Business did not come to me because I woke up one morning and decided I wanted to become an entrepreneur.
In many ways, I think business had been around me long before I recognized it in myself.
I grew up with a father who was an entrepreneur. He owned a gift shop and was also a newspaper vendor. Growing up in our home meant being surrounded by newspapers and magazines from different parts of the world. There were American magazines, Italian newspapers and publications that exposed me to a world much bigger than the one immediately around me.
But as a little girl watching all of this, I wasn’t thinking, One day, I’m going to become a businesswoman.
I had other dreams.
At different stages of my life, I wanted to become a dermatologist. I wanted to become a lawyer. At another point, I wanted to become a newscaster.
I have always been a dreamer. I knew I wanted to become something; I just didn’t know exactly what that something would eventually be.
My education reflected some of that journey. I earned a diploma in Legal Studies and later attended the University of Abuja, where I studied English Language.
And somewhere between education, adulthood and figuring out life, business began to find its way back to me.
When Business Found Me
One of my earliest real introductions to business came while I was in school.
A friend approached me about FM Perfumes and asked, “Simi, do you want to become a downliner?”
I said yes.
At the time, it probably felt like a small opportunity. Looking back now, however, I can see that it was part of something much bigger.
I started selling.
From perfume, I moved into other things—singlets, underwear and different items I could get my hands on. My sister-in-law gave me things to sell. Friends and aunties gave me products. I would sell what I had, make a little money and continue.
There was no grand business plan.
No carefully mapped-out entrepreneurial journey.
I was simply doing business.
But without realizing it, I was learning some of the lessons that would stay with me for years: how to talk to people, how to sell something I believed in, how to recognize what people wanted and, perhaps most importantly, how to keep going.
Not Every Vision Turns Out the Way You Imagine
As the years passed, I explored different businesses and different visions.
I invested in myself. I started ventures. I pursued opportunities. I even invested in establishing my own mental health program as a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program.
Did everything work exactly the way I imagined?
No.
And that has become an important part of my story too.
There was a time when I might have measured an experience only by whether it produced the outcome I expected. Today, I see things differently.
I don’t regret investing in myself.
Because even when an investment did not give me the return I expected financially, many of those experiences gave me something else.
They gave me knowledge.
They gave me resilience.
They gave me confidence.
They taught me what to do differently.
And sometimes, they simply taught me that I could start again.
I have learned that consistency does not mean everything you touch will immediately succeed. Sometimes consistency is simply refusing to allow one disappointing chapter to write the ending of your story.
Fragrance Was Always Somewhere in the Story
And then there is perfume.
When I look back now, I smile because fragrance has been quietly weaving itself through my life for years.
My father is a perfume lover, and I believe some of my own love for fragrance came from him.
Then there was my experience selling FM Perfumes.
And even as a student, fragrance mattered to me.
I wasn’t necessarily buying the most expensive designer perfumes. I couldn’t tell you that I was wearing Louis Vuitton or YSL. I didn’t believe I needed to break the bank just to smell beautiful.
But I knew what I wanted.
I wanted something that smelled good.
I wanted longevity.
I wanted a fragrance that made me feel put together.
And yes, I wanted the kind of scent that could walk into a room with me.
That appreciation for fragrance never really disappeared.
Life simply took me through other chapters first.
And Now, Karturah
Today, I find myself returning to fragrance—but from a completely different position.
Years ago, I was a downliner selling someone else’s perfume.
Today, I am building my own fragrance brand.
Karturah.
There is something deeply meaningful about that for me.
Karturah is not the story of someone who had a perfect business plan from the beginning. It is the story of someone who kept learning, kept exploring and kept believing that her experiences were not wasted.
It carries something from the little girl who watched her father run his businesses.
Something from the student with many dreams.
Something from the young woman selling perfume and clothing essentials.
Something from every idea I pursued.
Something from the ventures that worked.
Something from the ones that didn’t.
And something from the woman I have become through all of it.
Perhaps that is why the words Made to Resonate mean so much to me.
Because fragrance is personal.
A beautiful fragrance doesn’t simply sit on your skin. It can remind you of a person, a season, a place or even a version of yourself you had almost forgotten.
And maybe businesses can do that too.
They can carry pieces of our stories forward.
So, am I asking you to wish me luck?
Of course, you can.
But more than that, I invite you to come along with me.
Watch me learn.
Watch me build.
Watch Karturah become.
Because I have learned enough about life and business to know that I cannot predict exactly where this road will lead.
But I can show up for the journey.
And that is exactly what I intend to do.
Karturah. Made to Resonate.