• I started my perfume shop with 1300 personal collections

Olufemi Olaseinde Olusola is the CEO of Seinde Signature, an exclusive perfume store with an Experience Fragrance session. Seinde, as he is fondly called, is one of many Nigerians, who the pandemic helped turn their passion into thriving businesses. Apart from opening two stores to sell niche fragrances, there’s also the Experience Studio/Perfume museum, which is a first of its kind in Africa, where frag-heads and perfume lovers could come experience different scents in a very relaxed atmosphere with canapés served with champagne. So, Seinde Signature doesn’t just provide a channel to buy, but also an opportunity to appreciate scents on a very elevated level Olusola, who is also a perfume collector, serial entrepreneur shares with IFEOMA ONONYE in this interview, why perfume is an art that connects the world, why Nigerians are yet to recognise indigenous perfume designers and how he moved from being a perfume lover and collector into one of the biggest niche perfume sellers in Lekki, N igeria

The last time we spoke, Seinde Signature was planning it’s second scentversary of taking customers to Turkey. Have the winners been chosen and what kind of experience would they get when they get to Turkey?

Our anniversary was this October and since then, we have been on the quest to pick five lucky, loyal customers that will be taken to Turkey.

We already have three people remaining two more that we will pick this November and December for the perfume experience tour. Our second anniversary is tagged Scentversary.

The catch is if you buy any of the perfumes, then you a get a Raffle ticket that would draw at the end of every month starting from October 1st to get the five people. Last year, we celebrated our anniversary tagged scentversary and brought in the Manufacturers from America, Spain, Holland and Germany.

They all liked the experience, in spite of how we thought Nigeria was. They went back to their country, talked about it and it was fun for everybody. This year, we are going to be two but this time around, we want to take people from here to the factories in Turkey.

Also, the perfumes we have chosen come with history. The Damascus collection from Turkey focuses on Syria, while you also have the Russian and Istanbul collections. The scents of Istanbul focuses on different attraction areas in Turkey, how the area smells are the materials used for their perfume. We want to take five of our customers to those areas.

So, they can immerse themselves in the rare feeling of origin of these perfumes. Perfume really is an experience and people who do not like perfumes may not know what you are talking about.

But when you wear it, it comes with a very big experience. Most of the people who create perfumes, create something that encapsulates the character. There is a perfume called Eshu.

It was made by a guy in Bangkok. He has never been to Nigeria but if you look at his page, he said Eshu is a trickster Yoruba god from the West coast of Africa. The perfume is trickster like Eshu, the perfume changes, creates the illusion that you are wearing sweet now, the next minute, it becomes bitter and switches within the next period that you are wearing it and that is why it was named after Eshu.

There is another one from Romania named after Oshun Oshogbo which is a fertility god, god of love and uses florals and others to depict that character.

This guys have never been to this country but they research extensively. Perfume is art, just like you have painters, creating things. To create perfume is an art, not just smelling nice. So, that is the way we want people to start looking at perfume.

There is Electimuss, made in London but they are talking about the Roman god. Here, you have the Nero Collection talking about the different emperors. You even find perfumes done with the different kind of food the guy liked such as Black Caviar. You can actually smell Caviar in it, as well as the different things to show the character of the god that they are focusing on.

How did the passion of being a perfume collector start?

My love for perfumes has been beyond imagination. It’s not like I set out to start selling perfumes. The business side of my journey into becoming a perfume collector started like gradually.

During the pandemic, when everyone was at home, people looked for where to while away time. A lot of people started coming to my house during COVID, just to come and smell perfume. Then, I

was free and posted different perfumes online. So, I had a lot of people coming in to celebrate birthdays in my house. I would entertain with food and drinks. That happened every Sunday and we usually had a full house.

So, I decided to open a place where everyone can come in and smell the different collections of perfumes I had. That was how we opened the studio. The intention was not to sell perfumes. I wanted people to have a feel of the fragrances and the more they came for the experience, the more they wanted to buy. Some after smelling some for the perfumes wanted to buy.

