Khadija Miya is the founder of Chamvigah Designs, a fashion house dealing in wedding gowns, suits and kid’s clothes among others.
She established the business in 2019 with a Ksh 2,500 loan from her husband, and she has managed to turn it around into a fashion empire.
While Khadija’s business is profitable, she previously dealt with numerous challenges which included lack of skilled tailors.
Here is her story as told by EAFeed.
Khadija’s journey in fashion design started in 2019 after buying a Dera dress from Eastleigh.
She would later customize the dress into an off-shoulder design and shared a photo wearing it on her WhatsApp status.
Khadija received inquiries from at least 10 of her friends about the dress, and decided to seize the opportunity presented to her.
The following day, she got a Ksh 2,500 loan from her husband which she used to buy more dresses which she later customised.
“I bought 10 deras and customize them to the off-shoulder design. I posted photos on my WhatsApp and distributed them to the 10 people who had inquired about them for Ksh 500 each,” she said.
With a profit of Ksh 2,500, Khadija repaid her husband and went back to Eastleigh for more dresses, making it her business cycle.
However, just like any other business, she also faced challenges as there are times when the dresses would sell faster, and other times it would take longer.
“When I realized that this could become a business I started incorporating more designs for sale,” she said in an interview with Nation.
Khadija noted that while the business took three years to break even, she is proud of the far she has gotten despite the challenges.
“Almost three years later I can say that I have seen the fruits of getting into this business,” she said.
Because she has no experience in tailoring, Khadija admitted that getting skilled tailored was the major challenge while setting up her business.
“I’m not a tailor my skills end with designing. These as at times been challenging because good tailors are quite hard to come by,” she shared.
She added, “One thing I have learned in this line of business is the importance of hiring the right workers. Cheap labor is the killer of new and upcoming businesses. You might think you are saving money but over time you will lose more and your brand will be tarnished.”
Khadija has also had encounters with rogue customers who fail to pay up or issue bad cheques after the work is done.
“When I started I lost thousands of money to clients who refused to pay up after work is done. I also had some we should bad cheques for bulk jobs,” she said.
