Govt should remove policies hindering growth of small-scale businesses –Olusunmade, fashion entrepreneur

MRS. OLUSUNMADE JANET, a native of Ondo State, is a fashion entrepreneur and a design instructor who helps aspiring designers learn the in and out of fashion. She is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Treasurable Designs Integrated, a fashion school established to train young and old in fashion designing. In this interview with Daily Champion, Mrs Olusunmade talks about the school and how she has been helping those interested in fashion designing. Excerpt:

What is/are your area (s) of specialization?

I’m an instructor who teaches courses such as Fashion design, fashion apparel construction, pattern drafting, knowing and handling of textiles and so on. I also specialise in dressmaking for the female gender in corporate wear, smart casual wear, occasional native garments, bridal, evening and children’s wear.

How long have you been in the fashion industry?

I have been in the fashion Industry officially for seven years now but I have been involved since I was a young girl because it runs in the family.

What made you to go into the fashion business?

It is a call of God upon my life. Just like I said, the Fashion business runs in the family, it is not something I personally wanted to go into. I’m called by God to influence the fashion industry positively and to shine the light of Christ in the industry to glorify God.

For example, recently, you will discover that the fashion industry is controlled by those in the world. What do I mean by that?

There is a sense of indecency in fashion, especially in the areas of dressing. People no longer think of modesty when dressing and we Christians have left this industry to be controlled by those making indecent dresses to the masses just as we have left the politics of Nigeria to be controlled by the worldly people for a very long time. I believe one can look elegant and beautiful without nudity when one is sensibly dressed and this is one of the major lights I focus on in the fashion industry.

Can you throw more light on your passions for the fashion industry?

Making people look good with decent dresses, especially the female gender, make available quality standard fashion training at an affordable cost and make available quality wears at an affordable cost both locally and internationally. Furthermore, my passion is to impact in young girls/ladies to be well equipped and prepared for the life ahead of them. It is to equally encourage women who might have lost hope in acquiring a fashion skill as a result of poor or bad mentoring or tutoring.

Who are your role models in the fashion industry?

To be sincere, my one and only number one role model is Jesus Christ. Fashion design originated from Him (Genesis3 vs 21). He created and beautified the whole world; made the flowers with colours, designed the fishes in the sea with colours and so on.

But I have those I admire because of some uniqueness in them and also respect them in terms of the successful careers they’ve been able to build for themselves in the industry. People like: Natash Lambkin (owner of NATASHA): She is a black young lady with a Christian brand. We both share something in common and that is, she believes ” You can be beautiful and sexy wearing full garment; that you don’t have to show your body to be sexy”; Deola Sagoe (owner of House of Deola): For her creativity and belief in the area of pushing our native fabrics into the global market; Mai Atafo (Brand label ATAFO): He believes you can be a Nigerian and still create and design corporate wear. You don’t have to go abroad to get those well-tailored suits; Olakunbi Oyelese (owner of April By Kunbi): A fashion entrepreneur, who majors in wedding and evening wears. I love her creativity in her well-tailored covered designs though not all; which stand out in beautiful occasions, and Shingo Sato: A Japanese designer, an innovative pattern maker, who is very creative in pattern making and draping techniques.

What are your products?

I’m a creative professional who design and create garments; I sell fashion accessories; I also help aspiring fashion designers to grow in teaching and mentoring them.

What are the criteria of going into the fashion industry?

The major criteria of going into the fashion business should be knowing the purpose of God for your life and for what God has called you to do, as in knowing yourself, your purpose of existence. When you know this, no matter the difficulties and challenges you may face in that industry, you won’t give up and you will certainly overcome it.

Another criteria to consider is called your Natural Talent and this must be driven by passion. Your talent comes into play when you are in that field; whatever field God has called you into. For example, if God calls you into the fashion industry, your talent will act as a booster to enhance whatever learning you are adding to that skill and your passion must be a driving force strong enough to see you through the process of your making.

Good communication skill is a must-have. You must be able to talk to people, to communicate with them about what you are doing and know how to make people believe in you.

