Kudirat Ogunro is one of the fast-rising actresses in the Yoruba movie industry. Besides being an actress, she involved in the sale of herbal medicines and that is how she got the name “Kudi Alagbo”. In this interview with MUTIAT LAWORE, Kudi spoke about the journey thus far, dealing in herbs among other issues. Excerpts
To start with how did acting begin for you?
It’s been over 12 years. First, Iyabo Ojo is my boss. I started from hairdressing to acting. I love acting so I learnt from Iyabo Ojo.
She had a salon at Ilupeju and I was one of her hairstylists back then. I love her movies a lot, so I walked up to her one day and told her, I have an interest in acting and she advised me and put me through what it entailed. From there,
I started following her to locations and assisting her with things. One day she called me up and said they will give me scripts, I was really surprised. She even gave me sub lead in the movie, I was more than surprised.
I did it so well and that was how my journey started. I acted alongside Liz Da Silva in 2009; I made it look so real and they were impressed. I still do my hairstylist work and selling herbs alongside acting.
How have you been juggling business, acting and motherhood?
It has not been easy because acting takes a lot if time. I love money a lot and that is why I work so hard to make my money. So far I have produced 3 movies, She Boy, Okan Dudu and Abomination.
Let’s talk about your dealing in herbs?
My real name is Kudirat Ogunro, it was when I started the herbs business that people started calling me Kudirat Alagbo. I was born into and brought up in an Agbo business family. It is a family thing, we all know a lot about herbs and roots; my maternal grandparents were into herbs.
All my sisters also sell herbs and my mother too. I have been selling since I was little, but my love for acting took me away from the business for a while, but I went back during the pandemic.
Let me explain everything one after the other. The hairdressing stuff started when I was in school, I got pregnant, people kept giving me this funny
look on the street, wondering why I got pregnant while still in school and normally, the crowd at the herb shop is usually much and they all kept giving me unusual look and it was becoming very embarrassing for me. That was how I stopped going to the herb shop, and then I went to learn hair styling. After I had my baby, the first shop I went to work as a trained hairstylist was Aunty Iyabo Ojo’s shop and that was how my journey into the movie industry started. Then during the pandemic, I detest being idle, I am a hardworking person, I like working and I hate being a liability to anybody, so I decided to do something useful with my time. I have an Instagram account for selling wigs, so I changed the name to Kudi Alagbo.
My mother also encouraged me, she was saying that people that don’t even know much about herbs are selling it, talk more of me that has vast knowledge about it, I know a lot about roots and herbs. That was how I took my phone, did a video about unveiling of the herbs business, immediately people started ordering and paying for herbs and that encouraged me a lot. That was how the herb business started and it’s a year since I started the business.
The business of herbs is wide; what aspect of it are you focused on? I actually don’t sell one particular product; I treat people of different ailments, and before doing that, I ask questions in regards to the sickness or ailment before prescribing herbs to clients
.I don’t soak herbs; I sell roots and leaves to patients. Once a patient comes, I will tell him or her to go and see a doctor, run a test; after the result then I can tell the person, the ideal herbs to take to cure that particular sickness. I also check, if the patient has been taking drugs prescribed by the doctor, he or she will need to finish using that first, because we can’t mix the two. We treat arthritis, typhoid, malaria, diabetes and a lot of other sicknesses that are not even common.
So besides being a family thing, did you go to learn more about herbs elsewhere before you started the business fully?
I was born into it, and when I was little, I followed my mum everywhere, so, I already have a vast knowledge about roots and herbs.
Also at times when I come across cases that are a bit tough, my mum is with me; I consult her because she still sells herbs and roots too. So, I am covered everywhere, I am grounded in what I am doing.
What’s your highest selling herb? They are mostly sex enhancement products for male with weak or no erection, and ladies with no or low libido.
We have the best products that will fast track you into action. You talked about having a child at a very tender age, so do you have plans of settling down anytime soon?
There are no men outside (laughs!). I just pray for a good man to come my way. I am patiently waiting; God’s time is the best. How have you been coping as a single mum and what advice do you have for single mothers out there?
It has not been easy. If I say it’s been easy, I am a big liar. If I begin to reflect on my life journey right now, I will be so teary. Is it when my baby was just a few weeks old and I would back her and hawk ewedu (vegetables) or when I was a dishwasher in one amala joint in Yaba in order to have two meals per day?
Or is it when my mother sent me out of the house, and my daughter and I had to put up with my friends who were seven already in a small room?
But I thank God for his strength and how I have been able to pull through with hard work and determination.
Does she wish to become an actress like you someday?
No, she doesn’t like acting at all. But she is very hardworking like me and takes good care of me. At times when I tell her to follow me to locations she bluntly turns me down.
Which has been your most challenging movie so far?
It is titled Tembilli. It is an old skool comedy, not my personal movie though.
I played a sub-lead role in the movie and the role was very challenging for me; transitioning from one character to another wasn’t easy at all You sometime ago launched your book; does that mean you are switching from being a movie producer to an author?
I will say it’s a mandate! I have always had it in mind that one day I will share my life story for the world to read. I know the best channel is to put it into writing so I can make it available to the young ones in both primary and secondary schools, to shape their ways of life.
How did you come about the title, Kudi Alagbo: An Egba Warrior With Herbal Powers?
It’s all about my beginning, my race, and my journey. I was born into a family where all they do is herbs.
As a child, when others were taking tea in the morning, we were taking hot, bitter herbs; and that made it a part of me since childhood.
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