The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strictly Weddings Academy, Oluremi Akintola-Samuel, CEO of Strictly Weddings Academy, has said that she was training women and young ladies so that they don’t become financial liabilities to themselves, spouses as well as to the society.
She revealed that she has trained over 100 women within Nigeria and across the globe on career building and entrepreneurship. She also revealed her experiences as a traditional wedding compere.
According to her, she learnt the profession from her mother, because that’s what she also does. She was always going with her to events and saw the several needs in the industry. She said that by the time she joined the industry, it was dominated by older women and a few men.
“I noticed that the younger people didn’t have a representation in the traditional wedding compere industry and when I saw that need, I said if this is what I love doing I can create a need for the younger generation .
“My mother trained me in the art of public speaking, the art and business of engagement compering. In addition, I got myself mentors who put me through because at that point my mother was just doing it as a hobby. I came into the industry to do it full-time and create a space and opportunity for younger people in the industry, and over the years I can say it’s been worthwhile,” she said.
She recalled how in 2001, her mother started giving her jobs to handle. She said that her mother also gave her the opportunity of getting her own business cards. Having launched her cards, she began to do exploits in 2003.
On challenges on the job, Akintola-Samuel said: “Back in the days, people preferred the engagements, but now one of the challenges we face now is that people are trying to phase out our tradition and culture. Our culture is fading out fast and if we don’t do something about it, we would discover that in some years to come, some children would not even know anything about their culture and that’s a major challenge. Another challenge we face is timing. Sometimes, people will tell you engagement starts 7am, you get to the venue by 7am and family members are not even there until 10am.
“When people go to the registry and they delay them, they won’t complain, but when it is traditional engagement scheduled for minutes, they are already hurrying to end it. Sometimes, clients expect the whole engagement ceremony to be conducted within 15 minutes.