Banke Kuku's extraordinary transformation from textile designer to luxury fashion entrepreneur offers a masterclass in creative evolution and business resilience. After honing her craft at prestigious institutions like Central Saint Martins and Chelsea College of Arts, Banke's journey took an unexpected turn when customers began requesting to wear her vibrant prints rather than just display them as home décor.
What followed was a remarkable story of adaptation and growth. Having launched her fashion line just months before the pandemic, Banke faced what could have been a business-ending disruption. Instead, she quickly pivoted to online sales, discovering that her colorful, joy-filled designs resonated deeply with customers seeking brightness during dark times. This pivot not only saved her business but fueled its expansion from a team of five to approximately 45 people today.
At the heart of Banke's brand is storytelling through design. Her prints draw inspiration from Nigeria's rich natural environment, challenging stereotypes and showcasing the country's beauty. "Not everything in Nigeria is concrete," she notes, explaining how her work educates people to see her homeland differently. This commitment to positive representation extends beyond fashion through her initiative "Prints for Purpose," supporting environmental conservation and community development.
The Banke Kuku brand now enjoys global reach with stockists across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Her collaborations with celebrities like Gabrielle Union highlight how African designers can build international luxury brands while maintaining authentic cultural connections. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Banke offers simple yet powerful advice: be patient and consistent. As she reminds us, "Good work takes time," especially when weaving dreams into reality.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
With more female entrepreneurs than any other
region in the world.
Women are at the heart ofAfrica's transformation.
Welcome to African BusinessStories, the show that amplifies
the voices of femaleentrepreneurs shaping Africa's
business landscape.
I'm your host, ekego Koye.
Here we explore bold ideas,strategies for scaling and the
(00:25):
realities of building businessesthat drive economic development
.
These stories will provideinsights into Africa's business
landscape, practical tools forgrowth and the inspiration to
navigate your ownentrepreneurial journey.
Be sure to subscribe, rate andshare.
Neural journey.
(00:50):
Be sure to subscribe, rate andshare On the show.
Today I chat with Bankia Kuku,founder and creative director of
the luxury fashion brand,bankia Kuku.
Born in Lagos and raisedbetween Nigeria and England,
bankia studied at the CentralSaint Martins and Chelsea
College of Arts before launchingher career in textile design.
She worked with African andinternational brands before
(01:11):
transitioning into fashion andestablishing her brand.
We talk about her journey fromtextiles to building a thriving
luxury fashion brand, how shenavigated the challenges of
COVID-19 and the importance ofsustainability and social impact
through her initiative Princefor Purpose.
She also shares insights oncollaborating with global brands
(01:34):
like Gabbro Union and MoetChandon and scaling a business
from Africa to the world.
It's a conversation aboutcreativity and the future of
African luxury fashion.
Let's get into it.
Hi Banker, welcome to AfricanBusiness Stories.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Hi, so good to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
Awesome, are you in Lagos atthe moment?
I am.
I'm in Lagos.
It's pretty sunny over heretoday.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Oh, that's good.
It's been very wet over here,so I miss the sunshine.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I'm sending you sunshine from Lagos.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Thank you, thank you so much Talking about Lagos.
I know you were born and raisedin Lagos.
Yes, I know Lagos pretty well.
So was that on the mainland oron the island?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So I was born in my father's hospital, echo Hospital
, and that was at the time thatwas in Surulere, and then we
moved to Ikeja, so it was on themainland and I went to school
around.
I went to school in Ikeja aswell.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Oh, so it was in.
I remember the building inGiaire, so it was in Surulere at
first.
Yes, oh, I see.
So just talking about childhood, are there any fun childhood
memories that have stayed withyou over the years?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh, so many.
I loved growing up in Lagos.
I had such great friends and myfamily were always around.
I had I'm an animal lover and Ihad a cat and then the cat had
kittens and the kittens hadkittens and I ended up having 20
something kittens or cats in myhouse.
Yes, and we used to feed thembecause you know, sometimes the
(03:11):
mother would die or something.
So we I used to get my mom'scontact lens solution.
Empty it out.
It comes in those little tinybottles.
Empty it out and I'll mix somemilk, because then we had
powdered milk, so I'll mix somemilk, because then we had
powdered milk, so I'll mix somemilk, put it in the little
bottles and then feed the littlekittens so they could survive,
oh bless.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Did you consider selling them at any point?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I think then they became it was hard to contain
because they weren't living inthe house, they were just living
.
Some of them could come in Likethe ones that, like from the
first listen, those ones werelike they were used to us and
the other ones were just likethey weren't very used to us.
They would just disappear fordays and you just see a random
cat hanging around the compoundand you're like, okay, this must
(03:54):
be one of ours.
But yeah, it was a veryinteresting experience having
cats.
I don't have cats anymore sincethat time.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I don't have, I have, I'm a dog lover, all right, see
cats anymore since that time.
I don't have, I have, I'm a doglover, all right see, because I
was going to ask you if youstill had cats.
Okay, so you've moved on, butstill a furry lover, yes
definitely were there thingsthat happened in your childhood
to spark your creativity?
Because it feels like you.
You've been creative right fromthe jump.
Yeah, I've always been.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I've really always been into like making things
with my hands and drawingpainting since Since I was
really young, I went to primaryschool in Nigeria, which really
allowed me to be very expressive.
Actually, I took my art classesvery seriously and all my
extracurricular activities werelike craftsy based.
My mom was also creative aswell, so we used to make dresses
(04:41):
for my dolls together.
We used to knit together.
So I've always really been usedto working with my hands or
looking at images, drawing,painting, using colors from a
really young age.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So you moved to England when you were eight
years old yes, I read and thenyou of course went to secondary
school and high school and thenended up at Central Saint
Martins.
Yeah, Then you decided to studytextile.
So what inspired that decisionto study something so specific?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
So I did fine art A-levels and then I went to
Saint Martins, which I did afoundation in art and design
actually because I really didn'tknow what I wanted to do.
And during that time you'reallowed to do, you're allowed to
try so many different thingsbecause they're trying to give
you an opportunity to findyourself.
A lot of a big part of artschool is not just about the
(05:34):
craft, it's also about findingyourself and who you are.
And so Richard St Martin's wasreally good at doing that and
there were some reallychallenging like things we had
to do that would test like testyour resilience and things like
that.
It was amazing.
So I had chosen, like textiles,fashion.
I can't even remember now, butI just know textiles and fashion
(05:55):
.
I definitely chose this.
I can't remember the rest ofthe things I chose.
I didn't even really know whattextiles was, but the minute
that I stepped into the room andI this class started, I was
just like wow, what is thisworld of?
This is everything that I hadnever come across a course
called textiles before.
I didn't even know it wassomething you could study, but
once I got into that class itwas.
(06:16):
It's just.
I just felt right at home andat St Martins.
So you, when you specialize,you have to do the end of the
specialism.
Whether you specialize for acouple of weeks or I can't
remember how long you have totake an exam and then, after the
exam, they then choose thefinal 20 or something like that
20 people in my class out oflike 100 and something who
(06:38):
applied, and then the final 20,then we get to specialize
throughout time in St Martins.
Then we get to specializethroughout our time in St
Martins and then we can eitherdecide to apply to different
colleges or apply to St Martinsagain to continue studying
textiles.
