Rachel
Eyo is a lawyer, certified mental health advocate and the founder of Renewed, which is a business that
focuses on creating nice, aesthetically appealing positive affirmation products
that just keeps you reminded of positive words, boosts your productivity and
mental well-being.
Sam: Hello
Rachel, how are you doing?
Rachel: I’m doing very well,
thank you and thank God
Sam: Can you share your journey into the
business world? What inspired you to start?
Rachel: My journey to
business world was actually ordained by God. I had actually worked in a nine to
five, a law firm for about six years and towards the end of that when I left
the law firm and I started thinking of what the next phase will be, the Lord
really opened my eyes to seeing the possibility of starting a business and
becoming an entrepreneur. In the beginning I had no prior business experience,
I had previously tried to run a bag business and that didn’t last long, so when
I wanted to go into this next venture of one of the businesses I’m currently
running, God just directed my path and gave me a focus on what to really do. It
wasn’t something I was seeing in the market then, especially in Nigeria, when
we talk about positive affirmation products, affirmation cards, things like
that, I didn’t really see that a lot and this was the beginning of 2021, and so
I remembered in previous years where I had struggled with negative thoughts,
some mental challenges, depression, and anxiety and I wasn’t saved as well, so
I struggled. But then one thing I noticed was that every time I wrote down a
positive affirmation or a scriptural declaration on a sticky note and stuck to
my mirror or my table and I woke up in the morning and I was able to read it
and declare it, I felt better. And I did this for a couple of months leading to
a year and I saw drastic changes that happened in my life and the way I
approached life and in my thinking patterns and I felt this could be something
very valuable to people out there also struggling or who just need to stay
positive and improve their mental well-being and spiritual well-being every day
and so that inspired me to start my business Renewed
Sam: What challenges did you face when you started, and how did you
overcome them?
Rachel: Internal and
external challenges. When I started, I think the internal challenge was just
confidence in what I was doing and having high self-esteem to go out to be able
to market my product. I was very timid, I did not have the boldness as of then.
So I was very shy to market my product and a lot of people would market my
product on my behalf. I believed I had really great products, but I just didn’t
know how to communicate what I had, how to market it and just show up and be
bold to speak about what I did. I think I also just saw what I was doing as
something really small that didn’t have impact. So it was more or less my mindset
that was the issue. And then the external challenges, I remember getting some
feedback from people around saying “oh affirmations, would people really buy
this products? Like, so people really do this in Nigeria?” but I was like, you
will be surprised and I’m sure this product will reach people who actually need
it. So I faced pessimism from people who didn’t really believe that such
business idea would thrive in Nigeria because they felt this is more for the
western world and not really for Nigeria. But I was like if I could take this
bold step to provide a creative solution for mental health challenges or
negative self-talk or low self-esteem or lack of daily encouragement, then it
could be something different. So these are the two major challenges that I
faced and I was able to overcome them just by reframing and rewiring my mind.
So the more I also practice the positive affirmations, the more I was able to
get bolder, the more I was able to spend time in scripture and declare
scriptural affirmations over myself, the more I was able to become fearless,
the more I was able to shut out the noise and pessimism from people who felt
like this might not really sell in Nigeria and I think also when I got saved I
was able to step into the fullness and the full realization of who I am supposed
to be as a kingdom entrepreneur and that really shifted my mind, so I was able
to step out boldly into the market place and represent all that I am supposed
to be as a kingdom entrepreneur.
Sam: Was
there a defining moment when you realized your business was
going to succeed?
Rachel: Yes, yes, it was
when I relaunched the business to Renewed.
This time I was going in the strength of God and I was going with divine
wisdom. This time I was going with divine Grace, I was going with supernatural speed
and a lot of guidance from the Holy Spirit. And so there was a moment where I
was praying and I got the name in my spirit for this particular vision to
rebrand and relaunch the business because prior to that I had taken almost a
one year break from the business because the first phase of the business sort
of went a way I didn’t want it to go not because of the external factors but
because of personal factors. I felt like I needed more knowledge on how to run
a business, I made quite a number of mistakes and I felt very bad at it but I
had to take action. So I took a mini MBA course and I spent time praying, I put
business on hold and I spent time praying about the next direction that we were
going to go. So it was already being a success in the first phase but I feel
like the defining moment where I realized that this business is going to go
beyond what I could ever think not even just with the products that we had at
the time but with the products that were going to come was in that place of
prayer when the Lord instructed me to relaunch and gave me the name for the
rebranding and relaunching. And in that place I knew being backed by God, being
backed by the Holy Spirit when it came to wisdom and how to navigate the
business, it was going to be a success to his glory.
