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My Feature Article on enterprise54.com :-D

My Feature Article on enterprise54.com :-D

by | Feb 19, 2015 | @martwayne, beginners course, enterprise54.com, Fashion, Fashion Beyond Stitches, Fashion Entrepreneur, media mention, short fashion course, weekday course, weekend course

Screenshot from www.enterprise54.com
Yaye!!!!!!!  😀 😀 😀

And it all happened because I responded to a post on a Facebook group I belong to.  Really happy I responded to Aunty Bisi who called me out on the BR Group to tell my story… which I did!  


Thank you so very much Lara Sanni for this wonderful piece!  You just gave me an early birthday present!  And thanking the whole of enterprise54.com for this amazing feature!

MWAH! MWAH!! MWAH!!!

Need I say more?!  Just check out the link to the article below:

I just cannot stop grinning!

Meanwhile…
The Short Fashion Course for Beginners starts on the 28th of February, 2015.

The details are at the link below:

Don’t forget to tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend!

Thank you so much!
Lessons from the House of Deola Sagoe & Clan at the Business Side of Fashion Annual Symposium 2014 – The Legacy Edition

Lessons from the House of Deola Sagoe & Clan at the Business Side of Fashion Annual Symposium 2014 – The Legacy Edition

by | Jan 19, 2015 | @martwayne, Bamitale Kevin-Agono, Business Side of Fashion, Clan, David Wej, Deola Sagoe, Fashion, Funmi Ayanbadejo, Ibikari Allwell-Brown, Kola Kuddus, MUDI, Patrick Ayanski, Teni Sagoe, Tewa Onasanya

 
 
Hello everyone!!!  It is the 3rd week in January already (can you believe it?!)  Looks like this year plans to fly by so quickly it will be overwhelming.
 
I’ll get started on a long overdue post that I am certain you will learn a lot from!  
 

Now some of you may have heard of the Business Side of Fashion (BSOF) Annual Symposium.  It takes place every year and is organised by the Fashion Management Agency run by Mrs. Bamitale Kevin-Agono.  
 
I had attended about one or two of them previously but the Legacy Edition to me was THE BEST of the lot and a great way to wrap up the Symposium!
 
The BSOF Symposium was Tale’s initiative and her way of bringing industry experts to help budding fashion designers with their businesses.  For her, “it was a zealous adventure with a motive to see if I could make a difference in the fashion industry“.  And she sure did!  
 
I recall the previous ones I attended had Mrs Nike Ogunlesi of Ruff N Tumble, Ituen Basi, Folake Folarin-Coker of Tiffany Amber, Lisa Folawiyo of Jewel By Lisa, Mai Atafo…. and even the Bank of Industry in attendance, sharing from their experiences and teaching the delegates about how to run a fashion business in Nigeria.  
 
And the Legacy Edition of the BSOF Symposium was no different.  First I was the host 😀 😀 😀 (haha…. yes I have to celebrate myself now n’est ce pas?!).  Granted I had no clue what the host was required to do but I learnt quickly “on the job”.
 
And then we had the Keynote Speakers Mr. Clement Mudiaga Enajemo of MUDI Africa and Ms. Deola Sagoe of the House of Deola Sagoe.  You guys have no clue how long I have wanted to meet these 2 people in person!
 
Images from: http://millarefashion.blogspot.com/2013/04/mudi-tale-of-artistic-expressions.html 
http://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deola-Sagoe.jpg
THEN there was the David Wej Competition where David Eweje of David Wej (another fashion guru who I totally respect in so many ways) handed out prizes to the winners of the Competition.  
 
Followed by a Panel Talk by 3 industry leaders – Mrs. Funmi Ayanbadejo of Patrick Ayanski, Mr. Ibikari Alwell-Brown of Fetoru.com and Mrs. Tewa Onasanya of Exquisite Magazine (now called EM).  Oh I learnt a lot from them, particularly in the area of e-commerce from Ibikari who used to Head the Fashion Units at Jumia and Konga.
 
And then the Grand Finale was (drumroll please…..) the lecture by the 2nd Keynote Speaker, Deola Sagoe.  And I must say I was in total awe of her!  Very soft-spoken, no airs whatsoever!  Honestly, I just kept staring at her and remembering the first fashion show I attended where I saw her work!  I love her and her work to bits!
 
Lucky for us, she also brought her daughter, Temi Sagoe of Clan and honestly, you guys have no clue how much she had to offer.  Thankfully, I passed up on Tale’s offer to interview them and settled down to listen and learn… which was the best decision I ever made.
 
