Hafsah Umar, a 24-year-old graduate of Sociology and Anthropology from Baze University in Abuja, is one of the few budding female carpenters and home decorators in Nigeria.
In an interview with Daily Trust in Abuja, the young start-up said along with her two brothers: Muhammad Umar, 19 and Is’haq Umar, 16, she operates a couple of businesses under the 5Eleven Group umbrella company.
- How small scale businesses are faring under COVID-19 lockdown
- COVID-19: How businesses can survive — Personnel mgt institute
The firm which started in 2014, about six years ago, enlarged to include gifting, branding, photography studio and the 5Eleven Homes for bespoke furniture and home decor products.
Speaking about the 5Eleven Homes, Hafsah said despite the huge effect of the coronavirus pandemic, especially on business, her customer base grew much more than ever.
Hafsah said, “During the lockdown, I made 100 percent use of all our social media handles, made very detailed adverts, posted amazing work, during production, installation and all that to attract customers.
“Because we could not physically meet with clients, we made very good use of our social media and that helped the business in making hundreds of more clients during the lock-down.”
She attributed this feat to the use of social media, adding that the lock-down and stay at home directives prompted more people to have more social media presence.
“The pandemic hasn’t really stopped the business from generating income. Rather it has helped the business more. Because people are now at home 24/7, they see all the problems with their houses and what their homes lack before especially on hand furnishing and decor wise,” said Hafsah.
To her, the pandemic came as a blessing in disguise, as work continued for her at the furniture factory, with more clients placing orders for ranges of products, like bed, sofa, wardrobes, shelves and cubicles.
Her major challenge at present is that she can’t engage more staff due to the physical distancing, and controlled crowding measures against the transmission of the coronavirus.
“Although we’re taking all precautionary measures to keep our staff and customers safe, projects are taking longer to produce because we are short-staffed. Aside from that, I have almost doubled the number of clients I had before the pandemic and I have made a whole lot of projects, which I did not expect to do, but I did.”
Hafsah even hinted on expanding with business by establishing the first large scale showroom in Kaduna metropolis of Kaduna State. “We’re currently working on our first big showroom in Kaduna.”
