Just before the grant application portal closed in June 2015, Keturah Ovio anxiously hit the enter button on her laptop. She fervently hoped her request for a business grant from the Tony Elumelu Foundation would load in time. With the encouragement of three friends who shared the application link, Keturah was motivated to pursue her entrepreneurial aspirations. Despite residing in Asia for the past six to seven years, Keturah was eager for a change and ready to take a chance on her business idea, setting her sights on either the US for continued high-paying work as a software engineer, or Nigeria, where she could put her business plan to the test and give herself a two-year deadline.
In the early days of her career, Keturah searched for ways to increase her income. During this time, she began working as a sourcing agent for her sister’s wig-selling business in Nigeria. Utilizing her extensive contacts in Asia, Keturah procured high-quality wigs and shipped them directly to her sister. Not content to stop there, Keturah also negotiated with manufacturers to receive a commission for every sale. However, this was just the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey. It wasn’t long before Keturah struck upon a new idea for a business: Queturah, an online store that showcases and facilitates the purchase of exceptional goods from Nigerian brands.
At the beginning of 2015, while visiting her home country of Nigeria, Keturah was struck by the booming success of online marketplaces like Jumia and Konga. As someone who had lived in Asia, she knew she could obtain the goods sold in those marketplaces at a lower cost. “I started feeling like there must be a more efficient way, since I have access to all the manufacturers and wholesalers, and since I’m an engineer, I can create the website.” She realized there had to be a way to connect buyers and sellers, and this was the start of her journey to becoming a founder.
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Keturah attributes much of who she is today to the values instilled in her by her parents. They raised their children to be independent and responsible individuals. Her father always emphasized the importance of taking full responsibility for one’s choices and decisions. He allowed Keturah and her siblings to make their own decisions and taught them to handle the resulting responsibilities with strength and conviction.
Even at a young age, Keturah was financially savvy and constantly looking for ways to make money. Between the ages of 10 and 13, she ran a home loan company, lending money to family members with an agreement to repay by a specific date. This early experience helped shape her entrepreneurial spirit and taught her valuable lessons about money management.
Growing up in a Nigerian household, Keturah learned some hard lessons about lending money to family members who either refused to pay it back or claimed to have forgotten about it. But instead of giving up, Keturah found a creative solution to this problem. She created a register, similar to a ledger book, to record the borrower’s name, the amount borrowed, and the repayment date. This way, when her family members denied borrowing money from her, Keturah had written proof that they did. Her family cooperated with this system, and Keturah learned an important lesson about keeping records and being financially responsible. This early experience served as a foundation for her current work as a successful entrepreneur.
Keturah inherited resilience from her family. Born in Warri, Nigeria, her father advised her to apply to universities in Enugu or Akure for her higher education. She followed his advice, enrolling at the Federal University of Technology in Akure. However, after a year and a half, she decided to quit and began researching universities worldwide. She poured her heart into her applications and eventually got accepted into top schools in the UK.
Knowing the financial burden studying abroad could place on her family, Keturah designed a pitch deck and presented her case to her father. Despite his initial response of “I don’t have money,” he ultimately agreed to support her. This daring move inspired her siblings to pursue studying abroad as well. In Keturah’s family, they never give up on their goals, even if they seem impossible to achieve.
Before relocating to the UK for her studies, Keturah’s father informed her and her brother that he would support them through their first degree, but they would need to find ways to support themselves financially after graduation, especially if they planned on pursuing other degrees. This turned out to be true when their father reminded them of this after they completed their studies.
Keturah’s family played a significant role in shaping who she is today. They were supportive and encouraged her to strive for her goals, instilling in her a strong sense of resilience and independence.
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Keturah used to believe that starting a business was not a wise decision. Although she never voiced this opinion publicly, she couldn’t fathom why someone would want to take on the responsibility of managing a business, making strategic decisions, and figuring out how to grow it. “Sure, the benefits are great, but I always thought someone else could do it, and I could just focus on advancing my career. Becoming a founder and an entrepreneur was just something that happened unexpectedly. It wasn’t intentional,” Keturah explains.
Despite her initial reservations, Keturah couldn’t shake off the idea of starting a business, so she began applying for business grants. Her application for the Tony Elumelu Foundation business grant, which offered $5000, was accepted, and she moved back to Nigeria to start her entrepreneurial journey. In addition to the funding, she was enrolled in a crash course in business management and assigned a mentor with over two decades of experience in building technology companies. He ran one of Nigeria’s oldest technology companies, providing solutions to banks and governments since 1993. Keturah knew little about running a business, so “the experience of learning how to create a business plan, develop a simple financial model, and manage a team shaped me into the person I am today.” As an engineer, I didn’t have much business knowledge, except for what I observed from my father on the sidelines.”
Keturah also participated in the 2016 Enterprise Challenge, run by the British Council and Virgin Group. Over 10,000 people applied for the grant, and Keturah was among the three winners. She was the overall winner and had the opportunity to be mentored by Sir Richard Branson, the chairman of the Virgin Group. Additionally, she received sponsorship to attend the Branson Center of Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg, South Africa. Keturah humbly credits her success to being favoured: “I won’t exactly say that I did anything special.” I guess I was just favoured.” She believes that clear communication of the business idea, including the potential financial gain, opportunity, and impact, was vital to winning the competition.