Funny…. as I listened to them, they both spoke a lot about what I have often spoken about in the past about the design process, pretty much what I teach my students and anyone who cares to listen.
For me, what was very enlightening was that despite the success of the House of Deola Sagoe and Clan, they still admitted they were making steps to expand and create a more profitable business.  No stories of how they had hit it big, no “bobo” stories, nothing!  No making the audience feel like they had “been there, done that”.  Just plain hard facts!  
 
Teni actually came prepared with a list of the different steps in the process with clear explanations on how you move from the design stage to the runway!  It really was Fashion 101, taking each stage at a time with detailed explanations!  It really was a “no holds barred” session. 
 
Lucky for me – and you guys, I took some video clips but to be honest I edited a whole lot out of the clips!  You can watch them on the “Martwayne” You Tube Channel at the following links and PS… don’t forget to Subscribe to the Channel [of course, I had to chip that in there :-D] – more videos coming up!  
 
Now there are 5 different clips and it took ages for me to edit them but hopefully you can learn even if just a bit from them and hopefully use that knowledge to restructure your fashion businesses.  I gave the different clips titles.  You can click on the links to watch them.  PS.  Forgive some shaky parts in the video, I shot the clips with my phone and it was so not easy to keep my hands steady. 
 
Part 1: Fashion is Serious Business!  
 
 
Part 2: How the House of Deola Sagoe Started:  
 
 
Part 3: How Clan Was Born:  
 
Part 4: The Process at the House of Deola Sagoe: 
Part 5: About Bespoke Clothing…: 
Honestly, if you were not there, you missed a whole lot and I plan to rub your faces in it!  Did I add that we got freebies from Patrick Ayanski and EM?! 😀
 
BUT!  There is hope!  Well… not regarding the freebies though… BUT  
 
You can and SHOULD get the full DVD!  These clips are nothing compared to the full DVD of an event which started at 8am and ended at 3pm.   You can get the DVD by contacting the Fashion Management Agency @: 
 
 
Honestly this will be like the best gift you can ever give yourself this year!  I, for one, learnt a whole lot from Deola Sagoe & Clan and from Ibikari about e-commerce, which is a new area I have started to explore for myself.  I am so glad I was a part of the event I tell you and I will also get the DVD for myself!   
 
I can go on and on about this event but I will stop here.  Sadly the Legacy Edition was the last of the BSOF Symposiums and it will no longer hold but you can still learn a lot from the Fashion Management Agency by registering for their Course – Fashion the Business which launched at their Fashion Business School.
 
And yes! I am one of the facilitators and I handle the creative aspects of fashion! 😀  The Course really does have a lot to offer including how to define your business, how to present your collection, how to position your brand, publicity and marketing and of course the accounting aspect of fashion!  
 
For more details, do check out their site at www.fashionmanagementagency.com or call 0703 002 3333 or 0810 337 9553.
 
Now I’ll sign off here now and leave you to enjoy the pictures…
L – R: Mrs. Funmi Ayanbadejo, Mr. Ibikari Allwell-Brown, Mrs. Bamitale Kevin-Agono & Mrs. Tewa Onasanya 

 

 

 

Ms. Deola Sagoe & Teni Sagoe receiving their award

 

Ibikari & Deola Sagoe

 

 

The Participants

 

 
Left: Strategic Partner Mrs Ayanbadejo of Patrick Ayanski & Right: Kola Kuddus, one of the esteemed guests

 

AND it’s a wrap! 😀

 

Yes it really was a good day!

Hope you enjoy the videos, don’t forget to get your DVDs.

Have a great day!

The Power of Visual Merchandising!

The Power of Visual Merchandising!

by | Nov 19, 2014 | Anise Mpungwe, cape town, Fashion Beyond Stitches, forever 21, forever new, mr price, south africa, store windows, the power of visual merchandising, truworths, V&A Waterfront, visual merchandising

Hello Everyone!!!!!  

So I just got back from a very short but well deserved break in Cape Town.  Thought it would be great to go back to where I called home for 3 years, catch up with folks from my school and of course hang out with AA who also happened to be there for a conference [actually to be honest, that was the real reason I went… :-D].   


 
Anisa Mpungwe at MrP (In-Store), V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

But anywayz…..  ladies, y’all know a holiday is incomplete without shopping right???!!! And I did a bit of that… – which brings me to today’s post!

So I walked into the Mr Price Store at the Waterfront just to see what they had and to compare it to the Mr Price here in Lagos and stopped right smack in front of the mannequins up there in the picture.  


