| For a span of 10 years Olatorera Oniru ’08 was swiftly climbing the corporate and financial ladder. From General Electric to Bank of America Merrill Lynch to Ericsson Sub-Sahara Africa, Oniru established a solid career. Her robust and demanding schedule included travel of over 50 cities in more than 10 countries over four continents. As fulfilled as she was, the entrepreneurial bug began calling her name and in 2016, she took the plunge and established Dress Me Outlet.
Extremely proud of her successful career, she yearned to do more.
“Yes, I had a 10-year career growth span,” she said. However, the Nigerian native added, "I wanted to create a platform to retail the very best of made-in-Africa fashion, beauty and more. It has also been important for me to increase Africa’s potential to compete on a global scale. It’s a massive, but achievable work in progress.”
The foundational work began years before she established the business. As an undergraduate business administration and management student at N.C. A&T (following in her siblings’ footsteps), Oniru used every open opportunity to develop her leadership and business acumen.
“COBE at A&T had a massive impact in my development as a young woman and leader. I learned a lot during my four years,” she said. “I also took on lots of leadership opportunities that were instrumental to my professional and entrepreneurial growth. COBE is definitely a fantastic department to learn and grow and I truly hope over the years the standard will only increase.”
Maintaining a stellar standard is something that Oniru made sure she cultivated throughout her corporate career and particularly while building Dress Me Outlet.
The budding e-commerce site is described as Africa’s fastest growing and foremost fashion-focused and customer-centric online retailer for high-quality fashion and beauty products. Based in Lagos, Dress Me Outlet is uniquely tailored to meet the needs of its clientele.
“We ensure that products we retail are in line with what our current customers and target market would love and buy. Additionally, we have a sourcing team that approves brands based on their growth in the market, the quality of products and the ability of the products to sell on a global scale,” said Oniru.
With over 60 percent of the company’s products made in Africa or African-inspired, Oniru is strategically and methodically expanding Africa as a greater international business partner. At the same time, her investments into the area are creating viable jobs.
“Generally, being a startup entrepreneur in a non-Silicon Valley city can be challenging and maybe a bit more difficult in an underdeveloped world, but we tend to focus on successes rather than challenges,” she said. “We are constantly looking to grow and excel in the industry and across Africa.”
“The strength of our staff has catapulted the business. Within the next 10 years, Dress Me Outlet will be dispatching millions of products from Africa to the world.”
Send Us Your News
Do you have good news to share? Have you recently received a promotion or special recognition? If you’d like to be considered for a future story, click here. |
