In Nigeria’s fast-evolving creative industry, Rosemary Chima, the chief executive officer at April Second Events & Logistics Limited, a business she started with startup N250,000, raised through her savings, emerges as a name to watch.
A dynamic entrepreneur with a flair for innovation, she is redefining the intersection between entertainment and decoration, two sectors often overlooked for their potential synergy.
Through her ventures, Rosemary is not only creating memorable experiences but also setting new standards for creativity and business excellence.
Rosemary had a childhood inspiration to venture into entertainment and decoration spaces from seeing ice-cream cone sell by her school’s premise during her school days.
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“We are into entertainment. We plan parties, do decorations, foods all aspect of events.
“When I was in school there’s this man that comes to sell cone ice cream then, so I told myself that I would have something like that sited in any of our schools as my side hustle while I pursue my career,” she said.
According to the enthusiastic entrepreneur, the business has grown from one person to having 20 employees and still counting.
“We have grown to a 20 staff firm, and what stands us out is our standard and quality.
“Besides, the ability to delight our clients also speaks for us,” she stressed.
Every successful entrepreneur starts with a vision, and for Rosemary, that vision was simple, to bring beauty, joy, and artistry to every celebration.
As she is skillfully blending entertainment and decoration to create experiences that reflect Nigeria’s vibrant culture and creative spirit, Rosemary narrated that doing business in Nigeria is not funny.
“The cost of operations is not encouraging and thereby not easy for customers. Getting people that are trustworthy to work with is a challenge,” she said.
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The former human resources personnel who had worked for various organisations in their HR space, said, having forayed through the corporate was an advantage in managing her challenges.
“The time I spent in the corporate world afforded me technical skills in management and business and the understanding that a thriving business stems from finding a need and satisfying same with acceptable products and services in terms of quality and pricing.
“In this instance, it is the entertainment space and in my line of duty, organising social functions involving staff and their families were common and this made me identify lack or inadequate provision of fun foods at parties,” she emphasised.
Rosemary reiterated that satisfying clients’ needs is a passion for her, bearing in mind that creating and having fun is an integral part of development and wellbeing.
She explained that the business which started out providing fun foods such as ice-cream, pop-corn, candy-floss, and french-fries, among others, have expanded into events planning for children, adults and corporate social functions.
However, she revealed that starting out was challenging because of the cost of acquiring the required machines/equipment.
“There was a need for about N2.5million but I was only able to raise N250,000 from personal savings.
“Taking deliveries of machines came in batches as I resorted to making deposit payments with understanding to complete these payments by instalment and this helped in commencing operations in December 2011,” she said.
Speaking on her growth secrets, she said, “Consistency in quality of products, customer services, trained and supportive workforce is our niche.
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“We also ensure that each customer is treated with tailor-made services to meet that his/her expectation, and this has led to many sales from referrals of satisfied customers.”
On how the business has been able to navigate the inflation to thrive in its space, she explained that the firm continues to research on better and less expensive methods and locations for sourcing materials and machinery so that their goods do not become exorbitant in prices to discourage continued patronage.
She however, decried some of the government policies that clogs the wheels of easy business in Nigeria such as excessive levies/fees from multiple agencies which she said have impacted cost of operations rather negatively.
Rosemary said her expansion plans include diversifying and opening more outlets in different locations to attract more customers and drive sales volume.