Now I have never bought a jumpsuit (or made one for myself for that matter) and many who know me will tell you I am not a great fan of print.  BUT after seeing the way that jumpsuit looked on that mannequin, I knew I just had to get one! 

It was not about the jumpsuit per se…  truth be told, if I had seen it on the rack, I would probably have walked away from it.  But for me, it was more about how it was displayed – the props, the shiny black mannequin – everything about it was just superb and I was totally sold!  I just had to have it!  And I did!  And I am still grinning – totally satisfied with my purchase-S… yes I bought more print outfits from the store.  (Yeah.. I know some designers might scream but that is another post for another day!) 

But anywayz… THAT – my friends – is the Power of Visual Merchandising!

Truworths Store Window & In-Store Layout, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

Most times when I go shopping in other environments, I am amazed at how much effort the stores put into creating THAT shopping experience for their customers.  The store windows and layouts can sometimes be out of this world – I mean just check out this Truworths store window and the store itself!  Stunning!  

Window shopping for me is not about staring at clothes I will not buy but more about staring at store windows and layouts, absorbing the creativity that has gone into trying to make a sale.  Ever since I studied this at school, I have been hooked on visual merchandising!

From the signage, to the mannequins, and the lights to the hangers and even the music, everything just seems so perfect and is targeted at trying to make you part with that money.  And guess what?!  It usually works! 

But when I look at store windows over here, I think to myself – gosh, if only these people knew just how much money they could make if they put that little bit more effort into their store window.

I remember going into a store on Adeniran Ogunsanya a while back and had to run out!  The clothes were all stacked on racks in such a tiny space, I immediately felt claustrophobic!  Perhaps they were going for the “hey we have a lot of stuff” vibe but it was completely lost on me!  The only thing that came to my mind was how quickly I could get out of there!  And I did!  What a horrid experience!  

Rotating store window at Forever New, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

I think, often times, people think selling clothes is all about dressing mannequins and putting them in front of windows where people can see them but honestly it goes way beyond that.  Anytime I walk into the Mr Price store in Surulere, I just smile… something makes me go in, something sometimes keeps me there and more often than not, I leave with something in my hands – no matter how little!  Of course the great prices do help as well – but the question is how would I have known the prices were so great if I was not attracted to the store in the first place?  And that is why Visual Merchandising is so important!
I won’t say I am an expert in Visual Merchandising but one thing I will tell you is that this is an area that is yet to be fully exploited over here.  If only people knew how much money they could make if they put just that bit of an effort into designing their stores.  And it does not have to be so expensive either.  If one can spend all that money on props at a wedding, surely one can also improvise and spend a bit of money to bring in money.

All you need to do is prove to a store owner that you can increase their sales and foot traffic just by giving the store an overhaul and a better visual appeal, and you have a winning career!

Did I need all those things I bought during my trip?  Nope!  But I am not unhappy that I did.  The whole essence of visual merchandising is to make people buy what they don’t even need – impulse buying I believe it is called.  And that is why companies spend so much money just creating that experience!

I mean ever wondered why those sweets are at the till at the supermarket while you are in the queue?  They were placed there intentionally to make you buy them – by a visual merchandiser!  And suckers like me always fall for it – I cannot seem to resist buying KitKat at the supermarket till… ok well… lately I have managed to restrain myself with all this “watching what I eat stuff” and it seems to be working!

But you get my point right?  And I believe this is a career path that is worth pursuing around here.  If it is done right, you can make a lot of money from it! 

And of course, this post would not be complete without a picture of me wearing my new purchase 😀  And I can assure you that in that short time, I have pretty much worn my money’s worth and have no plans of slowing down! 😀


Meanwhile, enjoy some more pictures of store windows I took on some earlier trips.  Shame I can’t remember the name of some of the stores… 

China… at some exhibition…


Boston I believe this was…


Loved the concept of this store with the sewing machines…


New York… I think this was Forever 21…


I’m sure I have a lot more pictures somewhere… can’t seem to find them on my system… especially the ones I took in Istanbul.  If I do find them, I’ll upload them.

Hopefully I just gave you some food for thought… just in time for the New Year so you can add that to your list of Resolutions…. 😀

Have a great week everyone!!!

OH!!!  PS!

Please remember that the Jacket & Trousers Course AND the Foundation Course both begin next week.  Do register early so you can round up the year in style!  Remember procrastination never did anyone any good!  Don’t leave it till next year.  Make the move NOW!

See you next week!

