A splash of fashion sunshine

Bubbly Naomi Kimani, 28, left employment to indulge her love for colourful African fashion and her need to spend time with her family. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • While she worked, her dream was to have the top job in marketing – and she was working towards it.
  • Then, one Sunday two years ago, she overheard her worship team at the ACK church in Ndenderu, Kiambu, asking about a designer for their uniform.
  • “Thinking of making an extra shilling on the side I offered to do it for them,” she says.

Propped on the walls of Naomi’s store, which is on the second floor of a building in Nairobi’s central business district, are splashes of fabric in orange, green, yellow and shades of red. She clearly loves colour. Her personality is just as sunny. She is a convincing sales person. “I can sell underwear to a nudist,” she jokes.

Because of her personality, she thrived in her sales career for five years. She met her sales targets and moved up the ladder from being a sales executive to an accounts manager. But she was barely home, leaving the house at 5am and coming back sometimes as late as 9pm to find her three-year-old daughter asleep. “I thought that this is the sacrifice that all working mothers make so I kept at it.”

Naomi has always loved fashion but with no time to fully feed her creative impulses, she would design clothes for her family and friends on the weekends. “I want people to look good. I am that friend who is always telling you not to wear that dress to a wedding or not to wear that top with those shoes. I taught myself to stitch from a tailor friend,” she says.

ALTERING THE COURSE OF HER LIFE

While she worked, her dream was to have the top job in marketing – and she was working towards it. Then, one Sunday two years ago, she overheard her worship team at the ACK church in Ndenderu, Kiambu, asking about a designer for their uniform.

“Thinking of making an extra shilling on the side I offered to do it for them,” she says.

She made Sh15,000 from this job. Her satisfied clients began spreading the word and she began getting orders. “In just a few months, I was making more from my side hustle than I was from my job. One day, towards the end of 2015, I went to work and gave my notice of resignation.”

Her husband, Eli John, who knew first-hand how dedicated to her job she was, was in shock. “Are you sure?” he kept asking her.

She was sure that the time she was putting in at work and the moments she was missing out on with her family were not worth the money she was getting out of it. Soon after quitting, she used her savings to put up a shop, buy machines and hire a hand to help her with her business.

“That was when I realised that I did not have an actual plan for my business. I knew I wanted to design clothes but I did not really have a plan.”

She decided to go with her gut and do what she most enjoyed making – African wear. “Most of the clothes being worn on our streets are imports. While I can’t change that, I can do my part by making the people on my client list warm up to Ankara and other African designs,” she says.

LEARNING FROM HER MISTAKES

Her journey hasn’t been without mistakes. Her biggest ones were financial. “I remember being so excited when I started getting orders that I just spent money without asking for deposits. This cost me a lot. I would have all these unclaimed clothes lying around which I had to count as losses because clients hadn’t made a financial commitment.” After years of being salaried, it also took her months to properly manage her finances, separating the capital from the profits.

Now it’s all working out. “My biggest clients are families seeking matching outfits,” she says. “Generally, men are easier than women to work with. They come in knowing exactly what they want. They are not fussy.”

The bigger picture for her is a fully fledged fashion house with its own models and platform to showcase her designs. While she is happy doing business, she admits that there have been times along the way when she felt like giving up.

“I keep going because I know that even if I go back to employment, it will not be long before I feel dissatisfied with it and I will want to start a business. So why not work on this one that is already off the ground?”

Her passion for business has also rubbed off on a friend of hers, Grace Ng’ang’a, who we meet at the store during the interview. Naomi’s success in business had inspired Grace, a trainee public relations officer, to quit employment to begin a business.

“I am selling second hand clothes in bulk. It’s still early days but Naomi has made it. I think I can too,” she says.

 

NAOMI’S WORDS OF WISDOM          

 You will not break even in the first month; you will need to be patient.

 One needs to believe in something; her faith is in God.

 She lets her sunny personality complement her business. She reckons that you can’t fully separate yourself from your business.