How we started Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, by Mrs. Ogunlesi

How we started Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, by Mrs. Ogunlesi

Mrs. Adenike Ogunlesi, Founder & Chief Responsible Officer, Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, may not rank in the category of renowned entrepreneurs but she is certainly a role model an average young aspiring entrepreneur should look up to. In this interview she told Goddie Ofose how she started one of the leading lifestyle children clothing line. 

 

Mrs. Adenike Ogunlesi

How did you get here?

It has been a long journey, getting here has been challenging; it has been full of challenges as well as triumphs. This is why we have something to celebrate. The brand has been positioned to serve as many Nigerians as possible, the price points are very reasonable, the quality is exceptional, quality in terms of product and quality in terms of service delivery and customers experience with the brand within its stores. We have come a long way to this building, which houses our entire support centre; support centre because we feel this is the centre that supports all the branches. We have a network of 10 branches nationwide. The expansion roadmap would see us having five stores next year, opening five new stores next year in Kano, Port Harcourt, Lagos and, possibly, Ghana. We are very proud of achievements in such a short time and we are very proud of this building, which is our support centre and within the building is also our flagship store.

We have set a standard and we are proud of the standard we have set in the industry and we feel that we have something to celebrate this Christmas. It is also a way to say thank you to our customers and reassure them that we will not let them down until we have got what they are looking for.

How do you strike a balance between quality and price despite the fact that the brand is perceived as an upper market segment brand?

The Ruff ‘n’ Tumble brand cannot serve the 60 or 70 per cent of the Nigerian population that is children. It is not possible and Ruff ‘n’ Tumble is a lifestyle brand. We define lifestyle to mean people who want a product of quality, those who want dress in a particular way and style and those who want their children to look in a particular way. I have been very confused about this upper class business in Lagos because people are living everywhere in Lagos. This product is for the discerning Nigerian, who wants quality, who loves colour, who likes to see the children look good because your children are a reflection of you. So for me, this brand is for people who are particular about quality, quality of product, quality of service, who won’t compromise in terms of what their children would wear because they believe their children deserve good quality.

As a mother, one of the things that inspired me to go into this business is my children and what I was looking for was clothing that they could wear and wash, wash and the wear without fear that after the first wash, the cloth will fall apart. So quality, for me, is very important and the brand quality of both product and service is very important. If you are a customer that is looking for clothing that you would not put in water the first time and it would not fall part, then Ruff ‘n’ Tumble is the place you should go.

How did the name come about?

When this company was formed, my children were three little rascals or angels, whichever way you want to look at them. And at a time, I was actually looking for practical functional clothing for them and I couldn’t find any place in Lagos where I could go and just buy a pair of jean if that was what I wanted for this child. My children were in schools where they didn’t wear uniforms, which means that they have to have a lot of durable clothing that we could mix and march so that each person could have his own sense of identity and style. Talking about the name, I was standing outside my neighbour’s kitchen door; she was having a teddy bear exhibition. She is Mrs. Gbemi Sasore and she asked me to take part in the exhibition and at that time I asked her, what are we going to write on the canopy for people to know the name of the company that is serving these children clothes?. This is our very humble beginning; when we had nothing, it was a handful of tailors, I was buying fibre locally, we were making the cloth and I didn’t even have a label at that point.  And she asked, what kind of club are you making? And I said to her, fun clothes for children and she said okay, we draw something like a drum with children tumbling out of it and I said okay, children like to play rough and the name come in from there ‘Ruff ‘n’ Tumble’. That is how it came about; two women outside the kitchen door, one afternoon with very little children running around the premises and that is how the name was formed. And immediately it clicked it is one of those things you say is eureka moment. So from there, we started to go to exhibitions, bazars, church bazars, American Women Bazars, British Wives Bazars and I went to every single bazar that I could go to and at that time, we didn’t even have a label and as the business evolved and I started going to Lagos Business School to do courses in Business Management, Customer Service and Excellent in Customer Service. I did senior management programme and I began to look at the business from a different perspective, I began to read books on branding, I began to look at the business from a totally different perspective and we began to grow and that is how we find ourselves where we are today.

How long have you been in this business?

Do you know it’s so difficult to calculate how many years we have been in this business? How do you do that? Is it the informal years or formal years but I usually say about 15 or 18 years. We have been around for about 15 or 18 years.

