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00:00Our next panel, hosted by Liz Abotabi, digs into the intricacies of entrepreneurship and
00:07breaking barriers along the way, no matter where you are.
00:10This group of women have shattered ceilings and are holding the door open for others to
00:16follow their dreams.
00:17Welcome to our discussion, and thank you for tuning in as we discuss entrepreneurship,
00:32expansion, the keys to longevity, and battling inclusion.
00:37I'm Liz Abotabi, the founder of Everyday Alon, a platform that's built on the notion of living
00:44each moment with ease, with style, with flair, with panache, with Alon.
00:51I'm also a fashion and beauty enthusiast with a passion for connecting African fashion to
00:58the world and introducing the world, really, to all of the brilliance and talent that exists
01:03on the continent.
01:05For this conversation today, we have Valerie Obazi, who's the founder of R&R Luxury from
01:13Ghana and Nigeria, Funke Adepoju, founder of Funke Adepoju Designs, Nigeria, Vanessa Bannerman.
01:25Hi, everyone.
01:26I'm in such amazing company.
01:28Christy Brown, Ghana.
01:31Sean Simon.
01:33Hello, everyone.
01:36Sean Simon & Co., manufacturing and fashion brand, USA.
01:41Thank you, ladies, for joining us.
01:44I'd like each of you to tell me about your companies and what led you to start your own
01:50businesses.
01:51What was the motivation and what was the inspiration behind each of your brands?
01:56I'd like to start with you, Valerie.
01:59Hi, Liz.
02:00Thank you so much for having me on this panel.
02:02I'm excited to be in the company of all these amazing ladies.
02:05I started R&R Luxury in 2010 after having my first daughter.
02:12I was looking for something natural to use on her skin that was local to the environment
02:18that I was living.
02:19So I'd just moved from London to Lagos.
02:21I'd just given birth in London, but I was using olive oil, pure olive oil on her skin.
02:26And moving to Nigeria, I wanted to use something that was locally manufactured, locally grown
02:31in the African, West African region.
02:36And, of course, shea butter has been around for years, decades, centuries.
02:41I didn't invent shea butter.
02:43But what I did find is that we could have shea butter in the liquid form as shea oil,
02:48and that kind of changed how we moisturize our skin in my family.
02:52And I used it on my baby skin.
02:55It became something for the whole family.
02:57And then I realized that we were onto something really powerful, and that we could create a
03:02brand out of Africa using African ingredients, share it with our fellow Africans, and also
03:08with the rest of the world.
03:10And for you, Funke, what would you say was the inspiration for you?
03:15Actually, you know, when I was in university, when I started, I used to make, I just like
03:21the fact that you could take old things and make them new things.
03:25So while I was in uni, what I used to do, I would take people's old clothes, and I would
03:30work on it and make it a brand new outfit.
03:33And I used to do that.
03:34And I realized that there's more to just an outfit.
03:38So what I did was when I would come to, I mean, my school was in Benin.
03:42When I would come to Lagos, I would take, I would go to a local market.
03:45I would buy fabric.
03:47I had a tailor.
03:47We would do different sorts of experiments.
03:50And we would come out, you would be an excellent garment.
03:53So one day, I just called one of my friends who was a photographer, and he took some pictures.
03:58Bella Niger at the time, which I didn't even know a lot about, put it on their website.
04:05And that was it.
04:06We started getting orders from all around the world.
04:08And in more recent times, what we started doing is creating our own fabric, telling stories
04:14with our fabrics.
04:16You know, a lot of our fabrics have inscriptions on them.
04:18We use them to make amazing clothes.
04:21We use them to make clothes that, you know, can tell the world about our heritage, about
04:25Nigeria, about Africa.
04:27And we keep it all over the world.
04:28So it's more for me to be able to use, explain our continent, explain Africa to other continents
04:36of the world.
04:38Great.
04:39And for you, Vanessa, we've heard from Valerie, who was inspired by motherhood.
04:46Funke, who was really driven by the desire to repurpose and reuse and recreate.
04:53Newness from old.
04:54What would you say was the inspiration for you?
04:57I partnered with Aisha.
04:59Aiyang Suhu is actually the founder and CEO of the brand back in 2010.
05:04I was actually a fashion buyer and a product manager in Canada for one of these huge clothing
05:14corporations for about nine years.
