What comes around goes around and a network of entrepreneurs keep the circle of support in the communities of Umudiator Village in Imo State. Mother and wife Mrs. Oluchi has the passion and creativity innate to support her trade. Since training with us, Mrs. Oluchi has also had a reliable network and the technological wisdom to continue a thriving business. Now Mrs. Oluchi gives back to the community and provides a tour of her workplace to YTF participants learning about entrepreneurship.
YTF hosts industry tours where the participants gain experiential learning and see for themselves how women run a business and use technology to their advantage. This past tour at MAV Paintings is an example of how a community can affect and empower one woman, and in return she give back to the community with her newly gained resources.
Bit of Background on the Creative Mrs. Oluchi
Surrounded by a solid community since young, her parents Mr. and Mrs. Emeluwa cared for their eight children, including business entrepreneur extraordinaire Mrs. Oluchi, the fourth child. Then from Umudiator village in Imo State with her family, Mrs. Oluchi moved with her husband to Ugwuta Village in Imo State, where she now resides. A graduate of business management himself, Mr. Oluchi supports her creative side and helps manage her business.
Mrs. Oluchi shows her love for creativity through her education and experience. She earned a diploma in Creative Arts and Industrial Chemistry. Right after secondary school, she was trained by Chinwe Elebo on bead-making and makeup in Abia State. Five years after training with Elebo, Mrs. Oluchi starts her own makeup business and runs it for 11 years.
Mrs. Nwagu (left) and Mrs. Eshie (right) join Mrs. Oluchi in the business.
The passion grew, financial problems arose, and the challenge only led to more growth in her dream business as she approached two of her friends, Mrs. Eshie and Mrs. Nwagu. Through their shared passion for creativity, the three of these women joined hands and started up O.A Mav Paints and Cosmetic Ventures, thus a new community forms.
About the Business
Mrs. Oluchi is the founder and Mav Ventures has been in existence for now seven years. It comprises of cosmetic, household utensil, and paint production.
Mrs. Nwagu takes charge of the cosmetics area which includes hair product like shampoo, conditioning, relaxer, and hair cream, etc. Household contains disinfectants, perfumes, Midol, air fresheners, bar soaps, and more, in which Mrs. Eshie oversees this area.
At another business location at Orji in Owerri, north of Imo state, Mrs. Oluchi sells her goods after production. People come from different states to buy from her due to the quality of her product.
Mav Paints Venture says that the demand for the goods is higher than the supply. Sometime the customers may be demanding up to 50 buckets of paint that may not be available at the time.
Our Community
Mrs. Oluchi says that training with our program has motivated her to pay more attention to her business. After seeing other women in business, she is inspired to work harder. The training gave her the opportunity to interact with other women who later patronized her business. It has helped increase the number of customers she is having in a week.
Our organization owes much of the impact to our collaboration with MasterCard and their support through the Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs and Mobile Value Added Services. This program leaves a chain-reaction of other stories similar to Mrs. Oluchi and her business.
“I’ve been reminded time and again that empowering one woman is like empowering all women.” ~Narges Khoramshahi, Next Generation Leaders program
