A 20-year-old male beautician Clifford Nzube said his mother motivated him into the female dominated profession.
Nzube, who pursues his trade in pedicure and manicure, fixing of eye lashes in Mararaba, says his mother motivated him into the profession after his secondary school education.
“I am the last child of the family. After my secondary school education, I started working in town; irregular salary, I quit the job.
“While I was at home contemplating on what to do next, the beautician idea came to my mind because I had seen my fellow male counterpart doing the business,” Nzube explained.
“Initially I was a bit skeptical to share it with others not even my mother. But I later picked the courage and disclosed my plans to her. To my greatest surprise, my mother welcomed the idea having noticed my interest in that line of trade and encouraged me to be focus, if I really want to achieve my aim.”
“I was so happy then I decided to learn how to fix nails and eye lashes,” he said.
Nzube also said that the training was not easy at the initial stage due to the different methods involved.
“I served as an apprentice for some months after which I started working with my boss that taught me the business.
“I offer home services to my customers when they request for my service.
Going into a profession dominated by females has been a good experience as it had made me to understand every bit of it better,” Nzube said.
Nzube, however, said that his challenge in the profession was how to tolerate the different attitudes of his customers, which was very significant.
According to him, when you do not tolerate your customers’ attitude, you will definitely lose them to others and when such happens, `patronage reduces and can lead to shut down.’
“For one to avoid that, you have to please your customers, because customers are always right. The business was a bit profitable previously compared to now, because many people are into it.
“You can fix nails both hands and legs for N1, 200 but it is still negotiable while eye lashes is N1, 000 or N800,” he said.
“However, I am doing this business pending when I will gain admission into a tertiary institution; after school, I will continue because it is a legitimate source of income,” he said.
