Social media platform, Facebook, has begun its #FBSuccessStory campaign to spotlight Nigerian entrepreneurs using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to grow their business.
The six-week promotion is to celebrate, inspire future entrepreneurs, as well as highlight available tools available to scale up their ventures.
Facebook’s Head of Communications, Africa, Kezia Anim-Addo, said: “We’re proud of the role that we have in enabling SMBs to grow and scale. We know that small businesses are the cornerstone of economies and make significant contributions. This campaign is a celebration of some of these Nigerian SMBs making an impact, both in Nigeria and beyond.”
The quartets include Tricia Ikponmwonba of TriciaBiz, Samiah Oyekan-Ahmed of The Gift Source, Oluwatoyin Onigbanjo of Augustsecrets and Gina Ehikodi-Ojo of Foodies and Spice.
Featured in the programme and commenting on Facebook’s impact on her business, Oyekan-Ahmed, a medical doctor-turned entrepreneur and founder of The Gift Source, stated: “My business experienced phenomenal growth using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. I was able to build a formidable community on the platforms using audience insights, which helped me to deliver meaningful messages to new and existing customers. As a result of this growth, I have been able to employ more people and deliver more sales.”
Others are Tricia Ikponmwonba, founder of Tricia Biz, an online training and academy platform in Lagos, Nigeria that provides affordable and quality business advisory service for micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurs. Tricia has used Instagram to reach and guide over 130,000 small and medium scale businesses in increasing their bottom lines in various industries worldwide.
Oluwatoyin Onigbanjo, founder of Augustsecrets, is an award-winning child nutrition brand in Nigeria that provides healthy, handmade cereals and snacks for babies. Toyin has been able to feed over 30,000 children with her products within the first 18 months.
Through her use of Facebook paid advertising, she has been able to reach customers across all 36 states of Nigeria, including securing clients from Ghana, Canada, Cameroun, Gambia and Nairobi.
Gina Ehikodi is founder of Foodies and Spice, Nigeria’s foremost food and travel show. With the help of Facebook, Gina has been able to showcase and promote other food brands through her yearly food exhibition called Foodaholic Festival. Through her use of video content and relevant food hashtags, she has gained a following of over 100,000 on Facebook and Instagram, and has become a food influencer, with a large audience who look up to her for ideas on how to cook and also manage their food business.
Media partner and Head of Video Content at The Guardian TV, Bunmi Amosu, added: “As one of Nigeria’s foremost multi-media and news platforms, we are continually seeking new ways to share the authentic African story. It is exciting to partner with Facebook on this project to showcase entrepreneurs doing their best to rewrite the narrative about Africa. We trust this project would inspire many more African business owners to take advantage of the opportunities available and write their own success stories.”
Founder of BellaNaija and media partner, Uche Pedro, said: “BellaNaija has always believed in celebrating people making impact in their industries. This is why we are delighted to work with Facebook to spotlight local entrepreneurs leading change within their communities in West Africa. This BellaNaija-Facebook partnership has given us another opportunity to support business owners and brands, as we applaud their resilience in an exceptionally tough year.”