Sam: How
would you describe the current business climate in Nigeria?
Rachel: I would describe the
current business climate in Nigeria as very favorable and very diverse and full
of opportunities. I choose to focus on these because whatever I think about the
business climate in Nigeria is basically what I will see as a reality. I know
that quite a number of people tend to focus on the negative aspect of the
business climate in Nigeria but one thing I’ve seen is that a lot of businesses
are actually thriving even in the midst of uncertainties as a regard to
policies from the government or things like that but a lot of businesses are
thriving, a lot of people are still thriving, people are still making money and
people are still showing up. So I feel like how you approach the business
climate in terms of your perspective and your mind really matters, because that
is what you will see and that is what will be able to help you push through in
the event of any unpredictable, maybe government policies that could affect
certain things. But I know that Nigerians are very resilient, we are very
hopeful, very persevering, and very diligent when it comes to work and so I
believe that for people who choose to see opportunities, they are there and the
opportunity to thrive as a business owner and as a kingdom entrepreneur is
there as well.
Sam: What
role does networking play in business success in Nigeria?
Rachel: Networking plays a very big role in business success in Nigeria because it helps with collaboration. I know that sometimes certain industries tend to be very competitive but when you network you get to meet new people and you get to meet other business owners, the people who are thriving the way that you do, then you realize that there is a large room for collaboration. So networking also plays a role in encouraging collaboration among brands and just boosting visibility, publicity and even sales in general. Personally, I realized that when I meet new people and I tell them what I do maybe when I go for events where there are other creatives or kingdom entrepreneurs or business owners, over the months, I’ve been able to grow in my boldness and speaking about what I do and the products that we offer and why they are so important and you find out that you meet a lot of customers who then patronize you on the spot while you are still talking about what you are doing. As its often said “No man is an island”, we need each other, if you run a business you definitely want customers, customers who are willing and ready to pay the value of your products and services and a faster way to do this is by networking, meeting new people, attending events where you can network with like minds, entrepreneurs or business owners and just showcase what you have to offer. And you never know, your biggest customer could be someone you networked with and not necessarily somebody who messaged you on social media.
Sam: Have you noticed any shift in how
businesses approach mental health and what changes would you
still like to see?
Rachel: Yes, I have noticed
a shift in how businesses and organizations approach mental health, especially
mental health of their staff because with my sister business which is Ziva Wellness, we do mental health
trainings and just trainings in general for organizations and we’ve noticed
that businesses especially in Nigeria have started welcoming the idea of
training their staff on mental health and well-being especially to boost
productivity in the workplace and what they can do better in their personal
life to take care of their mental health and well-being. And so there is that
shift, even if it’s still in minority when it comes to percentages, but I would
still like to see especially in Nigeria where organizations prioritize the
mental well-being of their staff and are open to procuring services like ours
that will train their staff on mental well-being because we found out that
there is a very close link between your mental health and well-being and how
productive you are at work and so I would like to see where every business
owner who has staff or even a business owner for themselves prioritizes their
mental health and well-being and prioritizes the mental health and well-being
of their staff enough to be able to procure services to train them on
understanding how better they can cater to their mental well-being and just
boost their productivity in their professional life and personal life as well.
Another change would be implementing policies within the organizations that
promote better mental health and well-being.
Sam: Have
you ever faced any mental health challenge while running your
business in Nigeria?
Rachel: When I first started
my business, I didn’t really know how to manage my mental health and well-being
and also wasn’t in the reality of certain spiritual truths that I have now. So
sometimes, I would easily get overwhelmed, frustrated or burned out when I was
trying to navigate the business, just like trying to ensure quality of the
product and also keeping track with the ever increasing prices of materials and
so those things would destabilize me a little bit mentally where I will now
start feeling worried, I would be panicking, I would be stressed out,
overwhelmed and just burned out, sometimes I would even be anxious because of
how unpredictable thing were, you could do a batch of product today with a
certain price and then put out your selling price and by the time you go back
to restock the next month, the prices have increased and so by then I didn’t
understand how to navigate that.
Sam: What
strategies have helped your business stay afloat over the years?
Rachel: By the special Grace
of God, our business is about 2-3 years and some of the strategies we have
employed to help us stay above water and just thrive in Nigeria is
1) Delivery
of Exceptional Service: One of the thing I really pride myself on and take time
not just to master but deliver is customer experience. We want people to come
to Renewed, not just place an order
and go and feel like one out of the many, we treasure beautiful customer
experiences, so from the point you make contact with us and place your order
till when your order is delivered, we pride ourselves on exceptional customer
services, we want them to leave feeling like they have had an encounter with a
business that is kingdom driven with our principles of integrity,
communication, and respect.
