Chioma Ownutalobi: Founder of Glam Africa,The Joy of Africans in Diaspora

Tech is most times factored with computers, AI and softwares. However, there are certain individuals who use Tech even in the creative and media space. This is Chioma Onwutalobi.

Chioma Onwutalobi

She is the founder of Glam Africa, a dynamic media platform that connects readers with the latest style and beauty trends. Glam Africa delivers content both online and through print, to provide Africa-focused news and lifestyle content to African Diaspora communities and beyond.

Chioma Onwutalobi Brown is a law Graduate, and started her career in the Oil & Gas industry which required working between the UK and various African countries in search of projects. This experience grew her love for telling stories about the African continent, soon after she turned her 10,000+ views per day blog into a magazine, and at the age of 24, she founded Glam Africa Magazine which officially launched a year later in the UK and 3 African countries. Today, this publication sells in the US as well.

Frustrated that a lot of other minority communities are ignored especially in terms of marketing campaigns, Chioma launched SCO Group which now houses Glam Africa, Hayat Magazine and Veta Magazine, all of which are platforms the company uses to help brands in reaching and engaging with diverse audience individuals in an authentic way. Chioma has gone on to work with blue chip companies, African dignitaries, British Members of Parliament and many more.

Chioma is also a member of the Pan African Diners Club, UK an exclusive forum for discussion by senior executives as well as African High Commissioners and representatives from the Foreign Office and Global Leadership Foundation, to discuss a range of issues, giving members the opportunity to air their concerns and solutions.

As well as running the SCO Group brands, Chioma uses her strong social media platforms and new project B-Elite Academy to educate entrepreneurs about online marketing and business growth, drawing from her experiences over the course of the last 10 years.

Chioma Onwutalobi, founder of Glam Africa was profiled as part of a Forbes “series featuring diverse founders making a difference” by contributor Tommy Williams.

From her days as a young London-based lawyer, to taking the bold step of going into entrepreneurship and riding against the tide in the media space, the feature shared Chioma’s journey to success.

Chioma’s career began in the legal department of London-based oil & gas firm. Whilst working on deals (which necessitated travels to Nigeria and other African countries), she felt significantly disconnected to her country of origin and came to the realization that she knew very little about its neighboring African countries.

Chioma had previously created one of Nigeria’s most popular news websites. It was a business model she could replicate on a larger scale. However, she wanted her platform to work across all mediums, from print and social media to events and awards.

A year and a half of planning later, Chioma was finally ready to launch her platform. She sought seed investment however, after some unsuccessful attempts, opted to take the riskier route and spent her savings on getting the business started.

Chioma was fortunate with the timing of her venture, given that the perception and appreciation of African culture was on the rise, with persons of African origin around the world reconnecting with their roots through music, fashion, and art. Moreover, African celebrities, business people and influencers were seeking fresh avenues to connect with their audiences.

Glam Africa releases its publications quarterly stocking them in thousands of stores across Africa and the UK, with its online platforms doing so well.

In 2014, Chioma conducted the vital research required to get her business off the growing and create a lifestyle platform that would become Glam Africa.

Over the next 18 months, she diligently mapped out her business structure; clearly outlining how she would finance the project, where and how she could distribute the product and which marketing channels would be most effective in Africa’s most vibrant communities.

At that time in 2014, due to the increased use of online mediums for news, many publishers were shutting down and those that still remained were frantically restructuring their businesses in order to survive the changes.

Others whom she spoke with disapproved of the magazine’s name ‘Glam Africa’.

Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, her father was always very passionate about entrepreneurship. In fact success was the only option presented to them growing up.

She moved abroad on her own at the age of 17, and had to grow up and learn hard and fast, which meant that she had to teach herself a lot of things. Leaving Africa was a bit of a culture shock, and was also the first time in her life where she became very conscious of that fact that she was black. At one point she was working in a small listed company, which meant that she was often attending meetings as the only female and the only black person in a room full of middle-aged white men. All these experiences, as well as her background from being raised in Nigeria, ultimately shaped her in a lot of ways.

One of her favorite quotes is “you have to move different if you want different”. Since she runs an independent company and they’ve been able to successfully introduce a brand new print magazine in an era where they’re constantly told that print is dead. One thing they tried to do was, in addition to focusing the magazine on people’s success stories; and takes a very personal approach, which is in contrast to a lot of other publications. This tends to come across as stuck-up and non-relatable, especially in the social media generation. Taking a very different approach was one of the factors that she believe led to the success of Glam Africa Magazine.