I chose to apply to Chelsea,which I absolutely loved as well
.
It was really a great course,great textiles course at Chelsea
College of Art and Design.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
How did that whole experience influence your
approach to design?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So it just it makes you see things in a completely
different way.
I did a lot of weaving as well.
That's very like time consuming.
Very particularly, you'rethreading your loom.
All the threads have to balance, all the tension has to be
right.
You dye your threads.
You're so.
You're so into the detail andyou'll have so patient to see
(07:27):
the results.
So that experience reallychanged how I think about design
.
Even when I'm designing my worknow I'm just like this is my
process.
It's a process.
I know it will come.
Be patient.
So I have my process and I knowthat if I follow this process,
all things being equal, I'll getto my final destination.
And it just made me understandthat things take time.
(07:49):
It's not when you're threadingthe loom.
That can take weeks, dependingon how fine your threads are and
how fine the cloth you'retrying to weave is.
That can take weeks, evendyeing the threads.
The whole process, that wholeprocess.
At first it's so frustratingbecause you don't know how to,
you're not so confident in it.
Your threads get tangled, theybreak, your cloth looks wonky,
(08:12):
the lines aren't straight.
It takes a while to get intothat practice of threading it
all up and it's right at the end, right at the end.
That's when you see everythingcome together, but you're going
through these three weeks of noteven knowing whether it's going
to fall off the loom.
So, yeah, that definitely gaveme a different view on how to
(08:36):
design, or how I design anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Very intricate.
Sounds all very intricate, yeah.
What were your careeraspirations coming out of
Chelsea College of Art?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
at Chelsea.
I really was.
I was really focused on wovenand printed textiles.
No idea, I was just.
It was actually the mostamazing experience because
you're just being so present inthis, you know your craft and
who you are, your, your identity.
That was like.
In the first year, I was verylike, it was great.
(09:09):
And then, second year, I wasthere for three years.
Second year, then, yes, youstart to think, okay, what am I
going to do with this?
Am I going to be like atextiles artist?
Because there's so manydifferent things you can do as a
textiles designer.
You can be a fashion designer,an interior designer, you can be
a space designer, an interiordesigner, you can be a spatial.
There's so many differentthings.
And that was that's where Ireally struggled, because I was
(09:29):
just like I'm spending all that.
I spent all this time trying tofind out who I.
I was and I'm a textilesdesigner, but as a textiles
designer, who am I?
As a textiles?
I'm a fashion designer, I'm aninterior designer.
Am I like?
So I went back and forth foryears, actually, like, like,
trying to discover what I wasgoing to do, and I did a lot of.
I did a lot of internships, Iworked in several places just
(09:51):
trying to find where I would fit, and it's only really in the
past five years, after goingthrough this journey, since I
was 19 until now, which I won'tsay how many years, you guess-
my age, but it's only now thatI'm confident in saying who I am
.
I finally found, like where Ifit right in hmm, it's a journey
(10:13):
, isn't it a journey?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
it's such a journey, it's all a journey yeah, so I
know that one of your firstroles was working at harrods,
was it?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
harrods.
I worked for jasmine de milo,so jasmine de milo owned by the
owner of harrods, muhammadalfayed his daughter, so she had
a store in harrods and thenthis her studio as well was part
of hers.
So great experience.
I learned so much.
I made so many industry friendsas well, which are still my
(10:41):
industry friends today.
It was an experience.
I love experience.
I love challenges and learningnew things and putting myself
like looking at myself fromanother angle.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So what exactly were you doing in that first?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
role.
I was part of the design team,so I was working heavily in
textiles.
I remember there was a timewhere I would have to send color
swatches to suppliers to matchand the silk and everything I
would literally dye the colorswatches to send over, like to
get the perfect, perfect shade.
I did fashion drawing and thenI really moved into the textiles
(11:17):
part of it, which was amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Then you went on to start doing freelance work.
Yes, I did.
What was that like?
How did you get introduced tothe world of freelancing?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So I was working with several designers whilst I was
in uni and after as well, and Ijust continued designing.
I continued designing for them,like I'll design fabric prints,
that kind of thing.
I was also doing my 95 andthere was no conflict at all.
What I was doing for them wasvery different from what I was
doing in-house.
(11:47):
I just didn't have enough timeto balance it, so I just ended
up leaving Jasmine's Milo andthen focusing on my freelancing.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So what was the first iteration of your business
called?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
My first business name was Banker Kuku Textiles,
because I was designing textiles, so it was a description of
what I was doing.
Okay, and what was yourclientele like?
So I started working with forthe first time, started working
with a lot of African designersand textiles for them and
introducing them to a differentlike different textures of what
(12:21):
they were used to seeing at thetime in Nigeria.
I was also working for otherAfrican designers outside of
Nigeria who are based, like inNew York and London and things
like that.
So I just I loved theexperience because I was tapping
into another version of myselfwhich I loved, getting to know
that person and getting to knowwhat inspires that person, which
(12:42):
really had such a huge effecton who I am today.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
So I read that in 20, about 2016,.
You moved back to Nigeria, yeah, so what inspired?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
that move back.
I just I wanted to be closer tomy inspiration, and I also had
some life changes as well, so itwas for me it was a good time.
It was a good time to move back.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And did you continue that textile design while you
were in Nigeria?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I did for a little bit.
So when I so, at the pointwhere I moved back to Nigeria, I
had started designing formyself.
I was designing interior pieceslike soft furnishing oh nice.
Designing upholstery, fabric,cushions, lamps, that kind of
thing I was selling to so manydifferent stores all around the
world from Australia, japan,america, london, lots of
(13:31):
different places and thebusiness was great.
And then I moved back toNigeria and I wanted to continue
that but I felt like it justwasn't.
It was wasn't the time.
I'm not saying it's never goingto be the time for that kind of
thing in Nigeria, because thecreative industry is always
growing and people are alwayslike so excited to see a
different take on African design.
(13:52):
So I would say that it justwasn't working and I had a lot
of people actually moreinterested in my prints for
fashion rather than interiors.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, so that was going to be my next question.
What then inspired you toevolve from textiles to a
fashion line?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I had one customer and she was just like I love
your prints, but I want to wearthem.
I don't want to just see themat home, I also want to wear
them out.
And so she asked me to make hera caftan.
And so I made the caftan andher friend loved it.
And her friends then startedordering and then it was like
word of mouth and then theywould introduce me to this
person.
So that's really how mybusiness started.
(14:30):
But the thing is I was still notready to let go of the
interiors.
Not ready to let go of theinteriors.
I was like this has to work.
So I'm not going to fully letgo of the interiors, but I'm
going to do something thatcomplements my interiors.
I decided to do like a capsule,like a small collection,
capsule collection of justpieces that you'd feel
comfortable wearing at home.
So if you have like cushionsbanquette cushions you may want
(14:53):
to wear like a lovely silk robethat compliment the prints, may
complement it, and it wasbecoming a lifestyle brand.
So I did pajamas, robes,caftans just easy, really easy,
beautiful silk pieces, and Ilaunched it November 2019 and it
was really really well, it wasgreat, it did well, and then the
(15:16):
whole world.
Things in the world went upsidedown as nobody would ever
expect.
And then we had COVID, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So how did you navigate building during COVID?
Because of course you had justlaunched and then the world
shuts down.
So how did you navigate growthin that?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
period.
