My Startup Story: How I Started a Multimillion Naira Business With N6,000

2016 was the year the Naira crashed against every currency known to man and Nigerians everywhere switched focus and conversations to “how to earn dizz dollazzz pleaxxx??’ and my household wasn't an exception. My husband and I had done our household budget for the year and as the true mother hen that I am, I panicked and said to him, “WE NEED TO SPEND LESS…” but as the true Igbo man that he is he replied with “WONZ WE NEED TO EARN MORE”. So we embarked on OPERATION ‘What to export so we can earn dollars’. From palm oil to tomato paste, African inspired flip flops to fantasy sports (we eventually embarked on the fantasy sports but that is another story), we would sit down every evening with our cuppas bouncing ideas and analysing them critically. It was good bonding in hindsight but don't tell him that … lol.

In June, one of my sisters - a photographer who lives in Saudi Arabia - had come to Lagos to do a 30-day trip around Nigeria. Naturally, she was on the look out for gems and interesting trinkets to take back with her. She found this darling crocodile skin satchel in Kano and was so excited to take it back to Saudi to show off to her princess friends! At this point, my husbands business antennas begun to tingle and he started to ask questions about their spending patterns and how much they'll be willing to pay for croc skin bags. That night, Apàárt was born.

It pains me to admit that my husband came up with the name and even the idea for the logo. He will never let me live it down and now insists that I refer to him as the creative one. While we were name-storming, he said with conviction, “let’s call it APA-ART”. ‘Akpa’ means ‘bag’ in Igbo (and incidentally ‘arm’ in Yoruba) and ART because bag making IS an art and we had the long-term view of working with talented artists - creating a new canvas for them and giving our customers the opportunity to flaunt their “piece of art” everywhere they go.

The logo also derived from the ancient Nsibidi script of Eastern Nigeria - we were really keen on showcasing NIGERIA to the world - our art, our craft and our history. I have started practicing my speech for when we are featured on African voices with artsy fartsy terms like juxtapose and abstract expressionism #noshameinmygame.

Onto the bag making proper - the first thing we did was research - as we wanted to enter an new market, we needed to know everything about how to design and make bags, how to source skins and where to make the bags. I remember calling another Nigerian female bag designer to ask for advice and information which she gave SO WILLINGLY #womensupportingwomen. We started work visiting the craft and leather markets in Lagos until we developed relationships with bag makers. We made our first sample which was a hot mess but my mum seems to love it and she bought it! That was our first sale. At the time, we weren't convinced about the product because she was my mother after all! We went back in with all the money from the sale and produced two bags - a much better attempt! We saw the mistakes we made and came back better. We took pictures and sent to all our close friends and family and sold both bags immediately. Shout out to Oby and Funke who told their friends who told their friends who told their friends … !!!

Now we had a business going but we wanted to keep our operations lean and spending at a minimum till we were able to get market acceptance and solid proof of concept. We kept costs low by not having in-house bag makers and no worries about space and diesel. This has its ups and downs but it made sense at the time to start off that way. We decided on a Just-In-Time (JIT) model and produced based on orders providing exclusivity for our brand.

In part 2 of this 3 part series, I'll be sharing our first big break, the power of influencer marketing and social media.

Until then...Keep winning!!

Wonuola Okoye

Principal Coach

Big Startup