6 Oct 2014

Fake Psychic Horrifies Customers With Eye-Popping Ouija Board Prank

The latest Halloween prank video is a real eye-popper.
The mischievous minds at Thinkmodo are well-known for past viral pranks such as Devil Baby and the Carrie-themed coffee shop prank. This year, they return for more screams with "Ouija Psychic Terror."
Absolutely no story including a ouija board ends well. But, it's hard to imagine it ending much worse than it did for these innocent Brooklynites who saw a "free" sign and stumbled in the door to be greeted by their medium, Yolanda. A medium who possesses the unusual ability to pop out her eyeballs on command. And, you better believe she's going to pop them out to scare the living daylights out of her customers.
You may not be able to believe your eyes — or, Yolanda's.

100 ideas to Start a Profitable Business in Africa

From today, we are starting a series of posts focused on ideas to start a profitable business in Africa . We will present them segment by segment. Here are 10 ideas to start a business targeting expatriates in your country.
Overall, our purpose is to simulate your mind, and encourage you to start your next business in Africa.
1. International Aid and investment segment opportunities

The international aid for Africa is a $40-billion-a-year industry. Most of this, is easy money to take, mostly for corruption and overpaid expatriates; however smart startups would be wise to explore the needs of this huge international organizations full of the laziest people in the planet always in search of someone to do their job for them or make their life easier. Here is a list of 10 ideas to create customized services or application for their use:
#1: Personal Service provider for local expatriate
More and more foreign people are heading to Africa, the last frontier of economical opportunities. Additional to the foreign aid employees, there are also more and more expatriates coming to Africa with the $48 billion-a-year foreign investment in Africa Business.
In some cities like Nairobi, Luanda, Dakar, Accra, Addis-Ababa these expatriates are thousands. They are rich, noisy, visible. They have very specific needs compared to local people.
Any smart company that would successfully create a set of services (travel, visas, registration, residency status, dual nationality questions, legal issues of marriage and divorce, visa runs) for this community in any given country, could easily expand the same concierge service to other countries. There is lot of money here waiting for smart and opportunist entrepreneurs.
#2 First-world quality Internet, mobile services or application customized for local environment
These guys have money. They are used to some first-world internet and mobile service they won’t have locally. It’s important to study their daily life in your city, survey them about their needs, and find out about things that might be very helpful for them to survive in Africa jungle. They will thank with their easily earned dollars and smiles.
#3 Food delivery for infrastructure/construction workers
It’s the easiest and quickest way to become rich. Design a mobile food service specialized in construction sites. You move your restaurant to serve breakfast, lunch, snacks, sandwich and casual drink close to the workers. You move and follow the sites. You are the first to know all new construction sites where will be hundreds of workers and expatriates. Deliver good food, cheap, and fast with a friendly touch.
There are hundreds of construction sites in many countries, financed by foreign aid or investment.
#4 Online expat forums
There are many expatriates forums online, but very little cover African countries, with ground information and assistance.
This forum could started with very little effort in connection with local expatriates. You might first start by creating a local association for expats in your city/country with social gatherings and activities, then move on to have an online version focused on providing useful and relevant information.
2 girls and one guy could start this on their free time, and finally make it a profitable business with add-ons services.
One advise: focus your forum on one country, yours.
#5 Controlled origin vegetables and meat delivery service

