and top executives, along with internal management training. This collaborative approach keeps us all informed about the latest hospitality trends.
Travel is another key strategy. My husband and I sometimes attend hospitality seminars abroad. These events provide invaluable insights into global hospitality trends and customer expectations. We then integrate this knowledge into our company’s vision and operations.
I actively participate in various industry groups. These networks are a great way to stay current on lifestyle trends and connect with other professionals.
By combining these strategies, I’m confident that I can keep myself and GoodLand at the forefront of both hospitality and lifestyle trends.
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