A CHAT WITH A NIGERIAN FASHION DESIGNER, SANDRA OGBONNA

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A CHAT WITH A YOUNG NIGERIAN FASHION DESIGNER, SANDRA OGBONNA

In order to avoid joining the large number of unemployed youths in Nigeria, Nigerian lady decides to make good use of her acquired skills to put food on her table. In a recent chat with The Circular, she shares her journey in the Fashion Industry as a young entrepreneur and how she has helped herself overcome challenges as a young entrepreneur considering that she started in her late teens.

CIRCULAR: Can we meet you?

DISIGNA: I am Sandra Ebube Ogbonna, a graduate of Babcock University and the C.E.O of “The Disigna Brand

CIRCULAR: Tell us more about The Disigna Brand

DISIGNA:  The Disigna Brand is basically a fashion brand that promotes beauty in Ladies/women and has been in existence since 2017. Our ‘Disigna Women” always stand out in our beautiful slides and wears keeping it simple and classy. We are open to corrections, observations and suggestions and our Instagram handle is @thedisgnabrand

CIRCULAR: How were you able to combine fashion designing with academics?

DISIGNA: I feel like once you have a natural flare and talent for something, it merges conveniently to a certain extent with your studies. So, for me, the passion was there for both academics and design, so I just ran with it.

CIRCULAR: What are the challenges you have faced as a young Entrepreneur?

DISIGNA: Finance! It’s difficult to get investors believe in you and your brand. But I am hopeful that once the brand grows to a certain extent, investors will flock in. However, as a result of the slow movement of fashion designing, I opened another branch of designing that focused more on foot wears and it has so far been the bedrock of my brand.

CIRCULAR: Did you at any point ever think of giving up?

DISIGNA: *laughs*

Just last month I  sent a text to my close friends on telling them how I was planning to close the brand if I don’t get enough orders for either slides or dresses and interestingly, they all put my slides up on their social media page and I can gladly say in the past few weeks, I have had a good number of sales. In all of these, my motivation is Forbes and if I give up, I will never make it into forbes. So I learnt never to give up.

CIRCULAR: What inspired the brand name?

DISIGNA: I have my B.A in English studies from Babcock University so to an extent, I am good with sounds and so I decided to play with phonetic symbols of words and derived “Disigna” from the transcription of “Disigna”

CIRCULAR: How do you plan on improving your sales strategy?

DISIGNA: I am planning a pop up and yard sale sometime before the first half of the year alongside some collaborations with other fashion brands.

CIRCULAR: Who are your role models in the fashion Industry?

DISIGNA: Idia Aisen, Emmy Kosgei and any Balmain Design to be honest.

CIRCULAR: Where do you see yourself in another 2 years and how do you plan to achieve this?

1. DISIGNA: In two years, the “Disigna Brand” will be 4 years and all I can pray for is exponential growth in all ramifications.