She makes the hottest
hats in town
By CHRISTY ANYANWU
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
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•Mrs
Eme Akenzua
Photo: The Sun News Publishing |
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Mrs Eme Akenzua (nee Odo Bassey) of John 3v3 Hats Ltd, is
a million who has made a distinctive mark in the Nigeria style
industry.
Her achievement is what can be described as from Zero to Hero
when you trace her antecedents. From a one room in the early
90s, the business grew and she now manages a whole building
in Ikoyi, one of the highbrow areas in Lagos Island.
On the international scene, Akenzua is also doing very well.
In 1992 and 1996, she captured the attention of some papparazi
at the Royal Ascot Horse Races which took place that summer.
The annual event was also featured on CNN and BBC reviews.
In an interview with Daily Sun, she opened up on the secret
of her business
In the beginning
I was a little girl working with a very big God. We started
because I was the only staff at that time but God was there.
I came back from England in 1989 where I spent two years part
time learning hats making because I had a full time job.
I spent two years learning how to make hats, you’ll
say two years? But I wanted to be a master at what I was getting
into and that’s absolutely important for anyone who
wants to do any business at all.
The problems we have with people who go into business is that
they don’t understand the business they are going into
and so they cannot be on top of things because they don’t
have the full grip, so the staff they have, twist and turn
them whichever way they want to. You are at their mercy.
I was trained by Rose Cory. She is the best. She used to make
the Queen’s mother’s hats. Until the Queen mother
died she was her milliner.
When I came back to Nigeria, I started my work on Jacob’s
Street in Ojuelegba. It was a one room apartment. It was truly
a little beginning when I came back. I didn’t even have
a car at that time.
I was totally unknown apart from some of the customers who
used to come to me while I was in England. Nobody else knew
who I was. Then, it seemed like an uphill task to get out
there. All I wanted to do was to get some hats out somewhere
for people to see and I knew the moment they see them they
will come streaming in. I spent two and half years at Jacob
Street. There were two huge gulters on either side of it,
hardly any parking space. The first few days I was there,
I cried my eyes out. I said God, this is certainly not how
I want to start my business. I had come back from England,
to be on the Island, Ikoyi or Victoria Island, somewhere posh.
It was really funny then because people would come in and
see our rack with shoes. My younger sister was staying with
me then and customers would come into the place and ask, do
you sell shoes as well? And my sister and I would look at
each other and say oh my God. The next day we moved the rack
into the kitchen. In the daytime it was a shop and night time
it was a sleeping place.
We were there for another two years approximately. When I
began to employ people I think we were probably about three
when we moved to Awolowo Road, Ikoyi where we shared a flat
with Art Gallery.
From Awolowo Road, we moved to where we are now which is a
house in Maitama Sule, Ikoyi. It had been a story of progress
but very gradual.
We’ve been here for almost four years. We moved the
production unit first and a year after we moved the show room
here.
Downstairs is meant for the administrative section and show
room while upstairs is basically production.
Survival strategies
We don’t want to hit and run. So, we take care to buy
the best quality available that can compete with the international
market. We go to the most expensive places in England to get
trimmings for our hats. They are expensive. We spend as much
as N50 pounds on a feather. Very few milliners can do that.
I do that because I know you cannot see it on every head in
Lagos. So, I would buy it because it’s expensive and
that guarantees exclusivity. Our customers don’t want
to wear a hat and see another 50 people wear the same hats
like them.
Limited capital
Nothing. We had nothing. That’s what we did when we
were starting and we have maintained the culture. As you come
to me, Eme, make a hat for me, I’ll tell you this hat
is going to cost you N8,000. What you give to me is what I
use to do your work, that is how I built up capital. People
ask how is that possible? It is possible. I think where the
problem is for a lot of people is that they eat their seed.
People go to buy shoes, bags, flashy cars all kinds of things,
as they are making money. They don’t keep the money
to reinvest in business. How can it grow? Today they want
to drive a huge car all of a sudden from nowhere.
Challenges
Working in this terrain (Nigeria) can be very difficult, because
you need to literally provide all your basic amenities. You
need to make sure there’s constant light supply constant
water supply which means a borehole, basically, you are jumping
from NITEL to getting private telephone line.
Future plans
We are looking for more opportunities outside the country,
we’re doing quite a bit now but we don’t think
we’re doing enough outside the country. Because I say
to myself, Nigeria is a huge market, we never seem to be able
to cope with what we are doing in Nigeria and people are saying
you must bring these hats abroad.
But honestly, with the pounds and dollars going up we have
to rethink properly about quickly getting out there as quickly
as possible. So that we can earn foreign exchange and use
that to purchase the things we need to bring into the country
rather than use money from here to buy outside.
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