THE LUXE FACTOR

WITH RETAIL MOST affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, both companies and consumers have had to revisit their shopping philosophies. And this also applied to Africa’s vast contingent of luxury personal shoppers and high net-worth individuals, who would otherwise travel abroad for their Louis Vuittons and Valentinos. The retail therapy continues online for those with deep pockets and greater choices in a world of evolving e-commerce.

For the retail entrepreneurs and personal shoppers, this has meant consistently reinventing the wheel – but this time, they seem to be laughing all the way to the bank.

Take 31-year-old United-Kingdom-born Nigerian Lisa Omeleh, the founder of Classles, a company that has grown from being a personal shopping service, specifically offering discounted luxury goods for its members, to a social media-based personal shopping brand, with over 300 annual clients.

A typical day for Omeleh pre-Covid would involve attending luxury fashion events such as London Fashion Week, hobnobbing with the rich