Bukky Asehinde popularly known as an “Afrocentric Marketer” is a passionate young female Nigerian entrepreneur and founder of Bellafricana, a business focused in promoting creative (Made-in-nigeria) business development through a platform that bridges the gap between producers of quality creative/indigenous products in Nigeria (Africa) and their consumers globally.
She is very committed, highly motivated and self-driven in her effort to make an impact in job creation and building-up of local talents for economic drive and growth through the use of digital marketing.
She started her business in the hope of creating more jobs and to help develop talents in her area of creative expertise.
This is underscored by the fact that she observed a vast increase in the number of unique products made in Nigeria (Africa) but noticed a huge gap between local producers and consumers.
Hence, she has created an online platform to bridge that gap. What better way than through online, which gives it a global opportunity.
Bukky is of the opinion that if as many products and services which are made by local people can be showcased to a wider audience both local and global, then we stand a chance of creating more jobs and developing more talents which are things that impact directly on the country’s economic growth.
Bukky has always very much believed that a support group/community for creative MSMES will enhance the Non-oil export in the Nigerian economy and make them thrive. So she wondered, “Why should we wait on financial backing from the government and big institutions to help this industry, when we can create a platform to connect these Afrocentric businesses?” hence the birth of Bellafricana. She has directly impacted into over 1000 local producers and working towards promoting more.
Bukky also founded an inititative called African Creative Exhibition and Awards (termed ACE Awards) to celebrate creativity and innovation in Nigeria and the whole of Africa.
Through this, she aims to encourage more local talents in Africa, to look inwards and create more globally acceptable brands.
Bukky studied Biochemistry at the University of Westminster, United Kingdom. She has acquired skilled training in the United Kingdom from some of the top companies like Wembley Arena, Mcdonalds and is poised to commit her expertise to delivering that right standard of excellence.
Bukky returned to Nigeria to start this upwardly mobile business. She is a member of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria Britain Association and associated with the UK Trade and Investment.
She is also a co-founder to a non-profit organisation called PUSH Relief Project that serves as a back-bone for smaller charities within Africa.
With the current Rise of Made-in-nigeria (Africa) products, which is making more Nigerians look inwards to recover from the Recession, Bellafricana.com is playing a key role in the Nigerian economy by helping as many quality creative small businesses be at the forefront of the market and creating richer platforms to enable them grow.
“We are not in the business of waiting for the government to fix every hole in the economy. We believe in creating and innovating ideas to make our economy a better place”. She says.
There has been a rise in the number of Afrocentric (made in Nigeria, Africa) brands that have great quality with little or no financing from both the government and bigger institutions.
Bellafricana strives to connect Afrocentric businesses (African crafts) to the consumers. They are assisting these small businesses with marketing which would increase sales, help hire and train more local talents joining the companies which in turn will contribute to the growth of the Nigerian economy and also help decrease the unemployment rate.
In her quest to bring as many quality Madein-nigeria (Africa) brands to the forefront of the market, Bukky has put together an initiative to Celebrate Small Creative Businesses with the aim of encouraging more talents in Nigeria (Africa) to look inwards, be original and create more globally acceptable brands.
