Sandra Aburime, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lucious Virgin Hair, has established herself not only as a foremost human hair expert and merchant but also as a flourishing entrepreneur who has reshaped every terrain she has ever tread. Both the skincare and hair care businesses have been her forte and she holds sway like a czarina with all the aces.
But things have not always been as temperate as many think as she has had her own share of stormy weathers. In fact when she was starting, an unhealthy experience almost put paid to her venture in the virgin hair business.
The Edo State born woman, recounts the experience in a recent interview.
“ Just like every entrepreneur, I have had to make a lot of sacrifices for my business to stand. It hasn’t been an easy ride.
“I had to sacrifice time, spent countless hours working without no sleep, I have been duped, I have lost money, sometimes I have even gone broke to make sure the business does not die. I’ve had doubts, rejection and disappointments.
“When I just started my business in 2012, I decided to travel to India in search of human hair, as there were a lot of temples where human hair is donated and sold to factories to process. I had previously gotten hair from India online, which was really good. I decided to see more factories and get more partners. In search of a new factory, I met with a dealer Mr. Maju .
“I showed him my samples and he told me he could deliver and after making all arrangements and paying the sum of twenty thousand dollars he told me to return after 10 days.
“So I travelled from there to another state called Mumbai to get some Indian fabrics, then I requested that my goods be sent to Mumbai as I already made plans to travel from Mumbai to Lagos.
“Only for me to get all the products worth 20,000 dollars all fake, I almost died that day, I had to leave India as my visa was going to expire and I didn’t want to be blacklisted for overstay so I came back to Nigeria with nothing . It was a very bad experience for me. All efforts to retrieve my money back was fruitless and impossible.
“I almost gave up on my business but it was part of learning and looking back I must say I am glad I made those sacrifices because it has taught me a valuable lesson in business,” she recalled.
She added that her entrepreneur journey started while in university
“I always had that entrepreneurial drive. It all started as fun because I enjoyed shopping then I realized that I could actually sell and make extra money for myself and that was it.
“After graduation, I had made a lot of money and was already a millionaire. I had gotten a good car and built my first house, at that point there was no need to look for a job. I was already self-made and my brand was thriving,” she said.
Lucious Virgin Hair company, founded in 2012 provides luxury and affordable human hair extensions, wigs and hair care products.
On how she made Lucious Virgin Hair a premium brand, she said, “You need to have passion for any business you want to venture in, and be very smart and strategic. I chose to put my skin care line on hold to focus more on the virgin hair business because I understood that the market was very lucrative as at then. That was the reason I went with the virgin hair business but hopefully like pretty soon we would be launching our skin care line soon,” she added.
Sandra Aburime hails from Ewu Local Government in Edo State, Nigeria. She attended Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), in Benin City, Edo State. She had a diploma in computer engineering before complementing it with a Bsc degree in accounting from the same university, University of Benin, also in Edo State.
Her Lucious Virgin Hair, over the years has grown exponentially not only in staff strength but also in size. She has branches in many States across the country with a great turnover rate. Her dream, according to her, is to have branches all over the world and to create more employment opportunities.
“I would also love to create a platform for young and new entrepreneurs to thrive in, create a free skill acquisition scheme to empower youths who would love to go into hair business and styling,” she stated.