Celebrating Valentine the Royal Hugs Way
On Valentine’s Day, which is marked every February 14 globally, people celebrate love by showing affection to loved ones through cards, flowers, chocolates and money. Some even pull the big guns and take loved ones on destination trips to exotic locations, while others pull surprises using professionals like Oluwatoyin Deborah Oyesanya, the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Hugs Surprises. However, Oyesanya believes that Valentine should be an everyday thing and must not necessarily be restricted to a day. Having gone through a rough patch, a somewhat simple show of love from a friend was a lifeline that turned her life around and gave birth to the dream to share love through her company. In this interview with MARY NNAH, she reveals how she is using her life experience to bless so many lives by putting smiles on people’s faces
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hat is the concept behind Royal Hugs Surprises?
The concept is to make people happy because there are so many sad people in this country. So we make people happy by surprising people; getting them unawares.
Can you paint picture of how you do that?
People usually contact us, telling us who they want us to make happy with a surprise on special occasion. Most of the occasion is always birthdays. If it is not birthday, it is wedding anniversary, or ‘I love you” or maybe “I’m sorry”, that’s when you have offended a loved one. Or sometimes it might just be “I love you” occasion where you try to put smile on the person’s face. So we go as team to surprise the person and our job is to make them happy. So we go there with positive vibes, we do our best, we sing and dance. I love positive vibes and we always go with that. We just want to make the world a better place. Honestly, that is the vision. What we are doing now, is that we are trying to build a concept where we tell people that it does not have to be a special occasion or St. Valentine’s Day before you show love to someone.
Today, February 14, Nigerians, as well as people all over the world celebrate St.Valentine’s Day, a day purported to be a lovers’ day. That mean you must have a lot of surprises for lovers?
We have a lot of surprise packages for St. Valentine Day! It is the busiest period of the year for us. We are ready for Valentine and we are excited.
So what does Valentine’s Day means to you personally?
Valentine means love, showing and spreading love; making people happy and loved. That’s what Valentine means to me. I love Valentine!
So if I am to surprise someone special at this period, what are the things you would do?
Well, what we do is that we ask the person to give us some details about the person he/she wants us to surprise, because we do not know anything about such people and for us to really surprise a person and make him/her happy, we need to know a bit about the person’s personality. What we do is that someone would just call us and say, for example, please surprise my wife with a car. They go that far. We have done so many deliveries of cars to loved ones. What we do basically is to just love. They also call us for proposals. We do all that. So, for me, personally I feel every day should be Valentine. Like I said, we have various packages which people can pick up to show love but it doesn’t have to a on a particular day before you show love to someone. It does not have to be on Valentine’s Day. But everybody waits for Valentine’s Day before they show love, which is not right. So make the place a happy place for everyone, don’t wait till Valentine before you show love.
How does knowing the personality involved help in the surprises you pull on them?
It helps a lot. Say for example, you want a package for someone and we have a package that contains alcohol, and then the person does not drink alcohol, ultimately the person may not be happy receiving a package with alcohol. So, we have to know the person’s personality to work with the gift pack. So that if the person is like someone that drinks alcohol, we can then get him/her a good alcoholic drink, customise it and things like that. So, that is what makes it different.
So, what if I am someone that does not like surprises?
Now, what really gets them is the saxophone. The highlight of the surprise is usually the saxophone we bring along during a surprise visit to someone. So, if the person is a kind of person that does not like surprises, we do not go with saxophone. We just drop the gift and wish the person happy birthday and leave. Obviously, there are people that do not like surprises.
For how long have you been doing this?
We are going to be five years old this year.
What has the impact been like in the almost five years you have been surprising people?
The impact has been far-reaching. Through this job we have surprised Aliko Dangote. We surprised him two years ago. We have surprised so many people including 90 per cent of celebrities. So, it has opened doors for me personally to meet amazing people.
In the course of doing this job, you must have met a lot of people like you mentioned. Can you mention a particular scenario of a reaction at your surprise that really touched you?
