Bose Oke is the muscle behind Ladies 'n' Things. She has invested a lot of her talent, time, and resources into growing a chain of shops just to cater for women of all sizes. This is what sets her apart from regular clothing importers. She has employed passion and vision into her work, and she is not stopping with small shots; aiming high is her goal.

Ladies ‘n’ things is in the business of wholesale and retail of ladies clothing and accessories, to meet the fashion needs of corporate ladies, expectant mothers, and everyday women.

How long have you been in business?

Since 1997, that was when we opened our first shop in the heart of Ikeja, and since then the business has expanded to six sales outlets and staff strength of 30.

How did you get into acting?

I took part in a talent hunt competition for teens held in different parts of the world with the various winners meeting in New York for the grand finale. During this event, Edward Seddoh Junior, the writer of Things we do for love saw my performance and came back stage to tell me about a TV series coming up shortly asking if I was interested. I told him yes, and that is how it all started.

His Excellency, Mahesh Sachdev is the Indian High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In this interview he speaks on how India has been able to move from its under-development to become an emerging economy, India’s relationship with Nigeria, and the challenges of development.

Once upon a time India was an under-developed economy, but all of a sudden the Indian economy has grown from that state of under development, to that of an emerging economy, competing favourably with advanced economies. What is the Indian approach to development?

India’s development

India’s development did not happen all of a sudden. It happened over a period of time but perhaps the international media only began to notice it in recent times. To put it in time perspective, as we mark our 59^th year as a republic however, the development has been in phases. The first phase up to the mid sixties, was setting up the institutions, parliament, development plan, 5 year rolling plans, policy documents, and other key drivers. Subsequently, we tried to focus on getting the bigger issues right, such as heavy industry, nationalization of banks, orienting the financial economy, and orienting the procurement of agricultural products. By the eighties we were ready for a re-direction towards the services sector. The early nineties had a few challenges; due to the Iraq/Kuwait war, we had to repatriate a large number of people, putting enormous pressure on our economy. We then decided that this was the right time to go for a thorough reorientation and adopting policies that our matured market will be able to take in strides.  A new set of regulatory bodies were set up, and government disassociated progressively from running the economy of the country. Regulators more often than not, managed by the industry itself or the commercial activity itself, put a transparent framework, while monitory policies were revised to make them user friendly in terms of operators and stakeholders.

“THE MOMENT YOU RESOLVE TO TAKE HOLD OF LIFE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT AND MAKE THE MOST OF YOURSELF AT ANY COST, TO SACRIFICE ALL LESSER AMBITIONS TO YOUR ONE GREAT AIM, TO CUT LOOSE FROM EVERYTHING THAT INTERFERES WITH THAT AIM, TO STAND ALONE, FIRM IN YOUR PURPOSE WHATEVER HAPPENS, YOU SET IN MOTION THE FORCES IMPLANTED WITHIN YOU FOR YOUR OWN DEVELOPMENT. LIVE UP TO RESOLVE, WORK AT WHAT GOD MEANT YOU TO WORK AT FOR THE PERFECTING OF HIS PLAN, AND YOU WILL BE INVINCIBLE. NO POWER ON EARTH CAN HOLD YOU BACK FROM SUCCESS”

ORISON SWETT MARDEN