Some people strive for physical beauty, some others go for the inner beauty, but rarely do we see people that are not only fully committed to the pursuit of, but radiate both kinds of beauty. Modupe Ozolua is one woman who is not just beautiful on the outside, she has a beautiful heart too.
This social Entrepreneur and Philanthropist is the Chief Executive Officer of Body Enhancement Ltd in Nigeria. The company pioneered cosmetic surgery in Nigeria in 2001 and aesthetic lasers in 2007. The princess from the Benin kingdom had her early education in Benin City. Her secondary education was completed at Apata Memorial High School, Isolo, Lagos, after which, she left for the United States of America.
She went to South Western College, San Diego and Devery International University, Los Angeles, California and in both schools, Modupe was on the Dean’s list for being a student with exceptional performance. She studied Graphic Design and Business Administration.
Modupe got into the world of making money quite early, she started making burgers at McDonalds in Natick, Massachusetts (USA) when she was 17 years old and at 21 she had a communication business in Los Angeles.
While not a doctor herself, Modupe’s interest in cosmetic surgery was ignited when she had some cosmetic procedures done herself. Knowing the importance of people feeling beautiful about their bodies, the 27 year old decided to make body enhancement surgery available in Nigeria which was one hell of a brave move because Nigerians were not very receptive of the idea at the time. Thus Body Enhancement Ltd in Nigeria was born in 2001. Modupe was still residing in Los Angeles with her husband and son when she initially opened Body Enhancement in Lagos, Nigeria, making her company the first to do cosmetic surgery in the country. At first, she ran her business from Los Angeles, making regular trips to attend to clients, but after her divorce and the death of her mother, she relocated to Nigeria with her son and faced her business squarely.
The business initially started out simply as a company which provided body enhancement surgery and services. However, having access through her NGO to underprivileged people who required reconstructive surgery but couldn’t afford to pay for it and weren’t receiving financial assistance to pay for their procedures really disturbed Modupe so much that she had to do something about this.
In 2003, she founded a non-profit, Empower 54, formerly known as BEARS (Body Enhancement Annual Reconstructive Surgery), the charity arm of her company, dedicated to giving the poorest of the poor in need of medical attention and life-changing reconstructive surgery free treatment and surgery. They offer free surgery for correcting deformities of patients from cleft lip, to cleft palate, to syndactyly to victims of kerosene explosions. BEARS continues to use modern technology and techniques to transform the lives of thousands of underprivileged people with different types of physical congenital, developmental deformities at no cost. Also making her organization the first to do something like that in Nigeria.
Her non-profit organization also focuses on restoring lives of underprivileged Africans. Some of their outreach programs include medical missions, food drive, donation of medication, educational programs, women empowerment programs, donation of clothing and toys to the poor.
The stunning beauty might not be a doctor but her life teaches us that one doesn’t need to be a doctor to have a good heart. Her achievement and kindness hasn’t gone unnoticed as she has received many awards from humanitarian organizations all across the world.
This beautiful soul isn’t stopping anytime soon. She’s currently on a mission to rehabilitate displaced survivors of terrorist group, Boko Haram. She’s touring Northern Nigeria in this regard.
She continues to share love and beauty all across Africa, reminding us that being beautiful on the outside isn’t enough until we are also beautiful on the inside.
