‘Minuel Faleti Designs’ Is BoI’s Good Tidings From Mushin, Lagos
ANGEL JAMES
Bank of Industry (BoI) has many success stories and one of them is Faleti Olumide Emmanuel, a Mushin-bred Shoe manufacturer. He is nurtured by the industrial bank, and today stands as one of the testimonies of its entrepreneurship scheme.
Faleti Olumide Emmanuel is the CEO of Minuel Faleti Designs, a fashion accessory company that manufactures high-end leather shoes. A graduate of Business Administration from Les Course Sonou University in Cotonou, Benin Republic, Emmanuel ventured into leather works after his secondary school at a very tender age. The inspiration came from Mushin in Lagos where he saw several, doing wonders with leather.
Emmanuel, in his efforts at solving a personal problem, looked to shoemaking and gradually, the passion grew. He summoned courage in 2010 and started Mide Collection Master Customizer (MCMC) during his school days with meager savings. The business which has now grown beyond his imagination is now Minuel Faleti Designs, the name by which it is known today. He is lucky to be able to combine study with business, and triumphing where many had failed.
The breather came his way in 2015 during his NYSC program in Lagos when he was exposed to the Graduate Entrepreneurship Scheme (GES) of the Bank of Industry (BoI) during an NYSC entrepreneurship training. Emmanuel got a N1.2million loan, and has since, kept moving.
“The motivation came when I started to solve a personal problem. When I was younger, I was always damaging the shoes gotten for me by my mom. Then i made inquiries from friends who knew how to make shoes, and from trial and error, I try to make sandals for myself to play football. In addition, i took some Online courses on shoemaking and perfection started to come”.
Today, Emmanuel has eight employees in his factory at Mushin, Lagos and his brand made out of local raw materials, is now in the West African market.
“The Minuel Brand is a beneficiary of Bank of Industry entrepreneur scheme and, i have since then, reinvested capital to expand the business”.
Minuel Faleti Designs is now out of the charity stage, and now moving to the matured level, buoyed by several skill updating programs that he is exposed to.
The long term plan now, is to have Minuel Brand compete with others from other parts of the world just as “Armani has been able to sit at the epic center of commerce everywhere in the world’.
“Competition is healthy because it enhances creativity and fosters innovation,” he said and since everyone in the industry wants to create a mark, Emmanuel believes his edge over his competitors will stand him out. “We have a winning mentality, and our leather is a (lethal) weapon” Faleti says
The major constraint is the inability to access some raw materials that would have helped to create some attractive designs. This has limited him to improvising, using what is available.
For Emmanuel, resilience, and discipline have kept him going in the business
“Starting a business is easy but going through is quite challenging. I could remember sacrificing profit in the business to make quality shoes. Quality control is key. I would not sacrifice quality for quantity because Minuel manufactures quality shoes. We exist by maintaining our core values and it takes discipline to stay committed to one’s initial plan without compromising”.
For being where he is, he is blessed with committed staff whom he describes as die-hards who believe in the brand. He advised that people should have a business model, create a feasibility study and learn to start small.
Follow Faleti Olumide Emmanuel
Instagram: @minuelfaleti
Twitter: @minuelfaleti
Facebook: OLUMIDE MINUEL FALETI
Comments are closed.