Maryam: My zeal is to make you feel beautiful, build an empire!

Maryam Humairah Kabiru is the CEO of MHKofficial and Shoes. The 25-year-old Adamawa State entrepreneur and Mass Communication graduate of MTI University of Cairo, Egypt shares the secrets to starting a business in this interview.

What’s the motivating factor for you in this business? For me, I just wanted to find my way and also for others, I believe in “I don’t have to wait for the government to provide a job for me, I can create one for myself and others. We have a lot of talent in this country, so why not use it?”

I want my children, grandchildren and the next generation to grow up in a better society, I want them to grow up and also be motivated, I want to be an inspiration to others who are just sitting down and not chasing their dreams to wake up and chase that dream.

The reason I decided to go into the makeup, accessories and leather business is because I’m passionate about it, I wanted to make everyone feel beautiful, I wanted to make something for everyone,

I didn’t want to focus only on women, I wanted to do something for men too, I want to build an empire in Nigeria.

How would you describe a typical work day?

A typical work day for me really is all about sorting orders for delivery, going for meetings and spending time with my workers, making sure everything is going as planned.

Starting up a business comes with its hurdles. How did your business survive them?

Of course I do face some

challenges, Is there any successful business that didn’t face any challenges? I guess not.

The main challenges we are facing is actually making people accept our products, its actually hard to make people accept a Nigerian brand, people actually prefer buying international brands, so making them accept ours is the main challenge for us.

What would you say your achievements so far?

are

A lot actually, I recently released my female shoes, so I am currently working on the male shoes and other projects.

What other things do you do beside this creative venture?

Sketching, sleeping watching movies/series inspiration there).

Are we looking up to some projects from MHKofficial and Shoes soon?

I am currently working on a project I want to empower the upcoming talents we have, I want to start sponsoring the upcoming ones, like paying for at least one person every month to attend a class in whatever field they desire and are passionate about.

How did you raise funding for the venture?

I first raised my funds from my little savings and then my dad also gave me some funds to help grow my business and right now, I make use of every profit I make to make other products!

How many persons have you created value for, anyone so far?

We have about and (I get 2,000 or