Mazeedah: Trading, a key empowerment means for youth

T@LatifatOpoola

he ability to recognise your goals and be motivated could drive any focused youth into a productive business. This has been the case for Mazeedah Adeola Olajide–Yusuf.

Mazeedah who is a Pharmacist and doing her internship at the Federal Neuropsychiatric, Hospital, in Lagos now sees value in business just when she started a fashion collection hub being a student.

What spurred her to grow this skill was the need to “create wealth, break new grounds outside the school activities and to impact in one way or the other in my environment.”

She buys and sells products relating to fashion for ladies, ranging from handbags, shoes, Abayas, skirts, jewelleries, wrist watches and host of other products.

Reliving her start-up issues from November 2015, the ‘ZeeDAH Collections’ owner said she was in the fourth year at the School of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan when she started. Doing business and combining with studies was tough for her but my ‘tenacity and perseverance saw me through.’

Mazeedah who is in her early twenties said she learnt the business from observations and with the guide of her husband.

“He takes the pain to encourage and guide me on the nook and crannies of what I need to know about being an entrepreneur. He has passion for entrepreneurship and also teach the course on some online platforms,” she said.

Starting with N20,000, she has turned it around with the business growing at a steady pace through what she describes as condiments for professionalism - a set vision, commitment, proper and adequate planning.

To expand her business, Mazeedah said she took to the bank to acquire funding but is faced with challenges of unbearable interest rates and poor alternatives for funding.

“There several myself and other young ung entrepreneurs rs face. I started ed this business as student with just st my school ID D card and that at couldn’t fetch h me through any y documentation to access fund.. They require collaterals and sophisticated mode of identification like e the driver’s license and international are challenges passport which I had none,” she explained.

She has also faced the cyber threats as the online is one of her marketing platforms. “The shabby activities of some individuals have had negative effect on our sales and promotion online. Some people are sceptical to deal with you without physical presence due to their encounters with some online scammers,” she lamented.

To her, more youth must the embrace the entrepreneurial aspects of their lives and apply their inborn skills and competence to push themselves out of poverty.

“I think it is high time we engaged in activities that will empower us outside our paid occupation and even strive to become self self

employed.