By Christy Anyanwu
Quincy Olasumbo Ayodele is widely known in Nigeria and abroad as a traditional health practitioner, who popularised the use of herbs.
Celebrities both males and females were her major clients as she introduced to them herbs to enhance their body shape, complexion, as well as those to handle health challenges.
She’s a WHO Expert Committee member on Development of African Traditional Medicine and the Pioneer Secretary General of National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners (NANTMP) – the umbrella body of the practice in Nigeria.
Recently, Quincy, as she is popularly called, who is a licensed Naturopath at home and abroad, turned 65 years.
In this interview, she spoke about her journey so far in the homeopathic medicine world, all she went through by people calling her all sorts of names and how she overcame the initial challenges to become a household name. Excerpts:
Lets talk about stardom, at what point did you gain popularity?
First of all, I treated myself, lost the weight, got healthier, and started telling people about it. I developed a programme protocol, applied it to my clients and it worked and with word of mouth, the news spread about a modernized light skinned educated woman who was using herbal medicine to treat people and specialized in weight loss. It was unheard of back in the days and natural medicine or leaf of any kind was considered devilish and fetish so I realized that I had to educate the community on the benefits of herbal medicine, maintaining a healthy weight and eating right. From there, media houses and newspapers started looking for me to talk more about this old and ancient male only craft that I had now resurfaced and modernized as a woman. In fact, the tipping point was when Frank Olise and Abike Dabiri came to my office on live TV ( NTA Newsline) to see patients lose 4kg in a space of 4 hours or less right there in my clinic on live TV and from there it took on. Also, I am appreciative of the media houses who helped launch me into the public. Over the years, I was invited to become a WHO expert member on Development of African Traditional Medicine which carried me literally all over the continent and even to the world to develop and execute policies to improve and regulate traditional medicine like it’s done in China and other countries.
How did you handle stardom as Quincy?
I don’t let stardom to enter my head. Firstly, I am a Christian – a believer of Jesus Christ to the core. I am a child of villagers, my husband is a child of farmers and we were both raised in the village. I don’t forget where I come from and use that to maintain my humility. My father always taught me that “simplicity costs you nothing, but buys you everything”. That is my driving force. I also want to appreciate all our numerous customers in the last 26 years of the emergence of the Quincy brand. I thank them for believing in nature and also believing in me.
What challenge did you face in the course of your career?
How can I ever forget how I was called all sorts of names to discourage me? Oh yes, I was called all sorts of names when I started talking about the importance and efficacy of medicinal plants back in the days in the 90s. In those days, it was a taboo to talk about herbs. I was stigmatized. Sexism ( I am a woman so what do I know), thinking I am fetish, thinking I am unknowledgable, so many things I can’t even count. At one point, they thought I was a mermaid ( laughing). I remember when I started my natural Weight Loss business (Quincy Herbal Slimmers) in Nigeria way back in the mid-90s, a lot of what I went through when I started talking about the efficacy of medicinal plants. It was a very difficult period of my life in that I am devout Christian in the Redeemed Christian Church of God and yet I was talking about healing with herbs. But the word of God that says “my people perish for lack of knowledge” kept me going. So, I did not allow the stigma to distract or discourage me. I kept on talking and practicing with natural herbs and people were being healed. God didn’t allow all that to discourage me, rather the Almighty God of nature Himself used the media to advertise the works of my hands and the wonders and medicinal benefits of nature.
How did you overcome the challenges?
I went all out through the media to keep raising awareness, proving the efficacy and potency of medicinal plants in our country. Separating healing using medicinal plants from healing with fetish traditional beliefs. I went all out proving that herbal medicines have doses and they are purely for medicinal and healing purposes. Then the Almighty God of nature Himself made WHO to pronounce that other medicines have failed the world and they began to look into the development of the ‘relegated’ herbal medicine and I was appointed by WHO as an Expert Committee member on the development of African Traditional Medicine Practice, Practitioners and Products.
What’s your advice to younger women who want to be successful in business?
Start small, but dream big. Do not use your profits for personal reasons, give yourself a small salary and increase it as the business grows. Don’t rely on anybody, human beings can disappoint. Only God cannot disappoint. So, rely on God and advertise
Years back, how did you cope as an entrepreneur?
I was married for about 14 years before I began this business and already had three children, so family came first for me. In fact, it was my husband who encouraged and supported me to open the business and has encouraged it throughout till date. I wear different hats depending on where I am and what I am doing. When I am home, I am a wife, mom, sister, child and grandmother. When I am at work, I am a natural medical practitioner. When I am at events, I wear the hat of a celebrity and have fun and network when needed.