The Nigerian shoe industry is gradually witnessing a revolution and growing in leaps and bounds with many of the brands being exported outside the country and Nigerian consumers proudly identifying with them. In this interview with Jill Okeke, Group Head, Shoespeed, and Director General, Shoespeed Academy, Mr Abiodun Folawiyo, speaks on the quality of Nigerian made shoes, acceptance by consumers, why some local brands carry foreign stickers and effect of government policies on the industry, amongst others. Excerpts:Being an accountant, what motivated you into the shoe business'I started Shoespeed 15 years ago as an undergraduate of the University of Lagos. I was born into a family where my mom was into business and my father was a professor in the same university I attended. My dad actually wanted me to be a professor but I discovered my love for shoes while I was about seven years old.How was it in the early days of business'At the time I was starting, there was nothing like the made-in-Nigeria campaign that we have right now. Anyone that made shoes as at 15years ago is termed Aba shoes, and Aba shoes then were seen as inferior, fake and not up to standard.So I had to deal with peoples perspective about my product because I started with making leather slippers. A lot of family members will look into my face and say, Abiodun, I am only buying this because it is you. I cant wear it out but can wear within the house. So I had to deal a lot withacceptance. I had to deal with start up capital. Nobody was willing to invest their money into me because I was too risky.Lots of people could not think that good shoescan be made in Nigeria. But I believe that someday, we will compete with countries like Italy and America, which is happening at this point. Acceptance by customers, encouragement from family members and capital to start were big deal.Who is your targeted audience'Majorly male. So our ratio is 80:20. 80 percent of our product is targeted towards male, 20 percent targeted towards female. Ranges from 1265.Do you export or intend to export'We export and we intend to export to countries like UK, Italy, and America and we intend to build more of our potential around export.Where do you source for your raw materials'Majorly from Italy. We source from Italy, we source locally; but most of our quality materials are still sourced from Italy despite the fact that we have reasonable, controllable number and population of cattle and goats.What challenges do you face'Obvious challenges are infrastructure, light, source for reasonable or convenient loan. There are no standard institution built around fashion like you have in banking and sourcing for raw materials locally.How do Nigerians react to locally made shoes'Its better, unlike 13years or 15years ago, where every shoe that was made in Nigeria was termed Aba or fake. And, yes, because of the campaign lets go Nigeria; its getting better but can be better because our leaders for instance still do not openly endorse some of our locally made shoes and other fashion products.Can these shoes compete outside the countries'Yes.How is the government policy affecting you'Government policies, yes a lot of it. There are still no strict rules to imported shoes; there are still no government heavy interventions, unlike Ethiopia, in the leather industry; like having workable ternaries that can give us raw materials we need. Also facilities for capital intensive project like factory and all that. Government does not have special arrangement. The Bank of Industry is there but they still request for collateral.What is the life span of your shoes'We have some of our customers that have usedour shoes for as long as five to seven years.What do you have to say about Aba shoes'Aba shoes are very good. From what I have gathered, Aba shoes are exported outside the country and imported back to Nigeria cause they are well made. Aba shoes or brand are not well structured. So lots of them still put Italy on their products or kill the attitude of made-in-Nigeria product. So Aba shoes need to be well branded and there has to be a campaign around them.Why do they put foreign stickers instead of theirs'They put foreign stickers obviously because they believe that when it is made-in-Nigeria, it wont be bought the way if it has foreign sticker on it or not pay the right price for it.How far do you think the local shoe industry will go'Nigeria has over 200million people; a good distribution channel, network and productive infrastructure facilitiesto produce. I am talking about resources; money, human resources would ensure that with the first service, Nigerian market in turn will be able to export to other part of African countries, then to every other parts of the world.You have a programme with NYSC. How many youth corps members have you trained, and to what level'Shoespeed Academy has been an official registered trainer with NYSC for over six years and beyond, just training people in the art and business of shoe making. We have empowered them on how to position their business to attract the right funding like Shoespeed has attracted in the last few years.We have gotten grant from private sector, from Diamond Bank. Weve gotten grant from the federal government. So beyond training them on how to make shoes, we also train them on how to write winning business plan so that they can build successful shoe making businesses like Shoespeed.Weve spoken to and empowered, through the NYSCplatform, over 10,000 youths in the last six years.
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