Business
The 3-Step Cycle That's Enabling me to Redefine an Entire African Industry BY Helen Chukwu - Monday
THE WORLD OF FASHION has been my playground for as long as I can remember. When I moved to Nigeria from London six years ago, I saw that there was no stability in production in the fashion industry in Africa. The facilities were not up to the mark, the quality of garments was nowhere close to the best, and the workforce had neither enough education nor the necessary skill sets. Fast-forward six years ahead to the present — and the scenario looks largely the same. There are people on the streets looking for jobs, selftaught in the basics of tailoring and machinery, trying to make a living by offering to adjust people’s garments. I knew six years ago that I was going to change this space. As the founder of Helen Couture, I believe I’m well on my way. I had my first big breakthrough recently via a Forbes feature; as an entrepreneur perhaps you can relate — it feels wonderful to finally be heard and to hit the first milestone of your vision of working with and being one of the game-changers in your industry. If like me, you’re on a journey to build a brand that will make a real impact, improve the lives of future generations and redefine how an industry works, then there are three pieces of advice I have for you. From my experience, these three ‘steps’ tie into each other and form a self-reinforcing loop of sorts. Following this process passionately, deliberately and long-term will help you make waves as an entrepreneur.
There is something which you can do better than another." It was not until the COVID pandemic that I fully grasped the importance of this message. I’m sure you’ll agree, the pandemic underscored just how important it is for us to look inwards, and to uncover and use our own strengths. Times of great uncertainty forced us to turn to our own people – to our own communities and countrymen - and to find ways to be self-reliant. All of a sudden, we could neither export anything for a living nor import what we had become used to getting from abroad. We couldn’t rely on China. Or on India. Or on Indonesia. Or any other country. We had to rely on ourselves, and where we found ourselves lacking, we had to make ourselves better. And the people who could not learn how to do this came to rely on people like us – the ones who did figure it out. If you’re an entrepreneur based in another part of Africa (or any other emerging part of the world), I’m certain you noticed this in your line of work and in your community as well. Therefore, my first piece of advice to you on your journey in building a resilient enterprise is simple - accept complete responsibility. Take ownership. Get comfortable in your own skin. Learn how you can produce the best quality work – work that you can be proud of, with the resources available to you now, in your own country. Be brave enough to start where you are.
1. Build self-reliance Amongst the many quotes I have bookmarked, perhaps my favorite was always one by Ralph Waldo Emerson that said: "Be yourself - no base imitator of another, but your best self.
2. Empower, educate, empathize, repeat Despite macro-economic and political concerns, Nigeria has seen a lot of truly inspiring progress. We’ve skilled up in the
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January-February 2022
DAWN
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