BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—Managing Director and Creative Director of House of Tara International, Mrs Tara Fela-Durotoye, has told women entrepreneurs that business growth requires continuous learning, and that building a successful business does not automatically mean building a successful life.
She disclosed this while delivering the keynote paper at Bloom Weekend 2026, a two-day event organised by StanbicIBTC Pension Managers is designed to give women skills, contacts and opportunities to advance their professions and ventures.
According to her each stage of her own business demanded abilities she did not have at the start.
She explained that she began as a makeup artist, when the only skill required was knowing how to do makeup. When she moved into manufacturing her own products, she had to learn new skills to succeed. Later, she said, she had to learn how to manage systems, lead people and build other leaders.
As the business expanded, branches were opened across the country, including in Kano, Kaduna, Ibadan, Uyo and Enugu Lagos, Lekki etc.
According to her, this meant dealing with multiple landlords, keeping cash flow healthy and maintaining a good relationship with bankers. She said an entrepreneur at that stage is no longer a small operator going from house to house, but an employer of 200, 300 or 400 people who must be paid every month, with pensions also to be remitted for each of them.
She urged participants to leave the event deciding what success looks like for them. Just as people’s irises and fingerprints differ, she said, their purposes and desires for the future differ.
She cautioned women against letting that picture come from what they see on Instagram, saying it should come from within.
Fela-Durotoye said that in the course of building her business, she realised that “you can build a successful business, but not build a successful life.”
She described entrepreneurs who are unwell because of stress, with high blood pressure from constantly fighting with state and federal authorities, staff and others, to the point of exhaustion. She said she had been there herself.
She also pointed to entrepreneurs whose marriages break down as their businesses grow, and others who become estranged from their children because the business consumes them. In some cases, she added, people build businesses but have no personal wealth of their own.
She urged them to build their own wealth separate from their business by investing in shares, real estates, mutual funds etc.
Earlier, Executive Director, Business Development at Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, Mrs Nike Bajomo, said the bank launched its Empowerment Management several years back to tackle obstacles females meet in building careers, running companies, handling money and caring for themselves.
She observed that many women face these hurdles alone, even while carrying heavy duties toward their households.
She added that the scheme connects participants with accomplished people who pass on practical lessons for sound decisions about work, money, health and leadership.
She noted other editions covered wellness, professional growth, leadership and financial choices, while this year’s gathering offers a wider stage for women to swap ideas and learn from one another.
The programme opened in Lagos under the theme ‘Bloom into Growth: From Business Owner to CEO‘. It centered on guiding female founders from merely operating a firm to creating lasting, well-organised ventures that can expand