So I started.
So some of my suppliers weretelling me that they were
closing down because of thispandemic thing and I was like,
oh my gosh, wow, that's soserious.
But I was like I don't reallythink.
I don't think he'll come toNigeria because it's still very
far away.
Eventually, of course, he cameto Nigeria and we were given 48
hours.
I think it was 48 hours.
(15:55):
The government gave us 48,those announcements that we had
48 hours to get everything weneeded food supplies, whatever
and we're going to be at homefor we don't know how long.
So this was a really scary timefor me, because my business was
so young, so new, a few monthsold, and I had set up this
(16:16):
workshop, I had employed, I hademployed people, I had my store,
I had overheads, you know, andif I didn't continue to sell, I
wasn't going to be able to keepup with my overheads and I would
lose what I spent so longbuilding and something that I
had so fallen in love with.
We went online.
We didn't have a website oranything.
(16:36):
I was on Instagram, but wewould just post like it wasn't.
I didn't have, I didn't havevery many followers as such, so
I just said we need to get, weneed to show this somewhere and
we can show it online and peoplecan purchase.
So we took pictures ofabsolutely everything.
We had to just spend a wholeday taking pictures of all the
pieces of the model and we setup this website, put it on the
(16:58):
website and we went intolockdown and then slowly, like I
just noticed, oh, people arebuying these pajamas.
So my workshop kept goingbecause we did have stock.
So we kept going, kept producingand people were ordering so we
kept delivering.
We used DHL to deliverinternationally, locally.
(17:20):
We used local delivery serviceswhen they were free because a
lot of the time people weredelivering emergency items,
masks those were the mostimportant People at the time.
Everybody was veryunderstanding.
So delivery windows were muchlike people would understand if
something was going to takelonger because of the situation
that was happening in the world.
So we kept on going and theengagement online was amazing.
I think the idea of just likesuch fun pieces, brightly
(17:44):
colored pajamas and things likethat that that really made
people happy.
It just gave us it's just, itwas just something different.
It made people excited andhopeful.
I feel like it was.
We were like, just like abreath of positivity at such a
dark time.
It was a horrible time for theworld.
It was a very horrible time andwe always have to remember that
(18:06):
.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So were there any lessons you learned during that
period?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yes, lots of lessons.
One of the main lessons Ilearned was you have to be ready
for anything at any time.
You might have this perfectplan, but you have to be ready
to tweak that plan, adjust theplan.
Anything can happen.
You have to always be on yourtoes, ready to change direction,
Otherwise you may not survive,and how have you navigated
funding over the last five yearsfor your business?
So I own my business.
I don't have any externalfinancing.
(18:40):
We have grown.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
We've grown pretty much organically and do you have
any plans or thoughts aroundraising at?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
the right opportunity with the right partner.
For sure, definitely, I'vealways remained very open-minded
to these things, but it has hasto be the right, it has to feel
right.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So, in terms of manufacturing, I know you said
your factory stayed openthroughout COVID and it's grown
over the years.
How have you navigated,maintaining the quality of your
clothing line?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
We're very very much on top of it, like it's
something, like it's part of ourlife.
Everything is checked by fivepeople before it goes out,
stitches or it's very.
We are very much on top ofeverything and I'm so used to a
certain standard of of garmentsbecause of my, my, my experience
within the industry, so I knowexactly what you know we're
(19:33):
looking for and we.
It's a constant.
It's a constant, constantlylearning's a constant,
constantly learning, constantlyevolving.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What does your staff strength look like today
compared to when you launched inNovember 2019?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Even when, I launched the store.
When I first opened my store itwas just, I'm just opening this
space, I don't know what'sgoing to be in it.
I had some of my stock Ibrought back from the UK and it
was very much like it was me.
It was just me.
And then eventually I found anassistant who helped me at the
Speck of Stales assistant.
And then when I was opening myworkshop at the time, then I
(20:09):
found someone who could workwith me, you know, who could,
like help me manage everyone,tailors and everything.
So it was just like at the timein November.
That time when I launched itwas five of us and then, yeah,
five of us, and we had twotailors me, me sales assistant,
and then my like the managerthere, and now we have maybe 45
(20:33):
people.
Wow, bank care.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Thank you, and you do.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I assume that you do a lot of internal training a lot
of internal training, whetherit's from the managerial side or
from the manufacturing side.
We're constantly learning, andthat's one thing I'm always very
open about.
I'm very open to even me myselflearning.
We're constantly learning anddoing things, and learning on
the job as well, which sometimesis not the easiest thing to do.
(21:03):
There's time, but we'reconstantly evolving as a team.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah, I'm very fascinated by your fabric
designs.
I've followed your brand sinceI think I first came across your
brand in collections and I justwonder where do you draw
(21:34):
inspiration from and what doesyour creative process look like?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So for me, I've always been, as I said at the
beginning when we first startedhaving this conversation I'm an
animal lover, I'm a nature lovergenerally, which is still very
much present in my work.
So most of my prints areinspired by animals or nature.
Okay, and so I try to tell.
No, I try I tell nature storiesor heritage stories from
(21:59):
Nigeria, and I always like totell something that's so
unexpected because people don'texpect to see.
When you say so oh, this is,this is inspired by Nigeria,
like this vast, this print thathas this vast cluster of trees
and hummingbirds flutteringaround, you're like how when is
this in Nigeria?
I'm like this does exist inNigeria.
Not everything in Nigeria isconcrete.
(22:21):
There's so many different potsof gold in Nigeria that, like
the wildlife, there's so muchand I feel like that's even
educating people and peoplestart to see Nigeria in a
different way.
So my focus was really to tellmore positive stories, because I
, especially at the time whereyou know, when you think about
(22:42):
when people would talk aboutNigeria, it would be in the most
positive light.
So I really wanted to reallypush a more positive narrative.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
So what's your design process?
Like, Like, for example.
Talk us through.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Oceans.
Oceans was really inspired bythe marine life, what the marine
life used to look like in thepast.
It was really rich and it'slike where we want it to be in
the future.
And how do we get there?
It's about being moresustainable, choosing more
sustainable options, reducingour use of plastics, slow
(23:17):
fashion as opposed to fastfashion so many different things
that we can do to help save ouroceans.
So that's basically what Oceansis about, and you can see the
prints they have, like theseaweed, the fish, the bubbles
and the colors and the richness,and the prints are all they
have, like the seaweed, the fish, bubbles and the colors and the
richness and the vibrance andso, yeah, that that was what
oceans is about.
So I'm excited to share my nextcollection.
(23:39):
I'm really excited about that.
I won't give too much away westay expectant.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So, talking about your clientele, what?
How would you describe a BankerCuckoo?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
client.
When I started it was so easyfor me to tell you who a Banker
Cuckoo customer is, but now it'svery hard.
I have such a range of.
(24:19):
She appreciates quality andbeauty.
She's someone who is.
She's inspired by the stories Itell with my fabrics.
She's inquisitive about herself.
She loves herself in the sensethat she's because my pieces are
also.
They're easy to wear, you canwear it and you can feel so
(24:40):
confident.
She's a confident lady.
She doesn't mind wearing colorsand that kind of thing.
So I would say I have customerswho aspire to buy my pieces and
then they buy them and it nowbecomes so.
I wouldn't say I can't say, oh,the Bank of Cuckoo customer is
between, is 45 years old and shedoes this.
