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| Stephanie Obi, CEO, ST Hub Ltd |
What stirred your interest
in technology?
I have
always been surrounded with technology. My mother bought computers for me and
my siblings when we were in secondary school and this stirred my interest. I
was intrigued by how computers work and that led me to study Computer Science.
While in school, I became interested in how technology can be used as a tool to
help businesses grow.
What is your educational
qualification?
I have
a first class in Computer Science from Covenant University, Ota, and a master’s
degree from the Lagos Business School.
What does ST Hub Limited
do?
ST Hub Limited is an online education
company that is focused on making business education more accessible to Africans
through online courses. We work with individuals to help them create and sell
online courses, and we also manage a platform called Trayny that hosts online courses for Africa’s top leaders. We do
this because we believe that a lot of businesses are suffering due to the fact
that they don’t have access to the right information that can help them grow.
We want to bridge the gap and give more people access to the knowledge that
they need.
What year did you establish
the company?
We
incorporated ST Hub Limited in 2014.
You help women
entrepreneurs and speakers build their businesses online. Can you shed more
light on this?
We
help people who are interested in turning their knowledge into information
products that they can sell online. We also help them to connect to the
audience that needs their products online. We basically provide the training,
tools and platforms that they need to succeed online.
Are the business courses
only restricted to women?
No, it
is not, but we have a bias for women because we believe that if you educate a
woman, you enrich her family and the entire community. 90 per cent of our
client base is women, but we also have a few men who make use of our products.
How much was your start-up
capital?
I
can’t remember how much it was exactly, but I started with my savings and
bootstrapped along the way. I learnt how
to do a lot of things by myself and this helped us to save cost.
Did you get loans or
grants?
In
2014, I won the first prize in the Wimbiz
Impact Investment Competition and this came with a grant to grow my idea.
You also founded Steph
B-School and ST Colours. A-School which equip people with the skills they need
to start business. How did this play out?
My
journey actually started with accessories. I used to make and sell ankara
accessories; then I began to organise workshops. As I was marketing my
workshops online, people started to reach out to me from outside Lagos. This
inspired me to launch an online course. This decision opened my eyes to the
opportunities in the online education industry. I started teaching other
related topics and so far, I have launched over 20 online courses and gotten
over 600 students from nine countries. However, I realised that I cannot teach
all the topics in the world and I cannot reach everybody who needs help. I
decided to reach more people by helping more experts to create their own online
courses so that they can reach more people and impact more lives.
What challenges do you face
on your job and how do you surmount them?
The
biggest obstacle I have faced in my business is trying to get people to create
their own online courses. A lot of people do not know what online courses are;
others are scared of technology and do not want to attempt it. I overcame this
obstacle by selling a compelling vision to people. I painted a picture of what
they would achieve if they launched their own online courses. I explained to
them how much money they could make and how many lives they could impact. I
have also created a business model to make it profitable for them to launch
online courses so that they would see it as a worthwhile venture. I have
created a step-by-step online course that would help them to successfully
launch their courses; an online course website that handles all the technology
for them, as well as numerous free educative programmes like virtual summits,
webinars, live shows, articles and videos.
Who are your role models
and how have they influenced you?
My
role model is Tara Fela-Durotoye. I
am particularly intrigued by how she built a business based on the model of
impacting lives. Her company, House of
Tara International, has impacted the lives of over 10,000 beauty
practitioners and this is a fundamental part of their business model. It was
also encouraging to see another pioneer who started with an unconventional idea
and has successfully built it into an empire. For instance, when she started
her business, people were not used to the idea of paying a makeup artist to
make them up. This however did not stop her.
What words of encouragement
do you have for individuals who want to improve in their various career paths?
My encouragement
for them is to stay focused and remain consistent.
Hmmm!!! Folks, have you ever
imagined how the financial status of your firm will be when more than 20,000
CEOs and other key decision makers of blue-chip corporations pay for your
products and services or even give you very juicy deals. The link below will
tell you more: http://www.tectono-business.com/2015/07/tectono-business-review-in-conjunction_21.html
Have you heard this? Many
Nigerian exporters have been defrauded of huge amount of money in the process
of exporting commodities to foreign countries. Do you know why? They were not
trained on export operations, management, documentations and the best methods
of payment in export trade. This is terrible!!! Nigerians cannot continue to
lose money to foreigners in the course of export business. Exporters, why don’t
you get a practical manual that teaches the stages of export trade from
processing and packaging of commodities to receipt of payment by the foreign
buyers. It teaches export operations, export management, export documentations
and methods of payment in export trade? It is a contemporary step-by-step guide
to export trade. It tells all the contemporary dynamics in export trade. To get
it, click on the link below:
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