Olusanya Omojola
Lagos Business School Pan Atlantic University
Henrietta Onwuegbuzie
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Chief (Mrs.) Oyenike ‘Nike’ Monica Okundaiye’s first workshop was conducted at Oshogbo in 1968. There, she was able to begin the production of her world-renowned pieces of art. She operates three profitable art galleries including the Lagos Gallery currently the largest in West Africa where art from her students and other artists is sold. Mrs. Okundaiye explaines, ‘’Profit from sales is divided into three, one goes back to the business, another goes to the family and the last goes to the Nike Centre for Arts and Culture Foundation’’. The passion Nike has for the artists is well appreciated in Nigeria and abroad.
Nike has been able to impact so many lives through her workshops, teaching people how they can earn money with their hands. These trainings are an integral part of her strategy for empowerment. The idea is to task all those she has trained to become trainers. Nike’s model can be said to have a multiplier effect in the societies where they’re conducted by assisting people to not only be self-reliant but also to be agents of positive change in their communities.
The realization of the potential financial rewards for African art work prompted Nike to invite women and others to her Oshogbo art workshop so as to provide them an opportunity for a better future and empower them with the knowledge of the African arts. The news of the great success of her works and the opportunity to travel abroad compelled many participants to enroll in her art workshop. The increase of those coming to learn in her workshops prompted Nike to seek a dedicated building for her gallery and workshop within Oshogbo, now known as the Nike Centre for Art and Culture.
In 1968, Nike started training her mates (fellow wives) on how to make Nigerian works of art, particularly wearable arts. This was when the gallery informally began. Her first trainees were her mates who were trained both to produce art works and to sell them at a fair price. It was while she conducted these trainings that the next major breakthroughs came about.
In 1972, Nike was chosen to visit the US for an art presentation and display exhibition. Upon her return, she came to understand the commercial value of the works of art she was producing. Two years later, she was invited back to the US for a proper training and standardizing of her works. From then on she became a frequent visitor to the US and Europe for art exhibitions. She decided to extend her good fortune to her mates. She took one of each of her mates who had become good at making quality art works for these overseas art exhibitions. “On such occasions I would introduce my mates as my sister. I wanted them to experience what it was like to be happily married, appreciated and to lead a better life… to see where men marry only one wife and are satisfied”, she said wryly.
When asked about what her view of society would look like and how things have been in the past in Nigeria, she said, “I thank God for democracy. For the first time I was able to cast my vote in a presidential election this year 2015… my idea of a perfect society is a community, free of corruption, filled with more honest and hardworking people. I would like a society where people care for one another as their brothers and sisters, where culture is not a barrier to inter-marriage and where unadulterated western education is taught to the younger generation.”
Through her gallery, Nike has impacted the world in various positive ways. Nike collects scrap from damaged motor vehicles, condemned engines and vehicle parts, tires and tubes etc. and uses them to make eye-catching artworks. She says that rather than pollute the environment, these potential waste items can be used for decoration.
Nike invites members of her community to a very native and cultural ceremony which includes singing, dancing, tie-dye fabric customization, adire making, bead making, cooking of local delicacies and drawing. The latest of these events hosted several dignitaries from international communities, including the German consular-general on Sunday, April 16th 2015. A popular TV host, Isaac Moses of Goge Africa TV said, “Companies playing in the Nigerian market should learn from Nike to give back to the society and also promote the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria.”
Nike has developed a program to train the impoverished, “area boys/ area girls” of the local society in the production and sale of art. This has helped those in situations of poverty and provided them opportunities to produce income for themselves and for their families.
In 1982, Nike opened her first dedicated building that includes a gallery and workshop and christened it the, ‘’Nike Centre for Arts and Culture’’. After several years of great success of Nike Centre for Arts and Culture in terms of art sales, international tours and trainings, Nike needed to replicate her accomplishments in terms of setting up a new workshop and gallery in Ogidi-Omu, her home town. This was done to empower her native kinsmen with the knowledge of arts so as to alleviate them from poverty. In 1996, she was able to open a first branch in Ogidi-Omu. The Abuja branch of Nike Centre of Arts and Culture was opened in 2002 and the centre experienced greater success with patronage from the high and middle-income earners who appreciate art in that area.
The demographics of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, captured her target market and Nike realized the need to extend her centre to yet another cosmopolitan area in the country, Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. The building and development of the state-of-the-art centre in Lagos was very demanding with huge financial requirements. This led Nike to secure a loan of N10 million and with the additions from her personal savings, the Lagos centre was opened in 2009. The Lagos gallery centre is currently the largest in West Africa, housing wide numbers of African arts including paintings, metal and wooden sculptures, African textiles and Batiks worth over five hundred million naira.
Art works sold in Nike’s art galleries are produced from her workshops, interns and other professional Nigerian artists. When asked how she has been able to run and sustain her company, she said, ‘’Profit from sales are divided into three; one goes back to the business, another goes to the family and the last goes to the Nike Centre for Arts and Culture Foundation’’.
Nike has been able to impact so many lives through her workshops, teaching people how they can earn money with their hands. Part of her strategy for empowerment is to task all those she has trained to become trainers. Nike’s model can be said to have a multiplier effect in the society with people (impoverished and even criminals) taken off the streets and taught not only to be self-reliant but also agents of positive change in their communities.
In addition Nike has created programs such as the following:
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