African fashion is the in thing and it is always a pleasure to see more African women giving their own definition to fashion and putting the continent on the map.
Anna Cole Ojukwu had watched her mother design and manufacture dresses throughout her childhood and she knew this was what she wanted to do. However, the fear of how to start and what people will say hindered her from starting the business.
After so much pressure from family members, she started making dresses and moved to creating statement neckpieces, with her first beads collection’ Grandeur.’ She hasn’t looked back ever since.
Her company, Pernia Couture uses African beads and other beads to design and manufacture ladies’ accessories like neck pieces, bags, slippers. They also transform different types of African prints into beautiful ladies clothes.
Their products are unique, fashion forward and African inspired.
Her dream is to build her brand into a fashion empire, having showrooms all over the world. Anna also hopes to train more women to be resourceful and help them start up their businesses.
We love her advice to entrepreneurs, “Start, no matter how small. Don’t sit down waiting for a very huge amount of capital because you might not have it, but starting small will rather let people around you see how determined you are and might push them to invest into your business.”