05:17And then I finally decided to move back to Ghana because Christy Brown, which at the beginning
05:24was Aisha's passion project, had now run to a point where it needed to be commercialized
05:29and basically shared with the rest of the world.
05:31So that's kind of where I come in with my commercial and merchandising background to really promote
05:38African fashion and, you know, put brands like Christy Brown on the map.
05:43Great.
05:45I can certainly empathize with that.
05:48As you all know, and I'm quite familiar with many, all of your brands, really, and a huge supporter
05:55of all of your brands as well.
05:57Importing, being able to export African fashion to the world is really critical at this time,
06:03especially now that people can't travel, can't be on the ground to be able to access
06:09these amazing pieces of work that you create.
06:14Sean, can you tell us a bit about your brand, Sean Simon & Co. Manufacturing,
06:22and what really compelled you to delve into the realm of manufacturing into that space?
06:29Awesome.
06:30I was actually a celebrity makeup artist for 15 years.
06:34I worked with Nike, Vogue, Italian Vogue.
06:38I worked with some of the best brands around the world, traveled the world,
06:42and I wanted to create a stream of income for myself.
06:46So like, you know, many people, I started an online boutique.
06:50It was very successful, but then I saw that some of the people was, you know,
06:55having the same items that I was having, selling.
06:58So I said, I'm going to create my own designs.
07:02So I invested $50,000 into creating all of these designs.
07:07That was the dumbest thing I've ever done because I didn't have any knowledge on designing
07:13or making patterns or samples or anything like that.
07:16But I invested all that I had, and at the end of it, all of the samples were wrong.
07:23All of the patterns was wrong.
07:25I went into production.
07:27Nothing fit.
07:28The shirt was too tight.
07:29You couldn't get your arm in.
07:31It was a total disaster.
07:32And in the midst of my failures, I started learning about manufacturing.
07:39And that frustration of losing $50,000, I became obsessed.
07:45And I became obsessed with learning how the manufacturing industry worked.
07:49I would knock down people's doors.
07:51I would go to the Korean ladies.
07:52I would go to the Chinese.
07:54I would go to the Persians.
07:56And people were like, why are you here?
07:58I'm like, you're going to teach me something.
07:59I just lost a lot of money, so I'm going to learn as much as possible.
08:05And once I started learning, I said, you know what?
08:08I'm going to open up my own manufacturer so that new designers don't have to go through
08:13what I went through.
08:14And I ended up writing a book called The Art of Manufacturing, which is a step-by-step guide
08:19for new designers approaching manufacturing.
08:21And that's how I got into manufacturing.
08:24That's impressive and amazing.
08:26I know that for each of you, there's a strong desire to fill an unmet need, an unmet gap.
08:35And I'm also aware that the support of women plays a major role in each of your business models.
08:44So how do you implement the ability to support women outside of your company?
08:53Well, for me, that's actually, women's empowerment is something that's very, very important to me.
08:59As a female myself, obviously, having gone through the ranks when it comes to career, work, entrepreneurship,
09:08it's always, I always felt like I would have achieved where I'm at now a lot quicker
09:15if there was somebody that had gone ahead of me.
09:17So when I started in manufacturing my own brand, there was nobody I knew in the beauty business
09:24that would share with me what it took to buy raw materials and to turn them into formulations
09:30and taking a formulation, turning it into a brand and taking your brand and making it marketable
09:36and reaching, you know, a wider audience.
09:38So I had to learn every single one of those steps individually by myself,
09:42whether it was doing online courses or teaching myself various things,
09:47learning from maybe people with past experience in the industry.
09:51So it's funny you should ask because at the moment, as we speak,
09:54I'm currently writing an e-book about building your brand from scratch
10:00with the perspective of doing that in Africa.
10:05So, you know, in the West, so to speak, in the UK or the US,
10:11if you're the startup beauty brand, the likelihood is that you're going to work
10:14with contract manufacturers, right?
10:16But here there's not really anything like that.
10:19So you do tend to be not just the brand, you tend to be, you know,
10:23apart from being the CEO and founder of a brand,
10:25you also become manufacturer, head of production and, you know,
10:30head of formulation, a chemist, compliance, finance, everything that goes with it.
10:37And, of course, head of marketing as well.
10:39So I am going to write an e-book.
10:42I'm working on it as we speak.
10:43I launched the teaser last week because I wanted to share my experience
10:48and some of the things that would really be tangible takeaways for people
10:53who want to do something similar.
