A United Kingdom-based Nigerian fashion entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer/Creative Director, Didi Creations Limited, Tina Ugo, has called on the Federal Government to provide seamless access to credit and export schemes for operators in the industry.
Ugo, while making the call during her shop opening in Lagos, said that the nation’s fashion industry was lucrative and required huge capital investments to make it compete with global brands.
She said, “Despite being a business owned by a Nigerian resident in the United Kingdom, my brand is classified as a British business because we are registered and operate from the UK. I must say that the British government has been very supportive of my brand in several ways including through grants, subsidies, trade missions, international trade advisers, funded export schemes, to mention a few. I am hoping the Nigerian government will do something similar for the brand now that we are setting up a branch here.
“Hence, if one is not genuinely passionate about it, it could become frustrating along the line as it takes a bit of time to break even or get any Return on Investment.”
According to her, her brand occupies a fair share of the market and that her strongest markets are in Europe and America.
“However, we have a huge clientele base here as well, which is one of the major factors why I decided to set up a flagship store here. My bags were the first product line we launched in 2012 and it is doing very well in the market,” she added.
She said that her new Spring-Summer 2019 Rainbow Bead Bag collection sold out the week it was unveiled in London with several orders coming through from the United States of America and Nigeria.
She added that apart from retail outlets, she hope to see her brand on the shelves of major luxury fashion retailers and departmental stores across the globe.