Interviews & Hype: Meet Entrepreneur Doreen Moses Okon; CEO, Lorre SkinCare (Pt. 1)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014Omoba
Welcome to another ‘Interview with an
entrepreneur’, a series where we talk to entrepreneurs & industrialists and
delve into their business mind. Today we interview Doreen Moses Okon who is the
Chief Executive Officer of Lorre SkinCare.
Lorre SkinCare is an independent
consultancy concentrating on Body Creams. Enabling Client’s customers to drive service
requests using the solution of choice today, the Creams! Successfully driving
up revenue opportunities whilst keeping costs down by innovative use of
resources within the organisation.
Enjoy..
What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture or
to make significant changes in an existing business?
After learning from a well-trained
skin therapist in Germany, the timing was write for me to start my own. I did a
lot of research, and I found out that the Philippine has the best skin colour
in the world, to make believe, I took a trip to Philippine, did more research
and came back home with positive results after several months. Then I asked
myself "...if the Philippines can have that beautiful and flawless skin
colour despite the daily stress and hardship they face, why can't we African
women have same?"
How did the idea for your business come about?
I was inspired by my mentor, Mrs.
Rosabel Ufanete Ubong; CEO Rosabel Skinworld. Back then, I watch her on TV, on
how she makes different treatments, creams for the skin with pure natural
ingredients, I don't miss any of her episodes. At a time, I became very
conscious of what I use on my skin, I just found myself imitating her, doing
exactly what she does after every episode, it didn't really worked for me then,
but the more I practice, the better I learn. Then I decided to push and make
something out of it.
How do you find people to bring into your organization that
truly care about the organization the way you do?
Well, it's not easy to find people to
care for your organisation just like that, it takes a lot of measures,
training, hardwork and encouragement to master people to care for your
organisation.
How important have good employees been to your success?
I have worked with educated and
uneducated people. Common sense and passion are never learnt in school, it is
instinctive and often needs to be cultivated by an employee, you never know the
capabilities of a person until you hire them, I have been pleasantly pleased
along the way as well as gravely disappointed.
What three pieces of advice would you give to college students
who wants to become entrepreneurs?
(1) Create an idea and be passionate
about it,get people to work for you and sell this idea, (2) seek financial help
from successful organisations and push your idea to its peak, but remember
success is not built over night, it takes endurance and (3) believe in
yourself, work hard and have this in mind; with God, nothing is impossible and
never give up.
If you had the chance to start your career over again, what
would you do differently?
I will start with a strategic plan
instead of just a business plan, and I'd spend a great deal of time upfront
defining my vision for the business, such like; were do I want to be at some
point in the future, how would the business serve the lifestyle I want at that
date, who are my target customers and what do they say about me and my
business?
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a
successful entrepreneur?
Hmm.. Networking, learning ability and
problem solving. Yes!
What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned
from them?
I sure failed in things, which I need
not describe here as they are not meaningful to me now, but in all, I learnt
how to take my decisions right and often, hearing and obeying others too much
in a way might peg you, also to make my failure my another opportunity.
How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
If you get involved in a business, you
must succeed. I have never given up on anything yet, those that quit will never
know how close they were to success, that is not to say your original idea for
a business won't change, your plan is always changing and the company you
thought you started may end up being something completely different.
How many hours do you
work a day on average?
8 hours....... to be continued
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