Out of her desire to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Olusola Babatunde, a fashion designer and the managing director of Onestop Celebration Limited, has commenced the production of face masks in Nigeria.
Olusola is one of the dozens of entrepreneurs across the globe that have been lured into the production of face coverings in recent weeks as hospitals and public health officials scramble for protective gears against the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
“I felt strongly that I could do something to contribute my own little quota to curbing the spread of the COVID- 19 virus in the country,” she says.
Apart from the present situation, the entrepreneur was motivated to commence production of face masks to change the narrative of the country always seeking solutions from the developed world.
“I was concerned about how the government was already looking abroad for solutions to this crisis without full exploration of its own resources,” Olusola says.
“I wanted to change this, so, I swung into action as a patterns maker and produced face mask samples. I started lobbying some government agencies to inform them that these masks could be made locally instead of importing them,” she explains.
Recently, the Lagos State government and others in Nigeria said they could enforce the use of face masks by the general public.
The enforcement is expected to further increase the demand for face coverings in Africa’s most populous nation, thus creating a larger market for entrepreneurs who are in the manufacture of the products.
Since starting some weeks ago, Olusola, who is also the founder of the OSC College of Fashion, has produced more than 300,000 face masks to confront the pandemic.
“We have been able to produce over 300,000 face masks for government agencies, non-governmental agencies (NGOs), corporate organisations and the bottom of the pyramid,” she says.
The designer says all materials for the production of the facemask are sourced locally and that her employees are mostly contract workers who are contributing immensely to boost the output.
She is currently deploying all her revenues from fashion business to the production of the facemasks.
She says post-COVID-19, her business plans to establish a state-of-the-art garment factory to revolutionise the country’s fashion industry.
She notes that the Nigerian fashion industry has great potential and with the right infrastructure and enabling environment, the industry will become a global force to reckon with.
“Nigeria’s fashion industry is growing and has great potential. With the right investors, infrastructure and enabling environment, we would amaze the world,” she says.
On challenges confronting her fashion business since starting in 2009, the designer says that people’s perception of the fashion profession was one of the major hurdles she had to confront with.
She adds that inadequate infrastructure and lack of access to adequate finance are also major challenges confronting her business.
She urges the government to enforce local patronage by compelling all of its agencies and institutions to patronise local manufacturers.
“The Nigerian government, through its various agencies, should enforce the patronage of locally made products,” she says.
“This will provide an off-taker for SMEs. The government should create an enabling environment for businesses and should always engage stakeholders in industries prior to the development of policies,” she adds.
On her advice to other entrepreneurs, Olushola says, “Don’t give up and see opportunities in every situation. Be consistent at what you are doing and most importantly always rely on God.”
Josephine Okojie and Bunmi Bailey
