Startup Story
Gmoty Fashion Academy in Nigeria, founded by the passionate fashion entrepreneur Omotola Olaniyi-Omosebi, is changing people’s lives by giving them training in fashion manufacturing skills and business. Her work is accelerating her students’ ability to access jobs and business opportunities in the fashion industry on graduation.
LoA learned more about the enterprising and creative Omotola Olaniyi-Omosebi this month and her aspirations for her Academy.
Tell us a little more about yourself
My name is Omotola Olaniyi-Omosebi and I am the current Creative Director at Gmoty Fashion Academy. I am a graduate of Business Administration from Yaba College of Technology Yaba Lagos. Gmoty Fashion Academy was established in 2014 after I successfully graduated from the prestigious Ginani Fashion School. In 2016 I also attended Zaris Fashion Academy for a finishing course. I am inspired by being able to impact knowledge in others which is behind my idea of running a fashion academy to complement my label. I specialize in African ready to wear, casuals and corporate wear. I have participated in various fashion shows including Runway Fadan 2015 (Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria), Ankara Fiesta 2015 and a host of other exhibitions.
I worked briefly with Independent Field Advertisers (I.F.A Nigeria) between 2008 and 2011 professionally. I am a recipient of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 women initiative Scholarship, and studied Entrepreneurial Management at the Pan Atlantic University (Lagos Business School). I am a member of FADAN (Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria) the recognized body for the Fashion Designers Profession. Also a member of AFDEC (African Fashion Development and Empowerment Centre)
What does your company do?
We do fashion training and education, sales of fashion designs (Ready to Wear), childrenswear, handcrafted products made by students, including Laptop Bags, Ankara Tote Bags, Neck Pillows and Accessories etc. We also offer a range of consultancy and advisory services.
“Our training techniques are tested and trusted. We do not just teach fashion, we also teach the business side of fashion.”
What inspired you to start your company?
A few years ago, I struggled with how to cut and sew clothes, I didn’t know where to start from or where to learn the skills I needed. So I spent years looking for a solution to this problem from different places. I ended up wasting years learning little to nothing, I wasted money and time yet with nothing to show. On different occasions I would watch videos, read books and even attend sewing group tutorials all in the hope to learn. My sewing skills, interpretation of designs or perfect finishing was nothing to write-home-about. I became so confused, worried, scared and frustrated because I knew I was losing out, I didn’t believe in myself and my skills as I couldn’t sew anything meaningful for myself, not to talk of making clothes for clients. I spent a full year learning from a so-called ‘good’ tailor. But I knew if I could get hold of these skills it would help a great deal. I knew I needed a way out very fast because it was starting to affect my self-esteem; I didn’t like the fact that I was always asking my husband for every single kobo I needed. It was really bad. I finally found a way out. Today the story is different, as I not only do I sew well fitted garments, I also now help and teach other married women who are serious and desperate about learning how to sew and use this skill to generate more money, even if they are still doing their 9-5 jobs. In the month of May 2018, I opened a Fashion Training Academy where we help people, (married women our priority) solve these problems and we have trained over 300 women (boys and girls also included for summer classes) and still counting, We understand how difficult it is not to have a skill or source of income as a married woman as we know that there are no more full-housewives. (If you are married and you depend solely on your spouse for everything you are a Fool-housewife). So, this was the motivation and the push that gave birth to Gmoty Fashion Academy. Gmoty Fashion Academy Is a community that helps women find clarity and move very fast from being a full housewife to a resourceful housewife.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
FOR THE ACADEMY
1. Our training techniques are tested and trusted. We do not just teach fashion, we also teach the business side of fashion. This is where we bring in experts from the industry to train and educate our students on selling and branding etc. We train them and we give them their first job.
2. We pride ourselves in giving the best, we connect our students with Professional Fashion Associations, Fashion Incubation Hubs, to accelerate their fashion careers.
They don’t need to have a shop/space to start their fashion career, we have a partnership with Fashion Incubation Hub in Lagos. Even if the students do not have money to start off, they can go to the hub to produce and sell. The Hub is equipped with machines and machinist, photographers for their photo-shoot, E- commerce for their products and many more people to help their fashion career, just because they trained at GFSA. They don’t need to wait until they have shops or buy a lot of machines, because of our partnership they have access to a lot of resources at the hub and can start their fashion career without the burden of how I had to navigate mine.
3. We also teach our students how to use the latest tech tools to promote their products and services.
4. We always organize fireside chats where we bring professionals for them to answer questions on how to start, scale and build a sustainable fashion business.
5. We have a conducive training facility where we train interested individuals especially women, girls, and young adults.
FOR OUR PRODUCTION HUB
We produce high quality craft and garments. We always have the end users in mind when producing our pieces. Our products are timeless. Our hand crafted products are specially made by our best students who now work and earn from what we produce and sell. (Laptop Bags, Neck Pillows and Accessories)
“The opportunity to share the knowledge I have gained through these experiences with students in the fashion design program continues to excite and challenge me.”
Tell us a little about your team
Our team consists of me as the current creative director; our New Business Department which handles the production of our ready to wear and crafts; and the training unit which takes care of the day to day running of the fashion training academy.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
Although I have been an owner of a sewing business, (Gmoty Fashion) and also Fashion Label (Gmoty), and now an instructor at Gmoty Fashion and Style Academy, the opportunity to share the knowledge I have gained through these experiences with students in the fashion design program continues to excite and challenge me. The passion for design and construction has always been a part of my life.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
To increase the number of women we train by minimum 50%. To establish Gmoty Fashion Academy as an authority in the Fashion industry and as the "go-to" training academy. To increase and grow our brand awareness globally and also export our products. To secure funding for our women and also build our own fashion hub/production hub. To drive more sales for products from our trained students. Our mission is to help our women become resourceful so they can help their children and family.
“The passion for design and construction has always been a part of my life.”
“Our mission is to help our women become resourceful so they can help their children and families.”
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
What gives me the most satisfaction as an entrepreneur is the ability to practice my skills every day, and this skill is creating the safe place for women to grow their self-belief so as to become support systems to their families and role models in their communities. My joy is seeing women become more involved in running the home front, leading in their communities, and speaking out loud with their heads up high. This can only be achieved when our women are empowered with livelihood skills, when they have different streams of Income.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Learn a skill today!! Never depend solely on your spouse, the power you have is that little money you can call your own. The best time to start is NOW!!
Contact or follow Gmoty Fashion Academy
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | EMAIL gmotyfashion@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it….
At Lionesses of Africa, we love to hear the stories of women entrepreneurs who are tenacious, who never give up on their dreams, and who are driven to make a difference. Omotola Olaniyi-Omosebi is all of those things, and having empowered herself to learn the skills she needed to run a successful fashion business, she is now doing the same for others. She is giving other women the opportunity to change their lives for the better through the acquisition of essential skills in fashion and the business acumen to turn those skills into income. Omotola is a change-maker in her industry. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa