Fashion designers must learn how to run businesses

• Says, it’s no longer enough to know how to cut and sew

By Vivian Onyebukwa

Agbeyo Yemisi Rhoda is the Founder of Rhoda Michaels Fashion Institute, Lagos. The institute, which was established about one and a half decades now, was born out of a need to solve Nigeria’s deep skills gap in fashion, she stated. She believes that a fashion graduate must be someone who can run a fashion business from top to bottom.

In this interview, she spoke on what it means to be a complete fashion designer. She also explained that fashion can contribute to the strength of any nation by increasing the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), just as every other business.

What inspired you to go into this aspect of fashion?

This side of fashion stems from the lack of skill sets in Nigeria. Currently, Nigeria has entered another dispensation of lack. You’ll find someone that can cut, sew, but you can’t find someone that can supervise, lead, or run all the different aspects of the supply chain. That’s why Rhoda Michaels puts in the work. Now we are in a generation of artificial intelligence. Every student here knows how to use AI. Most of the looks you saw at the graduation ceremony were sketched with AI. Most colour drafting and prompting, you have to learn. You are in 2026; it’s not enough to just cut and sew. Anybody can do that. What anybody can’t do is to run a business. At Rhoda Michaels we train you to run a business, even if it’s not yours. You would graduate as someone who can run a fashion business from top to bottom. If you can’t be an entrepreneur, you become an intrapreneur. That’s why students understand colour concepts, colour theory, and how to create a brand. They all go through mind evaluation and re-engineering of the mind. They confront their fears and discover their identity, because you can’t build anything without identity. To create, I need to know who I am. The first course every Rhoda Michaels student takes is- Who am I? My identity. Once you find who you are, you can look inwards and create. We don’t force anybody into any space. Whatever you want to do, you would do. Everybody here can sew a corset and draft average patterns because it’s compulsory. Pattern drafting requires mastering 26 to 27 different skirt adaptations. It’s a proper syllabus. After pattern drafting comes clothing construction, textiles, AI tech, fashion illustration, sketching, write-ups. Each step builds on the last. When you graduate, you decide whether you want to be a street wear designer or what. You start from conceptualisation to execution. If you can’t identify yourself, you can’t create anything authentic. Nobody creates your collection for you on runway day. If you cannot deliver, you cannot deliver. Some students don’t make it. Being certified by Rhoda Michaels is different from just attending. Our certificate carries weight. I sign references for global talent and universities abroad. If I append my signature, it must be something I can defend anywhere. Rhoda Michaels is a government- recognised vocational institute by Lagos State. Students can take NABTEB exams and technical certifications. We prepare students for the realities of life and the fashion industry.

What are some of the early challenges students face at RMFI?

First, people think it’s easy. When you enter Rhoda Michaels Fashion Institute, you face factory week- 40 stitches in five days. It shakes your foundation. You quickly learn you can’t just come and go. Cutting and sewing is the least of it-maybe 10 per cent. The remaining 90 per cent is running the business. Before you run a brand, you must be hireable. You need the four C’s: Creative thinking, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. You study your personality, then your customer’s personality through personas. You want to be a luxury designer but wear fake, can’t spell the brand name, don’t know their headquarters, never watched a fashion show. Impossible. Creation must come from your core.

Another challenge is knowledge deficit. Many entrants can’t name the four fashion seasons or 50 designers. At Rhoda Michaels you must study 50 global designers, 50 African designers, 50 Nigerian designers. You can’t give what you don’t have. If it’s not in you, it’s not in you. All designs you saw at the graduation ceremony are anchored on something inside the creator. If nothing is inside, nothing comes out. Students must research, gather information. This generation wants everything instant on social media. Social media is your tool. Find your first 10 customers. That’s sales. Whatever you design is just a product. Somebody must buy it for you to be in business. Sales must happen before profit. Rhoda Michaels students understand margins, sales, and profit. That’s the main thing. Anybody can cut and sew for you. You can outsource to Turkey tomorrow. What nobody can give you is common sense and business acumen. We give you a mini Masters in Business Administration (MBA). That’s what separates Rhoda Michaels from roadside fashion training. We send you fabric sourcing and leave you in the market to figure it out with Google and Chat GPT. You must learn colour theory, complementary, analogous, everything.

What is the secret behind the brand Rhoda Michaels?

The Holy Spirit. That’s where my wisdom comes from. I’m not ashamed of my faith. Identity is everything. I know who I am. I know my purpose. I live in my essence and aura. That’s what we teach: you are special, your voice is valid. Listen to yourself.

We birth excellence. Background, language, tribe, none of that matters here. We teach in English, French, Yoruba, Pidgin. Students from Liberia, Cameroon, local women who never went to school, everybody learns AI, business. Human capacity is limitless when you face it.

How can fashion contribute to the country’s economic growth?

Fashion contributes to economic growth the same way every small business does. When small businesses thrive, GDP grows. The strength of any nation is how well it supports small businesses.

What are some of the challenges faced in the fashion industry?

Every business has challenges- no light, high costs, whatever. You work with what you have and create the best possible. Stop lamenting; find solutions.

How can the government support the industry?

Anything I don’t have direct solutions for and I’m not part of creating the solution, I don’t discuss it. One day we’ll be 100 graduates, next day 500.

What’s your advice to the 2025 graduants of RMFI?

Take your time, build right, build well. You’re not dying tomorrow. Stay connected to your identity and your essence. Some journeys take five years, others ten. Glory in yours. Don’t rush into entrepreneurship. Go and work for someone first. Let them send you on errands, wear their jackets, learn the system for one or two years. We place students for practical experience. When they return, they are ready. Entrepreneurship is a mad man’s game. You cannot be normal to choose it. You fail, fail, fail, stand up, keep moving. I tell them- fail fast, rise faster, never stop.