•The Matriarch Of Coral Beads Reveals
On Saturday, December 25th, 2021, Lady Emmanuella Abiodun Aisien, the matriarch of the coral beads business in Nigeria, clocked 70 and celebrated in grand style.
She held a classy party at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. Before the party, City People’s Contributing Editor, IYABO OYAWALE (08033564055) engaged her in a chat about her life at 70. Below are excerpts.
How is life at 70?
Life at 70, I feel very very happy. I feel great. I feel happy. I feel that God has been part of my journey from the beginning till this day.
So, what are the lessons life has taught you at 70?
I have really learnt a lot. I don’t want to say much about my life journey until my book comes out.
When is the book coming out ma?
We just started. Maybe at 72, 73, it will be out. My Life Journey With The World is the title of the book. My advice to young people is number one, have the fear of God in dealing with people, in dealing with family and friends, in everything you are doing, just know that someone is up there, watching what you are doing and how you relate to people. Very important and in everything, put God in front. God first. When you wake up in the morning, your eyes are open, just give thanks to God.
Are there things you plan to stop or start doing at 70?
At 70, I think my charity life has just really started. Taking care of the less-privileged, the blind, the lame, the orphans, that has been my interest from time, which I have been doing. I have never stopped doing and I think God has a reason for keeping me up til now. So now, I am retiring from hard work but I am deeply involved in taking care of the less-privileged.
Does that mean you have a foundation that does that?
I am in partnership with some foundations, I am supporting, really supporting some foundations like the Discharged Leprosy Patients on Lagos-Benin Road. We are the ones that arranged to take them to camp so that they will not be on the road again.
We were invited in America, World Bank invited me and Florence Owuche and Innocent, we travelled to America to defend their case after which we made arrangements to put them in the camp. That was after we came back from America.
Before then, we had been cooking twice a month for them. We make the food here in Lagos, charter a vehicle to take the food there and share for them. We were doing it weekly but when it was becoming stressful, we started doing it twice a month, and finally, when the leprosy patients were reducing, we started cooking once a month until we finally got them settled at the camp.
I am a Trustee of the Discharged Leprosy Patients. I am also a Trustee of Sweet Home Organisation. That NGO discourages our children from going abroad.
You just said you are retiring from hard work, does that mean you are retiring from business fully?
When I say hard work, I mean going here and there, running after people to come and buy what you are selling. Retiring means staying at home, people call you to tell you what they want and you invite them to see what you have.
You are also a businesswoman of repute. How did you get started in business?
I started the business when I was very young, at the age of 23/24, I started with selling jewellery, taking jewellery from my friend, Mrs Tola Awobajo, she is late now, may her soul rest in peace. She used to give me jewellery to sell, I sell to people at Balogun, at the end of the month, customers pay what they have and take something else. It went on like that until I was robbed of the jewellery.
My houseboy took everything to Cotonou but luckily for me, everything was recovered. So, when we recovered everything, I called my friend, I brought out everything so she could take what belonged to her. Since then, I stopped selling jewellery. Later on, I started wine business. If you know Ellasien Wine and Spirits at Oke-Arin.
That was my shop. Then, I left Oke-Arin for the children. I started doing the coral at the Iponri shop. Even when I was in the UAC building, I was doing the coral but somebody was handling that. So, I left Oke-Arin for Iponri and left the Iponri shop finally to sell from the house.
You are the No. 1 in the coral beads business.
Yes, I do coral beads for chieftaincy, weddings, etc.
What are the challenges you faced in business when you look back?
The challenges I faced in business? I lost over 100 million naira in the wine business. If you have unfaithful staff, they will do you a lot of harm. The staff I had then if you ask them to take money to the bank, they had their own stamp. It is unlike now that you get alerts all the time, they are supposed to take like 2,3,4, million to the bank, they have tellers from the bank, they stamp it and bring it to you. You look at it, you think there is money. By the time you are going to pay suppliers, you will see that instead of having about 60, 70 million, you will be seeing about 15, 10 million.
Most of them were dealt with but some of them ran away. We couldn’t get them but I thank God for life. They would have done more harm. I experienced a lot of terrible things. I was supplying Park N Shop and 911 at Abuja. I was the one supplying them wine and spirits then but now, the children have taken over.
Your children are in the wine business?
Yes, they are in the wine business.
The girls or the boys?
Most of them (laughs).
Are they working with the Ellasien brand?
No, they have their own companies.
Your coral designs are unique, how do you come about them?
It’s a gift from God. You simply sit down, when you sleep, you think about these things, it comes to your head, you wake up in the morning and you start designing. I had about six girls working with me on coral at a point. I taught them and they also applied their own talent. Some of them even did it better than I taught them.
Why did you decide to focus on the coral business?
Because the wine business, I really went through stress. I was so stressed that I really had to get out of it otherwise, you will break down completely.
What is a typical day in your life like?
I wake up in the morning, pray, talk to friends on the phone, go visit the grandchildren or go visit anyone that is nearby. Somebody calls that they need something, you come back home to attend to them.
So, you run the business from the house now?
Yes.
How do you keep looking this young?
I think it is the grace of God. One falls ill and gets strong again. It is the grace of God.
This business has taken you places, you know a lot of people but would you say your coral beads are affordable?
Yes, I have gotten to know many people through this business. My coral beads are affordable but I have mostly Italian coral.
So you sell strictly Italian coral?
Sometimes people ask for corals that are not too expensive but I show customers what I have and if they are interested, they buy it.
The six girls you said were working with you on the coral business, are they still with you?
No, no, no, most of them are married, most of them have their shops. They are no longer with me.
So, you are the only one running the business now?
I have two of them. If we have anything to do for people, to restring, they do it.
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