God humbled me in the UK to become who I am today

By Christy Anyanwu

Petite and on point, she was first sighted at the Africa Fashion Week London last year, where she stole the show with her retinue of models in fantabulous Aso -Oke ensembles on the runway. During the Africa Fashion Week Nigeria in December 2025, her African outfits endeared her to many and, this time round, she spoke with Sunday Sun about herself, her job and the projects she has been working on, among other issues.

So, who exactly is Esther Olorunfemi?

Yes, my name is Esther Olorunfemi. I am popularly known as Estree on social media platforms. I’m called Estree16, basically.

I live in the United Kingdom. I moved to the UK in 2005. So, it’s going to be 21 years this January that I’ve been in the UK.

I have a passion for care, for helping people in need, including people that have disabilities.

I opened a business around this in 2016, basically, where I cater for people with learning disabilities, mental health needs, challenging behaviours, autism spectrum disorders and all that. So, we’re going to be celebrating our 10th anniversary this year. I have care homes, supported living accommodations and respite floating support domiciliary, etc. We cover every aspect of care. It’s called Enablement Care Services Limited. We are based in Harrow, but we have branches all over London.

And now we are actually open to franchise. People are buying franchises from us. Because the whole idea is that Africa, we need to take over.

On the other hand, my passion is fashion. I have a fashion house in London called House of Estree. House of Estree is not just about fashion, however. It’s about celebrating African and African heritage.

What is outstanding about this promotion of African heritage?

It’s about putting the stamp and the mark of Africa on the platform, on the map of the United Kingdom. When I was going to open my firm, let me call it an African store, I made sure it was not just about one item. We do fashion, we do outfits, shoes and bags, African arts, anything African. Once you enter the store, all you can feel is Africa.

And I opened it in an area called Harrow, where there are predominantly people that are not our colour, basically, Asians and whites. My vision for opening it there is for African fashion to be celebrated by all. If we who are African can wear Western outfits, then any other person, whether Western, Asian, wherever you are from, should be able to wear our own outfits as well.

African stores are seen as a corner shop, where you just have a small store. But this one is so massive, It’s for creatives. Once you enter, you just want to create content, because once you enter, you just feel African. And, actually, I can tell you that most of the people that come into our store in Harrow, most of the people that come into House of Estree, are mostly whites and Asians.

We don’t have many Africans in Harrow anyway. We have most Africans staying in South London, Croydon and all those areas like Brixton. Most people that come here, basically, are people of other colours. And that is the vision, that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about money, we are in business to make money, truly, but there’s a vision, there’s a purpose.

How did you get into health care services in London?

My documentary is coming out, by God’s grace in 2027. I don’t want to give too much out now. It’s a long story, you understand? It’s like working, being a manager to expatriates. Initially, when I was going to London, I didn’t want to because I didn’t want to do any dirty job. But, by God’s grace, I got a white-collar job, and I was like a manager. I was a project manager working with the Harrow Council. I had staff under me that were white-skinned, looking up to someone that was black like me. At one point, I made a post on Instagram where I mentioned that I lost my papers, and when I was moving to the UK I told myself that one thing I was never, ever going to do was take a job in care. Because I heard that doing care work was like doing ‘house-help’ jobs and because I’m so finicky and all that, I said I was never going to do it.

But, you know, God humbled me and brought me to that field. When I lost my papers, I had to come back to do that job, and that’s what has propelled me to where I am today.

And now, you have your own care services?

Yes, I have like 10 branches now. People are buying into my franchise now. We are everywhere, South London, North London, West London.

What lesson have you learnt about this life?

In life, just be humble. And in life, my mother always taught me one thing, there is nothing you cannot achieve if you put your mind to it. In my life, I’ve been through hell. In the UK, I’ve lived in my car, like sleeping and waking up in my car, having my toothbrush and toiletries, you know, brushing up in the car, going to the shop to go and freshen up.

I’ve been homeless in the UK. So wherever you are, when you fall, just get up. You can just crawl and get yourself to stand up and believe in God, basically.

That is just my motive. That’s what I’ve learnt in life. There’s nothing you can achieve without God backing you up.

So people that say that there’s no God, I pity them. Be prayerful, be graceful, wherever you are. People always tell me I don’t look like my problems because I’m a happy person. Whatever I’m doing, I’m not worrying. I may have problems but I’m always happy. Praise God for where you are and where you are going to.