2) Intentional
Customer Engagement: Going beyond just posting things on social media, but
engaging with our customers and getting feedback on what types of product they
will like to see or what we can do better with certain products or different
ideas that they may have because we are creating products for our customers and
so they are our primary concern. As much as we get products and creativity
divinely inspired for this kingdom work we are able to receive feedback from
customers.
3) Prayer:
I consider prayer to be my biggest business strategy, prayer for wisdom, strength
and for Grace to be able to pass through the storm and have peace of mind in
the midst of uncertainties or government policies or things like that.
4) Developing
Strategic Business Goals: Monthly, weekly and daily goals, engaging on social media,
conversion of enquiries into sales and social media data. We are not focused on
post going viral, we are more concerned with conversion into actual sales.
Sam: How
do you balance profitability with social impact?
Rachel: When it comes to
profitability, of course one of the major reasons why people run businesses is
to make profit. I realized that in running a business, you don’t sacrifice one
for the other, but while profitability is very good, at the end of the day when
you have a business that seeks to create impact in a social or spiritual way,
you have to be very careful not to sacrifice impact for lack better word on the
altar of profitability but there has
to be a balance and one of the best ways to do that is to invest heavily in
Quality Control especially in the kinds of products that are being pushed out.
When the quality of a product is really good and feedback from customers also
helps, then you are able to maintain the integrity of the product for the
brand, ultimately creating value for money while impacting them with the
product you sell.
Sam: What
areas of business do you hope to venture into in the future?
Rachel: For now I can’t tell
what the future holds, and I am good with that, I know that as we grow we will
continue to expand. I currently run 3 businesses, I’m in the legal field, and
I’m into wellness and training and also into product related business. At the
moment, I am running the 3 businesses and I’m excited for what the future
holds, I don’t particularly know what other areas I might go into but I’m sure
it will be things related to thing I am passionate about. Entrepreneurship has
been a very exciting, challenging and very mentally stimulating journey.
Sam: What
digital tools or platforms have been beneficial to your business?
Rachel: Quite a number of
digital tools have been really beneficial to my business, Canva for designs,
ChatGPT for coming up with certain idea concepts, inShot for video creation and
editing, the captions app to caption some of the videos for product
descriptions. Social media has also been very helpful too like Instagram and X.
Google sheets has also been very helpful to keep track of product, order,
inventories. Also Seller which is a digital platform to sell products. I like
to use seller because I can sell both digital and physical products and we
quite a number of digital products like wallpapers, wall frame prints, t-shirt
prints and a couple of e-affirmation cards that can be printed out so these
digital tools have been very beneficial to my business.
Sam: What qualities
do you think make a successful entrepreneur in Nigeria?
Rachel: Some of the qualities
I think that makes a successful entrepreneur in Nigeria are
1) Mental
Resilience and grit
2) Adaptability
and innovation
3) Boldness
4) People
Skills
5) Integrity
6) Risk
taking and Decision making
7) Problem
solving – Customer centered
8) Strong work ethic and discipline
FAST & CURIOUS
QUESTIONS
Sam: What 5 things are on your bucket list?
Rachel:
Jump out of a plane, attend a NASCAR race, go on a cruise, fly first class,
travel to 50 countries
Sam: What is your favorite childhood memory?
Rachel:
It would be playing sports with my dad on Saturday mornings in Lagos
Sam: If you had a warning label, what
would it say?
Rachel:
Caution: Too Much Light ✨
Sam: Which of your 5 senses would you say is the
strongest?
Rachel:
Sense of smell
Sam: How would your friends describe you?
Rachel:
This is a very interesting question, I think they would describe as caring,
loving, sometimes independent, sometimes a little too serious, focused,
intelligent, smart and driven.
Sam: Would you rather get a list of people who
secretly dislike you or people who secretly admire you?
Rachel:
List of people who secretly admire me
Sam: Would you rather be the best of the worst
or the worst of the best?
Rachel: Worst of the best
Sam: Do you hit the snooze button on your alarm
or wake up immediately?
Rachel: I hit the snooze button
Sam: Thank you so much Rachel for
doing this, I appreciate
Rachel:
You’re welcome! Thanks so much for having me!
IG: renewed.ng
P.S: This
interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity