‘Nigeria’s fashion industry has huge potential, but…’

Adenike Adegbite runs the Trillionbucks company (a media, marketing and events management company in Nigeria). She is also the founder of F-art-shion show and the Fashion and Beauty Business (FABB) series. She speaks with ROTIMI IGE on her experience and her aspirations for the fashion industry in Nigeria.

How did you delve into the fashion industry?

I started The Trillionbucks company in late 2013 and F-art-shion show in 2014.

When and how did you discover your chosen career?

I knew I’d venture into the fashion industry from an early age because I was a good advertiser. There is nowhere that you would see me or that I have been that people wouldn’t know I was there. I don’t do it deliberately though but it is always like that.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had/having on your career?

It would be getting competent people to work with.

Aside what you do now, what else do you do?

I am a part of other start-ups and that came about because of my ability to analyse a business idea and point out its potentials. I am an incurable optimist so I see anything as a failure. I am also tapping into other businesses that can fetch alternative income.

Mentors?

Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Mrs. Jumoke Odunowo, Linda Ikeji, Siji Moto, Oprah Winfrey, Cheryl Sandberg and a whole lot of people out there.

What do you have to say about the fashion industry in Nigeria?

The potentials of the fashion industry in Nigeria are quite huge but the problem seems to be with the stakeholders. When we started F-art-shion show, I started moving around, doing researches and meeting stakeholders to see if the challenges we wanted to resolve was really a challenge; that was when I learned about the supremacy war between Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) and the Association of Tailors. The designers think they are better than the tailors and the tailors think they are at par with the designers.

Everyone has their place in this industry and they need to step up to it else they’ll continue to lose billions of dollars annually to the importers of fairly used wears called ‘Okirika’. That market is worth over a billion dollars annually and those who ought to fill the gap are busy fighting over who is the head and tail instead of grabbing the opportunities available to them i.e the Bank of Industry grants.

What is the ideal behind F-art-shion and FABB?

I realised that most of the fashion designers that are competent aren’t looking at producing for the masses really, they prefer to have the ‘designer’ brands for the few in a country of over 160 million people. The report I heard on CNN sometime in 2013 about how the ‘used clothing’ market in West Africa was worth about four billion US dollars got me thinking. I also know for a fact that most of the designers/ tailors don’t have structured businesses and that was what made me team up with other young Nigerians to start F-art-shion Show and FABB series.

The whole idea is to showcase the art of fashion while developing the science thereof.

It has not been easy since we started but we have been able to garner support from few organizations and individuals, other partnerships that would help us get expand our reach are also in the works. We are excited about it and some of our success stories so far.

What are the challenges confronting the fashion and beauty industry in Nigerian and what is the way out?

The industry still lack organization, also business know how. Fashion is still being seen by most practitioners as ‘what I need to do to survive and not a business that can outlive me’ by most stakeholders. We need to change that thinking, and we have already begun with FABB series.