How She Has Sustained Her RIKAZ Fabrics For Over 30 Yrs
She is one of the popular textile merchants in Lagos. Alhaja Rianat Bola Owoyemi is the pretty wife of Alhaji Tajudeen Owoyemi, the Chairman of Radisson Hotel, Lagos. She is the CEO of Rikaz Fabric, one of the popular fabric stores in Lagos and has major celebrities as her clientele. The Yeye Asiwaju of Offa land, Alhaja Bola is also a topnotch society woman who has been rocking the social scene for many years.
She is beautiful and anytime you see her, you will see her looking very expensive in anything that she wears. She loves fashion and it is so easy to notice on her.
She is one of the women who get numerous invites to A. list parties. The list of society women in Lagos will not be complete without her name been mentioned. As she has made a success of her career so she has of her marriage to the great philanthropist, Alhaji Owoyemi.
The quintessential matriarch of the Owoyemi Salaudeen clan was born in the early 1960s to her loving parents, the late Alhaja Tiamiyu Adebisi Balogun, former Odofin of Offa Kingdom and the renowned beauty, Alhaja Hawau Mohammed Balogun who is of a Ghanaian and Fulani heritage. She was educated in Ghana , Offa and Lagos State. A true match made in heaven, the understanding between husband and wife still stands till today; Alhaji Tajudeen Owoyemi conquers in all his spheres of influence and Alhaja Rianat Bola is always behind him, unflappable and unshakable encouraging him in all ways to reach for the stars.
Alhaja Rianat Bola Owoyemi is blessed with six children and numerous grandchildren, whom she trained by instilling strong values of hard work in them. As a young bride and mother, she worked at the New Nigerian Newspaper for 15 years where she honed her administrative and people management skills. She also went on in the same vein as her husband, the new Asiwaju of Offa land to try her hands at entrepreneurship. She started by establishing a home goods store importing and exporting until she moved on to the lucrative business of textiles. She has since established herself as a textile merchant ,well known in the circle as a mover and shaker with exquisite taste in fabrics. She is involved in many charitable causes and has continuously created businesses with very strong corporate social responsibility focus choosing the care of humanity as top priority
Few weeks back, one of her daughters, Bukky Owoyemi Oreagba, a designer and top stockist of ethnic wears who is the CEO of a Premium Fashion Brand, Hausa de zuzu staged a pop up show in Victoria Island and it was attended by many A.list celebrities who came to support and patronised her unique designs. Alhaja Owoyemi stood solidly behind her daughter , invited her many friends who showed up for the show which turned out to be an evening of shop and chop. It was at this event, she told City People her love for fashion and how she started the fabric business.
How did she feel being at her daughter’s pop up show?
“I feel very happy for her, I salute her doggedness and determination in making a success of everything she lays her hands upon. I like her entrepreneurial spirit. So I am happy to be here to give her the maximum support that she needs. I pray for her to excel.”
What can she say about the luxury designs she has seen there?
“They are very beautiful and nice style. This is a very different concept from other people’s own . She always like to do her things differently anyway. She does not follow the crowd and this has shown in the various designs displayed here, I quite like a lot of them.
She has been a foremost Textile Merchant for many years selling fabrics. but her daughter is also into fashion. She is a designer. What can she say about the difference in interest?
“Well, really I wanted her to do what I am doing but from her growing up years, She like something ethnic, she likes to do her own thing differently, of course I would have love her to do what I am doing, but she is not really interested in selling fabrics. She loves to design. She loves the Adire, the batik and all those artistic fabrics so to say, she likes it more African. So I will only support her and pray for her that she will continue to soar higher and succeed in her endeavour.”
Is there any of her children who is also into sales of Fabrics like her?
“None of them are into the business I am doing, there is nothing I can do about that, it is better they follow what they love to do most, I can’t force them.”
She also told us how she started her fabric business?
“Well, I like anything fashion. I love to look good, I love to also wear good things. Anything that will make me look good is what I like and I also want to see people look good so that was where the passion for selling fabric came from. I sell different types of fabrics.”
How long she been in this business?
“I have been in this business for close to 40 years, even when I was working as a civil servant, I had started selling fabric then. I travel out to get my fabrics. It is not easy to sustain such business now because of the exchange rate but it is a very lucrative business and I have sustain it for over 30 years.”
What can she say about the sustainability of the business?
“One thing that has kept us going is Integrity. We are true to our words, quality is our watch word. I travel everywhere to source for good fabrics, we don’t just sell fabrics, we sell Swiss, Korea fabrics, quality is affordability to us and many clients that has patronised us can testify to the quality of our fabrics.let me also say God has given us the grace and has kept us in this business for this long because it is not that easy. Exchange rate this time is not smiling at all but we still keep at it. What we usually buy with 3 bundles now can only buy one, but we still thank God.Our clothes are affordable still.”
-TAYO OYEDIJI
(08111811219)
