“I have come to realize that there are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes which clients or customers cannot imagine, therefore now, I am more tolerant and understanding when dealing with other entrepreneurs” says Faridah Musa when asked about the most valuable lesson she has learnt along her entrepreneurship journey.
Faridah who recently launched her clothing business, “Fanimura Apparel” said she nursed the idea since 2015.
The Architecture graduate, says she juggles practicing Architecture with fashion designing.
“I have always had an interest in the fashion industry because when I was much younger; my mother enrolled me in a sewing school to learn. So I always had 2 hours of sewing lessons after school until my sewing teacher had to relocate to another town” says the 27 year old Kogi state indigene.
The young entrepreneur who confessed that she had been procrastinating because she didn’t think it would be possible to juggle the business with her job which is quite tasking, said “Towards the end of 2016, I felt a certain restlessness and yearning, I knew I had to do something more than just following my professional dream and so I started making plans and researches on how to go about the business without it actually hindering my work and here we are now”.
Faridah who is Bassa by tribe, started the business with about half a million which covered the cost of branding, registration purchase of fabrics and cost of production for the first collection. She also said her biggest motivation has been her love for fashion and comfortable clothing.
“My main aim is to create pieces that are effortlessly chic, easy to wear, very comfy and not revealing” she said.
“Apart from determination and a lot of patience, I would say you need creative skills, and ability to illustrate and interprete illustrations. You also need to know about fabrics, colors, patterns and know what would interest your target customers” she added.
Faridah stated that although the business is still in its early days “but from my research, fashion business is lucrative”.
“Fanimura is mainly an online store for now. I have accounts on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp where pictures of the outfits are displayed. I am currently working on a website and with time, I hope to get a store” she adds.
The young businesswoman laments that her major challenges so far has been finding a constant source of quality fabrics, and getting artisans to interprete her designs properly.
“I hate to compromise on quality so that is a huge challenge for me. So finding a constant source of quality fabrics is a huge challenge for me. Secondly, getting the artisans to interprete my designs properly is a task which requires a lot of time and patience but I believe subsequently we’ll overcome this particular challenge” she complained.
She calls on youth to search within themselves and unearth that hidden talent, no matter what it is or how silly it makes them look.
“It might turn out to be your biggest source of income. For those venturing into any independent business be it in the fashion industry or any other industry, know that it will not be easy. Many obstacles are bound to crop up. Self-doubt, lack of motivation sometimes, inadequate funds, all these are things you should not allow to stop you. With determination and hard work, all things are bound to fall into place” she advised.
