Three things open doors in life: Skill, hard work and preparedness. The strange but true story of Jimmy Ofuoyan, CEO of 360Kuts and Khalilimages, reinforces the role of providence in the journey of man, but most crucially, building mental fortitude is the ultimate.
Jimmy Ofuoyan,represents one of the most inspiring stories of the century. The sheer boldness and scale of maturity at a very young age is stunning. Born on August 15, 1998, into a family that consists four girls and three boys, adulthood came too quickly for him, as he had no luxury of childhood memories.
Parents of the founder of 360Kuts, also known as Khalilimages could not afford to give him secondary education, but he did not allow it weigh him down. As early as age 12, he enrolled in his older unisex salon, where he acquired skills on fixing and braiding women’s hair.
Unsatisfied with being equipped with only styling of women’s hair, Jimmy Ofuoyan taught himself modern men’s haircut and styling by watching tutorials on YouTube. Few years after he began his apprenticeship, he was issued certificate of completion.
Jimmy Ofuoyan spent some more time with his brother before deciding his own future, which he believes lies beyond the shores of Nigeria. In 2016, he summoned the courage to chase his dream and relocated to war-stricken Libya, where he unluckily fell into the hands of human traffickers who kept him in a prison camp for 18 months.
Though Jimmy Ofuoyan was locked up, staring uncertainties in the face regarding where the road leads to, his dream spoke out loudly. He became the official stylist for his captors, as well fellow inmates, honing his skills and offering services by using comb and blade.
Jimmy Ofuoyan escaped imprisonment and journeyed to Italy. He continued his passion, providing hairstyling services in a camp where he was later relocated to from Sicily, in a reception centre called LAPISS (Laboratorio per le Aree Protette Italiane e lo Sviluppo) in Abruzzo. He continued to develop his skills as an hairstylist and worked as a DJ at events and festivals.
The most significant event of his life occurred in 2018 after moving to a bigger city called Pescara. He had searcher for a job for a year without breakthrough, and he began to deliver home service as a hairstylist–a move which exposed his talent and skills to the world.
“It happened when I had the opportunity to offer a haircut to a player from the “Pescara Football Club.” Being the first migrant and foreigner in my state to achieve such recognition in the hairstyling industry was a game-changer. The experience brought attention to my work and attracted influential personalities and football stars to my Instagram account. It was a turning point that catapulted my career and gave me a platform to showcase my skills to a broader audience,” he recounted in an interview with journalists.