Most of the vegetables, and meat in the local market in big cities in Africa are not trusted by expatriates.
There is a huge opportunity in putting in place a good logistic to identify and deliver to urban market a controlled origin food that these expatriated population can trust. They are ready to pay 10 times local prices.
#6 Create a full-service job agency
One of the biggest issue you have when you start a business in Africa is how to find good employees, with required competencies, work ethics and good health.
Most of the international organizations, corporations in Africa spend countless hours on their hiring process, but to find out that they have failed to hire the right people. Employees turnover is huge.
There are very few professional head hunters, and very few job agencies with specialized skills. This is one of the best opportunity to pursue at this present time in Africa.
#7 Field Data collection & statistics
Independent projects monitoring and postmortem data collection is one of the fields where international organizations in Africa needs help. They need this data for their report and spend huge amount of money for that.
Currently this job is done by hiring huge consulting firm in London, which in turn subcontract to some small consulting firms in Europe which organize data collection teams on the ground. The teams are disband at the end of each project.
A local company which will specialize in field data collection will fill the gap for the international organizations, but also be a good service provider for local government which in most case doesn’t have any reliable statistics institute.
These kind of company could be started by a group sociologists and statisticians with the support of a networks of niche experts.
#8 Local investment opportunities / banking services
Africa is currently perceived as a new land of opportunity by the whole world. Old colonial powers and Chinese are in fight to have access to the emerging opportunities. Expatriates living in Africa are now better off investing their money in African banks or companies’ stocks than into their failing banks and economies. That create a huge opportunity for investment advisers and personal finance planners to create tools and services for this community.
This opportunity could be explored as a confidential investment newsletter, investment boutique, index fund or index tracker agency.
#9 Procurement services for international projects
This is a huge opportunity for young business administration graduates who have deep passion for international commerce, procurement, and have the discipline to manage large scale logistic projects.
Many African countries still lack reliable and large scale Procurement outsourcing services providers in front a huge and growing demand either by local entrepreneurs, and administration or by international organizations.
#10 Expat newspapers, magazine, Classified
Expatriates communities classified paper and online magazine is a profitable niche business to explore in big African cities where there are thousands of expats.
It could be done as an extension to a large circulation magazine or an independent endeavor
That’s all for today. During the next days, this series on Business opportunities in Africa will continue to cover the following areas:
2. e-government or mobile-government
How to empower African administration to server their citizen with internet and mobile technology. You’ll receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
3. Physical Security and data encryption and protection
Security is a huge issue in many African countries. Opportunities for business are endless here: from physical security to helping African governments protect their data from hackers and spies, You’ll receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
4. Servers farms for local e-commerce
Currently most of African websites are hosted in Europe or United States. As the continent Internet and mobile applications usage grows, there will be a huge need for reliable servers farms and hosting companies in Africa. You’ll receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
5. E-libraries and affordable e-books readers for students
Africa will by-pass the area of huge physical libraries and go directly to digital libraries where students and citizens could access millions of books and materials through tablets. This digital revolution is a huge opportunities for education in Africa, but will need smart entrepreneurs to negotiate the deals, clear the patch of adoption and build the necessary platforms that will support that revolution. You’ll receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
6. Housing
Africa is young and buoyant, but has a huge housing problem in all its urban areas. Government and private investors in this area will need the support of edgy and ambitious entrepreneurs. You’ll receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
7. IP and patents protection
As the African economy will continue to grow, business will start slowly caring about their brand and IP (Intellectual Properties) protection and will need companies to help them in doing the ground work of monitoring, identifying breaches and taking actions.
Young lawyers in search of business opportunities will receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
8. Review & Rating
Trust is important in any economy, and for new and growing capitalist economies like in Africa, good and independent Review and rating agencies and services providers will be well positioned to take on this lucrative market. You’ll receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
9. Energy and Transportation
Everything in this segment is to be done. From the smallest village to the biggest cities, Africa needs the most courageous, the most pragmatic, and the most compassionate entrepreneurs to succeed here. You’ll receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.
10. e-commerce
E-commerce in Africa is only in its very early stages, however there are lot of opportunities to seize. A good positioning, and a well rounded branding and customers service will help any well funded startup in this segment to make fortunes. You’ll also receive 10 ideas to start a business in this segment.

90% of Top Chinese Government Officials are Scientists & Engineers

The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, studied Chemical engineering at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University. Yu Zhengsheng, the chairman of the Communist Party graduated from Harbin’s Military Engineering Institute specializing in the design of Automated Missiles. The Premier, Li Keqiang has a PhD in Economics , and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Wang Yi, is a military and civil construction Engineer.
The same sort of ratio of engineers and scientists at top positions could be found at all levels of the Chinese government. Scientists and Engineers are the most admired and respected people in China, and to become  politician you better have a degree in science or engineering, and prove that you have a highly disciplined mind.

Since 2009, China has replaced the U.S. as the world’s number one high-technology exporter.

Recent studies found that Chinese scientists salaries have grown exponentially over the last couple of decades, and funding for Research and Development has reached a level competitive with most Western countries.
“The Chinese government has placed emphasis through funding, reform, and societal status on science and technology as a fundamental part of the socio-economic development of the country as well as for national prestige.
China has made rapid advances in areas such as education, infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, academic publishing, patents, and commercial applications and is now in some areas and by some measures a world leader.
China is now increasingly targeting indigenous innovation and aims to reform remaining weaknesses.” – Wikipedia
The focus is  “Techno-nationalism” which puts science and technology as vital for achieving economic and political goals as well as national prestige. Lacking indigenous technological intellectual property and innovation are seen as key national problems.
In 2006, former Premier Wen Jiabao , who is a geomechanical engineer, stated:

“Without independent innovation China would be unable to claim an equal place in the world or achieve national honor”

In 2010, the Program for International Student Assessment  (PISA) which compares pupils skills in reading and science in many countries discovered that among the thirty-four countries assessed United States ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math, while China’s ranked 1st, 1st, and 1st in all above categories.
As one of the researcher, Andreas Schleicher put it “You get an image of a society that is investing in its future, rather than in current consumption.”
Today in China the most impressive buildings in poor provinces are schools. In the West, it is more likely to be a shopping center, and in Africa it would be the residence of the local governor.
Transformational leaders even in the West are scientists like German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has a doctorate in physical chemistry, and, going back a little bit, Margaret Thatcher earned a degree in chemistry.
In Africa we  have to start paying attention to the kind of people we elect or nominate for office.

100 African Proverbs I Always Keep With Myself

Abundance of nature has led Africans to spent more time in contemplation than fighting for survival. They became too passive for their own good!

Although knowledge is not always transmitted in written form in Africa, there is a widespread culture of opening the doors of perception for young people and fools with timely release of wisdom nuggets, also called proverbs.
Herodotus (Greek historian c. 484–425 BC) called Africans these  “wisemen occupying the Upper Nile, men of long life, whose manners and customs pertain to the Golden Age, those virtuous mortals whose feasts and banquets are honoured by Jupiter himself’.” – Sacred texts
There are thousands of proverbs and aphorisms around the continent, but the premiere of all is the following:
“The wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat.” ~ African proverb
Now, here are my favorite 100+ African proverbs I always keep with myself.

African proverbs on Peace and Leadership

1. Peace is costly but it is worth the expense. ~Kenyan proverb


2. War has no eyes ~ Swahili saying


3. When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful. ~Ashanti proverb


4. Peace does not make a good ruler. ~Botswana proverb


5. There can be no peace without understanding. ~Senegalese proverb


6. Milk and honey have different colors, but they share the same house peacefully. ~ African proverb


7. If you can’t resolve your problems in peace, you can’t solve them with war. ~ Somalian proverb


8. When there is peace in the country, the chief does not carry a shield. ~Ugandan proverb


9. Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. ~ West African proverb


10. He who thinks he is leading and has no one following him is only taking a walk. ~ Malawian proverb


11. An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. ~ Ghanaian proverb


12. He who refuses to obey cannot command. ~ Kenyan proverb


13. A large chair does not make a king. ~ Sudanese proverb


14. A leader who does not take advice is not a leader. ~ Kenyan proverb


15. If the cockroach wants to rule over the chicken, then it must hire the fox as a body-guard. ~ Sierra Leone proverb


African Proverbs on Beauty

16. Ugliness with a good character is better than beauty. ~Nigerian Proverb


17. If there is character, ugliness becomes beauty; if there is none, beauty becomes ugliness. ~Nigerian Proverb


18. You are beautiful because of your possessions. ~Baguirmi Proverb


19. Patience is the mother of a beautiful child. ~Bantu Proverb


20. Judge not your beauty by the number of people who look at you, but rather by the number of people who smile at you. ~African Proverb


