Tejumola Maurice-Diya: Changing the face of African fashion industry
Tejumola Maurice-Diya is the founder of Toddler Clan Limited (TTC), a fashion outfit that specialises in children’s clothes. Despite spending most part of her life in the United States, Tejumola has great love for African clothes. Something motivated her to go into this industry.
After becoming a mother, she began to look endlessly for quality, fashionable and affordable African clothing for her new born baby girl, which, according to her, was difficult to find.
Having worked as an associate designer in the United States and also undergone trainings on fashion and designs, Tejumola decided to start producing outfit for her baby using local fabrics.
To do this for other mothers, Tejumola established TTC in 2015, so that mothers who loved African-theme clothes could find it easy to buy them for their children.
She tells Start-Up Digest that her goal is to see African clothing and culture integrated into western life, which according to her, is only a matter of time before that change takes place.
“I chose to specialise in children wears because I was fairly strategic in determining to play where I had natural interests as well as a business that required relatively low start-up capital. Additionally, I think children are so much fun and being around them is so energetic,” she says.
She started her business with N250, 000 and the business has grown tremendously despite economic downturn that has hit the country.
“I started with about NGN 250,000 and my business is worth tens of multiples of that right now,” Tejumola says.
She has continued to get referrals from family, friends and associates, which have helped build her business. Tejumola sources her fabrics from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Turkey and China.
The communications graduate-turned-entrepreneur tells Start-Up Digest that the biggest challenge facing her business is lack of quality support ecosystem in the Nigerian business environment.
“No business exists in a vacuum. Apple would not be the raging success it is today without hardware vendors in China, third party marketing support in New York and favourable trade policies in Washington DC. In my business, I have to be my own primary power supplier, my own primary marketer, my own primary tailor, my own primary banker and my own primary sales person. It is incredibly inefficient and unsustainable,” Tejumola laments.
According to her, the government can address this challenge by creating functional entrepreneurship hubs, stressing that such hubs will help entrepreneurs pool resources together, reduce tax burden and help encourage innovation.
“For starters, government should create functional entrepreneurship hubs. Smaller than tax-free zones and more practical than job centres, these hubs can help entrepreneurs pool resources, reduce tax burdens and encourage innovation,” she recommends.
When asked how she has remained in business despite recession, Tejumola says her business has been able to discover its niche and has remained in it.
“The truth is that we have found our niche and stuck to it. We have a loyal set of customers that are buying not just for their children but giving our products out and proving positive referrals about their experience with us,” she says.
When asked the role the fashion industry can play in the country’s diversification quest, Tejumola says it be a huge foreign exchange earner.
“The fashion and the textile industries have not even begun to scratch the surface domestically. We need to turn them into major export and foreign earners like it is done in countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh and India,” she states.
“It is a low-hanging fruit that we are pleading with the government to take a second look at,” she adds.
Josephine Okojie