Chief Quincy Olasumbo Ayodele, today, is a popular personality, whose influence and high-wired connections cut across the society. She did not achieve this feat out of nothing, but as a result of her expertise in the world of herbal medicine, specifically in offering slimming solution to her numerous clients. Through her herbal slimming brand, Quincy is, no doubt, a household name, having been around for over two decades.
Asked how she came into herbal medicine, light-skinned and eloquent Quincy goes down memory lane about how her search for a solution to her problem of obesity eventually opened her eyes and led her into taking up the business of offering slimming solution to those in need of it.
She says, “The idea came from the fact that I used to be very fat before and sickly. I used to be taken all over Nigerian hospitals; even abroad for one type of sickness or the other because of the obesity I was suffering from then. My height is five feet and I was weighing 95 kilograms and when a 95 kilogram (lady) is over a height of five feet, that is first class obesity and I did not know it because I was not a practitioner then. The doctor advised that I should reduce my weight but I was reducing my weight in a wrong way. I used to go to clubs where they did aerobics and all that, they were doing good, but after the exercises, that was when I would go and take suya and the rest and regain everything I lost during the exercises.
“I was actually going through bad eating habit and the weight was not going. Instead, it was piling up and I became sicker on a daily basis. Later, my grandmother said all this sickness I was going through was because of my size; that my stomach, my breast and neck, I had to work on them. She made a stuff I would be drinking to reduce my weight. Lo and behold, I lost all the weight. I came down from 95 kilogram and I became healthier.”
Stunned by the efficacy and result recorded by the herbal stuff given her by her grandmother, Quincy says she decided to go fully into the business, especially with the curiosity and interest developed by her former gym mates. And to effectively do the business, she says she had to return to school to study natural medicine. And at the end of it all, she became one of the pioneers of natural medicine in the country.
She says, “It now occurred to me that these people we were going to the gym together with should see what has happened. They were curious about what I used and I explained to them, and of course with my knowledge of the herbs, that was how I started the slimming plus the natural herbs and, of course, the exercise part of it, the diet and the rest. I had to go back to school to learn about natural medicine and that broadened my knowledge of the scientific aspect of the medicinal plant, the dosage, the administration and so on.
“When I started, natural medicine was a new thing and it was only a few of us that could talk confidently about what we were using, because the scientific world were attacking traditional medicine in those days, trying to cover it up, but people like us did not keep quiet. Thank God for the World Health Organisation that stepped in and started on development of African medicine and, of course, with the Nigerian government on our side, by forming the umbrella body, creating NAFDAC for registration and so on. We moved with the trend and thank God for where we are today.”
Having been put under the spotlight by her herbal slimming solution brand, how has she been coping with the fame that has come with an endeavour she did not originally plan for? She says that has not actually had any negative effect on her aside from denying her privacy.
“It has not really had negative effects, but it has actually eroded my privacy. I must confess, it has taken away my privacy from me completely. I can’t eat Amala in the public anymore (Laughs). I can’t enter into a buka and ask for Ofada rice and the rest. Even when I go to do my nails, it’s questions I will answer all through. Oh, Quincy, what can I do and so on and so forth. I can’t do what I am there for; that is why I stopped doing my hair, because when I go to the salon, they will not even let me do my hair. I would have to tell them what to eat in the morning, afternoon and things like that,” she says.
Quincy, unlike some other society women, has been able to keep her marriage in an enviable shape. She sheds light on the manual she adopted and which has enabled her to keep her marriage in the past many years.
“It’s because I married my soul mate. My father researched him well before he allowed him to marry me and it was my father that gave me to him, according to how it is supposed to be. It was his father that came to search for me, the two fathers talked, and the marriage happened and we are happy. I do not even think about anything else other than for my marriage to be okay. No argument, no hard feelings. I am a very happily married woman. I can say that to the glory of God and my husband can also say that. We have supportive children and my husband is also very supportive. So, I don’t see why my marriage should hit any rock because before I would go and talk in the public, my husband would have taught me, schooled me about what to say. He would go like, ‘you know you are a village girl o, don’t go and cover your face like a village girl and if you go and show any sign of shyness, I won’t be happy with you when you come back home’ and, of course, usually, he is in the audience,” she explains.
Advising young couples on how they can build a happy home, she says, “My advice is that you should involve your parents even before you get married; I mean in the formative years, because they have the experience. All this I love you before marriage, is not true o. The love comes inside the marriage. You examine and test the men they bring for marriage because, for instance, a man who cannot take care of his fiancée while dating, will not take care of her in marriage. Men are supposed to be the leader and breadwinner of the family. And no matter how rich you are as a woman, you must submit to your husband. No matter how much we make at Quincy, my husband is still the one that gives me owo obe (soup allowance). He gives me housekeeping money, money to do my hair, my nails. He buys my clothes, he buys my underwear, he buys my perfumes, and that started from when we were dating, when he was not even that buoyant. A man must live up to his responsibilities. Yes, a woman can step in to help, if the situation warrants. You manage with him whatever he can afford.”
