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Name: Irivwegu Imade Ovi
Business: NutriClinic Nigeria
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Industry: Healthcare, Wellness & Fitness
Reason for starting? I became an orphan when I was a teenager. This got me thinking about ideas about how to help myself financially, how to make a difference in the world and to help others. I started selling nutrition products to people from a young age. Today as a grown lady, I am the director of Nutri Clinic Nigeria, and I am creating a huge inspiring nutrition program for young girls in various universities across Nigeria. I want them to know that fitness is not all about being thin. My definition of fitness is a young female who is fit physically, mentally and emotionally. Young women should have the ability to think about creative ideas that can change the world. and they should have the power to overcome challenges in setting up a business. My organization is growing, and I hope to inspire thousands of girls across Nigeria and Africa within one year.
Related: Read about another Healthcare, Wellness & Fitness entrepreneur here.
How do you define success? I define success as the ability to touch lives, inspire people and be financially free. Success is the ability to use your potentials to help yourself and to help others achieve their potentials also. There is more to success than buying new clothes, new cars and shoes. I am successful when I am financially free and when I also have the ability to inspire and help younger women.
Biggest success: I have successfully carried out nutrition programs both for children and adults. This female fitness program across Nigeria would be one of my most successful events. My biggest success was the impact I made with underprivileged children in a remote village in Nigeria. I organized an outreach program for 200 children, and this was a huge success. I also fought to ensure a healthcare center was available for these children. My biggest success is not financial success but impacting lives positively, and that is the greatest of all successes.
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What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? In the nutrition world, getting partners is very stressful and tedious. I am working on overcoming this by creating a profile for my organization to become visible to partners. Finance is also a challenge. Once, when I was supposed to carry out a nutritional assessment for children in various primary and secondary schools across Nigeria, we faced a lot of challenges because of a prevailing belief amongst people that the military was giving vaccines to children to harm them. Parents got really scared off the assessment I was offering, and I ended up with a huge financial loss. I am trying to tackle these challenges by being strong and determined. I try as much as possible to be hopeful because I know I am a strong businesswoman that won’t give up on her dreams.
Who is your most important role model? All strong women thriving to make it in the business world are my role models. Oprah Winfrey is also my role model. She made it to the top despite her childhood experiences. She inspires me.
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Edited by The Story Exchange