BOI Has Given Fashion Industry Big Shot of Adrenaline To Leap Forward – Funmi Ajila-Ladipo, FADAN President
The Nigerian fashion industry is about to take a giant leap. And leading fashion designers like Mrs. Funmi Ajila Ladipo are all ecstatic about the new deal put together for them by the Bank of Industry, BOI, which has created a dedicated fund to grow the garment production sub-sector.
Ladipo is the President of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria, FADAN, the once comatose association that she actively breathed life into, turning it into a major platform for promoting the creativity of Nigerian fashion designers.
Make no mistake about this: Ladipo eats, drinks, sleeps and dreams FADAN. It is a kind of total commitment that has also swept up her loving husband, who has given her enormous support. In this interview, she sheds more light on what the BOI Fashion Industry Fund means for the next generation of fashion designers and the Nigerian garment production industry. Enjoy the excerpts…
Could you tell us more about BOI deal with FADAN?
The federal government through the Bank of Industry (BOI) put together a fund for the fashion industry. The purpose is to provide support to real fashion designers who have been trained and are doing the right things.
The fund is to help them improve on what they are doing, to acquire new equipment that will enable them produce according to international standards and raise the level of quality. The deal with FADAN will ensure that the right people get the funds. The beneficiaries will be individuals that can be trusted to utilize the money properly and pay back promptly, without telling stories. FADAN is the umbrella body for reputable fashion designers and acts as the face of the industry; that is the main reason BOI chose to work with us. The bank is impressed that we know what we are doing. The BOI intervention is very welcome. So we are going to encourage our members to approach BOI and take working capital. Our members already have machines, but of course they may need to invest new machines that are specialized. We are talking about somebody getting about N3 or 4 million. Such funds will be invested in growing the business, not for paying school fees for children or doing other things. We are now looking at how we can create a hub for the industry, where we will have other businesses that will provide ancillary services for the fashion industry, that way we will be able to take our game to the next level, whereby we will be able to go into some degree of mass production.
Productivity will increase because no one person needs to have all the machines. Some people will specialize in just mass-sewing of the designs for the designer. I don’t need to start chasing tailors all over the place. I only need to make a sample of what am wearing, take it to the production hub, of course it has my label on it; the specialized tailors go ahead to produce it while I go back to my drawing board and start doing other designs before the particular production gets ready. Meanwhile there will be a hub of retailers waiting to sell these products. It is a great thing that BOI came up with this initiative. I must also note that the intervention is not only for FADAN members. It is for designers all over Nigeria. But the beneficiaries must belong to an association like FADAN.
What would you attribute your success to as President of FADAN?
I would say the key reason is that God has helped me to remain focused on my goal. I give Him all the glory. I have also been driven by the need to see the industry grow. I think too, I did attempt to focus on my label, Regalia, alone. My focus has always been FADAN. I have pursued a collective purpose for the fashion industry so that we can all benefit from the government. At FADAN.
I have consistently tried to discover hidden talents in fashion design. Right now, we have been able to discover over 200 designers all round Nigeria, some of who are polytechnic students. It’s very expensive to be a designer because you have to buy machinery, you have to get workers and products that are not produced in Nigeria. In order for these young people not to get discouraged or going back to do something else after spending four years for their training as certified designers, the BOI initiative will be very helpful to them. Government is beginning to recognize that there is so much in clothing, Clothing is so important. Both the United States and China generate billions of dollars from garment production. The way we wear clothes, we should be able to make so much money in Nigeria. The industry is not given enough attention.
It appears that you eat, talk, sleep FADAN, is that a fact?
My husband says the same thing too. He said that if he doesn’t talk about FADAN with me, he would not get his food.
Is that what your husband said?
Yes, that’s what he said. All along the association never grew because in the past it was all about self. It was necessary for the leaders to move away from self. It was realized that it is only when you help other people to grow that you also grow. It’s like the relationship between parents and their children: when you give your children food, when you are no longer able to farm, your children will bear with you. But if you don’t grow other people, you will have nothing to fall back on. But it’s not so much on me falling back on anything; rather it is about the nation moving to another level. I am providing a level playing ground for the younger ones.
In view of your commitment to FADAN, do you still have time for your family?
FI have become busier because of FADAN, but I still have time for my family because I prioritize my time. A person that cannot create priority is not worthy to be placed in a leadership position. I still cook. Just before you came for this interview, I cooked food. I prepared omelet and corn beef stew for my husband this morning, before he went to work.
You have always looked gorgeous. What are your beauty secrets? What can you not do without?
I can’t do without having my exercise session. I exercise for one hour every morning. As early as 6 am, I hit the road, sometimes earlier. I take one-hour walk or ride a bicycle. For my beauty routine, I use regular soaps and creams that other people use. I make sure to drink a lot of water. And I don’t eat junk food. I can’t do without wearing perfume. That is very important key for me. When I go out I want to smell nice.
In your own words, describe the new African woman?
She’s a woman who is able to remain an African woman in the midst of technology; a woman who can go anywhere and hold her head high; a woman who can truly say I come from Africa because many people nowadays want to change their hair, looks, nose and buttocks; they would like to change even their legs; in fact, they would like to change their whole life. A true African woman is a woman who comes out simply the way she is. My husband and I were talking this morning when he was eating. I recall that a Russian man was speaking Russian on television and they were interpreting for the other people. And I said how come we can’t speak our language, why do we have to speak a borrowed language? And my husband then said, ‘it is for all of us to be able to communicate.’ I said it is only in Africa that natives do not speak their language. Other people in Europe, Asia and South America speak their language, but we Africans want to be like the white man. Does it mean we are inferior? So, a true African woman in the midst of technology, in the midst of everything that is happening and with everybody wanting to change from being a woman to a man, you are still able to stand the way God has created you and still raising up your head as an African, then you are a true African woman. In spite of Ebola, cholera, Boko Haram, I am still a real African woman.
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