Unfortunately, Keturah had to shut down her business, Queturah, after three years due to several problems. She had a great idea and technology, but the timing was wrong, and there were numerous obstacles to overcome to get the technology working in the marketplace. “The decision to shut down my business was one of the most painful but enriching experiences,” she said. Keturah had started the company with five co-founders, who were also her friends, without assessing if they had the necessary skill sets and how a negative downturn in the business could affect their relationship. “Building a high-growth startup requires an injection of cash and having the right people to execute everything you have planned.”
However, Keturah saw her experience with Queturah as a learning opportunity that prepared her for her next business idea. “Your first startup or business concept will not turn out as perfect as you thought because the business will or could fail, but you will learn so much in the process,” she said.
After shutting down Queturah in 2018, Keturah worked as a consultant for two years and joined Strata Advisory as the head of growth, a boutique advisory firm based in Lagos and Bristol. She became the country director and later the general manager, and within two years, the company was sold to Seedstars. With this new development, Keturah began to think about what she wanted to do next with her life.
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As a second-time founder, Keturah recognized the advantage of already making mistakes in her first venture. With the experience of failure under her belt, she wasn’t afraid of the possibility of failing again when the idea for her second company, Dukka, came to mind. She was eager and committed to embarking on the journey, and she advised others not to fear failure. According to Keturah, growth happens in uncomfortable and painful places, and one can only grow from failures, so one should embrace and welcome them.
Keturah describes herself as a genius and a skilled problem solver. She has a keen eye for processes, seamlessness, and efficiency and is unsettled by people doing things in a suboptimal way, feeling compelled to remedy the situation. Her inspiration for Dukka came from recognizing that offering solutions to small businesses is a dependable, replicable, and scalable approach to generating revenue for any enterprise, as long as these businesses require products to manage their finances.
Dukka was launched in 2021 as a mobile bookkeeping application to provide a sustainable solution for small businesses. The app enables small businesses to manage their financial records efficiently by recording smartphone transactions, sales orders, and inventory management. Keturah emphasizes the importance of understanding cash flow, which is the baseline for every business owner. To further aid physical retail stores, Dukka terminals have been introduced, which come with pre-installed proprietary software. This enables merchants to accept digital payments from their customers, regardless of the payment method, whether a bank transfer, a card, or USSD.
Keturah didn’t achieve her success alone. She had a team working with her, putting five primary core values into practice: trust, openness, optimism, innovation, and difference. She strongly believes that difference is essential in building a robust culture with diverse people who can think and solve problems differently. She emphasizes that her way is just one way, not the only way or the right way. Keturah also values the importance of failure and tries to instil this message into her team. “We need to fail faster because the faster we fail, the closer we are to success and the closer we are to our destination,” she says. She believes that failure is an occasional visitor, and handling it well depends on how well-positioned one’s mindset is.
Keturah acknowledges that her success is not solely attributed to her team but also to her family, mentors, and close friends, who have been a source of unwavering support. She credits Sir Richard Branson and Tony Elumelu for shaping her into a better business owner and Adetomi Soyinka and Anthony Jose Brown for being fantastic friends who have been there for her. She emphasizes the significance of having a great support system, particularly in the overwhelming and lonely journey of becoming a founder. According to Keturah, having great people around you is one of the most crucial aspects of achieving success, and it is often overlooked.
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Keturah is passionate about making the tech industry more welcoming to women. She says, “If I get the chance to speak to young women or girls who are at a turning point in their careers and considering a transition to any tech-related field, I would be delighted to address them in large groups.”
Keturah is a member of the Nigerian Association of Women Engineers. One of their initiatives involves visiting secondary schools to speak with young girls about the technology industry and educate them. She has imparted her knowledge and insights to young girls from various secondary schools in Lagos.
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Keturah has always had a unique way of thinking; her turning point came from her mindset. Mentally, she had already achieved her goals and arrived at her destination. Managing Dukka is exciting for her, and on days when there’s a lot of work, it never feels like too much. Keturah’s favourite quote, “One block today, one block tomorrow, eventually we’ll have a firmly built wall,” reminds her that success comes from consistent effort over time.
Keturah’s love for art is another enigmatic aspect of her personality. She began collecting at a young age, and while she wasn’t sure why at the time, she has come to appreciate how art can move and inspire people. Keturah has organized several art events and partnered with veteran artist Peter to promote talented artists across Africa.
Keturah’s interest in art led her to become a partner in an art advisory firm, where she writes a weekly newsletter on African art and the industry. Her newsletter is syndicated with Business Day Africa, and she owns the Art Index Africa column. Keturah’s passion for helping others is evident in her commitment to giving her best in everything she does and making people feel great.
Keturah firmly believes that giving comes from abundance while getting comes from a place of lack. She works hard, has fun, doesn’t take things too seriously, and lives by the philosophy, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” Keturah’s business is now flourishing, and she attributes her success to her willingness to embrace failure and pursue growth.