Tessy Jibodu is the Chief Operating Officer of
Zaris Fashion and Style Academy, a sought after
fashion outlet located within the heart of Lagos.
As an entrepreneur and fashion educationist per
excellence, who is passionate about training
young designers, the Delta State indigene told
Sunday Sun that her biggest ambition is to run a
fashion university anytime soon. This, she said, is
part of eforts aimed at growing her business
further.
In this interview, Jibodu discusses the crux of
her business, and more.
What is fashion to you?
Fashion, to me, is what I live by everyday and I
won’t have a particular definition for it because
my entire life is about fashion.
What informed your decision to go into the
business?
For me, it’s been fashion all of my life. I had
basic training in fashion education in secondary
school. I later went to Yaba College of
Technology to study Industrial Design, which is
also a fashion course. It’s been fashion all the
way because I have passion for it and it has
been part of my life from inception. I really
wanted to work on it and my parents allowed me
to study it as a course and that has been all
about me.
Aside studying it as a course, did you nurse the
ambition of doing this while growing up as a
child?
My entire life has been dedicated to the arts and
if I wasn’t a designer, I would have been an
artiste. I had a lot to do with colours and I was
very good with my hands. All of that made me
what I am today.
Do you also train young people who want to go
into this line of business?
Zaris Fashion Academy is a fashion school and
we also do fashion consultancy. We train young,
creative minds; people who have a passion to
learn fashion. For me, it is to help creative young
Nigerians. All we do is teaching young designers
to compete among themselves.
How profitable is the business?
Fashion business is something that if you don’t
have the passion for, you will run out of
business. It is not really about the outcome but
the passion I have in what I am doing . So, I will
say I am fulfilled and comfort able because I am
enjoying my business everyday.
Good to know that you enjoy the business, but
how much of money do you make on a good
business deal?
We do more of trainings and when we do, I teach
people how to be good at what they do. We run
the courses four times in a day.
How may students have you been able to train
since you started?
We have been able to train about 250 students
since we started few years ago..
What other things do you do to give your
business leverage?
There are a lot of opportunities within the
fashion industry. We train on business
entrepreneurship to make people know how to
start their own businesses.
Have you recorded any major loss in business?
When we started, we thought we were going to
start making a lot of money in the business. It
was not as easy as we thought when we started
but we were able to get above that within a
short time. So, I would say we have not recorded
any such big loss that you mean.
In your opinion, do you think government has
done enough for the industry?
For now, we are moving into a new dawn in the
fashion industry and I think we are gradually
creating a wider awareness in the industry. The
government has tried in giving us some
equipment when we started and I also got some
encouragement from a few individuals. Faith
Foundation is an organisation that has also
supported us and then the media too. I will also
say GogeA frica too has helped us.
What does it take to be successful in this line of
business?
First and foremost, I will say it is passion . If you
don’t have passion for the business, you will
easily get weary and soon, you might feel like
quitting the business. Passion constitutes 80
percent of the input and this is what has
sustained me as a person. I was bothered to ask
when I was going to start getting people to enrol
with us and if I never had the passion, I would
have quit the business then.
What impact were you willing to make in the
industry, when you were preparing to come in?
I had a ready-to-wear outfit which I ran for about
eight years. Later, I saw the need to teach
people how to make good clothes themselves
and even create businesses around. Fashion
education is really a thing that is lacking in the
industry and I focus more on that.
Do you often partake in exhibitions?
We push our students out there to partake in
exhibitions and they are our own targets for
marketing our brand in fashion shows. Recently,
one of our students won theA frican Fashion
Award for 2015, and one of them also became
Da Viva Ambassador for 2014/2015. Through the
Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria
(FADAN), we have been able to push many of
the students for both national and international
fashion shows. We like to focus on having the
students compete with anyone within the fashion
world, both locally and internationally.
Any other award to your credit?
We have a few recognition awards from Lions
Club for assisting their young people, and the
CEO of the Year 2014 Award for organising some
events for them.
What do you think people do not know about the
fashion industry?
The fashion industry is a very serious one. I
always compare myself to a doctor. A doctor
deals with the inner part of the body and I dea l
with the outer part. I see myself concentrating
on what I do. I also need to let people know that
it is not for lazy people or drop-outs. Being a
tailor is different from being a designer. Being a
designer is about being able to create designs of
your own. There are terms and terminologies in
fashion that you have to learn. It is not just
about cutting and that is why I said it is not for
lazy people because that is the layman’s
mentality. People tend to believe that anybody
can do it. Here, if you are lazy, you cannot do it.
What do you do to endear your clients and
students to your business?
For us, it is not all about work because ‘al l work
and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. We have an
alumni association that creates a forum for old
students to come together and help one another.
It is a continuous process, even if the students
leave the school. Students and facilitators still
get to interact.
Considering the fact that the industry has a huge
market potential, what is your stake in there?
It is professionalism; where what we produce
can compare with any in the world. Most of our
students leave here and go abroad to study more
because we have laid a foundation which they
can build on. The standard we have here can
compete with that of the rest of the world.
How would you compare fashion industry here to
what is obtainable in other developed countries
of the world?
Nigerians are very creative and enlightened. I
believe we are gradually getting to the level of
the developed nations of the world and the
federal government is gradually coming to our
aid in that regard. The Bank of Industry (BOI)
just gave us a major loan. Through the help of
the government, I feel we will get there bu t it is
only for us to start learning how to get i t right.
Very soon, we should be able to compare with
the international fashion designers around the
world. Most of our designers are already
competing with international designers. It is for
them to come back to the country and train
people so they too can attain that height.
Where do we hope to find you in business, in the
nearest future?
For me, I do this everyday to improve on myself.
For us in Zaris, we hope to have a fashion
university soon and that is the biggest project
we have now. I foresee a situation where people
will come and study fashion as a university
course.