Akindele, Nigerian young entrepreneur taking on the fashion industry

This week, we’ll be looking at two young Nigerian entrepreneurs, Akintola Akindele and Saheed Adepoju, and what made them successful. There’s also a success story from a young American entrepreneur, Derek Pacqué, plus why this African American businesswoman, Indigo Johnson, stopped firing her employees. Read on, you may find what you’re looking for. Cheers.
Akintola Akindele is a 26-year-old business administration graduate and the founder of Bandit Urban Clothing – a relatively new, youthful fashion brand in Nigeria. Akindele got the inspiration to start his clothing company from the desire to create something different from what’s the norm, he said in an interview.
How did he go about getting his initial financing? He got it from personal savings, friends and family. Last year, an aunt invested in the business, making it possible to move production to China, where other top brands all over the world get their production done, majorly because he wants his products to maintain their international standards.
He believes that his competitive advantage lays in the quality of his company’s products, which are of top notch and, of international standard.
For those interested in starting a business in the fashion industry, Akindele said there are abundant opportunities in the Nigerian fashion industry. “Think of the employment potential from models to make-up artists, cobblers, jewellers – high end and urban fashion. And it’s still growing and evolving especially since my sub-sector of the industry, that’s urban fashion, was not so popular. I guess most folks do not believe that Nigerians will patronise indigenous brands and pay good money for their work. Well we are here to challenge that notion.”
As a way of advising the would-be entrepreneurs out there, Akindele believes that a Nigerian youth does not possess the quality of “conservatism and cowardice,” attributed to youths from other culture. “We are creative and resilient, so all you have to do is believe in yourself because there will be times that it’s that self belief that will keep you going until victory is yours.”
Bandit Urban Clothing is an indigenous clothing company with a global outlook. The company deals in everything that is urban clothing from tees to polos, under garments, shorts, casual shirts, casual shoes, among others.