By Damilola Fatunmise
Wife and mother of four beautiful children, Grace Ojie-Chukwuka loves it when women dress to the nines.
According to her, the passion of adding beauty and unique look to women made her to fully go into the business of fashion design.
Therefore, to add a different and unique touch to her designs, she established a fashion brand known as ‘Aceking Fashion Design’ a few years ago.
When it comes to branding, Ojie-Chukwuka could be described as resourceful having formed her business name, ‘Aceking’ from the last three alphabets of her first name, ‘Grace’ and her husband, who she likened to a king.
She explained: “To arrive at Aceking, I took the last three alphabets of my first name, Grace – that is ‘ace’ and add to it ‘king’, which refers to my husband as my king,”
In deed, to Ojie-Chukwuka, fashion is the style and trend of clothing, accessories, make up, and even hairstyles. “Fashion can be influenced by so many things like culture, socio-economic status, climate and historical events, as fashion is not limited to clothing alone,” she said.
Being an industrious and fashion conscious woman, Ojie-Chukwuka’s favourite styles are the traditional wears and native dresses made with Ankara, Aso-oke, and laces etc. “Traditional dresses are my favourites because they speak more of my origin and add beauty to the black skin. What I will not be caught wearing are transparent wears. I do tell my clients that the clothes I love making are those that cover the woman’s sensitive parts,” the God fearing fashionista noted.
With Masters in Human Resources Management and Business Psychology respectively, the fashion entrepreneur is adequately equipped with knowledge and understanding of business and customer relations. To this end, all these vital assets always reflect in the way she handles difficult clients.
“Dealing with difficult clients is not an easy task, but with effective communication and a solution-oriented mindset, the problem of handling difficult task is solved. As a fashion expert, I understand the importance of delivering high-quality work in ensuring client’s satisfaction.
“Although, my clients are peace-loving people, even the most difficult ones that I have ever encountered at the end of the day became my best clients. I show my clients love, make my office conducive for them. I give listening ears to their opinions and I encourage them to always speak up and vent their anger when there is need for it.”
As a fashion designer, Ojie-Chukwuka has had some memorable experiences. But one of her unpleasant encounters was when a client asked her to urgently make a dress for her.
“I tried all I could to meet up with the time, and I didn’t disappoint her. But the challenge I encountered was difficulty getting the exact colour she chose. I tried all I could but to no avail. That made me sad that I could not satisfy my client,” she lamented.
However, what challenges does Ojie-Chukwuka face as a fashion entrepreneur in Nigeria? Her response: “Fashion entrepreneurs in Nigeria face lots of challenges and these are unique to our industry and locations. But we believe these problems present opportunities that will enable us innovate and create solutions that will help elevate the Nigerian fashion industry and move our brands onto a global pedestal.
“One of the challenges being faced is a lack of infrastructure, especially in electricity, and the people that are most affected are those in manufacturing and distribution. There is a lack of sufficient power supply, which delays our work and makes cost to increase due to the use of generator and solar system. In addition, there is scarcity of skilled labour and modern equipment, which causes the quality of our products sometimes to be devalued.
“Another challenge is the poor transport system and bad roads. Also, the fashion business is not recognised, and it lacks the support of the government. But in all these, we are more than conqueror. We believe that our ability to navigate and overcome these challenges demonstrates our resilience, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit,” she stressed.