Olatorera Oniru is the CEO of Dressmeoutlet.com, a fast rising e-commerce platform positioned to take over the global market. The company aims to promote made in Africa brands and provide greater global visibility to the creativity, hard-work, and perseverance of Africans.
With a wealth of experience gained from top companies including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Ericsson, Central Bank of Nigeria and General Electric, Olatorera Oniru towers in the fashion industry and successfully manages her start-up, with funding offers from notable investors including Nigerian investor Tony Elumelu.
Born March 3, 1987 to Chief Dr. Femi Majekodunmi and Justice Olatokunbo Majekodunmi in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, Olatorera spent her early years in Nigeria and the United States of America. She attended Mary Hill Primary School for her early education and Queens College Yaba Lagos. By August 2000, Olatorera relocated to the United States of America where she attended Leesville High North Carolina and received awards in Perfect Attendance and Honors English.
In 2008, she graduated Cum Laude Honors with a degree in Business Administration/ Management and Entrepreneurship from NC A&T State University where she served as a Senator for Academic Affairs, Founder, and President of the Association of African Students, Tutor for Disability and Support Services, Campus Lead for Monster’s Diversity Leadership Program.
Upon graduation, the leading lady accepted an enviable opportunity to work for Bank of America Merrill Lynch as a Senior Analyst for the Global Markets and Investment Banking group attaining her 2nd Fortune 5 company work experience. Working for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Olatorera recounts was one of the best times of her life, according to her “working on Wall Street in the world’s greatest city that never sleeps – New York City,” while leading million dollar initiatives supporting the optimization of revenue by investment bankers.
She was one of the analysts that led the 2009 Global Asset Services Initiative to integrate Merrill Lynch systems with Bank of America after the industry buyout and consolidation during the 2008 financial Industry crisis. During her time at Merrill Lynch, she also served as co-founder and president of Network of African Professionals in New York and as a Junior Board Member of CASA-NY (Court Appointed Special Advocates New York).
After 2 years at Merrill Lynch, Olatorera moved on to occupy a Senior Supervisory position at the Central Bank of Nigeria for a year before proceeding to obtain her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) Degree from Emory University where she majored in Finance, Leadership and Entrepreneurship. While at Emory University, the power lady made remarkable achievements, for which she received scholarships from the National Black MBA Association and The Executive Leadership Council. She was also a finalist for the Emory Goizueta Business School Entrepreneurship Scholarship and was further elected Vice President of Multi-cultural.
Olatorera, like many other focused young Africans is inspired by the massive potentials in the continent. In her interview with Forbes magazine, she explains,
I am motivated by the massive amount of opportunities in Africa. For the past two years, I have referred to Nigeria as “The New Land of Opportunity” as I have always regarded America as “The Land of Opportunity”. Africa has even more of those opportunities but it will not come easy. We all have to work to make those opportunities surpass our dreams. We cannot get comfortable. How can anyone get comfortable in a nation with over 60% poverty rate? We must all work hard, we must all push opportunities, we must all create jobs, we must all innovate and we must all and can all be great. Let’s hold hands, let’s work together, let’s push each other’s dreams and then watch Africa blossom into a great continent one day at a time, one dream at a time.
In 2007 the fashion icon was nominated by the Future Nigeria Awards for Best Use of Advocacy. She was also a finalist for Hearst Corporation’s “Cover girl of the year” award in 2008.
She founded Nigeria’s foremost leadership program Top 100 Our Generation, in 2007; a company that brought together and inspired many of today’s young leaders.
Olatorera is currently a member of Lionesses of Africa, Africa’s Best and the National Scholars Honor Society USA. She is married to Adedapo Oniru with whom she has two children.
