She is the founder of the Katie Wang Company, a growing global export fashion trading company with operations in four continents and passionate about sustainable development in Africa. She is also the Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of The Ark Coaching Company, a global company focused on developing human potentials across Africa, Olori Boye Ajayi co-host a life-changing webinar, the “Fix-It Conference”, on 4th July targeted at empowering people take their businesses and careers to a higher level. In this interview with Omolara Akintoye, she talks about the forthcoming Pan-African Virtual conference, her career, journey to stardom and more
You pioneered the first Industrial Garment Manufacturing Park as well as the first Fashion Truck in West Africa, what does these platforms entail?
The creative industries offer massive potential for continent-wide job and GDP growth. However, we cannot achieve this potential without competitive infrastructures such as industrial parks, export processing zones, functional seaports, railway lines and airports. The industrial park is one thing we want to pioneer to fully compete on a global scale. Ideally, the industrial park will be situated in one of the six special economic zones (SEZ’s) mapped out by the government and divided into cotton-textile zone, garment manufacturing and leather processing, and of course, a dedicated export processing zone. But for this to work, there are infrastructure linkages needed such as the ports and logistics functions that are currently almost non-existent. To be honest, I’ve had a rethink on going too far with these challenges on linkages and considering encouraging internal consumption and intra-trade; 1.2billion market size is massive.
believe in women empowerment through fashion?
Empowering women has always been very dear to me; I don’t know whether it’s because I am a woman, I understand some of the particular challenges we face. I have different platforms where I hold business workshops for women (online and offline); it’s a structured setting on the Business of Fashion over six weeks, which I funded myself. I have helped the US Consulate on a few occasions in their women-led initiatives, which is always so much fun and rewarding with success stories following. I invest in women-led businesses that specialize in social impact across Africa and I mentor young girls in public Secondary Schools in Lagos, which I truly love. I also run an online network for fashion business owners predominantly women, which has a membership of close to 350 people, where I share opportunities for export, training on business development, leadership training and so on.
How business be used as a tool for social change and nation-building in Nigeria and Africa?
Each business can decide to push one mission of the greater good for Africa forward. Each business contributing its part to the common good is how we arrive at change. No business can lead a change it doesn’t carry others along on.
What is the mission of Ark Coaching Company?
Our core focus at The Ark Coaching Company is on human potential and capacity enhancement that allows participants in our programmes to rise above their present occasion and change the narrative about themselves, their environment, and the world at large. We often like to say, “Once you step into the Ark, you can’t leave the same.”
Our Mission is to enable people, especially those of African descent, to unleash their inner potential and contribute their quota to Africa’s development.
What is the propelling force behind your forthcoming webinar tagged, “The Fix-it Conference”?
We have the conviction that the movement of the African continent into an era of peace and prosperity will be accelerated when African themselves have their mindset changed, the way they do business transformed and they learn the true principle of money and generating wealth. Africans can no longer sit and wait for aid, grants, funding – we must elevate ourselves to be globally competitive.
How would this conference help the country’s economy return to normal especially during and post COVID-19 era?
Our goal for the conference is to help the people to navigate the current shift and position themselves strategically for the digital world that is emerging.
We expect our participants to leave with a blueprint of global opportunities. There is a lot of information flying around about repositioning after covid19 but sometimes information overload can lead to paralysis. We want to get people who attend to jot down with the heading – WHAT NEXT?
Our target are males and females between the ages of 18 – 45 years old who feel the tug in their heart about making a difference to the continent no matter how small. From social issues to political issues, every sector needs an African with the right set of values and beliefs driving it.
With advent of new technologies, we believe the virtual conference will be able to reach the target audience, everyone is online more in the advent of current situations. Last time I checked our registration list, we had people with African names from as far as Oman and Australia, only technology can help achieve this.
Why the title, “Fix –it Conference”?
The journey to fixing Africa starts with the individuals, one community at a time. The fixing will take time and a lot of excavation from what we’ve been conditioned into believing. We looked at the three main areas we’ve seen past members of our coaching programs needed guidance on the most and it was on their money, mindset and business and so we decided to widen our reach to help more Africans and African businesses – FIX IT during the conference.
Tell us about yourself
Like many in Nigeria, I have a humble beginning. Though I was born and bred in the United Kingdom, I found myself in Nigeria living with my dearest late grandmother at a very tender age. At the time, she lived in one of the poverty-stricken areas in Lagos – Mushin to be precise. It is one of the experiences that marked my mind because it presented to me the life I didn’t want for myself or children. I eventually went back to London for college and my university degree. I started working in the corporate world at the age of 16 and that was when I got exposed to an environment of value exchange, specialists in various sectors, capitalism and many more things. At the age of 18, I encountered my first mentor, Jackson Ogunyemi at a point when I had zero drive and thought life was limited work, sleeping and eating. Jackson decided to coach me out of that immature pattern of thinking and that was when I started my journey to discovery and becoming. And here I am today.
When and how did you start Katie Wang Company?
The Katie Wang Company (TKWC) started as Olori’s Place in 2012. We evolved into TKWC because our offering expanded and we want to rebrand. I stumbled into fashion retail actually and it was called ‘Olori’s Place’ because that’s what it was, just a place in my apartment in Magodo, Lag. I moved back to Nigeria after my MSc in 2010 and everything fashion was so expensive (almost triple the price) I was used to. I had the opportunity to go back to London for a few days in November of 2011. Upon arrival, my childhood friend gave me a belated birthday gift of about 100GBP and the next day a friend of mine asked me to escort her to Roman road market which I did. I was in shock, everything was so stylish and super affordable – I used my 100GBP to buy everything possible, took pictures and sent to my friend who worked in an office, I added enough profit and all the items sold out before I left London – JACKPOT. That’s how I stumbled into fashion and I have never looked back since.
We still have a lot of possibilities ahead of us. When we launched out to other countries a few years ago we learnt the hard way but we wouldn’t change that story because it has given us the edge we need for experience. We’ve had operations in Australia, the United States and a one-off consignment to Europe, recently Canada has been a place of interest. We’re looking forward to getting more ‘made in Nigeria’ quality products into the global marketplace.
Were there particular challenges you faced while starting off?
The cost of renting a store was and still is something that can deter anyone wanting to come into the industry. That is what led to the building of the fashion truck, it was definitely less expensive and it was mobile so it meant I had the advantage of stationing the fashion truck in different areas across Lagos mainland or the island. Also, at the time, there was very little assistance in the form of business support on how to build an online store.
What is your opinion of Nigerians in the global fashion industry?
In my opinion, I believe Africa’s rising fashion industry is ripe for greater penetration into global retail chains not just as souvenir fashion or niche market, we’re ready for fast fashion. In recent years, a lot of our young designers, models and even our music have received global attention. With further development in our infrastructure and up skilling, Nigerians can compete and play in the global fashion industry. The creative industries in Africa as a whole offers massive potential for continent-wide job and GDP growth, in recent years no other sector has done this after the agriculture sector. In some African countries, the private sector has shown avid interest by investing heavily via banks and other trust funds to offer funding to the SME’s operating in that space.
What impact has the Ark Coaching Company had on Nigeria youth particularly?
Since operations, we’ve helped not just Nigerians but Africans in diaspora and Africans at home. Our efforts have helped over 100 businesses with an increase in revenue, building structures for B2B and B2G (government), converting to tech-based operations, incorporating lean operations. In elevating their mindset, we address critical thinking and understanding their personal contributions in Africa’s development. The youth need attention and hand-holding in the process of transforming their minds, The Ark Coaching Company is here to do that.
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