#TheYNaijaInterview: “I always thought I would be a pastor’s wife” – Tara Fela-Durotoye

by Wilfred Okiche

tara fela-durotoye

“I am sorry I have been interviewed so many times’’ Tara Fela-Durotoye says to me almost apologetically as we sit down to talk in the impressive building that houses House of Tara international, her locally grown beauty and make-up empire. The mostly female staff I meet on ground greet visitors with a smile and a “welcome to the House of Tara”.

Smaller in person than she appears in photographs, Fela-Durotoye agrees to be a bit more revealing as long as I promise to be more innovative with my questions. Enjoy excerpts from the conversation.


This is a beautiful place you have here

You think so? thank you

How long have you been here?

3 years but I have been in business for 16 years. I started early though, I was in university when I started.

You recently launched a new project, what is the idea behind ‘100 voices’?

100 voices is a campaign launched by House of Tara to use the stories of our beauty representatives who have succeeded or who are succeeding in their micro entrepreneurship, record their stories and use them to inspire other young people across Africa so that in the long run their stories will be heard. It is not just about successful people but also about how they started. So we decided to create a documentary with it and a coffee table book. 100 voices is really just 100 of the people whose lives have been transformed, we are not saying that it is only a hundred lives we have affected but it is only 100 that we could record and put in the book.

How were the final stories selected?

House of Tara has a wide range of beauty representatives all across Nigeria but they all have their state branches that are a form of support for them. We created the branches so we could be able to give them as much support as possible so what we did was ask the branches how many of these ladies’ stories have they heard?, how many have they found inspiring? Reach out to them and ask them to tell their stories. So we created a website and stories were posted on it. We then decided that we could only use hundred and that is how we arrived at 100 voices.

Is it a one-off thing or are there plans for more?

100 voices I think will be a project that we will always work on. There will be different formats, but it is something that we will continue to do.

While selecting entries, did you come across any stories that reminded you of yourself in some way or mirrored your journey?

That is a good question. Many of them have struck a chord with me because many of them are stories of young people. I started early, they started early so that is a similarity. Also, I decided then that in spite of my current circumstances and regardless of the way Nigeria was at the time, I wasn’t going to wait for no government to change things, I was going to put my destiny in my own hands. And that is also what they have done. Some of them who came from Maidugri, for example, a place that has been boiling with crises and they insisted on finding customers within this territory to do business with. Now there is a general perception that doing business in Nigeria is very difficult, doubly so in areas like Maidugri but these people persisted. Our stories are also similar in the sense that for some people who came from privileged backgrounds in terms of education, lifestyle, their stories are  those of no longer being dependent on daddy and mummy. For those from less privileged backgrounds, they acknowledged it but went on to create an advantage for themselves. We have the story of a rep, a graduate who started work and was being paid N20,000 monthly but rather than sit down and nag, she decided to do something else on the side. She became a beauty rep and her ultimate dream is to own a spa. By the time she was coming to Lagos for the presentation of 100 voices, she had already bought some kits and equipment to start her own company. That I think is how our stories are similar.

You come from a privileged background and went on to build a successful business. But rags to riches stories sound more awe inspiring, do you think success stories like yours are under reported?

I think that for whatever background one comes from, there is always a limitation. For the privileged man, there is a status quo you are expected to conform to; go to school, get a degree, stuff like that. Those may be limitations and may not help you to be creative. My case was different because in as much as my parents did not see it as a business, they encouraged me all the way. Sometimes who your parents are and what they have achieved is placed on you as a burden. People question if you have the capacity to do as well as your family so you already have a complex, trying to prove a point because you come from an advantaged background. Also it may lead to some prejudice against you because people may start to assume that whatever success you have had is due to your family connections or background. For me, I went to good schools, was exposed to a certain mind set to give back because I wasn’t raised to think I had to make money for myself. I had most things I wanted, my drive wasn’t hunger or desperation. My parents gave a lot, helped a lot of people out of poverty so maybe that need to do the same helped me create a business that would be able to do so.

How does it feel, being the one person responsible for a hundred success stories like these?