21. The most beautiful fig may contain a worm. ~Zulu Proverb


22. It is only a stupid cow that rejoices at the prospect of being taken to a beautiful abattoir. ~African Proverb


23. There is always a winner even in a monkey’s beauty contest. ~African Proverb


24. An ugly child of your own is more to you than a beautiful one belonging to your neighbor. ~Ganda Proverb


25. Getting only a beautiful woman is like planting a vine on the roadside everyone feeds on it. ~African Proverb


26. If you find “Miss This Year” beautiful, then you’ll find “Miss Next Year” even more so. ~Nigerian Proverb


African Proverbs on Unity and Community

27. Unity is strength, division is weakness. ~ Swahili proverb


28. Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. ~ Bondei proverb


29. It takes a village to raise a child. ~ African proverb


30. Cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile won’t eat you. ~ African proverb


31. Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper. ~ Tanzanian proverb


32. A single bracelet does not jingle. ~ Congolese proverb


33. A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn. ~ African proverb


34. If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. ~ African proverb


African Proverbs on Wisdom

35. Wisdom is wealth. ~ Swahili


36. Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it. ~ Akan proverb


37. The fool speaks, the wise man listens. ~ Ethiopian proverb


38. Wisdom does not come overnight. ~ Somali proverb


39. The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid water. ~ Cameroon proverb


40. Wisdom is like fire. People take it from others. ~ Hema (DRC) proverb


41. Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem. ~ Akan proverb


42. Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. ~ Guinean proverb


43. In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams. ~ Nigerian proverb


44. If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom. ~ African proverb


45. A wise person will always find a way. ~ Tanzanian proverb


46. Nobody is born wise. ~ African proverb


47. A man who uses force is afraid of reasoning. ~Kenyan proverb


48. Wisdom is not like money to be tied up and hidden. ~ Akan proverb


African Proverbs  on Learning

49. Learning expands great souls. ~ Namibian proverb


50. To get lost is to learn the way. ~ African proverb


51. By crawling a child learns to stand. ~ African proverb


52. If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents. ~ African proverb


53. Money, if you use it, comes to an end; learning, if you use it, increases. ~ Swahili proverb


54. You always learn a lot more when you lose than when you win. ~ African proverb


55. You learn how to cut down trees by cutting them down. ~ Bateke proverb


56. What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn. ~African proverb


57. By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed. ~Ashanti proverb


58. One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom. ~ African proverb


59. Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off. ~African Proverb


60. Advice is a stranger; if he’s welcome he stays for the night; if not, he leaves the same day. ~Malagasy Proverb

 

African Proverbs on Family

61. A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place. ~ African Proverb


62. A united family eats from the same plate. ~ Baganda proverb


63. If I am in harmony with my family, that’s success. ~ Ute proverb


64. Brothers love each other when they are equally rich. ~ African proverb


65. Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family. ~ Ethiopian proverb


66. There is no fool who is disowned by his family. ~ African proverb


67. Home affairs are not talked about on the public square. ~ African proverb


68. If relatives help each other, what evil can hurt them? ~ African proverb


69. He who earns calamity, eats it with his family. ~ African proverb


70. The old woman looks after the child to grow its teeth and the young one in turn looks after the old woman when she loses her teeth. ~ Akan (Ghana, Ivory Coast) proverb


71. When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father’s estate. ~ Ibo proverb


African Proverbs on Friendship

72. To be without a friend is to be poor indeed. ~ Tanzanian proverb


73. Hold a true friend with both hands. ~ African proverb


74. The friends of our friends are our friends. ~ Congolese proverb


75. A friend is someone you share the path with. ~ African proverb


76. Show me your friend and I will show you your character. ~ African proverb


77. Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough. ~ African proverb


78. A small house will hold a hundred friends. ~ African proverb


79. Bad friends will prevent you from having good friends. ~ Gabon proverb


African Proverbs on Money, Wealth, Riches and Poverty

80. Make some money but don’t let money make you. ~ Tanzania


81. Poverty is slavery. ~Somalia


82. One cannot both feast and become rich. ~ Ashanti


83. The wealth which enslaves the owner isn’t wealth. ~ Yoruba


84. Lack of money is lack of friends; if you have money at your disposal, every dog and goat will claim to be related to you. ~ Yoruba


85. Dogs do not actually prefer bones to meat; it is just that no one ever gives them meat. ~ Akan


86. Money can’t talk, yet it can make lies look true. ~ South Africa


87. You become wise when you begin to run out of money. ~ Ghana


88. Having a good discussion is like having riches ~ Kenya


African Proverbs on Beauty

89. Ugliness with a good character is better than beauty. ~Nigerian Proverb


90. If there is character, ugliness becomes beauty; if there is none, beauty becomes ugliness. ~Nigerian Proverb


91. You are beautiful because of your possessions. ~Baguirmi Proverb


92. Patience is the mother of a beautiful child. ~Bantu Proverb


93. Judge not your beauty by the number of people who look at you, but rather by the number of people who smile at you. ~African Proverb


