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At Opus Innovations, the dream of inventing and entrepreneurial aspirations drove Bola Lafe to leave investment banking after 22 years to start his own business a decade ago.

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But how do you move from investment banking to invention? Well, the family was a driving force for Bola. When his daughter was born, nasal congestion saw Bola inventing a new gadget, a safer way to unblock little noses. As they say, the rest is history.

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Award-Winning

Fast forward a decade, and today Opus Innovations is a progressive ethnic minority-owned healthcare and eco-living products company focused on launching innovative and sustainable products. Opus products are kind to people, animals, and the planet.

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They were named as ‘Company of the Year’ in the Gamechangers Awards – Healthcare & Medtech Sector.

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In 2021 Opus was named ‘British Chambers of Commerce UK Green Business of the Year’.

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In 2022 Opus was named ‘SME News – Business Elite Awards’ Best Sustainable Personal Care & Eco-Living Products Development Company, UK’.

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Opening Doors

“Following our success in reaching the semi-finals of the MSDUK Innovation Challenge, we joined MSDUK’s Accelerator Programme in 2021 to support us with our mission to scale up. Following the challenges of the pandemic, MSDUK helped us to open doors to big corporates. This is one of the advantages of being an MSDUK member; we can tap into these big global corporates in a way that we couldn’t have done previously. In procurement, it can be tricky to find the door; never mind get in the door. Through working with the great team at MSDUK, we get access to the right companies, the right people, and people who are interested in working with minority suppliers.” 

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Moving Diversity up the Agenda

“For many corporates, Diversity and Inclusion weren’t on their agendas for a long time, and it still isn’t for many. But, at the recent MSDUK Conference, just seeing all of these big corporates with stands at the conference, and now their doors are open to us.

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These are giant corporates, and navigating the path to procurement success can be challenging, and negotiations can be lengthy. However, they are huge companies; you need to stick with them and ride the waves. MSDUK help us navigate this new world, but we have access to them – doors have opened, and dialogue is in progress. But it will be worth the wait; when you land a contract, you can substantially increase your revenue from one big corporate order. In addition, the stability of dealing with big companies is a continuous supply of business every month, so it’s worth the investment and the patience throughout these negotiations.”

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Valuable Lessons From MSDUK

“I think the most valuable lesson for Opus is understanding what the large corporates want and how to navigate the space between what you want for your company and what the big corporates need from you. Also, how to pitch to large corporates and what they want.

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A great benefit to many start-up companies is that they provide significant educational material. It’s like a university crash course on how to set up and run your business. It’s brilliant, and even as a ten-year-old business, there were lots of valuable and practical hands-on information.”

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If You’re Thinking of Signing up for MSDUK

“It’s an incredible thing that MSDUK are doing. When you look at how much funding and business goes to EMBs (Ethnic Minority Businesses), it’s a small percentage. Mayank and the MSDUK team have taken on this mammoth task. There are so many businesses that can benefit.

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MSDUK is one of the most well-run and structured organisations I have ever worked with. They are a credible, proactive organisation, very well respected by large corporates such as Google, META, Accenture, GSK and hundreds of other Corporate members.

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I would recommend being an MSDUK member to any business, start-up or scale-up. MSDUK is a very professional organisation with exceptional standards that corporates want to be engaged and associated with.”