Kolade Folarin, CEO of BanKola Brand Limited, is a graduate of Oil and Gas Management from Coventry University, London. In this interview by LANRE ADEWOLE, he speaks on how financial contraints hindered his dreams of becoming a pilot, among other issues.
Could you give an insight into your background?
I hailed from Owo in Ondo State, Nigeria and I was born there. I moved to Ibadan and Lagos, where I spent some of my growing up years. As a child, everyone has that one thing they hope to be in life, mine was to be a pilot. I moved to the United Kingdom and I decided to make fashion designing a vocation, developing a brand that will stand the test of time.
What happened to the dream and do you regret not becoming one?
As a child, I loved the idea of being up in the cloud, and having the power to control a plane was something I strongly desired. As a young boy, I used to watch a lot of programmes and movies on making and flying planes. That was when my desire to be a pilot became very strong. I also enjoyed fixing malfunctioning televisions, faulty pressing irons and so on. My father was trading in cars, so I had the opportunity to see all technical aspects of dashboards. I was intrigued by how a motor engine and plane work. I also loved travelling. The idea of being able to fly abroad kept my dream alive. Unfortunately, I couldn’t study to be a pilot due to financial constraints, and it was heartbreaking then. However, I have no regrets.
You ended up building a brand in UK. How?
As I grew up and met different entities and cultures in Europe, I began to realize a pattern that happens to be absent in the UK. Various ideas and thoughts came to me while trying to find this pattern. Then one particular day, while I was making my research, I stumbled upon a video about culture, and I began to drift back in memories to when I spent my childhood in my home town in Nigeria. I remembered our African culture in clothing; our beautiful and unhampered ideas in attires, clothes, dance, appearance. The African boldness is inspiring. I thought of how to adopt these ideas and bring them to life in UK. Incidentally, a few foreigners and celebrities had begun to enjoy our cultural designs in clothing. My best solution was to develop a distinctive fashion brand. I chose a name that is unique in nature, BanKola. It erases any doubt about my origin and what I represent. Fashion is known for creating awareness and showcasing ideas in physical form. With time, the brand began to grow.
When did it start?
It started six years ago. Firstly, I started selling premium watches from an American and Turkish connection. Through that, I discovered I had great communication skills and good customer service with people and I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing. From then on, I started to think of ways I could expand by establishing my own brand. My optimum goal is to offer people the opportunity to have access to both casual and cultural wears while giving them unique materials at affordable rates. We intend to accomplish this in different parts of the world, adding real value to the way fashion is perceived globally. The brand’s speciality is giving consumers sophisticated, elegant, glamorous and value-for-money fashionable attires and wears, without compromising quality. We have a passion for creating premium wears for the public in different parts of the world and we are not relenting in doing this.
When was the big break and who are your high net-worth clients?
I had my big break in 2015. While selling wrist watches, I had gotten many clients and they supported me in establishing my clothing line. This gave me the break I needed. My clients are diverse and reside in different parts of the world such as Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Zimbabwe. Many of them are high net-worth individuals, but I wouldn’t want to mention their names.
There must be memorable school days pranks.
In all honesty, I was one of the good students in school and did not have any pranks to my name. I was brought up by very strict parents, so I had to be, well-behaved at all times. My friends and teachers knew how strict my parents were. I was just a popular boy who tried to do things the right way.
Guess, there is daddy’s influence in developing your business skills.
Both of my parents are business-minded. I learnt a lot from them. My dad made an impact on me with the zeal he had for his business. I remember how he would travel in and out of Nigeria and ship hundreds of cars from Amsterdam, within a short period of time. I remember how our compound would be filled with lots of people who intended to negotiate with him on car prices. After school, I would rush home and without even taking off my white school uniform, help to fix the faults on the cars and sell them off. The most interesting part for me was that at the end of the “business day,” my dad would call me to one side and give me some money. That used to put a big smile on my face.