94. The most beautiful fig may contain a worm. ~Zulu Proverb


95. It is only a stupid cow that rejoices at the prospect of being taken to a beautiful abattoir. ~African Proverb


96. There is always a winner even in a monkey’s beauty contest. ~African Proverb


97. An ugly child of your own is more to you than a beautiful one belonging to your neighbor. ~Ganda Proverb


98. Getting only a beautiful woman is like planting a vine on the roadside everyone feeds on it. ~African Proverb


99. If you find “Miss This Year” beautiful, then you’ll find “Miss Next Year” even more so. ~Nigerian Proverb


African Proverbs on Love and Marriage Quotes

100. Where there is love there is no darkness. ~Burundian proverb


101. If you are ugly you must either learn to dance or make love. ~ Zimbabwean Proverb


102. To love the king is not bad, but a king who loves you is better. ~ Wolof proverb


103. A happy man marries the girl he loves, but a happier man loves the girl he marries. ~ African proverb


104. If you marry a monkey for his wealth, the money goes and the monkey remains as is. ~ Egyptian proverb


105. Love never gets lost it’s only kept. ~ African proverb


106. Love has to be shown by deeds not words. ~ Swahili proverb


107. Love is a despot who spares no one. ~Namibian proverb


African Proverbs on Patience

108. Patience is the key which solves all problems. ~ Sudanese proverb


109. To run is not necessarily to arrive. ~ Swahili proverb


110. Patience can cook a stone. ~ African proverb


111. A patient man will eat ripe fruit. ~ African proverb


112. At the bottom of patience one finds heaven. ~ African proverb


113. Patience attracts happiness; it brings near that which is far. ~ Swahili proverb


114. Always being in a hurry does not prevent death, neither does going slowly prevent living. ~ Ibo proverb


115. However long the night, the dawn will break. ~ African proverb


African Proverbs on Food

116. Don’t take another mouthful before you have swallowed what is in your mouth. ~Malagasy Proverb


117. A healthy person who begs for food is an insult to a generous farmer. ~Ghanaian Proverb


118. A dog knows the places he is thrown food. ~Acholi Proverb


119. One who eats alone cannot discuss the taste of the food with others. ~African Proverb


120. Man is like a pepper, till you have chewed it you do not know how hot it is. ~Haussa Proverb


121. No one gets a mouthful of food by picking between another person’s teeth. ~Igbo Proverb


122. If you watch your pot, your food will not burn. ~Mauritanian, Nigerian, and Niger Proverb


123. You cannot tell a hungry child that you gave him food yesterday. ~Zimbabwean Proverb


124. However little food we have, we’ll share it even if it’s only one locust. ~Malagasy Proverb


125. Good words are food, bad words poison. ~Malagasy Proverb

Money and Technology to boost Africa 1 billion people Health Sector

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  On October 28, 1992, my mother died in my father’s car on the way to the closest clinic. She was bitten by a venomous snakes while seeking woods in the bush to make fire and cook food for us.
For many people living in rural areas in Africa, the nearest hospital could be many days’ journey away. In emergency cases like the one my family faced, you simply die on the way.
Compassionate entrepreneurs are picking up where failed states have abandoned their people.
In Kenya, Penda Health started opening a chain of health clinics targeting Kenya’s low and middle income population. The First clinic, located about 35km outside of Nairobi, in Kitengela, has been opened in February 2012. The big plan is to open and operate over 100 clinics across Kenya by 2020.


In the first 4 months of business the first clinic has had over 1,000 patient visits with an average spend of $5.00. The market is huge, and the opportunity to provide healthcare for low income and rural population is projected to be roughly $2B by 2020, in Kenya only.