The people that visited last would end up bringing another friend with them the next time. That was how I started becoming like a middle man to those who wanted to buy. Before I knew it, I was looking for a shop. That is how it became a business. Every perfume comes with a story.

The difference between the regular perfume and the kind of perfumes we sell is that the regular perfumes are the ones made by big companies. They get the perfume man to do it and they produce in millions.

So, every airport, every big store will have them. We sell what is called niche. It is not done in large volume. It is done in a little volume and in most cases, they use organic materials instead synthetic materials to make them. They last better on the skin and cost a little more.

Tell us the distinct different between niche perfumes and the regular designers perfumes we all know.

In my years as a perfume collector, I was able to discover where to go and get it. In the past, I had to carry the bottles of perfume in my pocket and reuse after two or three hours, but niche perfumes are different. It lasts all day.

They are mostly made with organic materials, which makes them last longer. Regular perfumes are usually generated in the laboratory. It’s a niche brand perfume that stocks more than 30 brands from around the world exclusively.

I had amassed over 1, 300 perfumes in my personal collection many of which fellow perfume lovers wanted to buy or bought and that developed the business idea to get into the business to be the best plug for strictly niche scents.

Are there niche perfume makers in Nigeria?

There are a lot of Niche perfume makers in Nigeria but they are not recognised. The market is more about the big name brands like Gucci. So, the niche designers are not even given any benefit of the doubt or even recognised just because they don perfume ‘t have a big name. We also have the habit of wearing foreign things and most of the perfumes in Nigeria are actually struggling.

There is no exposure but we have dedicated one shelve for Nigerian perfume designers. We have Catherine Umahi. Her perfume is exclusive to Harrods in London.

Her perfume is popular in London but no one recognises her here in Nigeria. One of her perfume bottle costs $300. We did a workshop in London and she taught everyone how to make perfumes. You chose your notes, create a scent in your name and she helps you to put it together.

While growing up, who would you say that influenced your love for perfumes?

Let me give you a small background of how perfumes were invented. These days ladies do surgery for desired shape. In those days, they used corsets, and because the corsets were too tight, causing short of breath, they used lavender oil to resuscitate the ladies when they faint. That was how they started using lavender as perfume. That is why the Yorubas call it Lofinda. They are talking about Lavender oil. My father always liked to smell nice. I was born into a family where my father would burn incense. He was a polygamous man with two wives. He was a public servant, the water superintendent of Oyo State. He was a very stylish and loving man. I was the only son in a family of eight and second to the last. All of them were sisters. In those days, if they had parties, he would put everyone in the car and take them to the party, drop them and ask what time he should come back.

If they said 2am, he would come back at exactly 2am. So, I imbibed that from him and do that for my daughter sometimes before she got her own car. A lot of father’s can’t do that for their children. I got that from my father and a lot of guys loved to come to our house because he had many girls.

That is the kind of man he was and he made me to love perfumes. When I left school in 1979, one of my friends travelled to America and he brought a perfume for me and I wore it, it was nice and everyone loved it. From there, I started collecting perfumes. I had over 1, 300 perfume bottles.

Then, I started giving felt out and selling some of the ones I had. Then, I felt it was like a disease. Why am I buying all these? When it doesn’t have a value? Then, you post it and discover that there are so many people that like perfumes like you. So, I told myself that I am not sick after all. If I spray one, then I won’t touch it that year again. But, I would spray more when I go out and get more compliments for it.

When did you buy your first perfume and do you still have the bottle since you have over 1,000 bottles which you used to start this shop?

I bought my first perfume, Calvin Klein in 1982, about 40 years ago. Then, they were using plastics not bottles. And yes, I still have that brand in my store.

Aside running your perfume business, which other career were you into before you finally settled for Seinde Signature?

I have been in other businesses. I have worked in telecommunications before. I have been in the hospitality business for years. I have established laundry business. I don’t want to start mentioning names. I have those businesses

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