Ajilogba Aishat: Redefining the Nigerian “Broke Student” Narrative

Many students see surviving university as managing allowances carefully and waiting for the next alert from home. This reality is what pushed Ajilogba Dunmininu Aishat into entrepreneurship early.

The 400-level  History and Strategic Studies student at the University of Lagos currently runs three businesses while also growing as a Snapchat influencer and UGC creator. Her brands include Vivante Lagos, a gifting business that sells period care packages; Vivante Import, an importation business that helps people procure goods from China; and Vivante Voyage, a travel brand born from her love for exploring new places.

However, before the businesses became structured brands, Aishat was simply a teenager trying to avoid financial struggle.

Aishat and Starting Young Out of Necessity

Aishat says her first motivation was simple: she wanted to make money and become financially independent.

Growing up, she watched her mother struggle with bills and decided early that she did not want the same future for herself. She started working from the age of 14 and explored different hustles, including modelling, acting, selling products, and running errands for people.

The idea for Vivante Lagos came unexpectedly during a conversation with someone who wanted to surprise her with a period care package. The person lived outside Nigeria and struggled to find a vendor in Lagos. Eventually, the package arrived over a week late, long after her period had started.

That experience made Aishat realize there was a gap in the market. She noticed that period care packages were not yet saturated in Nigeria, especially in Lagos, and decided to build a business around them.

From One Business to Three

Her expansion into multiple businesses happened naturally. At some point, Aishat discovered products abroad that interested her, including hot water bags for new mothers. Since she already imported items for herself occasionally, people around her began asking her to help them buy things from China too.

Things changed quickly in 2024 when she gained visibility on Snapchat. More people trusted her and started requesting importation services. That demand eventually led her to officially launch Vivante Import.

By then, Vivante Lagos already had workers handling operations, giving her enough time to focus on growing the new business.

Within about a year of starting the importation business, Aishat travelled to China herself, something she considers proof of how quickly the business grew.

Her travel brand, Vivante Voyage, also started from something personal. She had always loved travelling and spent years exploring countries virtually through her phone. Even before travelling herself, she enjoyed helping people book flights for fun.

After taking a trip to the Benin Republic in 2024, people became curious about how she planned it and started asking for help organizing their own trips. At first, she charged very little because she mostly helped people she knew, but later decided to structure the service into a proper business.

How Aishat is Balancing Business and School

Running multiple businesses while studying is not easy, and Aishat admits that time management has been one of her biggest struggles. For Vivante Lagos, especially, speed matters because period care products are often urgent purchases. Delays can affect customer trust, so she built the business around fast delivery.

Content creation was another challenge. Since she was more familiar with Snapchat than other social media platforms, consistently posting content became difficult. To solve that problem, she hired a social media manager and now plans monthly content sessions with her team.

Academically, she admits entrepreneurship has affected her school life. “I won’t say I have perfectly balanced everything,” she says.

Still, she has found systems that work for her. She relies heavily on self-study and outsourcing tasks within her businesses. According to her, employing workers not only helps her manage stress but also creates income opportunities for other people.

Redefining the “Broke Student” Narrative

One thing Aishat says entrepreneurship changed completely for her is financial freedom. Because her businesses generate income regularly, she rarely experiences long periods without money. If one business is slow, another usually brings in income.

“The last time I was a broke student was in year one,” she says. Today, she can comfortably afford her needs and even buy gifts for lecturers when she wants to.

Her journey has also changed how she views success and survival. She believes many young people wait for someone to rescue them financially, when in reality, they may need to take the initiative themselves.

According to her, learning the right strategies, taking risks, and staying consistent can completely change a person’s financial situation.