admin An author, educator and radio preacher, Charles R. Swindoll, once said, “When you have a sense of calling, whether it is to be a musician, soloist, or artist in one of the technical fields or a plumber, there is something deep and enriching when you realise it is not just a casual choice, it is a divine calling.”
This is exactly the way God patterned the destiny path of the Chief Executive Officer of B & B Ties, Ololade Babalola. Very early in life she feels naturally at ease with anything artistic “Naturally, I am an artistic person. I would make greeting cards and stuffs like that. All of those things come with ease for me.”
She was born into a family of five children (three boys and two girls) and the first daughter to late Reverend Lawrence Oladejo Adebanji and Mrs Theresa Abeje Adebanji in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Though no one has ever pursued any discipline within the artistic terrain, she feels the leading of divine inspiration to follow that footsteps which shot her to limelight at God’s timing, which is always on point.
For her educational career, Ololade Babalola attended Oritamefa Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Queen Elizabeth Road, Ibadan. She later went to St. Anne’s Secondary School, Molete, Ibadan, before proceeding to the Nigerian premier university, the University of Ibadan, for a BSc degree in microbiology. She graduated in 1993 and did her NYSC between 1993/1994.
As of today, B&B Ties areas of business activities centred on the following:
Events Decoration and planning, Production and wholesale of customised Aso Ebi (Aso Ebi is a specific type of fabric made cloth worn by family members, friends or a group of people for a special occasion in Nigeria), Production and sale of Aso Oke (Aso Oke is a high-quality traditional Yoruba attire made from quality fabric of silk, cotton or wool, typically showing elegance and showcasing luxury and cultural heritage), Sales of gift items to private individuals, companies and groups of people, Sales of souvenirs for different types of seasons.
Because of the uniqueness built around the formation of B&B Ties, God gave the Chief Executive Officer the motto: LCC which she explained to Crude Reports magazine.
According to her, “Letter L stands for LIFE, which means we are the life of every event that we are privileged to handle. Whatever social event we plan must be lively and bubble. No dullness at all. Letter C means COLOUR, that is, every event we handle, its planning must be colourful, and the last letter C means CHARACTER, that is, excellence, maturity, simplicity, and elegance.
One thing that makes B&B Ties stand out again from the crowd, according to the CEO, Ololade Babalola, is their insistence on not putting the status of clients as a yardstick for their professional charges, “We charge for jobs based on the type and scope of our assignment. We don’t give higher charges because a client is from a high-profile organisation or from government agency. We apply the best corporate global standards and ethics of business deals to treat our customers primarily to give them more than the best of what they have paid for. The principle is a simple way of attracting the customers to come back again or give us referrals, which is very good marketing for any company offering services meant for public audience.”
No doubt that God has been gracious to B&B Ties with clients spread beyond Nigeria to the UK, US, South Africa, and even some parts of Asia.
Report by Tunde Olaore
