We Are Striving To Make Everyone Wear Neopele Concept Designs—Pele

<p><em>We are striving to bring everyone on board<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>Okoro Nduka Emmanuel Pele&comma; the Chief Executive Officer of Neopele Concept Ltd attended Ogene Primary School&comma; Ndokwa East Local Government&comma; Delta State&period; He went further to obtain his school certificate in 1995 and a degree in Environmental Engineering at the University of Port Harcourt in 2007&period; The fashion expert served in Bayelsa State between 2008 and 2009&period; In this interview with <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife’s<&sol;a> Staff Writer&comma; Isaac Ngumah&comma; he talks about his success story<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How did your foray into fashion start&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I was with my mum in Lagos and I actually wanted to learn the different skills before I would write Jamb and enter into the higher institution&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Then&comma; my mum said I should go into tailoring&period; I refused&comma; complaining that the whole members of my household are tailors&period; So I don’t want to go into tailoring again&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;They registered me in an air conditioning and refrigeration company along <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Apapa Road<&sol;a> in Lagos&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I was there for over a year and a half and I discovered that wasn&&num;8217&semi;t my passion at all&period; So I had to stop and came back to Warri to meet my uncle&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;My uncle is a renowned tailor and I started learning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What impacts have you made so far through this venture&quest;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;One of the major impacts is bringing up young designers to stand on their own&period; Another impact is that I have been able to extend my work and designs to as many designers in Nigeria as you can count&period; For instance&comma; if you go to any tailor right now in entire Nigeria&comma; there is nobody that does not have the picture of the work I created&period; Young tailors don’t go back to catalogues anymore&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;There are other many impacts like creating employment&comma; contributing to the GDP and of course&comma; making people look good&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How long have you been in the business now&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I have been in the industry for 11 years&period; I started in 2010&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What are your challenges in the business&quest;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;There are so many challenges in this business&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Electricity is the major one&period; This business thrives on power in sewing&comma; ironing&comma; etc&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The cost of materials is also another challenge&period; We try as much as possible to moderate our price so that we can retain our customers&period; Customers want to look good always but the cost of materials which are mostly imported is a challenge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Where have you showcased your designs&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I started showcasing my designs in the year 2016 at the African Fashion Week&period; It was held at Eko Hotel and the National Theatre&comma; Lagos&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I have also showcased at African Fashion Week London in 2017 as well as in Ghana&comma; Ethiopia&comma; Rwanda&comma; France and many others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What is your business target&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is an Indigenous brand and we are believing God that before the next five years&comma; our brand Neopele Concept will be a household name and will become a choice to human beings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;