Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone :: Turning tables on female boundaries

[Bulls n Bears]

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Take us back to the beginning


Being a woman entrepreneur in an industry largely dominated by men can be
daunting. But not for Lucy Agwunobi, the co-founder of Arredo by TRT – a
Nigerian company that designs and manufactures high-end furniture.

It was the thrill of breaching uncommon boundaries that first attracted
Agwunobi to study architecture and to later start her own business in the
male-dominated furniture industry.

Agwunobi’s journey to conquer the Nigerian furniture industry began as a
child whose love for design and beautiful homes spurred her to later study
architecture at the University of Nigeria. After graduation in 2005,
Agwunobi worked as a project architect for a furniture company for two and a
half years to gain practical experience before going back to school to
pursue a master’s in architecture. In 2010, Lucy teamed up with her
newly-wed husband, Jonathan Agwunobi, to co-found Arredo by TRT.

She says her husband was instrumental in them starting at the time they
did. “I kept thinking we needed capital and more experience. But he told me
that I was ready and we could do it. After we got the first contract, I
became more confident,” she says.

Unlike most entrepreneurs who struggle to find capital to launch their
business, Agwunobi says Arredo by TRT was launched without capital. This is
because the business model demanded clients to pay a certain percentage
upfront before the completion of a project.

“Our model is not
<https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/category/sectors/retail-sectors/>
retail,” Agwunobi explains. “You don’t come into the store and buy it off
the shelf. Our model is ‘made-to-measure’. So we didn’t need much capital;
we had experience and drive and that’s all anyone needs.”

The need for experience becomes clear when Agwunobi explains that little
avoidable mistakes could cost a business the entire budget of any project.
These mistakes would be, for example, not documenting your client’s colour
choice (instead of just taking the instructions verbally), labelling errors
in the production drawing as well as ignorance of industry standards and
appropriate wood choice.

Although Agwunobi concedes that they made a couple of bad decisions and
lost some money in the early years of the business, they were able to pull
through with their ability to “learn fast and keep on going”.


How did the company grow into the business it is today?


“Choosing to be innovative with our designs and the use of high-quality
materials and accessories made us stand out and helped us grow consistently.
Most jobs we get are from referrals,” she explains.

However, with growth comes more responsibility. In the beginning, Agwunobi
did all the designs herself and outsourced the manufacturing to an external
factory. Nowadays, Agwunobi no longer designs the furniture either. She has
ceded that responsibility to in-house architects while she focuses on
managing the operations of the company. Her husband took over the
supervision of the design, production and client relations.

The couple also faced the daunting challenge of starting a family while
growing a business. As time went on, they began to hire more people to
reduce the work load. But soon they faced the major challenge of finding
highly skilled workers who could be retrained to meet the company’s
standards. Also, the high cost of production made their products less
competitive when compared with mass-produced, imported furniture. The
Agwunobi team overcame this challenge, and others, by consistently providing
quality furniture with unique designs.

Today the company has its own facilities, providing employment to more than
25 full-time employees at its offices in Lagos and factory in Abuja.


What can we learn from your experiences?


Agwunobi says while working in a male-dominated industry can be
challenging, the trick to breaking the mould is to know what you are doing,
have a good track record within the industry and maintain a good
relationship with your clients.

“Don’t forget it wasn’t just me – having my husband as a partner helped
because two heads are better than one. Where I’m more analytical and
systems-driven, he is business savvy, creative and a go-getter. It’s just a
matter of everybody working in their area of strength.”

Going forward, Arredo by TRT hopes to take furniture from Nigeria to the
world and change the face of “Made in Nigeria” furniture through innovation,
technology and unique craftsmanship.

If you are thinking of starting your own business, Agwunobi’s advice is
that you need to find and learn from mentors and gain experience.

“Don’t just go into it, thinking you can do it on your own,” she says. “You
can probably do it on your own, but you will fail a lot before you figure it
out. So getting some kind of mentoring cuts off time from your learning
curve, and enables you become successful faster.”--Howwemadeitinafrica

 <https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/?attachment_id=61382> 

Lucy Agwunobi

Talking business with Lucy Agwunobi, co-founder of Arredo by TRT.

 

 

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