Shade Okoya: Top Class Beauty with Brains

By Eric Elezuo

Who is Folashade Noimat Okoya? Someone may ask. What makes her thick? Of what stuff is she made of? Yet another may ask.

The answers are not farfetched however. She is a woman, who is endowed with a beauty that cannot be wished away.

Simply known and addressed as Shade Okoya, the dangling, elegant and beautiful wife of chief of many chiefs, the Aare of Lagos and Chairman, Eleganza Group, Chief Razaq Okoya, is more than just a woman. She is many things in one, in addition to being a great inspiration to as many that desires great family life, or the proverbial ‘lived happily ever after’

A highly intelligent wife, mother, and highly sought after fashion entrepreneur, Chief (Dr) Shade Okoya (nee Adeleye) was born in Lagos on April 25, 1977 into the family of the late Alhaji Taju and Alhaja Nimosat Adeleye. She is a Muslim and from Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State.

She grew up in Lagos where she had her early education. She studied at the Lagos State Polytechnic, Isolo and obtained an OND in Banking and Finance. She later studied Sociology at the University of Lagos. A banker and sociologist, she is a woman of immense dimension and best known for her ebullient personality.

Among many appellations her down to earth personality and mien disposition have bestowed on her include the revered Bewaji of Lagos title, as well as Otun Aare Iyalaje of Ajiranland, and the Yeye Oge of Epe land. She is also the Ajisewa of Oke-Ona Egba, and has interest in many areas of businesses. It is a surprise that she is the the Managing Director of Eleganza Fashion Products Limited, Eleganza Cruise and Travels Limited, as well as member of board of Eleganza Group and RAO Investment Property Company Limited. She is also the patron of Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) among others.

At 21, the delectable young woman married a humble enterprising, honest, intelligent and prudent businessman, Alhaji Chief (Dr) Rasaq Akanni Okoya CON, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Eleganza Group of Companies. He is also the Aare of Lagos, Babajiro of Oke-Ona Egba, Aare Babalaje of Ajiranland and Ogbeni Oja of Epe land. The marriage is blessed with four beautiful children; Olamide, Subomi, Oyinlola and Wahab.

Shade’s milk of human kindness flows with superior abandon, endlessly adorning the landscape of wherever it is required and quenching the thirst of a great deal of many dependents and indigents among many others. She is the sponsor of the Folashade Okoya Kids Cup, which held its maiden edition in December 2014 in partnership with the Lagos State Grassroots Soccer Association to celebrate kids at Christmas.

In recognition of her great feats in human capacity development, the European American University, on August 23, 2014, awarded her an Honorary Doctorate degree in Business Management and Corporate Leadership. Also on December 11, 2014, she was awarded the Business Executive of the Year 2014 by the International Centre for Corporate Leadership for African and Blacks in Diaspora. She also won the Inspiring Executive Woman of the Year Award in July, 2018. Without an iota of doubt, she is amazon of immense value.

Recently, she was honoured with the Inspiring Executive Woman of the Year award by the Alumni Global Network of the University of Ibadan at The Dorchester, Park Lane, London.

The award, which was in commemoration of the institutions 70th year anniversary, recognised Mrs. Okoya’s  positive impacts on educational development, youth empowerment as well as her strides for good governance on socio-economic development and innovation per excellence.

Flanked by her husband, Chief Okoya and her four lovely children, beautifully and radiantly clad Shade was all smiles as the honours were bestowed on her by the university authorities in full view of the then Emir of Kano, HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi among other notable dignitaries.

Reputed as King Midas in female form, Shade has transmuted to top-grade business executive, becoming a classic example of beauty and brains meeting opportunities. This is quite noticeable in her day to day activities at her duty post as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Eleganza Group. Her workaholism has peaked the firm at top performance.

According to reports, Shade, out of sheer dexterity, has set a record by producing over 300,000 cartons of the company’s flagship product in a month and consistently achieving over 100 per cent of monthly production target for over five years, reducing the production of waste level and losses from over 2.5 per cent to less than 0.5 per cent without compromising quality and GMP practices, reducing overall factory running and plant maintenance expenses by over 45 per cent and at the same time maintaining high efficiency through strategic optimization.

Blessed with splendid foresight and visionary leadership, she has successfully restructured the company’s organogram, leading to an overwhelming effective performance. She has also actively motivated the software development department to develop widely accepted accounting, human resources, and electronic filing software solutions thereby fundamentally increasing the company’s software productions. In addition, she has exceeded the company’s revenue target by over 50 per cent, and pioneered the establishment of an efficient product packaging, materials and warehousing processes and procedures thereby achieving a zero-level record of product theft.

For her, three entities are paramount in her scheme of things. They are her husband, who she respects with the last drop of her blood, her family and the Eleganza business. These are the media she reaches out and touch the lives out there. Consequently, she has taken it upon herself to quality and durable household products are produced at affordable price for the Nigerian people. This, she said, is “one of the dreams of the chairman, and my husband, Alhaji Rasaq Okoya, is to see that items produced in the new industry become a household name.”

She is never berate of ideas, but keeps thinking out of the box to remain relevant in the market and continue to create commodity firsts: “We are planning to push beauty products for ladies and babies into the Nigerian market very soon. We have over 21 designs of soap that we want to push into the market as well. The beauty of it is that anything my chairman sets out to do, he does it in a unique way.”

Leaning on the strength, who she reference greatly, Shade has been able to give employment to thousands of people. She said during a recent interview: “We have over 2,000 under our employment. ,My husband has also assisted many people in establishing various business ventures. We organize an annual pilgrimage for Moslems and feed over 2,000 under-privileged every week.”

She also share in the vision of her husband’s love for quality education, where several undergraduates have benefited from his Alhaji Akanni Okoya Scholarship Awards across the country.

Describing her relationship with her husband, she said “He is my friend and role model. He is a wonderful man. He is very industrious. If he doesn’t have the foresight, I won’t be here doing what I am doing now.”

At 44, Shade remains a head-turner, who can compete favourably with a 25-year-old damsel, her four children notwithstanding. Though a workaholic, she finds time to read, jog, network, go on a trip and spend quality time with her children. Except of course she is sleeping; an exercise she cherishes immensely.