You must be able to have a competitive spirit because the fashion industry is very wide and large. In fact, even those who know nothing about it are also in the business for additional sources of income. They just employ a competent person to manage the business for them. There is always room for competition and in the area of competition; you don’t want to be left aside; so, you must always be creative in bringing up new Ideas to be at the top in your field.

You must have a sense on style too. You must be creative with styles, you don’t have to be doing copy and paste all the time.

Good business sense is another must-have.

Artistic ability is a must-have also. You should be able to sketch your designs. If you cannot draw or sketch, then go and learn it as a fashion designer.

Good sewing skills are part of must-haves. You must be able to properly construct the garments you are making. You cannot just go into the industry without having a sewing skill, assuming you are doing it on a large scale, you may have a stylist among your staff who may disappoint you at any point in time, whether you plan for it or not. So, if you can sew, you have got something on the ground to deliver you somehow as to meet up with your deadlines.

Decision-making skill is good skill to have knowing how to make the right changes and choices in designs, and be detail-oriented. Paying attention to details in garments making helps to make any design successful.

You must be a good team player to work with your staff and colleagues, and you must be computer literate. These days, there are new technologies that you can pick up and integrate into your fashion business which will still make you to be at the top in your field.

Is it capital intensive to start?

Yes and No.

No. In the sense that on a small scale, even if you have one machine, you can place it in your house and be sewing for people. Showcase your works on any of the social media platforms, thereby getting people to contact you and then patronise you, only that it has some limitations because at that point, you won’t be able to showcase your designs physically. People cannot really come to you, they cannot really know who they are doing business with, you can’t employ more than one or two persons to assist you and that is based on your spouse’s understanding, you can’t train people etc.

Yes, it is very capital intensive on a large scale because you will need space, a conducive environment for people to learn, lots of sewing tools, sewing machines and the like. All these things cost money.

What can the government do to enhance the productivity of the fashion industry in Nigeria?

Government can do a lot for us because so many things are affecting SMEs owners. If the government is really physically involved, they can help in so many areas like ▪Nigerian Government needs to invest more in the fashion industry; Bring up our textile factories up and running so as to help designers sourcing for some raw materials locally; Give more grants to small business owners to support and encourage them; Encourage and support local designers in the area of mentoring; Give local designers big platforms and opportunities to showcase their designs at the international markets; encourage more fashion shows and focus on decency; and Remove some government policies that are business killers so that small business owners won’t have to struggle in their businesses.

How do you see the future of the fashion industry in Nigeria today?

I see it as a good and great one. I see the future of this industry being bright because of the new creativity and innovative Nigerian designers are putting in the fashion industry. Once the government can help in some of those areas, I know that things will really go well and even better for us in this industry.

Can you tell us about your business growth?

It has not been so easy due to the economic situation of this country but God is really helping us because we are growing rapidly. I started with one machine with a small shop but now, we’ve moved to a larger space with more tools and including sewing machines. God indeed has been faithful!

Tell us about your business prospect and expansion

There is a great prospect in this industry if one has access to more funds to run and expand the business. We plan to cover some milestones in the next few months. We bless the Lord who helped us with a great expansion late 2021.  This year, we plan to expand with a branch or more of the fashion school in other states of the country, train more young people; thereby giving jobs to many afterwards. We also plan to go into ready-to-wear attires, sell them here locally and export abroad at affordable prices.

What about your customer relations services?

In this industry, we deal with people of different behaviours and characters. Some customers are friendly, simple and easy-going while some can be hostile, difficult to please kind of. You just need God’s wisdom to be able to cope and manage them all together. But so far, so good, the Lord has been helping us to manage and relate with our customers well.

Can you tell us about your profitability in the industry?

God has been very faithful to me. For me to have been able to empower and train people, indeed; it has been a profitable industry. Of course, we can’t overrule the fact that it is a highly-competitive market; you have so many people around you doing the same thing, but integrating creativity and innovation into what I do positions me for profitability.

How have you been able to solve the problems of unemployment in Nigeria through your organization?