(25:01):
There's so many different women.
It's hard, it's become harder,but I definitely see how my
clientele has grown.
I can see a shift in some parts, but, yeah, in terms of reach.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I know that the store is based in Lagos and you're
selling online In tracking whatyour clientele looks like
globally and maybe across Africa.
What kind of demographics areyou seeing?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
We have obviously have lots of customers in
Nigeria.
We have we lots of customers inNigeria.
We have.
We also stock our products, ourpieces in in Abidjan, in Ghana,
in South Africa, and it's beenreally it's been successful.
So that's Africa.
And then, coming out of Africa,we have customers in Qatar, we
(25:48):
have customers in America, theUK.
We have customers where else InEurope.
So it's a growing community.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
That's amazing.
Congratulations on that, bankia, thank you.
So I want to talk aboutpartnerships and collaboration.
I note that you've had somevery interesting and exciting
partnerships and collaborationsover the years, and kudos to you
.
The one that I noted was theGabrielle Union, one which I
thought was really exciting, andMoesha and Dawn I saw that one
(26:22):
too.
So how do you decide on who tocollaborate with and how do you
ensure that it aligns with yourbrand values?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Oh, that's really important.
How do you ensure that italigns with your brand values?
Oh, that's really important.
Any collaboration I do, whoeverI collaborate with, their
values have to be.
Our values have to be like thesame.
We wouldn't do something thatwould completely conflict with
our values just because the nameis huge.
Or it's really important tokeep consistency.
How do we choose the people?
We definitely approach peopleto collaborate and people also
(26:52):
approach us.
Going based on values isdefinitely one thing.
Aesthetic is another thing.
How can we?
What do we both bring to thetable?
That's another.
That's really also important.
And do they serve a differentmarket than me?
That's always a great one,because I'm always looking to
make, to expand my, my footprint, do they?
Yeah, so if the person exposesme to a different market, that's
(27:14):
amazing.
Yes, those are a few of thethings that we consider when it
comes to Talk to us about theGabriel.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Union one, because that was so exciting to see, oh,
it was an amazing collaboration.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I really enjoyed it.
So it was for her 50th birthdayand she actually has some
Nigerian blood, so she's Fulanifrom what I remember yes, she
does, and so she wanted tocelebrate her birth, her
birthday, also embracing herAfrican heritage.
(27:46):
So they had reached out to meand was, and they were like they
really want to do thiscollaboration.
I was like really want to dothis collaboration.
I was like really Wow, this isamazing.
And they spoke about, they toldme about the whole thing and it
was like perfect, celebratingAfrican heritage all over that
Gabrielle Union, she's anamazing.
She's amazing at what she doesand she's a lovely lady.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It was a fantastic collaboration and we definitely
saw the results as well, so Iknow that you do some social
impact work.
You have a foundation or anonprofit called Prints for
Purpose, yes, so can you tell uslike the inspiration behind
Prints for Purpose?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Having an impact on my community is really important
to me and it's definitelytaking me a while to navigate it
and to see where I fit in orhow I can help or those kind of
things.
My prints have purpose.
They have a story.
It's more than just fashion.
It's impact driven, it'sstorytelling, it's educational.
(28:44):
There's so much more to it thanjust a lovely dress.
Of course, the lovely dress isamazing as well, and it is my
focus.
I think it's really importantto understand that there's more
to the cuckoo than fashion.
So Prints for Purpose really isto create impact in our
community.
So we've worked with the LekkiConservation Centre.
(29:07):
We're working with somecharities that clean up the
ocean, like the beach in Nigeria.
We are doing some otherinitiatives which are coming up,
which you'll find out aboutsoon, working with women.
There's so many things that youknow we are working on.
It's definitely somethingthat's growing.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I want to do, I want to constantly be doing more
looking back over over the lastfive years, I think you've
accomplished some veryincredible things, from
launching during COVID tosustaining the business and
growing it and growing yourclientele globally.
Were there any significantchallenges that you faced?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
in this growth Just having a business on its own
huge thing.
And there's and I knowsometimes when I tell my story I
make it sound like, oh, we justdid this and did this and it
was all it was.
You know I've had to sacrifice alot right to be where I am
today.
I've had to sacrifice a lot.
Sometimes you're just wantingto hang out with your friends,
(30:09):
but you have to do thecommitments you have to make and
it takes a lot out of your lifebeing an entrepreneur.
So that in itself is somethingquite huge.
Yeah, of course, navigatingbusiness within Nigeria I
haven't.
I had never really worked inNigeria, true, before, so just
even understanding what businesswas like here and how, what it
(30:32):
is to employ staff in Nigeriaand the different personalities.
Navigating a business, having ateam that you can trust and
depend on, especially whenyou're doing all the mental
arithmetic, sometimes you cannot, you can't do.
There's some things that youjust don't have the capacity to
do.
Cannot you can't do?
(30:53):
There's some things that youjust don't have the capacity to
do.
You have to have a really solidteam that can, you can rely on,
and even pulling that teamtogether is.
It's hard and sometimes you willhave heartbreaks, whether you
feel betrayed by someone orsomeone gets things wrong and it
costs you a lot of money.
That, especially at thebeginning, when things are so
tight and not to say things arealways tight.
(31:14):
As you have more, you have morethings to consider in terms of
your financials.
So doing that is it's.
Building.
The team is not easy.
Being consistent, constantlyhaving a vision, being fresh
with everything that you'retrying to navigate as well,
that's a huge challenge andthat's something that keeps me
(31:34):
up at night.
How do I continue to innovate?
Yeah, as doing the everydaybusiness, which is so draining,
whether you're in Nigeria,whether you're in London,
whether you wherever you are.
It's hard.
Things are easier.
Now my team is bigger, but youstill have to.
You still have to make surethings are going in the
direction that you want them tobe.
So your responsibility is.
Fine, I might not be looking at, I might not be focused on the
(31:57):
nitty-gritty anymore, but thereare other things.
Yeah, my mind has taken over.
So it's a real challenge.
You will make many mistakes.
It will cost you.
So those are the things youjust have to be able to like
maybe not my advice on someonewho's starting business just if
you just do one thing, one thingat a time.
So if one thing goes wrong,then you know you can go back
(32:19):
and fix that, but if you'redoing like 100 things and like
50 of them go wrong.
That's really hard to come outof.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Thank, you so much bank in.
In wrapping up, I always ask myguests to two things to reflect
and to give advice.
You've already started to givesome advice.
The reflecting is anopportunity for you to just pat
yourself on the back in all thatyou've done, not just in the
last five years, in the last 15years.
Are there any proud momentsthat you can reflect on and say,
(32:49):
hey, I'm really proud of thisparticular thing or these
particular things?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
I'm really proud that I made it happen.
To be honest, yay, I'm reallyproud, I'm really proud.
Sometimes I look back and Ijust remember like literally
starting out and doing so muchmyself, yeah, giving so much of
my own physical strength andeverything to it.
(33:15):
And when I look back and seethe journey, I'm just proud of
just the journey.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yes, I'm proud of you too, banker, thank you.
So if you could give one pieceof advice to other women who are
building businesses in Africa,what advice would that be?
Could I?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
give two Sure Okay.
So one is be patient.
Good work takes time.
I know we live in this instantworld, but really things take
time.