The stories are much more than a hundred, maybe a thousand. There is a sense of humility, a sense of awe, a sense of privilege, servitude and servant hood. A sense of humility in the sense that I don’t have 4 heads but my destiny has put me in a place to give to people and build a business that can build lives. Sense of servitude in that I now have a greater purpose for developing other people so the time and gift that I have is to serve. There is also a sense of pride in my company and what every branch’s contribution has been to developing these people. I am not in all the branches at the same time but beauty reps go to these branches from the East, West, North and South day after day and they are being developed. So there is a sense of pride in what House of Tara has been able to do. I feel a sense of awe when I realised the depth of our impact. I am awed every single time I watch the documentary so when I was sending the books to the branches, I wrote to them that every time you open the book, I want you to remember that these are the lives that you are responsible for transforming.

But all of this started from one person and her acumen in building a successful business. Was it something you conceived when you started out, that you would be in such a position?

I think that my divine call has always been to develop people but I did not know that it would be in this capacity. I always thought I would be a pastor’s wife and that I would help to build my husband’s ministry and so I thought that gift was for that purpose. The expression wasn’t clear but I knew that the essence of me was being tied to giving and developing people so I am intrigued to find out that this is the medium I am supposed to use.

Running a business can be demanding. What drives you and keeps you struggling day after day?

I would say that there is a sense of a greater purpose and that is what gives me inspiration to continue. The difficulty of business comes with certain limitations, questions and doubts, it comes with a lack of the things you need in terms of infrastructure, finance but until you know that you are here for a greater purpose, then you can cope. As long as you feel a sense of being here for something significant, then the limitations become smaller in your eyes, so constantly, I am inspired by the fact that I know that there are people out there who need my call and assignment and I need to answer to their voices. In answering to this call, I am learning every day that this is not just about making money or turning a profit but for something bigger.

House of Tara today is significantly larger than what it was 10 years ago. Has your driving force changed over the years?

I think it has evolved. It has always been purpose driven but there are many times when your purpose is not clear or vivid. One thing I always say to myself in such moments is never to be stuck in my present and to always remember that I am going somewhere.

I am curious as to how your products are made. Could you enlighten me a bit on the process

For a long time, it was a response to having discussions with customers and finding out what they need that other products do not provide. Also a trend where customers begin to look for a certain kind of colour because the international scene has begun to determine what the consumer should buy. So whether it is what the customer needs or what the trends have evolved, we take it and because of my experience as a make up artiste and because our business is centred round make up artistry, we join our heads together in house to provide a solution to that gap or to respond to the desires of the consumers in a world where the trend is being dictated. So we take that idea and come up with a product that can solve that problem. We take that concept to our manufacturers who then create a sample based on their understanding, return to us to approve or comment on. We go back and forth until we find the texture and the component we desire, then we go on to packaging where we have to deal with the designing, we look for the packages, the containers, graphic artistes who are responsible for creating the message on the product. We deliberate on the quantity to be produced, negotiate when we get the packaged samples and respond. If it is not up to the quality we are looking for, then we send back till we get the right thing. Once we are satisfied, then we place orders.

You are a successful businesswoman, wife, mother, mentor…

You want to ask me how I balance it all?

No, I was actually going to ask if you think that you are a superwoman?

No, I don’t. I think that sometimes I have a lot of things on my mind but things happen that make us question our capabilities whenever you start to think you are a superstar. Sometimes the children do some things that make you say to yourself, it is because I didn’t do this well, that is why they did that. So for ever and ever, you are constantly questioning if you can be the best person or mother you are trying to be. No matter how successful you may be at the office, when you get home, there will always be humble pie to eat.

How much is House of Tara worth?

Because it is a private company, I am reluctant to say because I don’t have investors. It is worth a lot more than people would imagine because a lot of people still limit the beauty industry and how much it can generate. They forget that it is massive in that it speaks to a woman in ways that a lot of things do not. Make up is not just product but service also. They say that during the wars, things that are never totally scarce are food and the little luxuries like make up because when the woman is buying her rice, she saves some for her lipstick or blush. The rich and poor alike wear make up, has anybody ever bothered to ask why?

Has there been anytime at all when you felt like quitting?

I have been seriously stressed, been overwhelmed and even been weary at some moments but I have never gotten to a place where I want to give up. No, never quitting. I am not a quitter, I am a child of faith.

Comments (2)

  1. She looks stunning!

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cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail