• Login
  • Register
Nairametrics
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
Nairametrics
No Result
View All Result
Home People Profiles

Bimbo Alase: How a mini-store grew to become a multi-billion naira business

Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon by Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon
May 21, 2022
in Profiles
Bimbo Alase: How a mini-store grew to become a multi-billion naira business
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

The headline above is suggestive of a typical Nollywood movie where a young man starts petty trading in a small store in Alaba market, and in the next scene, he is seen jetting around the world, importing and selling goods worth millions of naira.

In this case, it is not Nollywood but the story of Bimbo Alase-Arawole and how she grew a small gift store in Apapa to become a mega business with partnerships extending even to Italy. Here is how it happened.

Education and journey into business

Bimbo Alashe was born in 1952 and attended Pitman College, London and the Regent Academy of Design and Fine Arts, London bagging a Post Graduate degree in Interior Design. One could see from her background that creativity and arts were built over time before she could boast of owning a luxurious furniture company. Her success did not happen immediately.

RelatedStories

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver

June 3, 2023
How Deola Sagoe left her father's company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand

How Deola Sagoe left her father’s company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand

May 20, 2023

Upon her return to Nigeria, Alase started Glamour – a mini-gift shop and a beauty shop in Apapa, and one might say this was the official start of her entrepreneurial journey. Soon enough, she saw a gap. There seemed to be a scarcity of high-quality furniture at the time, especially those made in Nigeria. The need for overall quality was the opportunity Leatherworld would cash in on.

Leatherworld: From Ikoyi to the world

Leatherworld was born in 1994, a business that would come into the furniture space to redefine luxury and class. The vision was very straightforward – to make high-quality furniture available to everyone. Alase started with a small retail outlet in Ribadu road, Ikoyi, grooming and growing the business until it was large enough to warrant a second outlet.

After a few years, during which the company made significant progress, Alashe relocated from her office on Ribadu road to a more spacious workspace on Raymond Njoku street, also in Ikoyi, where the company established what was to become one of Nigeria’s largest furniture showroom.

Leatherworld grew steadily over the years, and in 1999, after four years of successful operations, a new showroom was opened in FCT, Abuja to open up a new market and cater to prospective clients in the region. After some years, a permanent site was opened in Lekki Phase 1, called The Concourse Place. The year 2009 brought with it, a new branch in Ikeja GRA.

In all of these, the brand still retained the integrity of only serving the best quality of luxury furniture. In partnership with NIERI, Leatherworld in 2005 had commissioned The Concourse Industry – an assembly and manufacturing plant in the Calabar Free Trade Zone, in a bid to concretise the standard it had set for luxury furniture in Nigeria. The business, which was commissioned by the former First Lady, the late Chief (Mrs.) Stella Obasanjo in February 2005, was the first truly Nigerian furniture manufacturing company with a continental franchise to serve the local market, as well as export finished items to other West African countries.

The company sourced its materials both locally and internationally, only targeting the best. The work was also mostly done by Nigerians in line with the set standard. In this way, Leatherworld was servicing a value chain in the local economy, while also raising a well-trained, well-equipped Nigerian team of furniture makers with skill and finesse that rival their foreign counterparts.

Never one to play soft ball, Alase took a huge leap when she entered a partnership with NIERI, a furniture-making company in Italy in 2005. Founded in 1929, NIERI also had the reputation of being behind several exclusive home designs in wood and full flowered leather. The partnership was, thus, a marriage of like minds, and has since then produced some of the best furniture in Africa.

Till date, the brand holds to its reputation of only dealing with the highest grade of quality furniture, furnishings and allied products, locally and internationally. It also has a track record of zero-reject, emphasising that its standard in the industry remains uncompromised. Leatherworld continues in its move to spread to other African countries.

Alase-Arawole can easily be described as one of the top 10 female entrepreneurs in Nigeria, without fear of contradiction. She is said to be worth about $750 million and sits on the board of several companies. She is a mentor to several aspiring and established entrepreneurs.


Follow us for Breaking News and Market Intelligence.
Tags: Bimbo AlaseFeaturedLeatherworld
Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon

Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon

Ruth Okwumbu has a MSc. and BSc. in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Delta state university respectively. Prior to her role as analyst at Nairametrics, she had a progressive six year writing career. As a Business Analyst with Narametrics, she focuses on profiles of top business executives, founders, startups and the drama surrounding their successes and challenges. You may contact her via ruth.okwumbu@nairametrics.ng

Related Posts

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver
Profiles

Meet Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian billionaire businessman who started out as a truck driver

June 3, 2023
How Deola Sagoe left her father's company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand
Profiles

How Deola Sagoe left her father’s company, Elizade Motors, to build a global fashion brand

May 20, 2023
Nigerian weddings
Lifestyle

The economics of Nigerian weddings

April 30, 2023
CBN reduces over-the-counter withdrawals to N100k, N500k per week for individuals, companies
Currencies

Updated: Tracker of CBN’s monetary policy announcements since 2020

December 10, 2022
Redesigning or sensitizing; what's the way to go?
Economy

CBN’s Intervention Funds to private sector rises to N4.8 trillion as of November 2022

November 28, 2022
SWOOTs capitalization up by N122 billion
Equities

SWOOTs capitalization up by N122 billion

November 20, 2022
Next Post
Naira’s true worth,Naira gains on the dollar for the first time since March, Naira forwards hit record high as it crashes to N420/dollar in the parallel market, Naira hits N500 to $1 at the forward market, Naira hits N509 to the dollar at forwards market, demand for the U.S dollar climbs up, Naira hits $387.35 to $1 at currency spot market , Naira sells at N456, Nigeria’s Foreign Reserves drop by over $3 billion in Q1 2020, Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, Naira gains against the dollar, CBN close in on currency speculators

Naira closes week at N605/$1 at the black market

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Emple
nlng
first bank








DUNS

Recent News

  • Dangote Refinery to construct 1.6 million-barrel fuel storage facility in Namibia  
  • NDDC commits $5 million to livelihood improvement project in three states 
  • FG seals partnership deal with UAE to train 7 million Nigerian youths in digital skills  

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

Transmission lines in Cross River, Rivers have been vandalized severally in over 2 months – TCN

Dangote Refinery to construct 1.6 million-barrel fuel storage facility in Namibia  

July 10, 2025
NDDC to continue distribution of solar-powered streetlights in Niger Delta to improve Security

NDDC commits $5 million to livelihood improvement project in three states 

July 10, 2025
  • iOS App
  • Android App
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Markets
  • Sectors
  • Economy
  • Business News
  • Financial Literacy
  • Disclaimer
  • Ads Disclaimer
  • Copyright Infringement

© 2025 Nairametrics

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Login
  • Sign Up

© 2025 Nairametrics