Jennifer Obiekwugo is the CEO and founder of Feman Media Agency. When she started her company, which was originally called Fine Digital Agency, she was excited to explore the rapidly developing realm of digital marketing in Nigeria and set out on a mission to carve out a space within the larger, broad field of media advertising.
With just two clients when she first began out, one of whom was her cousin, she was able to pay the salaries of her two employees, leaving her without a paycheck of her own. She persisted and refused to give up for a full year, sending out proposals and reaching out to potential clients regularly.
She told Duchess International Magazine, “I was struggling to make ends meet. I had to write a lot of proposals and visit potential clients, which required a lot of patience. But I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Some clients took up to two years to understand what I was offering before they finally said yes. It can be tough at the beginning, but I knew I had to keep pushing.”
As she began to see progress, she came up against a critical moment that could have ended her path. Before branching out into more expansive media advertising areas, the entrepreneur had originally intended to test the still-uncharted waters of digital marketing in Nigeria, the Duchess International Magazine said.
Unfortunately, a quarrel with her business partner proved to be more than just a disagreement. Her partner had not only ruined her reputation but had also planned for the departure of several large global clients with extensive network systems.
“The only half of the businesses that I got to keep was a difficult time, really. But like I said again, my resilience. I don’t know how to take a fight lying down, so I picked myself up, and we grew from there,” Obiekwugo recounted.
The consequences of her partner’s actions were severe. Obiekwugo had to reorganize her business and fire a few staff members. While this is often a turning point for many companies, Obiekwugo leveraged it to advance her brand.
Her extraordinary resilience and “never-say-die” spirit shone through. She overcame the obstacle right away, using it as a launching pad to grow her company to new heights.
For more than eighteen years, the businesswoman has managed to turn her circumstances around and establish her brand.
