My Start-Up story: ‘I started the Fashion Academy from my son’s bedroom’ — Nina Kwande

Nina Yusuf Kwande started Abuja Fashion Academy from her son’s bedroom. With two sewing machines and five students she kicked-off five years ago. This was born out of a desire to see well sewn clothes on people and on the runways.
“Before beginning,” she said “I attended some fashion shows and I saw models wear horrible clothes on the runway. So, I saw that there was a problem with how people were making the clothes. So, I left for the United Kingdom and studied at the London College of Fashion. They offer variety of short courses, so I took short courses through four years. I accumulated a number of skills and came back home and started the fashion academy,” Kwande explains.
From five students at the beginning, over 350 people have passed through the school. While some go on to start their own business, some who are already doing their own businesses come to acquire more skills.
“I believe the school has made a difference in the quality of clothes we see. The whole idea of what we are doing here is that we are trying to get to the point we make our clothes so well, that it looks like it was made abroad.  The way we buy clothes off the rack, we should be able to get there because we have a lot of culture and African prints that we can showcase to the world as well. ”, Kwande said.