EYE CANDY POSITIONED TO BE A GLOBAL EVENT MANAGEMENT COMPANY IN THE NEAREST FUTURE – Eyitayo Adebamowo

EYITAYO ADEBAMOWO, CEO EYE CANDY INNOVATIVE CONCEPT

One of the leading event planning and management company popularly known as Eye Candy as just clocked 2 since its established by Eyitayo Adebamowo, the beautiful and unassuming Chief Executive Officer cum Principal Consultant of the high flying event and ushering outfit based in Lagos, Nigeria. In this interesting interview, kindly find time to read, learn and succeed…Excerpts:

Congratulations, how do you feel now that your company, Eye Candy is two years now

I am super glad. Can't even believe it's already 2 years I made that tough decision to stand on my own. You can never know it all when it comes to Event. But you have to keep coming up with different unique ideas for each event and ushers costumes. I believe in myself and most of all I thank God for leading me towards this part. I am proud of myself (Lol).  

What informed your decision to going into event business in Nigeria

The whole inspiration came from being a model, usher and also attending different concerts, Shows and other form of events of the years. And, this leads to my employment at one of Nigeria's best event and an activation company called Abelinis Limited in Nigeria. I eventually learnt what event is really all about. In the beginning, I thought it was just about getting a Disc Jockey, ordering foods for the guests, dress and all. During my working days in Abelinis Limited, I was opportune to attend a Project Management Course which was sponsored by my boss then Mr. Abiodun Oshinibosi.

How long have you been in that sector

Since 2005, I started with a humble beginning as a Promo Staff at the National Trade Fair before moving into ushering, runway and face modeling. I have been in the game as player even before I officially started my own company, Eye-Candy Innovative Concepts and we are 2 years today and all glory to God.   

   

Tell us more about your company

Well, Eye-Candy Innovative Concepts is an event planning and management company with special interests in events staffing. So far, we have planned couple of wedding ceremonies, birthday parties and we have supplied top notch usherettes for both corporate and social events in different parts of the country. Our Company popularly known as Eye Candy is best known for quality deliverables in terms of how we plan, manage, coordinate and especially making our guests comfortable through our usherettes expertise. 

How did you come up with the company name

To be frank, before going fully into event, I do supply ushers for most event organized by friends and the little business associates I used to have then which is still part of my company services. The name Eye Candy has to do with my beautiful, intelligent and well trained usherettes. Eye-Candy simply means something you can't take your eyes off. I decided to take ushering to another level. And, talking about the type of girls and costumes I use, they are almost hard to come by. We know the right thing to wear for corporates events and what to wear for social events and this has made us stand out even if there are other ushers involved by the organizers of the same event we are engaged.   

What does it take to succeed in your chosen field

Hmm… every business has it own challenges. But cost Clients would want a wow event packaged for them and they even requested for premium ushers to wow their special guests but the problem is that they find it hard to pay good money, they keep proposing on a peanut budget, which is not good for us at all. When you try to explain to them they tag you "Expensive". We face a lot of difficulties when it comes to ushering services. Sometimes there are misconceptions, because our ushers are very attractive ladies, most guests feels our ushers are there to get complimentary cards or they come in search of Sugar daddies and even some of the guests wives sometimes act funny, if the ushers get close attending to their husband while rendering the best service they were engaged to do. We need to erase this off our memories. These girls are out there to do ushering jobs so that they can afford to help themselves academically and some even support their parents and also sort their school bills. Being an usher doesn't mean they are prostitutes or call girls at the event. They should always remember that they also have sisters and daughters too. Another challenge we do face is when virtually all the girls in Lagos wanna work with Eye Candy. We are more concerned about height and attitude; most times we select strictly tall girls not because we are discriminating but we have a set standard and we always like to keep our standard no matter what. However, the not too tall girls do feel bad each time we tell them that they are not tall enough to be part of our ushering team. But we always create room for everyone and we always compensate them with in the store activation promotion for them to still work for Eye Candy as their hearts desire.   

Tell us about the CEO of Eye Candy

Well, my name is Eyitayo Adebamowo, the unassuming Chief Executive Officer of the reputable Eye Candy Innovative Concepts. I am a graduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University Ogun state, where I studied History and Diplomatic Studies. I am in my early 30s. Funny enough, I was a model but still a model (Lol) and a well-trained event planner. I have done couple of calendar modeling jobs and TV commercials for Close Up, UBA, Etisalat, Five Alive, Bagco, Fanz Championship to mention few.

How would you advise someone who wants to take after you

Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success. Most important of all is to be disciplined and seek for God's grace.  More so, they should be focused and prayerful. A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work and God's divine grace and favour. If I can do it, then YOU can do it too.

Where do you see your company in the next five years

Wow! In five years from now, I want my company to go international. I want to be part of first top event planners in the world. 

The event company is highly competitive, what separates your company from others

I love been unique and I don't do copy and paste. If I see any nice idea, I will look for a way to add some nice things to make it different.  It's funny that as you are thinking of an idea for your event, someone else is also thinking of same idea, so if you don't execute your plan in time, someone else will do that. 

  

When would you describe as a low point in your business

 Event planning is an interesting and its a bit challenging business. It's not an everyday thing. We all need to understand our peak period and low period when it comes to our business. I have studied it well and I discovered that between January to April, business is always low. Like the saying goes "Do not put all your eggs in one basket. I am presently working on opening a wholesale/retail wine store (Eye Candy Wines and Assorted drinks). 

What do you like about your job

I love everything about my job because it's fun, interesting and interactive. It's a kind of business that gets you more expose to the very best fun of life. It can be stressful a times though. Imagine, you will have to set up before the event and tear down after the event and it always make me laugh..There is a proverb that says "May you not use your hand to build a house the and use same hand to destroy it"  but this does not apply to event set up (Lol).