Cheers!
Conquering That Thing Called Fear…

Conquering That Thing Called Fear…

by | Oct 29, 2014 | @martwayne, Build Confidence, Conquering Fear, Fashion, Fashion Beyond Stitches, Fear, Starting a Fashion Business, Video, YouTube

http://africarm.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/scared-cartoon.jpeg
 
Oh wow… talk about feeling like a stranger in my own space…
 
Guess I am owing enough belated greetings – from Happy Independence Day Celebration (in arrears) to Barka de Sallah (in arrears).  Oh… my Sallah break was tres fab!  I enjoyed every minute of it!  😀
 
Then moving on to Happy Birthday (in arrears), Happy Married Life (in arrears), Happy Anniversary (in arrears)… errr…. what else have I missed??? Oh yes!!!  Congratulations on the birth of your baby(iees)… 😀    And I say these greetings with the utmost sincerity!  
 
Great!  So now that I have redeemed myself, I’ll start with my post for today!  Conquering Fear!

 
http://www.liberatemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/marketing-fear-social-media.jpg

 

Ok so this post is not about the usual stuff we read about in self-help books or listen to at seminars.  We’ve all read and heard enough right?  It’s time to take action! 😀
 
And I’m taking my first step.. even though it took about a month to get here… haha!   Pretty surprising, even to me since I am someone who is pretty fearless when it comes to making decisions and taking risks work wise.
 
And this post my my first step to conquering that fear! Yes I have been psyching myself up for the past month or so until I said to myself today “argh please…. just go ahead and move past this point!”
 

And what’s this fear I have nursed till now?  Posting YouTube Videos of myself!  

http://www.toonpool.com/user/3622/files/fear_is_our_life_partner_888385.jpg
 
Yah… seems pretty silly right?!  You might think so.  But for me, chatting into a camera and then putting myself out there is not so easy for me.  I am a pretty shy person – though you might not believe it – I had to work hard on that and I think I have done a pretty good job of masking it.  For me, words and pictures are much easier.
 
But anywayz, I had been nursing the idea of videos for a while now and did a few but just never summoned up the courage to post them.  Well… until I got a message from a Blackberry contact on how scared she was to start her fashion business despite learning the ropes in fashion school and knowing how to sew.  But for her, the major issue was her lack of confidence and the fear that customers would hate her work or she would mess up.
 
For me, from experience, the answer always seemed simple!  “Well you will actually never know if you will mess up or not until you try.  So just start and if you do bungle (which you definitely will since it happens to everyone), you will learn from it”.  
 
But alas!  I only realised it was not that simple when I started getting similar messages from other people.  I did advise them on how to start off but this inner voice kept saying to me: “here you are giving people advice when you are yet to face your fear”.
 
So I thought to myself, well rather than write about the topic, I’d shoot a video addressing it with my phone and post it.  That way I would have killed 2 birds with one stone! 😀
 
So here it is…. the very first You Tube Video of myself…..brrrrrrr….. (insert-chewing-on-my-nails-inwardly-extremely-nervous-covering-my-face-emoticon-in-here)……..
All shot and edited by me! 😀  Not bad right?!  I am so proud of myself.  Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it!

And yes!  Please encourage a sister by clicking subscribing to my Youtube Channel, clicking the “like button” under the video, commenting and sharing it with your friends.  It would really help since I plan to do this more often now.
 
Muchos gracias!  MWAH!  

Oh… PS:

You can get to the YouTube Channel through the video but just in case, My YouTube Channel is “Martwayne”.  It comes up when you search for it.
Forget the Customer! Around Here, the Product/Service Provider is King!

Forget the Customer! Around Here, the Product/Service Provider is King!

by | Jul 1, 2014 | Customer is King, Customer Service, Fashion Beyond Stitches

Happy New Month everyone!!!!!!  And welcome to the beginning of the 2nd quarter of 2014.  Goodness!  This year is going so very fast like you cannot even imagine!  But here is me hoping you had a great start…. even with the rain…  You know what they say… showers of blessings ushering in the 2nd half. 😀

Great!  On to my topic for today…

Original image in green (without the black text) culled from http://blog.mancx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/customer-king-graphic.png

Somehow, either the product or service providers have forgotten this simple fact, or we as a people are so guilty of over-hyping them for their products or services that they seem to have conveniently forgotten that without us, their businesses would not exist.  


