Rosemary’s Exquisite Designs Are Making Women More Graceful, Stylish
Once upon a time, precisely 1970s through 1980s, Nigeria was home to Africa’s largest textile industry. Popular names like Aswani in Lagos, Shokaz in Ijebu Igbo were among the over 180 textile mills that engaged over 450,000 people representing about 25 per cent of the workforce of the entire manufacturing industry.
Nigeria’s huge population and the merrymaking traits of the people in the southern part of the country, where Aso-Ebi has always been trendy provided the market and made the textile industry, one of the big income earners, that trailed the oil and gas sector then. That was also the era that marked out popular Fashion brands like, Nikky Africana, Dakova Designs and Vivid Imagination to mention a few.
As civilisation is further entrenched, Nigerians taste changed and preferences shifted to foreign textile and garments. This situation encouraged smugglings of garments into the country, and together with the high costs of electricity, and poor access to finance, the investors in the textile industry lost the swagger, and today, only 25 firms remain in operation, working at below 20 per cent production capacity with less than 20,000 workers.
The sector that was once, a high-flying is now crawling, while its only legacy is the empty factories that have now been turned to worship centres by religious bodies.
On the 5th March, the Nigerian Central Bank stepped in to stem the tide and the restriction of foreign exchange to importers of textiles and other clothing materials by the Apex bank is the measure that has now saved the moribund textile sector, and restoring it so that it can once again, creates jobs, and keeps within the economy, over $4 billion that Nigerians spent annually on imported textiles and ready-made clothing.
The CBN’s new policy for the textile sector came on the heel of the border-closure, and it redirects Nigerians to look inwards for their textile and fashion needs. The policy also helped to open a big window of opportunity for the numerous local fashion firms to bring forth, initiatives to win Nigerians over again.
One of the beneficiaries of the new era that was ushered into the industry by the CBN’s policy on textile and garment is Rosemary Onyoyibo Akwashiki.
Born into a business-oriented family of the popular Idokos in Markurdi, Benue state, garment making got the better of Rosemary at a tender age. “I got influenced by watching my mum when I was as young as 6years. As a little girl, I often tried, using my mums’ sewing and knitting machines to explore my budding talent”.
“As I grew older, I tried to study fashion professionally but didn’t have the time until 2014 when I enrolled at a fashion school to study pattern making, garment construction and fashion design for 18 months”.
Rosemary in 2016, put the tutorials at the Fashion school to practice at a partnership venture called “Abada”, but the idea with a colleague went sour, and “Abada” went under after two years.
Although Abada is forgotten today, the experiences were the launch-pad for Rosemary to go solo, and today, the owner of Rosemary Akwashiki Ltd, that is into using local fabrics like Adire to create different designs, and Ashezee, a bespoke tailoring services and fashion school that engage in bulk tailoring services and also develop talents in garment making.
“Ashezee” was derived from my daughter’s name “Ashezi” which means ‘Pretty Woman’ amongst the Eggon speaking tribe in Nasarawa State. The name was a perfect choice because I believe every woman is beautiful and I am to portray that in every design I create”.
With these two initiatives, Rosemary has reversed “Onyoyibo”, her middle name which means “the wife of a white man” and, rather decided to lord her wishes over Whitemen, and making them fall in love with her products. This is in fulfilment of her vision to create a global brand that inspires creativity while connecting the African continent to the world through fashion.
This also inspired her to make a difference in an industry as saturated and tasking as Fashion, and this perhaps, is the reason for the Rosemary Akwashiki Ready to Wear Line that is the outcome of the experience she garnered at the Fashion School.
That is not all, she also has her hands in Oora Gold Resource, a food production company which she founded in 2016 that is into the production of coconut oil, coconut flour and coconut chips.
Charting a business under the current economic realities in Nigeria is highly tasking but more demanding especially when one has to cordinate many ventures.
“Juggling my businesses with motherhood is not exactly an easy task. In the early years, I was constantly filled with self-doubt and sometimes wondered what I had gotten myself into. However, a practice they say makes perfect and both Ashezee and Rosemary Akwashiki have so far been the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have done both for over 10 years now and would say I have managed to balance it out”, said the mother of two.
Design is intelligence made visible at Rosemary Akwashiki where the Ready to Wear Line showcases intelligence and creativity. If Rosemary, a mass-communication graduate with a brief stint in journalism and later ICT and the financial services sector is driven by her passion for fashion, creating jobs is another driver for her. It is inborn in a family with entrepreneurial tendencies.
“I was born into a family where both parents were entrepreneurs. I watched my Dad grow his private medical practice over the years, creating employment and offering lots of people in my home state, a decent source of livelihood. I wanted to do the same if given the opportunity. After years of working in the ICT and Financial sector, I knew it was time for me to launch out and pursue my first love which was fashion. This would give me the opportunity to fulfil my desires for creating employment as well as pursuing a passion.
Rosemary does not see fashion as ostentatious, “Because not everyone likes to look flashy and flamboyant all the time” and she cites Rosemary Akwashiki brand which she said is versatile, trendy, classy and internationally suitable, using Adire fabrics in various unique textures.
“Our pieces are timeless; hence they will always have a modern look and feel, for acceptability both locally and internationally. These outfits appear very subtle and have a welcoming feel which exhibits inner strength and boldness in the elegance of the women wearing them and does not need our clients to be ostentatious”, she avowed.
As indigenous fabrics gained prominence amongst Nigerian for being used to create internationally suitable outfits, Rosemary leveraged on its demand to build her clothing brand using Adire, a traditional cotton fabric, chiffon, silk, viscose amongst other textiles that are being turned into different designs.
Experiences garnered from working in the corporate world have shaped Rosemary’s perception of how a business is run. The business structures, standard operational processes, periodic staff training, and emphasis on customer service have provided the edge in the competitive industry.
“I shifted my focus from offering bespoke tailoring services to producing mostly lounge ready to wear outfits because people had to work from home and wanted suitable outfits for that purpose. I also offer sewing and entrepreneurship programme for kids to keep them occupied when their parents had to return back to work” she said.
Fashion is an international business and the appreciation of Nigerian designs by foreigners has helped the demand for local brands to soar. Many Nigerian brands have received recognition globally and this has opened doors to more opportunities. Acceptability and demand for African prints have continued to increase with many international designers e.g Dior and Stella McCarthy coming up with Ankara collections. Also, international celebrities like Beyonce, Rihanna and many more have caught the bug of African designs.
The advent of online market or e-commerce has turned the world into a global village and impacted greatly on Nigerian brands and this has helped the foray of Rosemary Akwashiki brand into Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada markets and of course, having a stronghold on Nigerians.
Rosemary and many others in the business are still challenged by inadequate or lack of raw materials for their works and which always have an effect on the final cost.
“Accessing raw materials has continuously proven to be challenging. We largely have to depend on imported materials which are quite expensive and the frequent changes in forex rates has an adverse effect as well”, noted Rosemary, whose efforts have now been recognised with an export certificate from the Nigeria Export Promotion Commission (NEPC) to display its potentials outside Nigerian shores.
You can follow her on instagram:: @rosemary.akwashiki @ashezees @ooragoldcoconuts Or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ rosemaryakwashikibrand, www.facebook.com/Ashezees www.facebook.com/ooragoldcoconuts
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