How I Started My Business: Offiong Jarigbe, 186

Description

Offiong Jarigbe is the creative director of Little Saints (aka Ankara readymade4kids). She makes children’s clothes using the African print popularly called Ankara.

By making clothes ready to wear, she removes the hassles tailors give to people and bridge the gap between tailors and clients giving them a seamless experience. They are proudly made in Nigeria.

FROM HAVING AN IDEA TO STARTING YOUR BUSINESS, SHARE YOUR JOURNEY WITH US

When I had my first daughter in 2007, it was difficult to purchase African baby clothes locally and we did not have children designers that cater to children using our print. It was hard for a tailor to make your left over pieces for your little one (i.e. daughter/son).  I researched and found out that the population of children in Nigeria is about 58,736,297, of which male 30,246,148 and female 28,274,149 i.e. about 41.83% of the Nigerian population. This means an average home has about 3 children and they would need to wear clothes.

So I decided to enroll in a fashion school, make pieces for myself and daughters and also use my daughters as my muse. It was so much fun seeing them wear my brand. I said at least, I am better off trying, failing, learning, losing and ultimately winning than accepting the status quo that there wasn’t an African shop to cater for our children.

WHY DO YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO? THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER BUSINESSES YOU COULD HAVE EXPLORED, WHY THIS?

Because I hate to see our children poorly dressed in our prints. I see no meaning in purchasing all our dresses from foreign brands abroad and growing their economy while ours was dwindling.  I just love seeing our children wearing nice Ankara fabrics MADE IN NIGERIA and are proud of it.

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU KNOW BEYOND ALL DOUBT THAT THIS IS GOING TO WORK?

I would like to call myself a dreamer and like the old adage says “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”.  I had known it was going to work from inception because the three basic requirements in life are food, clothing and shelter and for a long time, we haven’t been self-sufficient in any sector up until 2015 that importation of foreign products was reduced and we had to look inwards and start thinking. We also have so much to leverage on, for example, our population. And it would only be a dreamer that could see this potential.

HOW DID YOU RAISE THE CAPITAL TO START YOUR BUSINESS, ESPECIALLY WITH THE HIGH COST OF RUNNING BUSINESSES IN NIGERIA?

I am grateful for a supportive husband and family that I told about my dream in 2012. It was very unreasonable to venture into my kind of business when the market was not there but I did raise money to start up. Funny enough, I lost all the money I put into the business and ended up giving most of the clothes away (laughing).

I must confess it is very challenging to run a profitable business with the rising cost of materials, staff salaries, logistics etc.  One must first of all bear it in their mind that their PASSION MUST BE PROFITABLE AND NOT A VANITY PROJECT. When you understand this, you can factor in the elements and have a price point to make your business profitable. to read more- click here..

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Published

November 19, 2017

Location

Nigeria, Akwa Ibom

Category

Clothing - Fashion - Shoes

Views

186

ID

848