Mrs. Funmilola Omolade Popo-Olaniyan is one of the leading events planners in Nigeria. She is the MD/CEO of Belolla Events Management. She has planned and handled so many top-notch events. She is good at what she does. A few days back, City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE got her to talk about the success of her brand. Below are excerpts:

*Tell us a bit about what you do.*
What are the service policies of Belolla Events Management?
Belolla Events Management is a subsidiary company of Belolla Coordination. We are the go-between the clients and vendors. We are practically the agency. It is the practical and realistic work plan of contact till we leave the day of an occasion. We assess whether our clients are in touch with the occasion. If so, great; but if not, we ensure the event goes well for our clients, as we take over announcements, advise our clients on possible itineraries, and ensure that the necessary information is correctly adhered to during our events. We help our clients in budget planning and consultations. We also train prospective planners and consultants on the who and why of the jobs.

*How did it all start for your company and how old is the company and why did you start as Lollabella?*
The company is over 25 years old, but we started as Lollabella Statements Nig Ltd. I went to Zaria Day Nursery and Primary School; I had my JSS at Government College, Ago; I obtained a School Certificate at Federal University of Technology, Akure; I have an MBA and I have a degree from the University of Lagos in Marketing from distance learning. My career got me the Andalous award in 2006 at the Nigeria Institute of Management, and I am a full member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM). I have made significant contributions to Sales, Marketing, and Events. I am a full member of the Nigerian Institute of Professional Management, and a full member of the Association of Professional Events Managers of Nigeria (APPOEMN). I am a Nigerian widely travelled, Christian, and a well-connected individual.

I am a Christian, I am widely connected with the NIM, a fun-loving woman, and I am a great homemaker. I enjoy the company of my people, I love my job. I love happiness, and I give glory to God for my success and for everything I am. And I love this work because it’s a happy job, and secondly, it pays and happily pays my salary. My friends and family fully know this and they are happy to go about their businesses. I am happy that we are constantly acquiring jobs and feedback from people. I’m happy that we are usually people’s success, and we are grateful. Where we handle jobs, we operate private business under LolaBella, and ventured into private business under my LolaBella Statement Nigeria Ltd. for about 20 years. Later, in 2014, I joined the Nigeria Institute of Management as Head, Events. Later in 2018, I went back into private business and programming and Events where I returned and we started Bella Statements Nig.

Like I said before, the name was formerly LOLABELLA. My full name is Funmilola, and so I took the Lady of my name and ‘Bella’ is coined from beautiful. So I took Lolla and Bella to sound French. My Bella had beautiful French names; it is Bella’s beautiful French name. So Bella to sound home. So when I decided to change the name to LolaBella and I didn’t want to change my name, I was checking around and I noticed that everything turned around beautifully, so we made that name to Bella which means Beautiful. So Lolla Lola as a Glory of God.

*Kindly introduce yourself.*
City People said about you. What made you go into the events business?
My name is Mrs. Funmilola Omolade Popo-Olaniyan. I was born 12th October, 1965. So I would say by God’s grace, I’ve been there.

*What’s the future of the event industry in Nigeria?*
The event industry is growing every day and I believe it’s one of the fastest-growing sectors in Nigeria and even the future. It’s growing because companies only try to associate themselves with it. We have some companies that are trying to cap the industry, but we have our association, CAPPOEMN, trying to curb this and we are in constant touch with the right bodies to make things right to help build with the people that come for events regulations. The event industry has come to stay. So help God.

From A-Z of the event, in the same that we arrange several things, all vendors, whether recommended or brought by clients, are capable of their jobs and we supervise them accordingly, provide sharing services, provide additional services. In 2009, we changed to Bella Events Management. We were able to fully consult our programs and go very well because of helping friends and family to plan their events. It started as a job, and I decided to start doing it as a full-time career after proving it’ll be better.

Reference – City People Magazine , Content Updated by Belolla Team