How I Learned to Read a Business

The Foundation

At the University of Ibadan, Theatre Arts taught me to understand story, people, and execution. At the same time, I built and led a styling business- training a team, retaining clients, and delivering under deadline and cash-flow pressure.

I grew from hairstylist into both makeup artist and hairstylist. That chapter led to my work as lead hairstylist for MTN Project Fame West Africa, Season 5- a continent-wide broadcast production.

That lesson has stayed with me for more than two decades. Sometimes I walked into something already broken and helped put it back together. Sometimes I took a rough idea and worked with it until it could stand in the market. An idea wasn’t finished just because it sounded good. It had to become something people could see, a team could deliver, and the business could feel.

The Commercial Turn

I wanted to understand how brands won beyond the service business I had built. So I stepped from behind the styling chair onto the retail floor, starting as a retail associate for global brands. Over the years, I worked across FMCG, cosmetics and distribution, and rose to Business Manager.

That experience gave me a practical view of how products move and how brands compete at the point of purchase. It changed the questions I ask when a product isn’t gaining the traction its owner expects.

The Turning Point

Ambition demanded more. I wanted to understand why bigger brands were winning, so I deliberately stepped away from my own business and onto the retail floor, starting as an associate for global brands.

Over the years, I worked across FMCG, cosmetics, and distribution, rising to Business Manager. I learned how products move, how brands compete at the point of purchase, and why even well-funded strategies can fall short when they meet the market.

My Audacity

This is why I can help you.

Later, as Senior Growth Lead for a North American EdTech company, most of my work involved high-stakes consultation calls with C-suite executives, bank leaders, and PhDs.

The offer was a high-ticket programme for people seeking to become certified Business Analysts. It wasn’t a physical product; people had to understand its value and trust that it fit what they needed. I drew on the client-facing experience I’d built over the years: listen, understand what mattered to each person, make the value clear, and help them decide. I was able to convert buyers at that level.

That experience widened my commercial lens. The offer might be a product on a shelf or a high-ticket learning programme, but the work still begins with understanding the buyer and making the value clear.

Final Word...

After seeing the road that built me, an industry statesman once asked me:

“So, you have arrived?”

My answer? Not at all.

I still take each business challenge as something to understand and work through. The market keeps moving. Customer behaviour shifts. Interest is never static.

Some industries are waiting for purchasing power to improve so more stock can move from distributors’ stalls and warehouses. When retailers buy with more confidence, revenue and turnover can grow. Then businesses can put more attention into market presence—advertising, trade promotions and showing up consistently where customers make choices.

The commercial picture is connected. Demand, distribution, retailer confidence and visibility all matter.

I don’t claim to have every answer. I have worked across service businesses, retail, FMCG, distribution, high-stakes client conversations, and the sale of intangible offers. My journey has been a continuing education in execution- and in seeing what each situation actually calls for.

The 45-Minute Check is where we work through one issue, identify what may be slowing progress, and agree on a practical first move. It isn’t a promise of a complete turnaround. If the work needs to go deeper, we scope that separately.