Glory’s story: designing a successful business

 Glory Omoregie is the CEO of Homecraft Interiors. Her business is creating beautiful interiors and employing people in Lagos, Nigeria. Our Road to Finance programme supported her to expand her network and build her financial literacy skills so that her business can continue to thrive. 

“My name is Glory Omoregie, I’m the CEO of Homecraft Interiors. Homecraft does interior design projects, but we have now branched off into furniture production and creating home fragrances.  

I became an entrepreneur out of curiosity and because I was keen to do something different. When I left school, interior design was not really a thing. Most people were going for more traditional jobs. But I discovered that design was my passion, so I had to pursue it.  

Being a female entrepreneur in Nigeria is challenging. One of the major challenges is the lack of funding. Big money goes to the men because there is a belief here that women shouldn’t run large businesses. When a woman asks for a loan, they get strange looks. In the interior design industry it can be challenging working with male artisans. They find it difficult to take orders from a woman, they are used to looking down on us. 

Joining the Road to Finance programme made an enormous difference to my business. The programme improved my financial literacy. One of the things that I learned was that there are many other sources of funding available other than banks. You don’t always need to have a loan. For example, I now pay my suppliers in instalments, which means I can buy more products. I also ask customers to pay in advance when ordering something, which means their money goes towards the cost of the production. I’ve also realised that many of my friends have money at their disposal, and I’ve been able to borrow this way.

Since the programme, we’ve expanded our production of furniture, beds and home fragrances, all of which are made in Nigeria. We now have a lot of artisans working for us, which means all of their families are being taken care of as well as my own. My business doing well means I am contributing to the community because aside from generating more income for myself, I am employing others.  

It was important for me to realize that the challenges I had been facing were not mine alone. I met many women who were all facing the same thing. We were able to brainstorm and network and talk openly about our challenges and goals. It was a beautiful opportunity and a lot of the women I met at the training are now my good friends. We still get together to share ideas and figure out how to grow our businesses. A WhatsApp group has been created where we update each other about grants and the opportunities we can lever. 

I believe women should be supported because women are naturals in business. Women are builders, whatever you give a woman, she will multiply it. When you support a woman, she will take care of her family and extended family. The whole community benefits. Give them a house, it becomes a home. Give them groceries, it becomes food.