Our Ready-To-Wear, Bespoke Services In Fashion Are Second To None—Georgina, CEO, Creative Fashion Academy

Our Ready-To-Wear, Bespoke Services In Fashion Are Second To None

In this interview with OpenLife Magazine’s Staff Writer, Isaac Ngumah, the director of Creative Success Fashion Academy and the creative director of Georgie Myrak fashion brand, Ehiemere Ngozi Georgina, explains how her fashion products are the first choice for all end users

Please, an insight into your background?
I am Ehiemere Ngozi Georgina. A fashion tutor and entrepreneur. I am the director of Creative Success Fashion Academy and the creative director of Georgie Myrak fashion brand which is the garment production arm of the business.
What did you train on ?
I train females fashion design, garment production / construction, pattern drafting, fashion illustration, business of fashion, fabric manipulation and embellishment.
How long have you been in the business?
I was born into the fashion world. My mum had a successful fashion and catering training center. However I delved into the business fully September 1996 when my elder sister launched her own brand and I had to assist and eventually run it with her.
Tell us about your business growth.
I started my own brand after my NYSC when I relocated to Owerri to join my hubby. I was getting orders from people who liked what I wore and since I was still waiting to get a job of my dreams.
I eventually decided to continue with it till after childbirth and here I am 16 years later loving every bit of what I do and the impact. I’ve grown from the machine my mum gifted me to more than 22 machines and have trained more than 170 people till date.
What are your challenges in business?
Power and funding . The fashion industry is fast paced and requires funding at specific stages to be able to break even.
Power I will say is the biggest problem. Most machines operate with electricity. Depending on generator will increase production cost and may affect the profit margin.
Can you tell us about your customer relations services?
For now, we do mostly on sight training. We try to understand the talents and learning abilities of each trainee and nuture it.
We also render ready-to-wear and bespoke services as well as consultation to fashion entrepreneurs.
What do you want the government to do to support the fashion industry?
They should improve on power. This alone will go a long way and also attract investors. They should make favorable policies and provide good infrastructure.
Financial support in terms of loans and grants will be helpful too.
What do you think about using bank loan to start business and how the challenges can be solved?
I do not subscribe to starting a business with bank loan. You can grow your business with the loan not start with loan.
One must have a strong understanding of your financials to know if you need a loan, when you need the loan and how much exactly you need in your business.
What can the government do to solve some of the challenges of loan?
Like I said earlier, grants and loans can be given to fashion entrepreneurs to help them grow.
Can you tell us about your success story?
It has been steady growth for us. Initially we concentrated on producing clothes only , right now our academy has grown massively.
When I started the academy, it was all about teaching how to sew. As time went on, I realized that there was more and I went for countless trainings and upgrades. I also partnered with professionals to get it right.
Every step was intentional and enabled by God.
Recently we are passionately working on getting sponsors and partners who can work with us to provide scholarships and support to talented people who can not afford to enroll.
So far we’ve have been doing this on our own from our 2nd session and we usually have two sessions each year since 2014 that the academy started.
We hope to have government NGO’s and private sponsorship.