10:55It doesn't even have to be beauty.
10:56It could be fashion.
10:58It could be food.
10:59You know, it could be anything in a CMG fashion, consumables.
11:04They would be able to take tips from that away
11:06and go through step by step to create something from nothing.
11:11I'd like to talk about capital, access to capital,
11:16which is something that I'm aware that many of these businesses
11:22in emerging markets face on a daily basis.
11:26How were each of you able to fund your businesses in the beginning stages?
11:31Can you talk to me about some of the creative ways
11:34that you were able to go about accessing capital in the early days?
11:40I mean, I'd like to highlight that, you know, in the beginning
11:45and even still to some extent, a lot of funding comes from, you know,
11:51your friends and your family and, you know, from within really, right?
11:56Everything that the brand is able to produce
11:58and whatever we get out of the bottom line,
12:01you sort of just plow that back into the business.
12:03And that's kind of the way a lot of businesses work,
12:06especially in Africa, especially in an industry like fashion
12:08that is not really well understood and or appreciated.
12:13And a lot of investors in most parts of the world,
12:17especially in Africa, just feel that it's an industry
12:19that is a huge risk considering other places
12:23that they could potentially be putting or investing their money.
12:26So it's definitely a challenge.
12:28But, you know, friends and family are always really supportive.
12:32Customers, loyal customers are extremely supportive
12:34in terms of just continuing to patronize
12:38and support the business in its growth trajectory.
12:42So that's never really slowed a brand like ours,
12:47like Christy Brown down.
12:49But I think the most important thing for women in business,
12:52women in beauty and fashion especially,
12:55is understanding the numbers, understanding the finances as well.
12:59Because I think a lot of times most people think
13:02that that's something that the men should present.
13:04So when you walk into a room with that confidence
13:07and understanding exactly what it takes to run your business,
13:12where you're going, what your strategies are,
13:14and exactly how much you need to grow,
13:16I think that sort of changes the dynamic a little bit
13:19and the conversation becomes a little bit more positive.
13:22So names like Birkin have built their wealth
13:25on limited availability and exclusivity, right?
13:28What would it take for Black women-created brands
13:33such as yours to be able to benefit
13:36from their luxury products in the same way?
13:42I would say selling...
13:45The thing is, it's an interesting conversation
13:47because it's very difficult to scale exclusivity.
13:51It's very hard to build profit on exclusivity.
13:54But I think, you know, there are interesting ways
13:56to strategize around that.
13:58And I know for us, especially in this particular environment
14:01where people actually want to have that one dress
14:04and it be for just them,
14:08you know, there are other ways we can play around with it.
14:10You know, it's a matter of offering the exact same design
14:13in so many other colors or in other fabrications
14:15or with different details that are exclusive to one region
14:19or one kind of customer or making little alterations here and there
14:25available to certain customers
14:28so that everybody feels like they have that one or two pieces
14:31that are exclusive to them or to very few people.
14:35But overall, it's definitely a challenge
14:38because you definitely want to focus on your bottom line
14:41and it's really hard when you're focusing
14:43just on making one person happy, right?
14:46So it's something that we continue to work on.
14:49But, you know, we're definitely inspired
14:52by the likes of Hermes and Celine and whatnot.
14:56So, Funke, I know that one way that you have created
15:02that level of exclusivity and more of a bespoke feel
15:06is through the styling services that you also offer,
15:10which makes each piece that you produce
15:13really special to the owner.
15:15Talk to us a bit about how you're creating
15:18that similar level or feel of exclusivity within your brand.
15:24Okay.
15:25So what we do to create that exclusivity
15:27is to tailor it to the customer's style,
15:32tailor it to their taste,
15:34and tailor it to the event that they are going.
15:36So what we do is we know, okay,
15:37this is an event that the person is going
15:39and then we tailor and make the outfits.
15:42So it's a person's birthday.
15:43We do that mostly for the special events
15:45that they have or special occasions.
15:47So we do it for their birthdays.
15:49We do it for their, I mean, for landmark birthdays,
15:51that's the, you know, for landmark events,
15:53I think that's the way we've been able
15:54to create exclusivity.
15:56As far as that will be for longevity,
15:58I think it's a bit difficult because you want,
16:01I mean, it's back to the numbers.
16:04You want to be able to sell a bit more.
16:06You want to sell.