And then I would say beconsistent.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
That's good, that's good.
Just wondering what's next foryou and for the Banke Kuku brand
.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
For me and the brand.
I will continue to tell moreincredible nature stories from
Nigeria to the rest of the world.
We'll continue to make impacton the communities around us and
we will continue to expandwithin Africa, within the rest
of the world and just reallymake Bankia Kuku a household
(34:15):
name.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Wish you all the best with that, bankia.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you're not alreadysubscribed, please do so on
Apple, spotify or wherever youget your podcasts, and don't
forget to leave us a review sowe know how we're doing.
I'm Akego Okoye, and you havebeen listening to African
(34:38):
Business Stories.
With more female entrepreneurs than any other
region in the world.
Women are at the heart ofAfrica's transformation.
Welcome to African BusinessStories, the show that amplifies
the voices of femaleentrepreneurs shaping Africa's
business landscape.
I'm your host, ekego Koye.
Here we explore bold ideas,strategies for scaling and the
(00:25):
realities of building businessesthat drive economic development
.
These stories will provideinsights into Africa's business
landscape, practical tools forgrowth and the inspiration to
navigate your ownentrepreneurial journey.
Be sure to subscribe, rate andshare.
Neural journey.
(00:50):
Be sure to subscribe, rate andshare On the show.
Today I chat with Bankia Kuku,founder and creative director of
the luxury fashion brand,bankia Kuku.
Born in Lagos and raisedbetween Nigeria and England,
bankia studied at the CentralSaint Martins and Chelsea
College of Arts before launchingher career in textile design.
She worked with African andinternational brands before
(01:11):
transitioning into fashion andestablishing her brand.
We talk about her journey fromtextiles to building a thriving
luxury fashion brand, how shenavigated the challenges of
COVID-19 and the importance ofsustainability and social impact
through her initiative Princefor Purpose.
She also shares insights oncollaborating with global brands
(01:34):
like Gabbro Union and MoetChandon and scaling a business
from Africa to the world.
It's a conversation aboutcreativity and the future of
African luxury fashion.
Let's get into it.
Hi Banker, welcome to AfricanBusiness Stories.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Hi, so good to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
Awesome, are you in Lagos atthe moment?
I am.
I'm in Lagos.
It's pretty sunny over heretoday.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Oh, that's good.
It's been very wet over here,so I miss the sunshine.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I'm sending you sunshine from Lagos.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Thank you, thank you so much Talking about Lagos.
I know you were born and raisedin Lagos.
Yes, I know Lagos pretty well.
So was that on the mainland oron the island?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So I was born in my father's hospital, echo Hospital
, and that was at the time thatwas in Surulere, and then we
moved to Ikeja, so it was on themainland and I went to school
around.
I went to school in Ikeja aswell.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Oh, so it was in.
I remember the building inGiaire, so it was in Surulere at
first.
Yes, oh, I see.
So just talking about childhood, are there any fun childhood
memories that have stayed withyou over the years?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh, so many.
I loved growing up in Lagos.
I had such great friends and myfamily were always around.
I had I'm an animal lover and Ihad a cat and then the cat had
kittens and the kittens hadkittens and I ended up having 20
something kittens or cats in myhouse.
Yes, and we used to feed thembecause you know, sometimes the
(03:11):
mother would die or something.
So we I used to get my mom'scontact lens solution.
Empty it out.
It comes in those little tinybottles.
Empty it out and I'll mix somemilk, because then we had
powdered milk, so I'll mix somemilk, because then we had
powdered milk, so I'll mix somemilk, put it in the little
bottles and then feed the littlekittens so they could survive,
oh bless.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Did you consider selling them at any point?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I think then they became it was hard to contain
because they weren't living inthe house, they were just living
.
Some of them could come in Likethe ones that, like from the
first listen, those ones werelike they were used to us and
the other ones were just likethey weren't very used to us.
They would just disappear fordays and you just see a random
cat hanging around the compoundand you're like, okay, this must
(03:54):
be one of ours.
But yeah, it was a veryinteresting experience having
cats.
I don't have cats anymore sincethat time.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I don't have, I have, I'm a dog lover, all right, see
cats anymore since that time.
I don't have, I have, I'm a doglover, all right see, because I
was going to ask you if youstill had cats.
Okay, so you've moved on, butstill a furry lover, yes
definitely were there thingsthat happened in your childhood
to spark your creativity?
Because it feels like you.
You've been creative right fromthe jump.
Yeah, I've always been.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I've really always been into like making things
with my hands and drawingpainting since Since I was
really young, I went to primaryschool in Nigeria, which really
allowed me to be very expressive.
Actually, I took my art classesvery seriously and all my
extracurricular activities werelike craftsy based.
My mom was also creative aswell, so we used to make dresses
(04:41):
for my dolls together.
We used to knit together.
So I've always really been usedto working with my hands or
looking at images, drawing,painting, using colors from a
really young age.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So you moved to England when you were eight
years old yes, I read and thenyou of course went to secondary
school and high school and thenended up at Central Saint
Martins.
Yeah, Then you decided to studytextile.
So what inspired that decisionto study something so specific?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
So I did fine art A-levels and then I went to
Saint Martins, which I did afoundation in art and design
actually because I really didn'tknow what I wanted to do.
And during that time you'reallowed to do, you're allowed to
try so many different thingsbecause they're trying to give
you an opportunity to findyourself.
A lot of a big part of artschool is not just about the
(05:34):
craft, it's also about findingyourself and who you are.
And so Richard St Martin's wasreally good at doing that and
there were some reallychallenging like things we had
to do that would test like testyour resilience and things like
that.
It was amazing.
So I had chosen, like textiles,fashion.
I can't even remember now, butI just know textiles and fashion
(05:55):
.
I definitely chose this.
I can't remember the rest ofthe things I chose.
I didn't even really know whattextiles was, but the minute
that I stepped into the room andI this class started, I was
just like wow, what is thisworld of?
This is everything that I hadnever come across a course
called textiles before.
I didn't even know it wassomething you could study, but
once I got into that class itwas.
(06:16):
It's just.
I just felt right at home andat St Martins.
So you, when you specialize,you have to do the end of the
specialism.
Whether you specialize for acouple of weeks or I can't
remember how long you have totake an exam and then, after the
exam, they then choose thefinal 20 or something like that
20 people in my class out oflike 100 and something who
(06:38):
applied, and then the final 20,then we get to specialize
throughout time in St Martins.
Then we get to specializethroughout our time in St
Martins and then we can eitherdecide to apply to different
colleges or apply to St Martinsagain to continue studying
textiles.
I chose to apply to Chelsea,which I absolutely loved as well
.
It was really a great course,great textiles course at Chelsea
College of Art and Design.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
How did that whole experience influence your
approach to design?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So it just it makes you see things in a completely
different way.
I did a lot of weaving as well.
That's very like time consuming.
Very particularly, you'rethreading your loom.
All the threads have to balance, all the tension has to be
right.
You dye your threads.
You're so.
You're so into the detail andyou'll have so patient to see
(07:27):
the results.
So that experience reallychanged how I think about design
.
Even when I'm designing my worknow I'm just like this is my
process.
It's a process.
I know it will come.
Be patient.
So I have my process and I knowthat if I follow this process,
all things being equal, I'll getto my final destination.