Hardly any day passes that I do not hear about or read someone’s comments about being badly treated at the bank, the airport, some telecommunications company or even by their artisans.   I’m sure many of you have found yourselves in at least 3 of the following situations at some point in time or the other…

 
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qVb6nqvLoGI/TEmrChFub3I/AAAAAAAAABw/2usdhOatMr0/s400/Customer+Service_02.png

1.  You go to the bank and the customer services person or the lady behind the counter speaks to you (or someone else) in such a rude manner, you are left wondering if she does realise we are the ones paying her salary?  Or worse, you feel the need to patronise her or call her “Aunty” before she actually attends to you?!  This happens a lot, especially in banks that operate on the Mainland.    

OR 

2.  You ask for a job that is long overdue from one of your service providers, maybe your graphic artist or photographer, and he begins to act as if he is doing you a favour?  In fact, you have to cajole him to release your work despite the fact that you are paying for it.

OR 

3.  You get crap work from one of your vendors and when you insist on them doing the right thing, you are either insulted or made to feel like you are just being a pest for no reason.

OR 

4.  You want to make enquiries about a product or service you would like to buy and you begin with “Sorry, I hope I am not disturbing you…” or some other kind of apology. And this is sooooo common around here.  Why apologise when your enquiry will bring the person money?!  I can never understand that mindset.  

OR 

5.  You go to a supermarket and the lady at the till gives you a receipt without your change because it is only N25.  When you ask her for it, she tells you “I don’t have change, I’ll owe you.”  When you insist she finds the change, she throws you a dirty look and does not move an inch till she realises you actually plan to collect your change. 

http://smartcanucks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/the-loyalty-test-500×261.png

Yes this picture should be the norm but I have often found that around here, those of us who suffer the bad customer service choose to continue to “reward bad service with more patronage”.  Boycotting a certain company known for bad service does not really happen around here.  But then again the sad truth is that the competitor is probably not any better.  I am also guilty of this to be honest.  For example my telecoms service provider had been so horrid for the past few months, but I am yet to leave because the alternatives are not any better.  And we are soooo used to the so-called “Nigerian factor” (whatever that means) that noone expects anything to change.  

I find it pathetic really because it shows who we are as a people.  The concept of mutual respect is non-existent and one has to beg, bribe or tip someone to do their job.  And worse, we Nigerians seem to be so hostile to one another but seem to be nicer to foreigners.  I wonder why.  If only someone took the time to fill out a customer feedback form, perhaps things can change.  But then again, some might be worried that the staff would lose their job and then they would feel guilty!  Well what I say is perhaps the rude staff should have thought of that first!
But I do have some good stories to tell though…
I remember having a horrid meal at a top-notch restaurant on the Island once.  When the waiter asked me how the meal was, I told him point blank it was terrible.  My companion asked me why I said that and I told him because it was the truth.  Good thing I spoke up because guess what?!  The waiter passed on the message to the chef who gave both of us some lovely dessert “on the house” as a way of compensating for the bad meal we just had.  Now THAT is customer service!  
In another similar incident, I was served rotten fish and when I complained and asked for the plate to be changed to chicken, they served me yet another plate with the same rotten fish!  I was told the meal could not be changed to chicken because I had initially ordered for fish!  Because we had paid for the meal upfront (as was the policy), the waiters and chefs sneered at me and told me I did not have a choice, I had to either eat it or leave the meal.  Of course I did not plan to “leave it!” 

After yelling and holding up the queue, the owner, who happened to be a foreigner, came out, listened to my story and served me a completely different meal.  Furthermore, he kept checking on me every 5 minutes to see if I was happy with the meal.  THAT is also  good customer service.  

Now if those nasty waiters and chefs had recognised that the customer was king and spoken to me nicely, I might have “left it” and focused on the chips or something else.  But rather than resolve the issue amicably, they chose to intimidate me –  something we consumers face constantly – especially the tiny ones like us…

http://www.intelligentdialogue.com/images/call-centre-our-world-sized.jpg
I read this article on YNaija 2 days ago:

http://www.ynaija.com/why-goodluck-jonathan-is-the-president-we-deserve-ynaija-long-read/

Pretty controversial but some of the views expressed there, especially the story of the mechanic, happen on a daily basis.  Although the article is a bit different from the topic at hand, the sentiments are similar – how the people meant to serve us lord over us.  

But do I blame the leadership?  Nope.  I blame the average individual working in an organisation who chooses to treat the next individual with such disdain.  If such can happen in a small organisation  then what do we expect from the larger society?!

All I can say at this point is, if you work in a company, big or small and you have the habit of treating your customers like crap simply because you think you can, just remember the words of Henry Ford:

http://commentsmeme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Management-Quotes-6.png
Bigger companies around here who once had the best of services have crumbled.  I wonder where those nasty employees are now?!  I wish I could mention names but I’d rather not.  

Have a good month everyone!!!