16:06So for the, I think for the exclusivity,
16:09what we do as well to do that
16:10is put them in stores that is difficult for people.
16:14I mean, not difficult, but it's a store.
16:17We put them in places that people are trying to attain.
16:20So let's pivot a bit.
16:23My next question is around building clientele
16:27across the continent and really globally,
16:30which is something that each of you
16:32has been working towards.
16:34Share a little bit about what it takes
16:37and what that experience has been like for you.
16:39I think because we built up, to be honest,
16:42we actually made more clients
16:44during the COVID than lockdown.
16:47I think what it is, is they want to see,
16:49they want to see that there's a person behind this brand.
16:53They want you to be,
16:54I feel like they want to know that there's,
16:57they're not just dealing with a computer
16:58and they're not just dealing with,
17:00you know, a brand that doesn't,
17:02you know, that's not,
17:03so I think what helped us is we became very friendly.
17:06Relatable.
17:07I would say relatable.
17:08Relatable, approachable,
17:09so people would reach us to watch,
17:11maybe send a message in our DMs
17:14and we will reply.
17:15I think that helped us reach a lot of people.
17:18I think also, I mean, everybody's online.
17:20Everybody was, I mean, with COVID,
17:22everybody was glued to their phones or their screens.
17:24That helped as well.
17:28So people are constantly shopping or constantly,
17:30oh, there's that person.
17:31Well, that just popped on my feed.
17:32Let me click and see if that person actually exists.
17:35Well, then they order something,
17:36they get it and it's, you know, proper quality.
17:39They're not doing this or doing,
17:40okay, this person, let me try again tomorrow.
17:42And I think that's what has helped us.
17:44Great.
17:45And for you, and for you, Sean,
17:46you're on Alibaba.
17:48Yeah.
17:49Well, we have one of the largest e-commerce.
17:51Just got on Alibaba.
17:52Absolutely.
17:52We just got on Alibaba, but before Alibaba,
17:56you know, we launched our business
17:58and we pride our business on helping other businesses grow
18:02because we are also a wholesale supplier.
18:06So we make everything in house and then we wholesale it.
18:09And we have been so blessed to have over 35,000 wholesale vendors
18:14that are putting our stuff around the world in Australia.
18:18We have some in Nigeria.
18:20We have some in Canada, Europe.
18:22And just to be able to, I think with us,
18:27they see my transparency.
18:29They see the genuineness.
18:30They see the love that we put in it.
18:32We show the hard work.
18:34We don't take pictures with the Birkin bags and Chanel's,
18:37even though I think I got one.
18:38We don't take pictures with that, but we really show the work that it takes.
18:45We show the process.
18:46We show us cutting the dresses.
18:48We show us buying the fabric.
18:51We show sewing the dresses.
18:52So they really get like involved because it's like, wow, I wore a dress,
18:57but I never knew how it was me or I never knew how this thing was attained.
19:03Vanessa, what sustains you?
19:05Being level-headed, being grounded, being very realistic about your approach to everything
19:12and having a yin and a yang.
19:15I mean, my relationship with Aisha is exactly that, right?
19:18You have the creative, the dreamer, the person who is always about,
19:21and let's try this and let's do this.
19:23And then I'm a little bit of the Debbie Downer who comes in with the numbers
19:26and tries to make sense of all of it, or at least commercial sense of all of it,
19:31so that you can balance that passion with some level of realism
19:35so that we can still keep the lights on,
19:37so that we can still employ as many people as possible.
19:40So that's really important for us as a team, right?
19:43And that's kind of how our dynamic works.
19:45But ultimately, I think entrepreneurship,
19:47there are days where I don't feel like I'm a good entrepreneur
19:49or I want to tap out for a second.
19:51But I guess the truth is it's just having that spirit of being ready to pivot
19:58every single waking moment.
20:02Once you have that, I think it makes it a little easier
20:05because you'll take on the next day with new energy.
20:09And I think to be an entrepreneur means to have that on the inside of you.
20:15What about for you, Valerie?
20:17What's your pivot look like?
20:19For me, I just wanted to tap into what we last said about being an entrepreneur.
20:24You can start with passion, but for me, what sustains me is purpose.
20:27So understanding that I'm doing this for a reason, okay?
20:31Ten years down the line, I don't have a million dollars in my account.
20:35There must be a reason why I'm doing this.
