Maria Ebenezer is a Model turned Event Staffing Entrepreneur.
She is the Founder of Emerald Green Ushering Services, a premium event staffing agency that secured a global partnership and is at the forefront of the major West Africa conferences and exhibitions held in Nigeria.
Maria is a CREA Global Awards Honoree 2021, a Cherie Blair Foundation Mentee Alumna 2021 and Nigeria’s 25under25 Awards Nominee 2018.
She has been published in International media outlets, including Brainz Magazine, She Leads Africa, Apreneur, to mention a few.
She has an educational background in International Business Management.
About Emerald Green Ushering Services
After years of being on TV screens and magazines as a model, Maria founded Emerald Green Ushering Services in 2015. Here are a few of their achievements:
» Set up a standard training program for event hostesses in Nigeria
» Staffed events for over 40 globally renowned organizations across 15 countries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, including Global Trade Review, Global Real Estate Institute, International Data Corporation, National Insurance Commission, to mention a few.
» Trained over 1600 young women to become professional event hostesses and hired over 100 hostesses.
» Maria has also mentored and coached event entrepreneurs and business owners on her best practices and tools to scale their businesses through her online courses and speaking engagements.
Why She Started Emerald Green Ushering Services
We asked her why she started an event staffing agency and this is what she said: I started Emerald Green Ushering Services to provide a means of income with decent working conditions for eligible young women in Nigeria. But most importantly, it was borne out of the deep desire to change the narrative of the event staffing industry, as I met it while hostessing during modelling.
From hostesses’ remuneration to job perception, service quality to professional standards, I aimed for a time when hostessing would become one of the elite professions in the country, as it has become today.
In 2015, when people heard about ushering services, it was perceived as those ‘ushers’ that stand and direct guests to seats at social ceremonies. But I wanted to create jobs that were more professional than that and would serve the corporate sectors.
Then I also discovered that the skills event hostesses needed to fit into the corporate sectors were lacking, this led us to set up a standard professional training program called “Pro Event Hostess” in 2018 where we train and equip ladies with the relevant skills for these professional roles.
Today, our event staff have worked with event organizers, businesses and premium brands performing diverse professional roles, including conference assistants, exhibition staff, promotional staff, corporate support staff, English and French-speaking translators for our international clients.
How Her Work Is Changing Lives
Emerald Green has hired more than 100 hostesses so far to work at various international events, which has been a source of income for many young women in Nigeria.
The Pro Event Hostess program has also equipped more than 1600 young women with skills they used to get hired by other event staffing agencies, even if they don’t make it into Emerald Ushering agency during recruitments.
As a business coach, Maria has mentored and helped a number of African entrepreneurs to start and scale their event staffing agencies from scratch, they are all doing well today.
Her Advice To Newbies In The Industry
Here are some tips she shared for people building new businesses in the event staffing Industry:
» Never stop learning – Update and educate yourself daily on the industry trend and best business practices.
» Be great at the job – Don’t be mediocre or copycat. Set the standards that others would copy. Be excellent. Be professional.
» Aim high – (Wait for it…) Don’t start small! Go after big clients from Day 1 and don’t be afraid to name the price you deserve. As long as you are great at your job, you will get a YES eventually.
Get In Touch
To book your ushering services go to emeraldgreenushers.com
To learn from Maria, get her courses at mariaebenezer.com
Follow On Social Media
Instagram | @maria.ebenezer
Instagram | @emeraldgreenushers
Facebook | Emeraldgreenushers
Linkedin | Maria Ebenezer
Website | emeraldgreenushers.com
Website | mariaebenezer.com
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