For us at Treasurable Designs Integrated, one major thing we do to give back to society and also solve the problem of unemployment is to make room for people to learn free of charge for a period of four weeks of intensive training.  Thereafter we employ the outstanding few and place them on salary.

We started it about three years ago; we do it once a year but this year, we are planning to extend it to twice a year by God’s grace.

We had a massive turnout for the very first one we had but because we didn’t have as many tools and space constraints as at that time, we had to apply wisdom to reduce the number of people to about 20 that we could handle.

The large turnout shows that there are people who want to acquire this skill but are constrained because of funds. We believe when we break down this knowledge and make it accessible for those in rural and urban areas, they can be empowered and then fend for themselves in the area of clothes. At the moment, I have some students who are training for free to empower and encourage them.

How did you source for loan in starting?

I did not source for a loan to start but I was supported by my husband who encouraged me with some funds to start on a small scale. I later got a larger loan from him to expand, which I was able to pay back without interest.

What are the benefits of getting loans from banks?

It is a good one if one is able to have access to funds from banks to start. It has a lot of benefits for those who see it as an option because once you are able to get a large sum of money to invest in the business, one can get a good spacious and conducive space for training, purchase some sewing machines, get sewing tools and equipment which are very expensive.

But in getting loans, one has to be disciplined in order to be able to pay back the loans at due time. Another thing is that one must have knowledge of the business because if you don’t, you might end up spending both your profits and capital and consuming everything if not being careful is very bad for the business. So, one has to be disciplined in that area.

What are the challenges of getting loans from banks?

Bank policies are too challenging to meet up. Like: ▪ Filling of forms; too long process for that; Having collateral for someone who finds it difficult to feed not to talk of having a property to drop for a bank as collateral; and difficulty of having a guarantor. For me to be able to stand in for someone, it must be that I’ve known such a person very well and for quite a while in and out and that such fellow will not land me in any trouble.

What are your challenges in the business?

We have so many challenges and these include Lack of access to funds to start or expand; Lack of social amenities like shortage of electric power supply; little power supply with a high billing system; and Running a business on petrol for days which consumes more funds. In fact, we’ve been working on generators for the past two weeks; getting the fuel to power the generator is even more difficult now because of the fuel scarcity.

Also, some government policies like high deduction of tax, high local government rate charges for land usage, operation permits, tenement rate, signage billing etc.; Access to foreign raw materials at a high rate; and High bill on rentage, are some other challenges.

What are your visions in the industry?

One is to shine the light of Christ, showing forth the glory of God in the fashion industry. As we all know, we are in the end time, people no longer have modesty in fashion, especially in the area of dress. What is wrong is now becoming more acceptable and good while the good values like modest dressing are now outdated (old school/fashion) and sewing is bad. I believe one can dress well, look good and elegant without exposing any part of one’s sensitive body. One can be stylish and still be decent.

So as fashion designers, we should have a sense of responsibility as to what we make for people to wear. We should be able to make people well-covered garments without any form of nudity, and this is the part of the light of Christ to shine forth in this generation in the fashion industry.

Another vision is to make this skill accessible for people at an affordable cost and still not drop the high-quality standard of the training. As Fashion School owners, we should not let people think they need to rob a bank before they can have access to quality standard fashion training. We should not make the fashion design business a difficult task for people who desire to do the same as we do and we should not hoard information from people in the name of making more profits in our businesses.

What are the sources of your raw materials?

I source raw materials locally since getting them internationally is very expensive and recently, since the call off of the 2020 lockdown, even till now, things have really been on the high side. Even some of the high and mighty in the industry have probably pulled away and diverted their attention to something else in order to sustain their brands. Getting materials locally too is not cheap either.

We source raw materials from some major markets that deal with our materials like  Idumota in  Lagos-Island, Tejuosho market at Yaba; Kairo market at Oshodi; Iyana Ipaja market and if need be, outside Lagos through Waybill.

Our social media platforms are: Facebook: treasurable designs integrated; Instagram: treasurabledesignsintegrated; Blog: www.treasurabledesigns.blogspot.com;  Email address: treasurabledesignsintegrated@gmail.com; and WhatsApp: https://wa.me/c/2348182800681

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