Zainab Ashadu is the Founder & Creative Director at Zashadu, a leading Nigerian sustainable luxury brand that specializes in hand-crafted leather handbags, shoes and accessories. Since childhood, Zainab has had a passion for vintage handbags and was always thrilled at the idea of bags lasting as long as 40 years.
On episode 12 of Binging with GameChangers, Zainab chats with show host, Seyi Banigbe, about how this passion led her to creating her own leather brand, Zashadu, which now produces an average of 700 bags annually, has a staff strength of about 30 people and retails in Nigeria and boutiques in London, Paris, South Africa and more.
She narrates how she travelled all the way to Kano to get her hands on the finest leather and how getting hands-on experience during apprenticeship gave her the further insight she needed to start her business. Zainab also reveals that she didn’t have funding challenges because she did not start her business formally. She started “informally” by creating a piece, selling the piece, and putting the money back into the business.
Interestingly, she sources all her leather from Kano and python skin from snake farms in Sokoto. Zainab recently made a new collection debut at the New York Fashion Week.
Here are lessons we took home from this episode
- Growth is a continuous process; as an entrepreneur you can never stop learning and beating your “A” game.
- Networking and relationships are important in building a business.
- Be open minded especially for those in the creative industry.
- Your staff are human beings! Listen to them, train them, they are important to you and your business.
- Let something about your brand stand out, be known for something, have a niche!
Watch episode 12 of Binging with GameChangers here:
The show is currently airing online as well as
on Africa Magic Family, NTA Network, STV, LTV, MYtv and NTA2. You can visit
@thebwgshow on all social media for more details.
For more information, visit:
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