Ugochukwu Igbokwe is a celebrated stylist and his hairdressing salon, Make me place, plays host to First Ladies, celebrities and many female and male clients from all walks of life. Ugo, as he is fondly called, shared the story of his journey from a common barber to having his signature on high flyers with ADETUTU AUDU.
LET us talk about your deal with M-Net. How do you feel about it?
It is a welcome development; it is not a deal per se. It is more of service and giving a hand. You know we are used to sitting back and criticising people but we would not want to support or lend hand to make corrections and make things better. For me, it is more of a personal thing because I have reasons why I have to do what I did. It is what I long hoped for and looked forward to, supporting and making things look better and good in Nigeria, especially things that have to do with lifestyle, fashion, make-up and TV.
As one of the successful men in the career viewed as female-dominated, how did you arrive at this level?
It is nothing other than the quest for doing things from a different angle and making things appear different generally. I usually don’t like when rules are set for doing something. One thing that comes to my head all the time is, what if I do it this way, what would happen? And if I don’t find anything wrong about it, and I have that conviction that is it going to turn out nice, that is what I think and I do all the time.
Coming this far is also in line with the achievement of my vision of turning things right and making sure things are done the way I see it in most of the places I have been to. You don’t have to have all the money in the world; it is just self determination that you want to do it because you know what you are doing. We started out gradually instead of doing many things at the same time. Where I am today is where I see that we would be today, so we thank God. I toyed with the name “Make Me” because people would come to the salon and say “Make Me Beautiful”. Make Me interprets who I am on the job; I want to make you beautiful. With no funds, Bukola and I just relied on our skills and started the business. We worked every time with little time to rest but we encouraged each other and we were convinced it was the right thing to do.
Business started growing and more people started coming and then an opportunity came for me to travel abroad. It was ironic because all of a sudden the “abroad” I had craved so much to go previously had been dropped on my laps because of my skills as a hair stylist and nothing else. Surprisingly, when the opportunity came, Make Me had just started and I didn’t want to go because it came at a time when nothing else mattered to me than my work. I got an invitation to be the head hair stylist in a fashion show in Paris at the Nigeria Fashion Show Paris in 2004. The trip was for six days. Initially, I turned down the invitation because I had just started my salon which was few months old, the organizers of the show were not paying and I wasn’t ready to travel just for the sake of traveling, but my wife said I should go that she would take care of things on the home front. So I went on that trip. It was really challenging as there were a lot of things I had to adjust to. I really couldn’t wait to be back. Today, we have clients from all walks of life, high end people, low end, politicians, models, business executives, actors and actresses, among others. Our belief is that every woman has the right to look beautiful.
Was this what you planned to do at the initial stage or you did you dabble into it?
I would say I dabbled into it. It was not what I planned to do. I had always wanted to be a footballer as a child growing up. But somehow I became a barber and somehow again I gained employment in a salon. I just decided to switch because of money. I realised that my colleagues in the female section are making more money; we come at the same time and also go home at the same time. And I made up my mind that I couldn’t be in this place and stuff like this happen. Apart from the salary that they earn, the tips they get are more than what we get at the barbing section.
In that light, why do you think female clients tend to tilt towards male stylists?
I know a lot of female stylists who are good. For instance, the person that taught me the basics of hairdressing is my wife today. There are also many female stylists that I have respect for, technical and creative wise. I think one thing I can say is that maybe women are not patient with themselves. It could be ego or whatever, women being what they are. Male stylists tend to be more patient and sensitive.
You were trained by your wife and you still work with her. Can you share the experience with us?
It has been a wonderful experience. You know you cannot give what you don’t have. Working with my wife is the only thing I know. Talking about working relationship and partners, I would say that is how it should be. I have never known how to work alone as a businessman because we started the business together. And because it is yielding good results and we believed God is with us. I can’t talk about the negative aspect because I don’t know about the other side. I don’t know about working alone, if it is good or bad. But I think we have good working relationship, we share opinions, we disagree a lot of times in the area of taking decisions but that has also helped us to ensure that we are on the right track.
Do you think Nigerians are getting it right in the area of make-up?
The scale is growing by the day. No matter the level we are, there is still room for improvement.
What was your parents’ reaction to your choice of career?
I didn’t tell anybody what I was doing. At that point in my life, I had disconnected from everybody, I was a man on my own. They just knew I was working as a barber in Lagos. When I switched, nobody knew, until when I invited them to come with me and ask for Bukky’s hand in marriage. And they were like you now have your own shop now.
Your wife, Bukky has been a great influence on you, how did you spot her among the lot?
You can’t just miss her. You may not agree with anything, she has this presence and she is not loud. She is calm, cool and quite. I saw someone unique. I can’t compare her with anybody; she is just there and extremely good at heart. That is how I started relating with her. And as they say, the rest is history. Today, our marriage has brought about other cross-cultural marriages; I still have friends who are looking for Yoruba girls to marry.
You are in career where women attract like pollen to bees. How do you manage it?
It is wrong of me to take advantage of a woman just because I helped her look good. Or because she is just being nice to me, if I misinterpreted her, it would an insult to her personality. But talking about direct approach, few people do that. But it is nothing out of the ordinary you can’t see any where. Even people wink or make passes at pastors and that is the height of it. But God is helping us and we are keeping it cool.
