LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Style House Files/Lagos Fashion Week, two powerful business platforms advancing Nigerian and African Fashion industries
Omoyemi Akerele is an experienced, renowned creative economy change agent and social entrepreneur with over 20 years of notable achievements in the areas of youth development, job creation, circular fashion development, showcasing and discovering talent and creating access to the market globally for Africa's evolving textile and apparel industry. Omoyemi drives change across the ecosystem through her current position as Founder and CEO at Style House Files, Lagos Fashion Week where she applies core economic development principles to connect the missing gaps that exist within the African textile and apparel ecosystem such as capacity-building, skills development, access to capital, infrastructural development, artisanal skills preservation and closing the loop.
Omoyemi works with multilateral agencies like United Nations agencies – UNIDO, She Trades and UNESCO; not for profit agencies like British Council, British Fashion Council, Best Seller Foundation; public sector agencies like Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, Industrial Trust Fund, Nigerian Employers Consultative Association and private sector companies and Heineken. Omoyemi exhibits a motivational management style with a proven history of empowering creatives and providing launch pads for their creative career development through initiatives that have successfully empowered youths, created jobs, facilitated entrepreneurship and generated a ripple effect that's gradually filtered into the entire value chain. Her businesses have created jobs for 50 people.
Lioness Weekender spoke to the powerhouse creative entrepreneur Omoyemi Akerele to learn more about her entrepreneurial journey, her vision and mission for the creative fashion industry in Africa, and her goals for the future.
What does your company do?
Style House Files: A fashion business accelerator launched in 2008 that primarily focuses on advancing the Nigerian and African Fashion industries. Our platforms spearhead change in the sector by providing access to education, market, awareness, and skills acquisition.
Lagos Fashion Week: A fashion platform launched in 2011 that brings together buyers, consumers, and the media to view the current collections of designers running a four-day schedule in the fashion capital of Lagos, Nigeria. As a leading fashion event on the African fashion calendar, Lagos fashion Week leads the way with initiatives that support, strengthen, and develop the fashion industry. Beyond the runway, the annual event provides a physical platform that’s gradually repositioning fashion as a useful tool for commerce and creativity in Africa.
What inspired you to start your company?
I've always been drawn to fashion's ability to change lives by creating opportunities for job creation across the value chain. Fashion can be a vehicle for socio-economic change and empowerment. I realised that there was a huge gap that needed to be filled and, for the industry to grow, it was important to think of a platform that would act as a catalyst on the scene to spearhead change and work towards positioning fashion properly in Nigeria, and of course in Africa, as a business. There is an abundance of the talent; combine that with the sheer size of Nigeria’s population - there’s a market. It was critical to bridge the gap and connect the dots; drive action & impact-led conversations with key stakeholders and decision makers, to understand the potential for fashion as a key contributor to Nigeria’s/ Africa’s economy through establishing a clearly defined structure, infrastructure, and a sustainable end-to-end ecosystem. This inspired me to launch Style House Files & Lagos Fashion Week.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
When we started out, we decided to focus on what is happening in Nigeria. I knew that we had the talent here, and I thought we could bring people together and offer them a platform to show their work. Then through that we could train people and provide opportunities. We’ve never been able to do that on the scale we wanted, but it has still impacted on some of the brands we work with. Beyond that, a fashion week means bringing all those things together as a way to experience fashion from the whole continent, not just from Nigeria. To experience fashion is to experience culture. It means coming to Lagos and feeling the city’s confidence; its energy cannot be rivalled. The collections we show tell a story of how diverse and dynamic our culture is. They speak to historical references, resilience, and grit. All the obstacles designers face daily, but they are still able to create, celebrate, and express who they are through their collections, season in, season out. It is about creativity and innovation, but it’s also about creating jobs through collaboration.
Tell us a little about your team:
At Style House Files and Lagos Fashion Week, our team is a dynamic blend of young creative & astute business minds who care about the work that we do to impact all facets of the African fashion landscape.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I did not come from an entrepreneurial background, although I grew up surrounded by a few. When I decided to walk out of my job as a lawyer in 2004, the reason was purely that I was not enjoying what I was doing. I worked around people who seemed to be enjoying their jobs and I wanted something that would give me a sense of belonging. It was the quest for fulfilment that led me to entrepreneurship. It didn’t start with fashion, but rather with corporate consulting work and personal branding. I launched a company with my partner at the time, Bola Balogun, under the name Exclusive Styling, where we worked on some really exciting projects. We styled the presenters, contenders, and music artists featured on TV shows like Big Brother and Idols West Africa, as well as shows that had just been launched in Nigeria like Deal or No Deal. For a while I worked with companies giving talks on the importance of making a good first impression, until I was offered a job at True Love magazine as a stylist assistant. I had to work my way to the top, but less than a year later, I was appointed the magazine’s fashion editor. It was during that time that I realised that there was a gaping hole between the designers who imagine the clothes and the artisans who work tirelessly behind the scenes to co-create them with the designers: the Afro manufacturers and even sewing machinists in ateliers and workshops across the continent who stitch these things together and bring them to life, and the communities where we source the materials. It was important to step back and see how we could bring all of that together in a way that ensured everyone benefitted. I realised I was interested not just in the public-facing image and design side of things, but also in what happens when clothes are produced. How do you sell them, market them, and wear them? Style House Files & Lagos Fashion Week was founded to answer these questions.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Our collective task for the next decade is a reinforcement of our commitment to the continent by adding value to creativity, developing our knowledge sharing and skills acquisition base and equipping our youth with the right education and skills for job and wealth creation with sustainability as the key driver in building longevity and a structure that creates solid businesses.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
I enjoy the work we do. It’s impactful - Our initiatives over the last decade have focused on building a supporting infrastructure that enables us to properly leverage our culturally rich stories, creativity, craftsmanship, and our sustainable approach to fashion to drive socio-economic impact within the continent. We continue to demonstrate our commitment through securing funding to build on the sector’s capacity & strengthening existing business(es), ensuring African designers are able to leverage a globalized commercial landscape by facilitating trade show participation, working to firmly establishing 0ur local manufacturing industry to service designers within and beyond the continent, encouraging and educating designers on the need for economically, environmentally and socially sustainable fashion businesses and actively working to build capacity for the apparel manufacturing sector by working with key stakeholders across the continent to facilitate access to knowledge acquisition, skills / knowledge exchange and a decolonized curriculum for our schools.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
It takes resilience to get through the hurdles, to be consistent & dedicated to the process and vision.
To learn more about the work of Style House Files and Lagos Fashion Week, reach out to Omoyemi Akerele via email: omoyemi.a@stylehousefiles.com or visit the company websites and social media platforms:
Website: http://www.stylehousefiles.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/omoyemi.akerelestylehousefiles/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OmoyemiAkerele
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omoyemiakerele/
YouTube or Vimeo Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA2mAq2c7mNbWv8bO4Hexw