How do you source your materials?

The sad thing about the textile industry in Nigeria is that it is not grown. It has not progressed into the 21st century. They have had a lot of government support but again, doing business in Nigeria is also extremely challenging because they run very heavy machines. The cost of doing the business is very high but at the same time, they don’t have any issues that most of us don’t have and yet we have managed to survive one way or the other. So, what I found is they didn’t grow with the market. They were not in tune with the market and they did not grow with the market. They did not do enough research and development, they did not change the pattern and style of the fabrics they were making. If they were in tune with the market they would not have given way to fabrics from Cotonu, Abidjan and Senegal. Those people would not have had a leg to stand on if the local manufacturers were producing the kind of fabrics that the people are looking for. Largely, they produced wrapper, I grew up with Ankara and adire around me, my mother made adire under the label of “Betty O”. She made shirts and all kind of things with adire in all my growing up years, so I know about the textile mode in Nigeria; who was making curtain and who was not making curtain, who will take the dye and who will not take the dye. If we are to be honest and tell the truth, they didn’t put enough money back into the business in terms of research and development for products and the market, what does the market wants, who is in the market and remember, the market was evolving and they did not see that way. Look at where Ankara is today, there is Ankara siphon.

How did you start as a tailor?

I started as an apprentice to mother, she taught me tailoring, she taught me how to make clothes. I didn’t even realise that I have the flair for design but my mother gave me the opportunity to work with her because she was already working with Ankara and adire. That is where I discovered that I actually loved fabrics and, in fact, I could mix the fabrics and people would pay me for it.

How much local content is in your collection?  

I actually started my career with Ankara but I have been sidetracked a little. We are launching a new line next year but it’s going to be in Ankara and possibly adire. We are launching a completely new line next year. We already have a line that we called Ibitimotiwa (where I come from), which we want to launch online to sell internationally. Ibitimotiwa has history and heritage, Nigeria has heritage, so I am proud of where I come from and I know it is not where it should be but it is a work in progress like every other nation that was work in progress.

Why did you choose children as your target audience?

It was actually borne out of necessity for my own needs for my own children. That is what gave birth to it. I was looking for things for my three children and I had not travelled. So I had to look around locally for what I could find but it was either the quality was not up to the standard or it was very expensive. So I decided to make something for my children because I had already had a background where I was making clothes. So I started making something for my children and my sister in-law requested that I made something for them. That was the birth of the business. It was borne out of necessity. So as a brand, one the things that we strive for very strongly is that we must continuously add value to our customers.

How big is your online store?

We are just gr owing our online store, we are just putting it together now but what we have done is that we have put a lot of pictures online. So for now you can shop online and you can buy whatever it is you want online but we are not promoting it as much as we intend to do next year. So if you actually go to our online store you will see a lot of clothing, different variety of things.

Osayi Alile Oruene is currently the Chairperson of Women in Management, Business and Public services.

Executive Director FATE Foundation (Sept. 2005 – Dec 2012.), FATE Foundation which was founded in March 2000 is a private sector led, non profit initiative created with the vision to equip enterprising Nigerian youths with skills, tools, networks and financing which can be used to create successful businesses that will in turn offer gainful employment to the economy.

Vice President Junior Achievement Nigeria (Jan. 1999 – Jan. 2003), Assisted in the recruitment of key staff; Coordinated 150+ schools – managing relationships with principals, teachers, and students. Trained, mentored and monitored volunteers, ensuring smooth interaction between volunteers and selected schools.
Implemented and evaluated the impact of Junior Achievement Programmes on students. Coordinating the development of new corporate sponsored programs such as LEAD (Leadership, Empowerment, Achievement and Development) Camp fully sponsored by a Private Organization.

Research Assistant Community University Consortium for Regional Environmental Justice (Jan 1998 – Jan. 1999), Evaluated & developed a strategy framework addressing fundamental environmental issues in a pilot study in the New Jersey area.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from the University of Lagos, and a Master’s degree honors in Public Administration Pi Alpha from Rutgers University, New Jersey, United States of America.

Her interest in the area of development stems from a personal commitment to the socioeconomic development of the country through private sector-led interventions. Her expertise has placed her in several organizations’ board including After School Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), Nigerian Youths Leaders Congress, Network for Executives of Non-Profits in Nigeria which she founded and several private organizations. She was also honored as the Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.