And it just made me understandthat things take time.
(07:49):
It's not when you're threadingthe loom.
That can take weeks, dependingon how fine your threads are and
how fine the cloth you'retrying to weave is.
That can take weeks, evendyeing the threads.
The whole process, that wholeprocess.
At first it's so frustratingbecause you don't know how to,
you're not so confident in it.
Your threads get tangled, theybreak, your cloth looks wonky,
(08:12):
the lines aren't straight.
It takes a while to get intothat practice of threading it
all up and it's right at the end, right at the end.
That's when you see everythingcome together, but you're going
through these three weeks of noteven knowing whether it's going
to fall off the loom.
So, yeah, that definitely gaveme a different view on how to
(08:36):
design, or how I design anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Very intricate.
Sounds all very intricate, yeah.
What were your careeraspirations coming out of
Chelsea College of Art?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
at Chelsea.
I really was.
I was really focused on wovenand printed textiles.
No idea, I was just.
It was actually the mostamazing experience because
you're just being so present inthis, you know your craft and
who you are, your, your identity.
That was like.
In the first year, I was verylike, it was great.
(09:09):
And then, second year, I wasthere for three years.
Second year, then, yes, youstart to think, okay, what am I
going to do with this?
Am I going to be like atextiles artist?
Because there's so manydifferent things you can do as a
textiles designer.
You can be a fashion designer,an interior designer, you can be
a space designer, an interiordesigner, you can be a spatial.
There's so many differentthings.
And that was that's where Ireally struggled, because I was
(09:29):
just like I'm spending all that.
I spent all this time trying tofind out who I.
I was and I'm a textilesdesigner, but as a textiles
designer, who am I?
As a textiles?
I'm a fashion designer, I'm aninterior designer.
Am I like?
So I went back and forth foryears, actually, like, like,
trying to discover what I wasgoing to do, and I did a lot of.
I did a lot of internships, Iworked in several places just
(09:51):
trying to find where I would fit, and it's only really in the
past five years, after goingthrough this journey, since I
was 19 until now, which I won'tsay how many years, you guess-
my age, but it's only now thatI'm confident in saying who I am
.
I finally found, like where Ifit right in hmm, it's a journey
(10:13):
, isn't it a journey?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
it's such a journey, it's all a journey yeah, so I
know that one of your firstroles was working at harrods,
was it?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
harrods.
I worked for jasmine de milo,so jasmine de milo owned by the
owner of harrods, muhammadalfayed his daughter, so she had
a store in harrods and thenthis her studio as well was part
of hers.
So great experience.
I learned so much.
I made so many industry friendsas well, which are still my
(10:41):
industry friends today.
It was an experience.
I love experience.
I love challenges and learningnew things and putting myself
like looking at myself fromanother angle.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So what exactly were you doing in that first?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
role.
I was part of the design team,so I was working heavily in
textiles.
I remember there was a timewhere I would have to send color
swatches to suppliers to matchand the silk and everything I
would literally dye the colorswatches to send over, like to
get the perfect, perfect shade.
I did fashion drawing and thenI really moved into the textiles
(11:17):
part of it, which was amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Then you went on to start doing freelance work.
Yes, I did.
What was that like?
How did you get introduced tothe world of freelancing?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So I was working with several designers whilst I was
in uni and after as well, and Ijust continued designing.
I continued designing for them,like I'll design fabric prints,
that kind of thing.
I was also doing my 95 andthere was no conflict at all.
What I was doing for them wasvery different from what I was
doing in-house.
(11:47):
I just didn't have enough timeto balance it, so I just ended
up leaving Jasmine's Milo andthen focusing on my freelancing.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So what was the first iteration of your business
called?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
My first business name was Banker Kuku Textiles,
because I was designing textiles, so it was a description of
what I was doing.
Okay, and what was yourclientele like?
So I started working with forthe first time, started working
with a lot of African designersand textiles for them and
introducing them to a differentlike different textures of what
(12:21):
they were used to seeing at thetime in Nigeria.
I was also working for otherAfrican designers outside of
Nigeria who are based, like inNew York and London and things
like that.
So I just I loved theexperience because I was tapping
into another version of myselfwhich I loved, getting to know
that person and getting to knowwhat inspires that person, which
(12:42):
really had such a huge effecton who I am today.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
So I read that in 20, about 2016,.
You moved back to Nigeria, yeah, so what inspired?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
that move back.
I just I wanted to be closer tomy inspiration, and I also had
some life changes as well, so itwas for me it was a good time.
It was a good time to move back.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And did you continue that textile design while you
were in Nigeria?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I did for a little bit.
So when I so, at the pointwhere I moved back to Nigeria, I
had started designing formyself.
I was designing interior pieceslike soft furnishing oh nice.
Designing upholstery, fabric,cushions, lamps, that kind of
thing I was selling to so manydifferent stores all around the
world from Australia, japan,america, london, lots of
(13:31):
different places and thebusiness was great.
And then I moved back toNigeria and I wanted to continue
that but I felt like it justwasn't.
It was wasn't the time.
I'm not saying it's never goingto be the time for that kind of
thing in Nigeria, because thecreative industry is always
growing and people are alwayslike so excited to see a
different take on African design.
(13:52):
So I would say that it justwasn't working and I had a lot
of people actually moreinterested in my prints for
fashion rather than interiors.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, so that was going to be my next question.
What then inspired you toevolve from textiles to a
fashion line?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I had one customer and she was just like I love
your prints, but I want to wearthem.
I don't want to just see themat home, I also want to wear
them out.
And so she asked me to make hera caftan.
And so I made the caftan andher friend loved it.
And her friends then startedordering and then it was like
word of mouth and then theywould introduce me to this
person.
So that's really how mybusiness started.
(14:30):
But the thing is I was still notready to let go of the
interiors.
Not ready to let go of theinteriors.
I was like this has to work.
So I'm not going to fully letgo of the interiors, but I'm
going to do something thatcomplements my interiors.
I decided to do like a capsule,like a small collection,
capsule collection of justpieces that you'd feel
comfortable wearing at home.
So if you have like cushionsbanquette cushions you may want
(14:53):
to wear like a lovely silk robethat compliment the prints, may
complement it, and it wasbecoming a lifestyle brand.
So I did pajamas, robes,caftans just easy, really easy,
beautiful silk pieces, and Ilaunched it November 2019 and it
was really really well, it wasgreat, it did well, and then the
(15:16):
whole world.
Things in the world went upsidedown as nobody would ever
expect.
And then we had COVID, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So how did you navigate building during COVID?
Because of course you had justlaunched and then the world
shuts down.
So how did you navigate growthin that?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
period.
So I started.
So some of my suppliers weretelling me that they were
closing down because of thispandemic thing and I was like,
oh my gosh, wow, that's soserious.
But I was like I don't reallythink.
I don't think he'll come toNigeria because it's still very
far away.
Eventually, of course, he cameto Nigeria and we were given 48
hours.
I think it was 48 hours.
(15:55):
The government gave us 48,those announcements that we had
48 hours to get everything weneeded food supplies, whatever
and we're going to be at homefor we don't know how long.
So this was a really scary timefor me, because my business was
so young, so new, a few monthsold, and I had set up this
(16:16):
workshop, I had employed, I hademployed people, I had my store,
I had overheads, you know, andif I didn't continue to sell, I
wasn't going to be able to keepup with my overheads and I would
lose what I spent so longbuilding and something that I
had so fallen in love with.
