Mr. Oseni Abayomi, a graduate of Banking and Finance from University of Ado-Ekiti, (UNAD), Ekiti State, sits atop Xpress Max Dry Cleaning Services as Managing Director/Chief Executive, which he set up in 2011. In this interview with Tolulope Ogidan, he shares his experience on running a fledging business
That is your antecedence in business?
I was working as a branch manager with Assluence Consulting, a one-man business. But then I’m the kind of person that loves looking good and then pressing of clothes is my hobbies. When I was no longer finding fulfillment in what I was doing, I resigned. That was 2011. When I resigned, the money I was able to gather, that was how I was able to sketch up my own personal business. I started from my parent’s place along Iyana-Iba axis of Lagos, that’s supposed to be the head office. I brought a washing machine, and started meeting one or two contacts, people that I know. I started the washing myself, I wash, put in the machine, I iron, I distribute, send text, later I started sending bulk sms, when I realised that I could not deliver, because I hate disappointing clients, I started bringing one or two people in like of staff.
How much capital did you start with?
I started with nothing less than N50, 000. But some start with 100, 200, it depends on what you have.
What has your experience been running the business?
It’s been wonderful. It’s a very good business and a very lucrative business, if somebody will actually want to go into it, it’s a business that is very profitable, but the only challenges is manpower, and the challenges is man power, because typical Nigerian guys are not ready to do that kind of job because, it’s not an easy task, for you to iron 20-30 pieces of clothes, so why doing that, you know it requires manpower, by so doing they usually back off, they usually back off from such act. So we have challenges with manpower, so we have no choice than to go to Cotonu to get some people to work for us.
How many employees do you have now?
Presently, I have about five staff.
What are the challenges you faced when you started?
The challenges I faced was just that when people place orders on phone, because I do it via mobile, they send me text, please come and pick my clothes, at that point am ironing, am ironing I need to pick clothes from two, three places, those were the challenges I was having, and then when I need to get some clothes, wash it at the same time, and iron it, at times I do night, because I was the only one, so I had a lot of challenges when it comes to picking and delivering.
What’s the peculiar problem that you faced running the business?
The most peculiar problem is when you disappoint client, I need to wear my clothe to church tomorrow and such person do not get it, that’s one, two if somebody gives you a white cloth and the person happens to discover that the white happens to be of cream, it’s another challenges, because we use chemical and all those things, are things you need to be familiar with, and you should know their names, because there are some kind of chemicals, that should not be applied on black, and there are some that should be applied, so those things are key things that somebody that ones to go into dry cleaning business ought to have study, if not there are some tools that are very expensive, if you mistakenly collide it with the ones that bring out stains, it can really destroy the cloths of such a client, and he/ she will not take it likely with you. Some client will tell you that go and buy me another one, or some will say I not going to give you clothe again. those are the things you need to do, if you want to wash you separate them, study it, the ones you need to apply chemicals or not.
How did you overcome the teething problem of the business?
You know when you make mistake once, and then I as a person am an intelligent person, and I don’t joke with my job, so I won’t allow anybody to rubbish me, I was able to manage those challenges because I don’t want my name to be rubbished, before I put any cloths in to the machine, I use to do the real laundering, the real laundering is when you use your hand, so I take my time to know if such a clothe will be able to absorb chemical or not, so that was how I was able to overcome it, but there is no how you must make mistake, because when you make mistake you will be able to correct such mistake next time.
So how much is required to set up a business like yours?
It depends on the kind of the one you want to go into. It depends, you can set up the business with just N50, 000 when you have you house, all you just have to do is to get a washing machine and that’s all, and you get a very sound steaming iron, because there are some that cannot iron all kind of fabric, and there are some that when you put it on a particular kind of fabric for the next ten hours, it will not get burnt, it automatically regulate, and there are some that are expensive as N15,000, there are some of twenty thousand, and there are some of N7,000, it depends on the range, with N50,000 you can set up the business.
Do you have any plans of expanding the business?
Obviously, I have the plans of expanding the business, because it’s a business that does not really attract much space, and it’s very profitable. Even outside Nigeria, yes, because people hardly have time in Nigeria as a whole, you go to work early in the morning, you come back late, your Saturdays you go to party, Sundays you go to church, they hardly have time to do laundry, and most of their expensive cloths they prefer to take it to dry cleaner, so that such materials can last longer.
