Alága Collections is a furniture and interior design company that tells African stories with furniture and other elements of space. The brand works with the best of materials from all over Nigeria and Africa as a whole to give comfort, beauty and a story to tell.
Smartpreneur had a Q&A with the owner and founder of Alága Collections,
‘Tobi Oreoluwa iconoreoluwa@gmail.com
What’s the name of your business and what do you offer?
Alága Collections. Alága is a furniture and interior design company that tells African stories with furniture and other elements of space. We work with the best of materials from all over Nigeria and Africa as a whole to give comfort, beauty and a story to tell.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the running of your business?
People want to survive hence are more focused on the most important essential needs than the primary needs.
How is your business adapting to the changes imposed by the pandemic?
We are learning daily and preparing for the new order of doing business, we’ve been testing technological approaches to our business and we hope the changes that might occur in the world favours us.
What challenges have you encountered as a business?
Access to skill and access to fund
Are you aware of the various funding programmes being made available for SMEs?
No, I’m not.
Will you apply for any of the funding programmes if you did found one?
Yes, I may apply if I consider it suitable.
We understand that the pandemic is on the minds of everyone, how are you currently engaging with your existing customers to hold a place in their hearts?
We are sending messages and putting ourselves in the midst of conversations
What lesson(s) (business-wise) have you learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Trends don’t sustain businesses, people do.
Post coronavirus, what are the first things you need to do as an entrepreneur?
The first thing will be to tech up. This is because the Pandemic has inadvertently opened our eyes to even more possibilities, so we will see how we can adapt technology into our business and further harness the digital space to our advantage.
How do you see the future of business in Nigeria shaping up post-COVID-19, particularly in your business sector?
It’ll be more retail buying
