How Abidemi Rasheed built baby retail brand on trust

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For nearly three decades, entrepreneur, Abidemi Rasheed, has built her baby retail company, Babies N’ Stuffs, on a philosophy she believes is often overlooked in business: trust before profit.

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Rasheed, who founded the company in 2006, has grown the brand into one of Nigeria’s recognised baby product retailers by prioritising quality, transparency and customer confidence over short-term financial gains.

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Her entrepreneurial journey began in 1998 while she was a student of the University of Lagos, where she started selling baby products as a side business to support herself, and cater to the needs of young families around her.

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What started as a small venture gradually evolved into a full-fledged business after she identified a gap in the market for reliable and quality baby products.

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Speaking in a statement shared with Society Plus, Rasheed said, “I wasn’t just interested in selling products. I wanted parents to feel confident that whatever they bought from us was something I would gladly use for my own children.”

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Since establishing the company, she has built it around the belief that children in Africa deserve access to products that meet global standards.

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Unlike businesses that compete mainly on affordability, Rasheed said her focus has remained on providing durable and safe products, even when it means losing potential profits.

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During sourcing trips to manufacturing partners abroad, she revealed that she often rejected offers to produce lower-quality items specifically for the African market.

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“If it’s good enough for children elsewhere, then it’s good enough for African children,” she said.

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According to her, maintaining high standards has sometimes required difficult decisions, but the long-term trust earned from customers has made the sacrifices worthwhile.

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Beyond retail, Rasheed believes businesses have a responsibility to contribute positively to society. Through her brand, she said she has created employment opportunities and supported economic activities within the communities where the company operates.

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She also identified integrity as one of the strongest tools for building sustainable businesses, noting that honesty in dealings with customers remains central to her company’s operations.

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From advising customers against unnecessary purchases to returning accidental overpayments, Rasheed said maintaining credibility is more valuable than making quick financial gains.

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As Nigeria’s parenting and baby-care market continues to expand, the entrepreneur believes there is room for more locally developed brands to compete globally.

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She said one of her long-term goals is to establish manufacturing facilities that will produce premium baby products in Africa for African families and eventually place Nigerian-made products on shelves around the world.

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Rasheed urged emerging entrepreneurs to focus on protecting their reputation rather than chasing immediate profits.

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“Protect your name more than your profits. Businesses come and go, but trust is what keeps customers coming back,” she said.

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