We went online.
We didn't have a website oranything.
(16:36):
I was on Instagram, but wewould just post like it wasn't.
I didn't have, I didn't havevery many followers as such, so
I just said we need to get, weneed to show this somewhere and
we can show it online and peoplecan purchase.
So we took pictures ofabsolutely everything.
We had to just spend a wholeday taking pictures of all the
pieces of the model and we setup this website, put it on the
(16:58):
website and we went intolockdown and then slowly, like I
just noticed, oh, people arebuying these pajamas.
So my workshop kept goingbecause we did have stock.
So we kept going, kept producingand people were ordering so we
kept delivering.
We used DHL to deliverinternationally, locally.
(17:20):
We used local delivery serviceswhen they were free because a
lot of the time people weredelivering emergency items,
masks those were the mostimportant People at the time.
Everybody was veryunderstanding.
So delivery windows were muchlike people would understand if
something was going to takelonger because of the situation
that was happening in the world.
So we kept on going and theengagement online was amazing.
I think the idea of just likesuch fun pieces, brightly
(17:44):
colored pajamas and things likethat that that really made
people happy.
It just gave us it's just, itwas just something different.
It made people excited andhopeful.
I feel like it was.
We were like, just like abreath of positivity at such a
dark time.
It was a horrible time for theworld.
It was a very horrible time andwe always have to remember that
(18:06):
.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So were there any lessons you learned during that
period?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yes, lots of lessons.
One of the main lessons Ilearned was you have to be ready
for anything at any time.
You might have this perfectplan, but you have to be ready
to tweak that plan, adjust theplan.
Anything can happen.
You have to always be on yourtoes, ready to change direction,
Otherwise you may not survive,and how have you navigated
funding over the last five yearsfor your business?
So I own my business.
I don't have any externalfinancing.
(18:40):
We have grown.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
We've grown pretty much organically and do you have
any plans or thoughts aroundraising at?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
the right opportunity with the right partner.
For sure, definitely, I'vealways remained very open-minded
to these things, but it has hasto be the right, it has to feel
right.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So, in terms of manufacturing, I know you said
your factory stayed openthroughout COVID and it's grown
over the years.
How have you navigated,maintaining the quality of your
clothing line?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
We're very very much on top of it, like it's
something, like it's part of ourlife.
Everything is checked by fivepeople before it goes out,
stitches or it's very.
We are very much on top ofeverything and I'm so used to a
certain standard of of garmentsbecause of my, my, my experience
within the industry, so I knowexactly what you know we're
(19:33):
looking for and we.
It's a constant.
It's a constant, constantlylearning's a constant,
constantly learning, constantlyevolving.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What does your staff strength look like today
compared to when you launched inNovember 2019?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Even when, I launched the store.
When I first opened my store itwas just, I'm just opening this
space, I don't know what'sgoing to be in it.
I had some of my stock Ibrought back from the UK and it
was very much like it was me.
It was just me.
And then eventually I found anassistant who helped me at the
Speck of Stales assistant.
And then when I was opening myworkshop at the time, then I
(20:09):
found someone who could workwith me, you know, who could,
like help me manage everyone,tailors and everything.
So it was just like at the timein November.
That time when I launched itwas five of us and then, yeah,
five of us, and we had twotailors me, me sales assistant,
and then my like the managerthere, and now we have maybe 45
(20:33):
people.
Wow, bank care.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Thank you, and you do.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I assume that you do a lot of internal training a lot
of internal training, whetherit's from the managerial side or
from the manufacturing side.
We're constantly learning, andthat's one thing I'm always very
open about.
I'm very open to even me myselflearning.
We're constantly learning anddoing things, and learning on
the job as well, which sometimesis not the easiest thing to do.
(21:03):
There's time, but we'reconstantly evolving as a team.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah, I'm very fascinated by your fabric
designs.
I've followed your brand sinceI think I first came across your
brand in collections and I justwonder where do you draw
(21:34):
inspiration from and what doesyour creative process look like?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So for me, I've always been, as I said at the
beginning when we first startedhaving this conversation I'm an
animal lover, I'm a nature lovergenerally, which is still very
much present in my work.
So most of my prints areinspired by animals or nature.
Okay, and so I try to tell.
No, I try I tell nature storiesor heritage stories from
(21:59):
Nigeria, and I always like totell something that's so
unexpected because people don'texpect to see.
When you say so oh, this is,this is inspired by Nigeria,
like this vast, this print thathas this vast cluster of trees
and hummingbirds flutteringaround, you're like how when is
this in Nigeria?
I'm like this does exist inNigeria.
Not everything in Nigeria isconcrete.
(22:21):
There's so many different potsof gold in Nigeria that, like
the wildlife, there's so muchand I feel like that's even
educating people and peoplestart to see Nigeria in a
different way.
So my focus was really to tellmore positive stories, because I
, especially at the time whereyou know, when you think about
(22:42):
when people would talk aboutNigeria, it would be in the most
positive light.
So I really wanted to reallypush a more positive narrative.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
So what's your design process?
Like, Like, for example.
Talk us through.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Oceans.
Oceans was really inspired bythe marine life, what the marine
life used to look like in thepast.
It was really rich and it'slike where we want it to be in
the future.
And how do we get there?
It's about being moresustainable, choosing more
sustainable options, reducingour use of plastics, slow
(23:17):
fashion as opposed to fastfashion so many different things
that we can do to help save ouroceans.
So that's basically what Oceansis about, and you can see the
prints they have, like theseaweed, the fish, the bubbles
and the colors and the richness,and the prints are all they
have, like the seaweed, the fish, bubbles and the colors and the
richness and the vibrance andso, yeah, that that was what
oceans is about.
So I'm excited to share my nextcollection.
(23:39):
I'm really excited about that.
I won't give too much away westay expectant.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So, talking about your clientele, what?
How would you describe a BankerCuckoo?
Speaker 2 (23:53):
client.
When I started it was so easyfor me to tell you who a Banker
Cuckoo customer is, but now it'svery hard.
I have such a range of.
(24:19):
She appreciates quality andbeauty.
She's someone who is.
She's inspired by the stories Itell with my fabrics.
She's inquisitive about herself.
She loves herself in the sensethat she's because my pieces are
also.
They're easy to wear, you canwear it and you can feel so
(24:40):
confident.
She's a confident lady.
She doesn't mind wearing colorsand that kind of thing.
So I would say I have customerswho aspire to buy my pieces and
then they buy them and it nowbecomes so.
I wouldn't say I can't say, oh,the Bank of Cuckoo customer is
between, is 45 years old and shedoes this.
(25:01):
There's so many different women.
It's hard, it's become harder,but I definitely see how my
clientele has grown.
I can see a shift in some parts, but, yeah, in terms of reach.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I know that the store is based in Lagos and you're
selling online In tracking whatyour clientele looks like
globally and maybe across Africa.
What kind of demographics areyou seeing?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
We have obviously have lots of customers in
Nigeria.
We have we lots of customers inNigeria.
We have.
We also stock our products, ourpieces in in Abidjan, in Ghana,
in South Africa, and it's beenreally it's been successful.
So that's Africa.
And then, coming out of Africa,we have customers in Qatar, we
(25:48):
have customers in America, theUK.