I am the only child of my mom and so, I am very emotional. So, everything gets me because they don’t see it coming. So, I would say that 90 per cent of all we have done gets to me. You know most of the time these people cry and so they get to me. Obviously I can’t cry there. I have to be professional. So, I wouldn’t say a particular one, I would say almost everything.
Okay, what in the first place made you go into such venture?
Hmmm… good question! At a point in life I felt very lonely. That was exactly five years ago. I was extremely depressed. I didn’t feel loved. I didn’t feel life was worth living. It was just a little bit for me to commit suicide. I was so depressed that I shaved.. it wasn’t a good feeling and just about then, someone from Port Harcourt, a friend I hardly talk with, sent me a cake on my birthday. That cake was like a million naira to me because from that moment, I felt loved. It touched me so much because I wasn’t expecting it and it just lifted my spirit. And I said wow, if this can happen to me, I can as well make it happen to other people. So, I started doing same to my friends my friends without charging them and I saw the way it usually brightened up their day or mood. From there I said I could turn this into business and that was how I started charging people. Then boom, boom, boom… that was how it all started. So, the business started out of depression. And then my friend sent me a cake and he just made my day.
So, how affordable are you?
That depends on what you mean by affordable because what is affordable to me might not be affordable to another person. But basically what we do, although we are going to change that, but what we do for now is that we work on client’s budgets. If you meet me and say, your budget is N50,000 for example, I will tell you what that can carry. After this Valentine’s Day, we are stopping that. We are just going to have packages and you come and pick any one that suits you because people are very funny. Someone may just tell you that my budget is N5,000 and I am like come on!
I can proudly say that a lot of people out there were doing surprises even when I started, but this is the only company that has an office with like nine staff. The other companies are online so I incur a lot of expenses and we have to put all these into consideration. What stands us out is that we have an office people can walk into. The whole purpose of getting this office now is because at a point people will get tired of surprises, so to stand out you can walk into our office and pick up a gift for your spouse. So, regarding your question, we used to work with budget but after Valentine’s Day, it is going to be packages. The saxophone comes with an extra charge.
Has doing surprises been financially rewarding for you?
So far, so good, it has been good. I thank God. I didn’t need to start with any capital because people will always send the money I use in purchasing things for the surprise packages for them, I don’t use my money. So, the business has been extremely rewarding.
Tell us about growing up. What was your childhood dream like?
I didn’t really have a dream growing up. Come to think about it! I was just the normal child. But what I know is that I have always loved money right from my younger days. I attended Chrisland Schools in Opebi, Lagos and then I went to Queen College, Lagos before I finally travelled abroad to attend a college. I came back home and completed my university at Caleb University, Lagos where I studied Economics. But then I had already started selling Lollipop while I was in secondary school to make money and at a point I was suspended from school for selling sweets at school. When I entered the university too, I started a restaurant /barbecue business. So I have always had passion for entrepreneurship rather than dreaming of becoming a lawyer or doctor.
What were your parent’s reactions when they found out you started pursuing money at a very tender age?
I think I took after my mother on that. She is a serial businesses woman, so I definitely take after her. And today, she is extremely proud of me.
What are the challenges in doing this kind of business?
Logistics is the most challenging, especially the traffic in Lagos. It has been tough but we still thank God.
If you were not into surprises what else would have loved to do?
I would have loved to be a caterer because I love cooking and I still looking forward to doing that someday.
What is your vision for Royal Hugs Surprises?
We want to go global. The truth is that I travel a lot and each time I travel, I try to make people happy for free wherever I find myself. Obviously, in some countries, I am not allowed to work there, so I do such for free for close friends and family members to put smiles on their faces. My vision for real is, first thing first, to focus on Nigeria and how to make people happy because there are so many depressed people. It doesn’t have to be any special occasion before you show love. So my vision, really, is to make people happy in this country before we go out there.
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