Women We Love: Sophia Ike-Onu (Founder/CEO The 5k Shop)
I always catch myself stalking fashion pages and style bloggers on Instagram, I “ooh” and “ahh” at the fabulous pieces, mixing and matching them in my head, but all too soon I am plunged back to life, back to my reality.
It is the utmost dream of every girl to wake up to a closet filled with fabulous outfits, and for some of us that ain’t gat no “tatty billion for the account”, it’s all the better if we can own these outfits without having to break the bank. And so it happened that on one of my insta stalking escapades, I stumbled on a gold mine, a fairy-clothes mother if you will.
In a time of recession and exorbitant dollar rates, the destiny of fashion lovers rests on the shoulders of this fairy-clothes mother. Her name is Sophia Ike-Onu.
Sophia understood every girl’s love for stylish outfits and the desire to look good on a budget. She knew that fashion and affordable were two words that most likely wouldn’t be used in the same sentence so she decided to change the narrative. She fused her love for technology and fashion and founded a retail online fashion store called The 5K Shop where all items are sold under the price cap of 5000 Naira!
Amazing right?
We are so in love with this woman for this initiative.
Here are five reasons why you should too!
• Sophia Ike-Onu holds a BS.c in Architecture from Covenant University and an MS.c in International Architectural Regeneration and Development from Oxford Brookes University.
• She used her entire savings to start The 5k Shop over two years ago and was working out of her house, using her living room as an office and her bedroom as a warehouse. Eight months into operation, they rented their first office and warehouse and moved to a bigger space shortly after then. They also bought bikes and employed riders to facilitate seamless home deliveries.
• Apart from her The 5k shop, Sophia is also the Co-founder of DRYV.ME, an online service that allows users to request for drivers, on demand.
• For her work with The 5k Shop, she has received several awards and accolades which include the British Council Enterprise Challenge 2016 (which allowed her to be privately mentored by Sir Richard Branson), a CNN feature for promoting affordable products made locally. She was also named one of the 100 most influential women in Africa by Leading Ladies Africa and a Brand Ambassadorship deal with Virgin Atlantic.
• She has been profiled as one of SME 100’s Young Entrepreneurs under 25 Making Socioeconomic Impact in Nigeria.
Talk about major goals huh?
Have you heard of The 5k shop? If you haven’t, hurry on to Instagram right now and follow them @the5kshop.
Trust me, your wardrobe and wallet will thank you for it
