CEO of 360Kuts and Khalilimages, Jimmy Ofuoyan, has revealed that he shot to fame and prominence when he started styling the hair of footballers in the Italian league.
Ofuoyan is one of the most inspiring stories of the century. The sheer deermination and scale of maturity at a very young age is astounding. Born on August 15, 1998, into a family that consists four girls and three boys, adulthood came too quickly for him, as he had no luxury of childhood memories.
As early as age 12, Ofuoyan enrolled in his older sibling’s unisex salon, where he acquired skills on fixing and braiding women’s hair.
Unsatisfied with being equipped with only styling of women’s hair, Ofuoyan taught himself modern men’s haircut and styling by watching tutorials on YouTube. Few years after he began his apprenticeship, he was issued certificate of completion.
Ofuoyan spent some more time with his brother before deciding his own future, which he believes lies beyond the shores of Nigeria. In 2016, he summoned the courage to chase his dream and relocated to war-stricken Libya, where he unluckily fell into the hands of human traffickers who kept him in a prison camp for 18 months.
Though Ofuoyan was locked up, staring uncertainties in the face regarding where the road leads to, his dream spoke out loudly. He became the official stylist for his captors, as well fellow inmates, honing his skills and offering services by using comb and blade.
Ofuoyan escaped imprisonment and journeyed to Italy. He continued his passion, providing hairstyling services in a camp where he was later relocated to from Sicily, in a reception centre called LAPISS (Laboratorio per le Aree Protette Italiane e lo Sviluppo) in Abruzzo. He continued to develop his skills as an hairstylist and worked as a DJ at events and festivals.
The most significant event of his life occurred in 2018 after moving to a bigger city called Pescara. He had searcher for a job for a year without breakthrough, and he began to deliver home service as a hairstylist–a move which exposed his talent and skills to the world.
“It happened when I had the opportunity to offer a haircut to a player from the “Pescara Football Club.” Being the first migrant and foreigner in my state to achieve such recognition in the hairstyling industry was a game-changer. The experience brought attention to my work and attracted influential personalities and football stars to my Instagram account. It was a turning point that catapulted my career and gave me a platform to showcase my skills to a broader audience,” Ofuoyan recalled.