A similar company in India, Primary Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd, specialized in primary care clinic chain, has recently raised $4.5 millions from Norwest Venture Partners to expand operations from 15 clinics to 120 clinics over the next 18 months in Bangalore. In India, The primary healthcare market is currently estimated at $40 billion and is expected to cross $200 billion in the next 10 years.
Primary health care market is also huge in Africa, and undoubtedly similar enterprise will be equally successful in African countries. Pendahealth has just raised $100,000 for expansion.
There is also a huge need for mobile or web application for the African health sector, to solve vital issues like procurement, stock management, employees and patients booking and tracking, etc.


eHealth Nigeria has developed a health management solution that can be rapidly deployed to manage patient information, streamline clinical procedures, and provide data and analysis on health program outcomes. Another Nigerian company playing in the same field is MedicRAM, which provides a unified repository for medical records of all medical practitioners and patients; and ensures information security through the deployment of biometric data-access control solutions.
A Similar tech company in India, Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd, has recently raised $4.6 million from Sequoi. Their flagship product called Practo Ray, is a web-based clinic management software.
Medical tourism is another field where, African health sector entrepreneurs could help their fellow citizens find the best destinations, and provide additional services. Reviews and comparisons are much needed service.
For example, East African countries ranks the highest in medical tourism to India, with hundreds of thousand patients traveling to India to seek medical treatment every year, simply because Treating one patient in Europe with heart surgery is equivalent to treating five of such patients in India.
The Medical tourism information might not be focused only on foreign countries, but first on and between African countries. There are lot good clinics and hospitals in Africa, but the information should be shared.
One good initiative in that direction is Afridocsearch, an e-health directory that stores, verifies and rates health listings in Africa. The listing weeds out unlicensed and unqualified health providers and intends to help enhance quality service delivery overall.
On the hardware side there are two great enterprises worth mentioning: WinSenga, a pregnacy scan device, designed by Ugandan ICT Students; and Cardiopad, a computer tablet to diagnose heart disease in rural households with limited access to medical services.
WinSenga connects a funnel-like horn to a smartphone to perform ultrasounds on pregnant women. When pressed on the stomach, the the funnel will pick up fetal sounds and then transmit them to the phone, which displays information about the baby’s condition. An application on the phone also records and analyzes the sounds to determine information about the pregnancy and its progression, like the baby’s age and heart rate.
Cardiopad, designed by 24-year-old Cameroonian engineer Arthur Zang, uses a tablet that collects signals generated by the rhythmic contraction and expansion of a patient’s heart. Electrodes are fixed near the patient’s heart. The tablet then produces a moving graphical depiction of the cardiac cycle, which is wirelessly transmitted over GSM networks to a cardiologist for interpretation and diagnosis.
Cardiopad, has been featured by the Guardian among the top “15 ideas helping to transform a continent”. Cardiopad recently received a $40.000 grant from Cameroon government for further development of the project. In Cameroon there are 30 cardiologists for the 20 million inhabitants.
One last initiative to mention is the South African  “Tutu Tester” van, that takes sophisticated testing equipment and trained staff (including a nurse, a counselor and an educator) into areas without adequate health facilities.

