The bedding industry is particularly sensitive, as it prioritises customer satisfaction due to the direct impact its products have on clients’ health, both positively and negatively.
The chief executive officer (CEO) of Cornerstone Beddings,Temidayo Ogunleke,
which specialses in duvets, fiber, and orthopedic pillows, among other products, emphasizes that the bedding industry is highly profitable. However, its success largely hinges on the owner’s knowledge and partnerships, given its role in the hospitality sector and its direct impact on client well-being.
Having spent less than a decade in this sector, Temidayo highlighted the technical nature of creating comfort-focused products. She noted that acquiring specialized skills and education has been essential for thriving in the bedding industry.
Inspiration
Inspiration is essential in any venture as it can make the difference between starting a business and struggling to make it count or running into myriad problem while trying to build the business. For the CEO of Cornerstone Beddings & Interiors, Temidayo, she got inspired into delving into it as well as wanting to make money. To “I just wanted to be able to feed myself, that was my initial reason but now that has changed. I went into beddings as a result of a need myself as I had been homeless before and in need of a shelter which was a challenging period in my life. Having received help and God’s favour, I sought to meet that need and make money for myself and this dream took a life of its own. God has been and will keeping helping Cornerstone Beddings”.
Challenges
The challenges for an entrepreneur in a bustling city in Lagos is similar and for Temidayo known as ‘Madam Beddings’ it is indeed a challenge with getting power and responding to the sharp continued increase in price of raw materials. “The continuous increase in the commodity of items in the market is really a challenge, the hike in fuel price and all, it’s a generic issue and we will thrive,’ says Ogunleke.
For Mr Charles Somiari, who deals in beddings and about to get into the manufacturing phase of it. It’s difficult to run a business in Nigeria but it is surmountable. “Bedding business is very lucrative as every house has the products and that means the business is in demand but one must stand out by deploying strategies to retain and increase the customers. “
Breakthrough
Madam Beddings noted that in six years she is yet to breakthrough but she is fulfilled as she is not just a business woman but also a speaker who believes in impacting lives and putting a smile in people’s lives.
“We are yet to breakthrough; we’ve been around for about six years now. The Beddings sector is a male dominated one that I am still standing in this industry when some of my contemporaries have shut down is a testimony on its own. There are bigger companies than me and a household name and yet we have not been run out of business.
“In Lagos people hardly get enough sleep because of the logistics and transportation issues and the need to make a meaningful living and earn wages. At Cornerstone Beddings & Interiors, we help clients to get enough sleep and provide products that allow them to be comfortable and experience good sleep,” she said.
Initial Capital
Temidayo ironically stated that she started ‘Cornerstone’ with NO CAPITAL! Madam Beddings meant that she started the company as a need to fend for herself and it became a business. She says that anyone will to start such business must be armed with the right information which according to her is the capital required and it will eventually produce funds.
“Anyone willing to do beddings business should please get trained, I was trained in Beddings production for eight months. I started production but I didn’t know how to navigate the business part of it, so i had to learn and I’m still learning.
I started this business with no capital,” she says.
In beddings manufacturing, equipment is needed and they are in hundreds of thousands and also in millions. Madam Beddings noted however that the business owner should be passionate and start from scratch building the bedding business up before exploring the manufacturing phase of the business.