We have customers where else InEurope.
So it's a growing community.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
That's amazing.
Congratulations on that, bankia, thank you.
So I want to talk aboutpartnerships and collaboration.
I note that you've had somevery interesting and exciting
partnerships and collaborationsover the years, and kudos to you
.
The one that I noted was theGabrielle Union, one which I
thought was really exciting, andMoesha and Dawn I saw that one
(26:22):
too.
So how do you decide on who tocollaborate with and how do you
ensure that it aligns with yourbrand values?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Oh, that's really important.
How do you ensure that italigns with your brand values?
Oh, that's really important.
Any collaboration I do, whoeverI collaborate with, their
values have to be.
Our values have to be like thesame.
We wouldn't do something thatwould completely conflict with
our values just because the nameis huge.
Or it's really important tokeep consistency.
How do we choose the people?
We definitely approach peopleto collaborate and people also
(26:52):
approach us.
Going based on values isdefinitely one thing.
Aesthetic is another thing.
How can we?
What do we both bring to thetable?
That's another.
That's really also important.
And do they serve a differentmarket than me?
That's always a great one,because I'm always looking to
make, to expand my, my footprint, do they?
Yeah, so if the person exposesme to a different market, that's
(27:14):
amazing.
Yes, those are a few of thethings that we consider when it
comes to Talk to us about theGabriel.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Union one, because that was so exciting to see, oh,
it was an amazing collaboration.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I really enjoyed it.
So it was for her 50th birthdayand she actually has some
Nigerian blood, so she's Fulanifrom what I remember yes, she
does, and so she wanted tocelebrate her birth, her
birthday, also embracing herAfrican heritage.
(27:46):
So they had reached out to meand was, and they were like they
really want to do thiscollaboration.
I was like really want to dothis collaboration.
I was like really Wow, this isamazing.
And they spoke about, they toldme about the whole thing and it
was like perfect, celebratingAfrican heritage all over that
Gabrielle Union, she's anamazing.
She's amazing at what she doesand she's a lovely lady.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
It was a fantastic collaboration and we definitely
saw the results as well, so Iknow that you do some social
impact work.
You have a foundation or anonprofit called Prints for
Purpose, yes, so can you tell uslike the inspiration behind
Prints for Purpose?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Having an impact on my community is really important
to me and it's definitelytaking me a while to navigate it
and to see where I fit in orhow I can help or those kind of
things.
My prints have purpose.
They have a story.
It's more than just fashion.
It's impact driven, it'sstorytelling, it's educational.
(28:44):
There's so much more to it thanjust a lovely dress.
Of course, the lovely dress isamazing as well, and it is my
focus.
I think it's really importantto understand that there's more
to the cuckoo than fashion.
So Prints for Purpose really isto create impact in our
community.
So we've worked with the LekkiConservation Centre.
(29:07):
We're working with somecharities that clean up the
ocean, like the beach in Nigeria.
We are doing some otherinitiatives which are coming up,
which you'll find out aboutsoon, working with women.
There's so many things that youknow we are working on.
It's definitely somethingthat's growing.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I want to do, I want to constantly be doing more
looking back over over the lastfive years, I think you've
accomplished some veryincredible things, from
launching during COVID tosustaining the business and
growing it and growing yourclientele globally.
Were there any significantchallenges that you faced?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
in this growth Just having a business on its own
huge thing.
And there's and I knowsometimes when I tell my story I
make it sound like, oh, we justdid this and did this and it
was all it was.
You know I've had to sacrifice alot right to be where I am
today.
I've had to sacrifice a lot.
Sometimes you're just wantingto hang out with your friends,
(30:09):
but you have to do thecommitments you have to make and
it takes a lot out of your lifebeing an entrepreneur.
So that in itself is somethingquite huge.
Yeah, of course, navigatingbusiness within Nigeria I
haven't.
I had never really worked inNigeria, true, before, so just
even understanding what businesswas like here and how, what it
(30:32):
is to employ staff in Nigeriaand the different personalities.
Navigating a business, having ateam that you can trust and
depend on, especially whenyou're doing all the mental
arithmetic, sometimes you cannot, you can't do.
There's some things that youjust don't have the capacity to
do.
Cannot you can't do?
(30:53):
There's some things that youjust don't have the capacity to
do.
You have to have a really solidteam that can, you can rely on,
and even pulling that teamtogether is.
It's hard and sometimes you willhave heartbreaks, whether you
feel betrayed by someone orsomeone gets things wrong and it
costs you a lot of money.
That, especially at thebeginning, when things are so
tight and not to say things arealways tight.
(31:14):
As you have more, you have morethings to consider in terms of
your financials.
So doing that is it's.
Building.
The team is not easy.
Being consistent, constantlyhaving a vision, being fresh
with everything that you'retrying to navigate as well,
that's a huge challenge andthat's something that keeps me
(31:34):
up at night.
How do I continue to innovate?
Yeah, as doing the everydaybusiness, which is so draining,
whether you're in Nigeria,whether you're in London,
whether you wherever you are.
It's hard.
Things are easier.
Now my team is bigger, but youstill have to.
You still have to make surethings are going in the
direction that you want them tobe.
So your responsibility is.
Fine, I might not be looking at, I might not be focused on the
(31:57):
nitty-gritty anymore, but thereare other things.
Yeah, my mind has taken over.
So it's a real challenge.
You will make many mistakes.
It will cost you.
So those are the things youjust have to be able to like
maybe not my advice on someonewho's starting business just if
you just do one thing, one thingat a time.
So if one thing goes wrong,then you know you can go back
(32:19):
and fix that, but if you'redoing like 100 things and like
50 of them go wrong.
That's really hard to come outof.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Thank, you so much bank in.
In wrapping up, I always ask myguests to two things to reflect
and to give advice.
You've already started to givesome advice.
The reflecting is anopportunity for you to just pat
yourself on the back in all thatyou've done, not just in the
last five years, in the last 15years.
Are there any proud momentsthat you can reflect on and say,
(32:49):
hey, I'm really proud of thisparticular thing or these
particular things?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
I'm really proud that I made it happen.
To be honest, yay, I'm reallyproud, I'm really proud.
Sometimes I look back and Ijust remember like literally
starting out and doing so muchmyself, yeah, giving so much of
my own physical strength andeverything to it.
(33:15):
And when I look back and seethe journey, I'm just proud of
just the journey.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yes, I'm proud of you too, banker, thank you.
So if you could give one pieceof advice to other women who are
building businesses in Africa,what advice would that be?
Could I?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
give two Sure Okay.
So one is be patient.
Good work takes time.
I know we live in this instantworld, but really things take
time.
And then I would say beconsistent.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
That's good, that's good.
Just wondering what's next foryou and for the Banke Kuku brand
.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
For me and the brand.
I will continue to tell moreincredible nature stories from
Nigeria to the rest of the world.
We'll continue to make impacton the communities around us and
we will continue to expandwithin Africa, within the rest
of the world and just reallymake Bankia Kuku a household
(34:15):
name.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Wish you all the best with that, bankia.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you're not alreadysubscribed, please do so on
Apple, spotify or wherever youget your podcasts, and don't
forget to leave us a review sowe know how we're doing.
I'm Akego Okoye, and you havebeen listening to African
(34:38):
Business Stories.
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