20:37So knowing that that is my purpose and this is what, you know,
20:41God has designed for me to do for life, that is what is sustaining me.
20:45And in regards to pivoting, we just had to pivot online.
20:50So we had already set up some systems whereby we were selling online.
20:53We just launched in the UK.
20:56Well, actually, we launched in the UK in January.
20:57And fortunately for us, we'd gone at the end of 2020 to secure a warehouse,
21:02to do our dispatching from the UK and, well, to house our products
21:06and to dispatch our orders.
21:08And then we hired a PR company.
21:10Little did we know that the pandemic was coming around the corner.
21:14So in Nigeria and in Ghana, our two storefronts were closed,
21:19one for seven whole months.
21:21So we had to really focus on the aspect of going online,
21:25serving our customer online, finding ways to reach them online,
21:27giving them free delivery, you know.
21:30And we were teaching people how to shop online.
21:32So bolstering your e-commerce model.
21:35Bolstering our e-commerce and online presence.
21:37And teaching people, educating people on how to do that.
21:41Because Ghanaians are not used to shopping online.
21:43In the UK, it's like this.
21:44In the US, it's like this.
21:46Ghana, Nigeria, we're still growing in the online e-commerce space.
21:49We had to do a lot of education, a lot of work there.
21:52But it definitely helped.
21:53It definitely paid off.
21:54It's been an unprecedented time.
21:56And the level of creativity, the resilience that each of you has shown
22:02in your respective businesses is impressive, certainly impressive.
22:10But it's also heartening, understanding the circumstances
22:14under which you've had to achieve all what you've done.
22:18So before we close here, how can people connect with each of you,
22:23your companies, your brands?
22:26So just a word from each of you on where to find you.
22:32Okay, so I'll start.
22:37So Christy Brown is, I mean, we have a flagship store here in Accra.
22:42But we are, we're online.
22:45So you can reach us at www.christybrownonline.com
22:50where we share our lookbooks.
22:51And, of course, you'll have an opportunity to also purchase, you know,
22:56current collections.
22:58We're on Instagram as well, Christy Brown, GH.
23:01So check us out.
23:03And just, you know, come along for the ride with us, you know.
23:06We'll definitely love to have, you know, new faces,
23:10new people added to our CB family.
23:12So, yeah, we're looking forward to, you know,
23:14meeting and serving new people for sure.
23:16Okay, we're on Instagram.
23:21Our Instagram handle is funkeadigpudu.
23:25And we're on the website.
23:28It's www.funkeadigpudu.com.
23:31We're very approachable.
23:32We're easy to reach.
23:33So send us a DM, send us a message via email
23:38on funkeadigpudu1 at gmail.com.
23:42And we'll be happy to receive you
23:46and so you can join the Funkeadigpudu family.
23:49And I'd say both of you are also available on WhatsApp,
23:53which is my preferred mode of shopping with both of you at the time.
23:57Yes, absolutely.
23:59And, Valerie, where do we find you?
24:02I think the central place.
24:04We've got the website.
24:05We have the email.
24:06We have everything.
24:07But head to Instagram.
24:08That's the easiest place.
24:09For the brand, it's at R&R Luxury.
24:13So R-A-N-D-R Luxury.
24:16And if you want to follow me and my entrepreneurial journey,
24:19you can find me at Valerie O-B-A on Instagram.
24:24So at Valerie Oba on Instagram as well.
24:27And all the websites are linked there.
24:29So, you know, head to our Instagram
24:31and you can find out more about us.
24:36Sean, where can we find you?
24:41Apart from that, you know,
24:42you can get us on our website,
24:43which is Sean Simon, S-A-N-S-I-M-O-N.com.
24:50Or like Valerie said, Instagram.
24:54Our Instagram is Sean Simon Co.
24:56That's S-H-O-N-S-I-M-O-N-C-O.
25:00And all of our information is there as well.
25:03Ladies, thank you so much for such a spirited conversation.
25:07I really enjoyed following each of you
25:11on your entrepreneurial journey.
25:14It's reinforced for me that I'm not an entrepreneur.
25:17But I certainly am happy that we were able to spend this time together.
25:23And thank you so much to all of our viewers for tuning in.
25:28You can find me on Everyday Elan.
25:32That's everyday.elan on Instagram.
25:37Thank you so much for being with us
25:39and enjoy the rest of the program.
25:42Thank you, Liz.
25:43Thank you, Liz.
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