Petite, but surely a goal-getter, Funto Ibuoye, CEO of Five28 Interiors, who officially opened her studio recently in Ikeja, Lagos, is a Chartered Accountant, from Covenant University. Also a speaker and author, she left accounting to pursue her dream. She speaks to Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi, on the challenges of being an Interior Designer, motherhood, among other interesting issues
Tell us about your journey into interior design?
I am a graduate of Accounting from Covenant University. I practiced for two years and got really bored and then got an offer to be the PA to the CEO of an interior decorator outfit.
And i remember the first time i entered the studio for my interview,I was wowed because i had never seen anything like that. It was so beautiful. At that moment i knew i had some sort of passion for interior design. I worked there for about three months and left to do marketing and brand management for two years until the company shut down operations in Nigeria.
When did you start up professionally?
After i had my first child, I started asking myself what I wanted to do. By then I had done two online courses on Interior Design and I went to a training school too. That was how it started.
I went to training school in 2016, and by November 2016, I got my first client. So we have been running for three years now.
How would you describe the journey?
For me, it is beyond creating a design for my clients. I don’t want to say it is a ministry, but that is what it is. We create clients spaces and we get so many testimonies back.
A woman who I helped design her home called me and said she and husband had never sat down together to discuss anything before in their living room. It was a Sunday and she said in over six years they have been married, it is the first time they are sitting together to have a discussion.
So we design spaces to elevate peoples lifestyle and productivities. Like you want to enter your office and feel alive. Also don’t forget that it is how an environment looks that determines how people react. So if you want your workers to give the best productivity, you have to design the work place to be a space to look forward to for them.
It is more than just putting furniture or pieces together. It is to elevate people’s lifestyle.
Do your staff have the same commitment?
I am sure about 80% of my staff shares the same passion as i do. I have had a lot of people who send messages on social media asking to do their intern here.
So most times, I ask them to come down for an interview; get to know them and I can tell if a person just want to make money or have a passion for the work. It is a really stressful job, I have had intern come and after two weeks, they want to leave.
We go to markets, site, and we even had to work on Saturdays and Sundays at times. And we have deadlines to meet too. Basically that is where I get my staff from.
How I keep them committed, is i keep putting the vision to them. Two years ago, we didn’t have an office, our office was on Whattsapp group, on site or when we meet in the market. I keep letting them know that we are going global. Even with having this space, I told them it is just the beginning. Everyone wants to connect only with an organisation that is forward thinking, and not grounded or being stuck.
What are the challenges that come with being an interior designer?
It is really stressful. There are some sacrifices that I have to make; like I hardly see my children. I have a family; I have two children and I feel so bad when I have to leave the home so very early and when I get back they are already asleep.
So for me, how I make up for that is taking a day off every week, to be with them without engaging in any work for that day. But aside that it is the general challenges of every work. And I have been able to overcome them as they approach.
I am a goal getter, so I am always looking out for the hardest work challenge to do and get it done eventually.
How do you joggle the roles of being a career lady and marriage?
Aside from being lucky, I have a good support system. I have someone who takes care of my kids at home and well trusted. And she has been with me for sometime now. I can comfortably leave my kids with her and know she will do well with them.
So that has really kept me focused, that i am not bothered about who my children are with. I am not bothered about what is happening, it just keeps me sane and focused. That has really helped me balance it all.
I get this question a lot and to be honest, I really don’t know how I juggle it all.
It’s just been God’s grace. But two major things that have really helped are- one, understanding that life is in seasons and the more I understand and embrace whatever season I find myself in per time, the easier it is for me.
I don’t think I’d be able to do half as much as I do without a domestic help. Having a domestic staff helps me to rest. I can get some work done, respond to emails while I’m being driven.
My mother is also a great support as I often take the boys to her place, especially on weekends when I have engagements.
So that’s mainly it- God’s grace, understanding my seasons and a good support system.
Who are your clients?
We work with different set of people. And we work according to their budgets. We have had those whose budget is below a million and those above 10million. So it really depends on what they want and their taste too.
And we are getting to the point, because of the qualitity we get now, and having to work simultaneously, we will be rejecting some clients.
Not because we do not want to, but because there won’t be time to focus on time.
Why are you just doing the official opening?
You know what the bible says about starting slow. And not despising the days of humble beginning. This is the journey of humble beginning and we are still going places.
Anything great does not start big. If you look at the big companies we have today in the world such as Apple, and others, they did not start big. Most started from their garages. Facebook started from his hostel room, i started from my living room as well.
Is this your everyday look?
No, you will only see me dressed corporate once in a while. Say like once in two months. I am always on jeans and sneakers. That is because we have to go to construction sites.
Have you had client look down on you because of your stature?
I have had situations like that. But i let the jobs i have done speak for me. When i show them my portfolios, it is then not about the size of the person, but the work being done by the person.
How do you handle difficult clients?
I have noticed a trend that the clients that are difficult are those who pay the least money. (Laughs).
It is recently that we put it into place that we do not take clients that are difficult. I have also had a situation where we would have taken up the job, and just have to get it done. We will just have to be respectful until the job is done.’
I have had a client that is not even as old as i am and i had to use “ma” for her, as long as the client is satisfied, that is the most importance part of the job. I take all the insults and i don’t care, as long as i get your job done and you are satisfied.
Your decorating materials, are they locally made?
Most of the furniture are done here in Nigeria. But we sometimes ship in the decorations.
Tell us about the ‘Becoming Conference’?
The idea of the Becoming Conference is to get older women, who have ‘become’, women who have attained certain levels of successes and significance in their various fields to share their real, unscripted, behind-the-scene stories to inspire younger women.
It is to encourage younger women to live up to their full potential, regardless of their past or current circumstances.
As the younger women listen to the becoming stories of these older women, they will be inspired and empowered to also become all they were created to be.
The concept is mainly based on Titus 2:4, where older women are admonished to teach the younger women.
I realised that in our times, the older women are busy and focused on living their own lives and pursuing their own visions. Only a few take a little time to teach and mentor young women.
We need more women to share their true success stories: the good, the bad and the ugly, so that the younger women will know and be inspired, hence-Becoming.
We will not stop becoming, whether old or young; we’ll never get to that place where we can say we have ‘fully’ become. There is always more.
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