Meet The Nigerian Fashion Designer Building Africa's Hermès

Kunmi Otitoju, a 30-year-old Nigerian fashion designer and entrepreneur, holds two Computer Science degrees – a Bachelor of Science degree with first-class honors from Howard University and a Master of Science degree from Virginia Tech. But her first love was Fine Art. As a high school student in Lagos, she won the Fine Arts prize at school every year – for 3 years.
Having moved to the U.S. when she was 17, and then to Europe at the age of 25, Otitoju found herself deeply enmeshed in western culture. Keen on preserving her Nigerian identity and eager to propagate facets of Nigerian culture, she conceived the idea of lining high-quality leather bags with Aso-oke fabric, a hand-loomed cloth woven by Nigeria’s Yoruba people.
In 2011, after stints at Goldman Sachs and a few other international corporations, Otitoju established Minku, a fast-growing high-end Afro-centric brand that produces luxury bags, wallets and other fashion accessories for men and women by subtly blending Aso-oke into contemporary Spanish leathers to present a transcontinental finish.
All Minku’s products are hand-made at a workshop in Barcelona, Spain, but they are sold at high-end stores in Nigeria and on the company’s website.
Otitoju recently spoke to me about her journey, her future plans, and the state of luxury goods in Africa.
Kunmi Otitoju
Kunmi Otitoju
Why Aso-Oke?
For me, Aso-Oke is luxury. It is hand-woven, the weaving is dense, in the imperfection of the weaving lies evidence of the human touch, and it comes in sophisticated colours and patterns. What is luxury afterall? For me, it is the finest aspects of one’s culture, distilled, packaged, presented to, and accepted by the rest of the world. For example, Italy has leather and coffee as some of the finest aspects of its culture, and that is evident with the luxury companies out of Italy. Same with Switzerland and watches. Africa was a bit late to the branded luxury game, but we are catching up. Aso-oke lets me contribute to this in a small way.
Are you expanding into other goods and services?
Yes. We now offer a personalization service that lets our clients customize a purchase with their name/initials/message embossed onto the leather. It is a nice way to personalize one’s Minku bag, or just to include a message that is a reminder of love or a feeder of good vibes.
In our latest collection, I introduce bracelets for men. Men’s bracelets have gained wide acceptance among males, from surfers in Cape Town to investment bankers in New Jersey. I personally buy into the idea of a man wearing a beaded bracelet — it tells a story of travel and daring, and it alludes to an open mind. So combining precious metals — 18kt gold, sterling silver — with powder glass beads hand-made by the Nupe people of Nigeria, I created a collection of men’s bracelets. Each bracelet comes in an Aso-Oke lined watersnake leather drawstring pouch of varying designs. The pouches double as key-chains.
You have been running Minku for three years now. How is it received?
Minku has been well received. Like any other entrepreneur, I have had some discouraging moments. But many good opportunities have also arisen, sometimes unexpectedly, and it is those that have helped Minku to grow. So I work hard on product and marketing, but I have also learned that serendipity is part of entrepreneurship.
Minku Ore Atata Messenger Bag
Minku Ore Atata Messenger Bag
Are there any specific experiences that shaped your resolve to be an entrepreneur?
My parents have been entrepreneurs for most of my life, so I had exposure to the idea of becoming one, quite early on. In 2010, I was accepted to Stanford University to study product design under the Stanford Mechanical Engineering Masters program. This was a dream come true for me because I love Formula 1 and I wanted to study how to design faster cars (I still do; I love working with constraints, and Formula 1 car design provides constraint sets that fascinate me). However, I had just moved to Barcelona less than a year earlier, and did not yet want to leave.
So I had a hard question to answer: if I didn’t go to Stanford, could I still do good design, at a level similar to if I was a Stanford Product Design grad? I was not sure, but I decided to try. I think a lot of the courage to set out and start Minku came from desperately wanting the answer to that question to be a ‘yes’.

What do you think about the luxury market in Africa?
I think there is a fast-growing market for African-made luxury goods in Africa. Building this market to last will take a paradigm shift as to why it’s as cool to own a leather bag designed by a Nigerian or Kenyan luxury house as it is to own one from an Italian powerhouse. But it also takes much product/service refinement on the part of African designers and manufacturers. Recently, African designers have been hitting the mark on product refinement, even with local production. This has been producing results, and needs to continue. International gatherings like the 2012 IHT Luxury Conference also help to focus on Africa’s capacity for luxury creation and consumption. I like the idea of Africa as a destination for handmade luxury.
As a person running a business, what are some skills or attributes that you have found to be indispensable?
As a person running a business, I have found that optimism has helped me get far. If you combine an optimistic disposition with research and hard work, you can do great things.
As a creator of quality leather goods, what are some skills or attributes that you have found to be indispensable?
The main skill for me is creativity. I will go meta and say that an indispensable skill has been knowing how to get myself into my best creative mode.
Where do you see Minku in 5 years?
I try not to plan ahead much, because there are too many factors beyond my control. At the moment, growth for Minku is centered on making the most desirable products I can conceive. I am working with unusual materials: Aso-oke from Nigeria, and leather. So there is already some novelty there, but I am interested in seeing just how much excitement I can wring out of people, both men and women, on the mundane topic of bags. So much of my current focus is on that.
I belong to the generation where the most successful social network was started out of a dorm room, so for me, having a small atelier for working and an online storefront has not been unusual, and I am lucky that this model has been well-received. In five years, I would love to have a flagship store for Minku, perhaps in Lagos or New York City.
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