Soaring In Fashion and Style

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The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve www.thesparkng.com Features The Scent That Leads Like the wise men from the East, Adewale Aladejana has followed a star that no one else saw to create a pacesetting perfume brand that specializes in Oud, Frankincense and Myrrh. He is a social media evangelist, CEO and Master Perfumer at Sapphire Scents, the premier producer, wholesaler and retailer of perfumes across the country and beyond. He opens up his world to us as an entrepreneur in the fashion industry. By Damilola Oyewusi Take us through your journey into starting your business I stumbled into the business. It was my wife’s birthday in April 2014 and I wanted to make her feel special. I got her a phone and a gold chain. By the time I looked at my salary, I had exhausted it; I guess I got carried away with buying stuff. And as I just had a baby, I knew I had to do something. Then I had a couple of friends using this perfume called OUD. It was really nice. Though I have been a fragrance person all my life, that was just different for me. So I made inquiries. I had a friend coming in from Dubai and she bought me a bottle of OUD perfume. The idea just came to me to start selling the perfumes and that’s how we started with just four bottles. After about three months, I made like a million Naira. I was excited and I told my pastor about it. He told me to come to see him and when I did, he encouraged me to expand, go to Dubai myself and import. Then he wrote me a million Naira cheque and prophesied growth. Through leaps and bounds, we have grown since then. Recently, we started our own line, Sapphire Attar, which is concentrated perfume oil. The reception has been exceptional. What inspired you to establish a perfumery business, considering that perfume is not necessarily produced in Nigeria? I have always loved perfumes and had a nose that knew perfumes that could make money. I smelt what we created at Sapphire Scents and we knew we could do better than the foreign brands. You have a distributorship program for young people. How does it work? We started the distributor chain for the unemployed, youth corps members, and underemployed. We work even with employed people who cannot do business because they can’t find the time. But you have these 5ml bottles of samples that you can show to your colleagues at work. And perfume is like a lifetime business because people will always use perfumes. They are to register with Sapphire Scents to get these perfumes at a lower rate. And just at your desk, you can be selling to your friends. And it is based on your circle. If my friend is selling something, I will not go to the supermarket to get it. Usually, your first clients are usually those in your circle. Some friends will probably just buy to support you and then, they become hooked. We have hundreds of people who have made a lot of profit from Sapphire scents. What are the necessary things you think the government and other stakeholders can do to boost the fashion industry in Nigeria? Showcase what Nigerians are doing on a global scale; not the mediocre stuff but stuff that really stands out. The Spark by Business Day congratulates Wale Aladehana and the entire Sapphire Scents family on the opening of the Lagos store in Lekki Phase 1. You can keep up with Sapphire Scents on Facebook: Sapphirescents and Instagram: @walejana, @sapphirescents What were some of the challenges you encountered starting out? One of the major challenges we had was that people didn’t understand OUD; they were calling it Hausa perfume. So we had to take the time to educate people about OUD. Again, packaging was another challenge we faced. But we have been able to sort out the two by God’s grace. What do you know now that you wished your 18-year-old self-knew and other upcoming entrepreneurs know today? “ very Financial education is important “ Financial education and structure are very important. Keep your books and documents as much as possible. 22 @thesparkng
www.thesparkng.com The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve The Runway of Fashion Weeks and Weekends Nigeria is gradually becoming a capital of Africa’s fashion events, celebrating the best of Africa’s fashion. We take a look at some upcoming Fashion Shows in this part of the world. By Ayandola Ayanleke Nigeria is quickly becoming a hub of fashion with the recent concentration on Nigerian and African fabrics. The world is beginning to take notice of the beauty that lies in the African soil, in every area, including fashion. And thankfully, Nigerians themselves have increasingly leveraged on the growing fashion industry to tell the African story our own way. The narrative is changing from a people who are desperately in need of saving to a people who have carved a niche for themselves, made the world take a pause and have multiple looks. The New York Fashion Week and the Paris Fashion Week are household names in the fashion world, and the fashion events in Nigeria are also beginning to make a conspicuous impression in the fashion world. While still in their early stages, these events holding between September and October are opening up the market and providing commercial opportunities to homegrown designers and retailers. Lagos Fashion Fair The Lagos Fashion Fair showcases the beauty, uniqueness, and dynamism of the fashion space. It is an international “Ready to Wear Garments Exhibition.” The three-day event which will hold from the 16th to 18th of October in the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, is powered by Atlantic Exhibition Nigeria Limited. The fair is open to exhibitors and visitors alike and will be a great channel to grow your network. Exhibitors get to present their craft to a broader audience while visitors get to see some of the best fashion pieces in the world. The beauty of the event is that it is all-encompassing, ranging from apparels, shoes, bags to jewelry, fabrics and so on. Lagos Fashion Week In the commercial capital of West Africa, Lagos, the Lagos Fashion Week, sponsored by Heineken, will be held from the 24th to the 27th of October, 2018. A brain-child of Omoyemi Akerele, founder and executive director of Style House Files, the Lagos Fashion Week is an annual event that showcases the best of Nigeria and even the continent. The event which is attended by industry leaders, potential and start-up designers, entrepreneurs and fashion enthusiasts, is a wonderful platform for networking because it brings together designers, buyers and the media to celebrate the ever-evolving world of fashion. African Fashion Week Also to be held in the business hub of West Africa, Lagos, African Fashion Week is a platform to present some of the best designers in Africa to the world. Apart from the street catwalks and fashion shows from over 40 designers expected from all over Africa, there would also be conferences that would definitely be a source of updated fashion information, hair styling, makeup shows and model casting among other activities. The aim of the event is to celebrate great local fashion designers and brands by providing them with the needed global visibility that would benefit them and Africa at large. The date of the event themed “African Heritage Arise” is yet to be announced. GTB Fashion Weekend Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) has also weighed in on the wave surrounding Nigeria and African fashion. Scheduled to hold from Saturday, the 10th of November to Sunday, the 11th of November, 2018, the event is a consumer-based exhibition. The aim is to showcase some of the best and recognized fashion designers and brands across the world to a fashion enthusiastic audience. It is indeed a good idea for networking and meeting like minds. This year’s edition is going to be the third edition and it will be held in Lagos. It is a public event, which will also feature master classes facilitated by widely-known fashion experts. It is a three-part event featuring opportunities to shop, master classes and runway shows, providing something for everyone. Made in Nigeria Shoe Expo The third edition of the Made in Nigeria Shoe Expo is scheduled to hold from the 4th to the 6th of October in Lagos. The event is an international footwear and leather fair showcasing local and international footwear and leather manufacturers to the public in order to foster networking, collaborations, and exposure. The event will feature more than 22 footwear and leather manufacturers, over 16 speakers and hundreds of buyers, the media as well as other fashion enthusiasts. Fashion, as we know it, is ever-changing and these fashion events have, in different ways, paved the way to celebrating the dynamism of African fashion. @thesparkng 23
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Soaring In Fashion and Style

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