Recently, you tested the waters here. How was your experience?
The delay on the starting time was a little frustrating due to the COVID-19 protocols, but once the ball started rolling, I realized I was surrounded by hardworking individuals who paid attention to every detail and made the event very successful. The BanKola Brand Fashion Event Lagos was put in place to showcase the Nigerian culture. We had over 20 professional models from Nigeria and the Diaspora on the stage, wearing various traditional, cultural, elegant and urban wears created by us. We had over 700 guests in attendance. All these were made possible working alongside collaborators and event managers such as Allevents, Brendance and Crusaders Limited, and DopeBoy Entertainment. The event was made colourful with the presence of DJ Xclusive, Brymo, Acapella, MC Smart, Denrele Edun and Kulh. They engaged the audience in their own ways. So many activities and engagements took place to make the event a memorable one. We had the aim of getting a Face of BanKola model at the event and we achieved it. The search for the Face of BanKola 2021 had a total of 1,400 registered contestants. The grand prize was a brand new car and an ambassadorship deal for the year 2021. After a rigorous contest, three contestants made it to the final stage. The 1st prize winner was crowned the Face of BanKola and won a brand new car. The two other winners won cash prizes of N300,000 and N100,000 respectively.
No challenges?
One of the few challenges was having unforeseen situations. For instance, when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared worldwide, it caused a lot of disruptions in the business. Everybody had to follow the government laid-down protocol and regulations, due to the pandemic. We were in the process of organizing the “BanKola Brand Fashion Event Lagos,” when the pandemic broke out. This had a slight impact on the progress towards the event. However, we abided by the government regulations on COVID-19 protocols in Lagos and eventually, we held the event at Landmark Event Centre, Oniru, Lekki. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control, (NCDC), and the Lagos State Safety Commission, (LSSC), were very supportive.
There must be plenty money in the industry.
According to a report by Stears Business on the state of the African fashion industry, Sub Saharan African fashion industry is worth over $31 billion and Nigeria accounts for 15% of that figure. That is $4.7 billion. On the other hand, South Africa has 46% of that figure, amounting to about $14.4 billion. Look at the difference. Several challenges are facing fashion entrepreneurs in Nigeria including inability to mass-produce and distribute, cut down prices and make them affordable to the masses who have low purchasing power. Access to finance is also a major issue. Indigenous banks should rise up to the occasion by giving low credit loans to fashion entrepreneurs. This would help the industry grow. The Nigerian government, through the Bank of Industry, (BoI) and Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), should increase the scope of loans being offered to fashion entrepreneurs and make the process of obtaining such loans less stringent. Right now, what is obtainable is not addressing the issues.
Who is your hero?
I see myself as one of the top internationally-known brand owners. Being an ambassador to our locally created and existing brands would enable me create an environment that encourages people to support their own. I also look forward to mirroring myself with the likes of Akon, who launched his clothing line in 2007 and doing very well, because of his exceptional hard work to put Africa on the map. It is important to always project into the future. We have so many ideas being conceived and we hope to achieve them in the space of 10 years or less. The BanKola Brand aims at establishing a fashion, art and dance school to help develop our culture in Africa and the UK. We also plan on having a chain of BanKola fashion stores in Nigeria. We don’t see ourselves limited by any distance in destination. We have partnered with internationally-renown courier services to make this seamless.
How do you balance work and private life?
It doesn’t demand so much to balance both parts of my life. Both parts work hand in hand to deliver success and achievements to the brand. My private life also extends to charity and giving back to the community. I am involved in charity works that address poverty and health concerns, while empowering vulnerable communities in Nigeria and UK.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Lagos Is Second Least Liveable City In The World For 2021
Lagos is the second least liveable city in the world for the year 2021. This is according to the most recent annual ranking put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)…
CLAIM 1: A Twitter user claims UNICEF said any efforts to block children from accessing pornography might infringe their human rights.
VERDICT: MISLEADING!
and then