Popular MUDI Africa may not be the most famous designer in the world, but he is a force to reckon with in Africa. He is the first Nigerian designer to take his designs outside the shores of this country.
Today, MUDI Africa is a popular brand in South Africa, Nairobi, Ghana and Dakar. MUDI does not believe in so many fashion shows, but he believes in advertisement. He was the first fashion designer to erect seven billboards five years ago in Lagos state.
MUDI is short for Mudiagha. Mudiagha Clement Enajemo is a native of Urhobo, precisely from Ughelli in Delta state. He is from a huge polygamous family with 27 children from seven wives.
His mother is the fourth wife and he is the fifth of nine siblings from same mum. Mudi attended the famous Government Boys Secondary School, Ughelli; he was the best Art student in his school in his time and at Oharisi Primary School also in Ughelli, Delta state.
He completed his secondary education in 1985, travelled to Ilorin to join one of his elder brothers in 1987 with intention to further his education through help from his brother.
But that dream didn’t come through because his elder brother had lost his job and also needed help.
In disappointment, Mudiagha left Ilorin for Lagos state in 1990. While in Lagos, he joined an uncle of his who was a partner in the business of Ecstatic. Although he was still very young he was able to gain employment because of his unique dress sense.
He got a job as a security staff in his uncle’s company, worked for a year and three months, and was retrenched because of Gen. Babaginda’s Structural Adjustment Programme.
From Oregun in Lagos state where he worked, he moved to Ketu and lived on goodwill. There, he also began helping his friends to buy and match their clothes for free. Mudi may have been the best art student in his school days, but he never knew that art would eventually feed him.
So, while he was still working, drawing was the only passion that he had and he never stopped drawing. It got to a stage where he was sketching clothes designs. That was actually the genesis of MUDI Africa.
Along the line, Mudi was advised by his friends to do something about his designs by enrolling in a fashion school in order to perfect his God-given talent. So he registered for a nine-month programme to learn to cut, stitch, take measurement and to sew.
Upon his graduation, he knew that he was ready to face the world but he didn’t have a dime as capital. So he started by telling his school friends who were also residing in Lagos; these friends were working in banks and some other places.
He made complimentary cards which he shared wherever he went. He was known in school as a good dresser, so some of these friends tried him with a shirt, some with their trousers and more.
MUDI would take their measurements, collect his starting fee for the materials, sew the clothes, return and collect his balance. During those trying period, he would make about two hundred naira as gain for the stress, but he didn’t see it as stress, as it was his God-born passion.
Severally, MUDI would return clothes to his clients who wouldn’t be around; he would wait for a long time until his clients came for their designs at the meeting point. There was a day he had to walk all the way from Eko Hotel to Obalende just because he wanted to save a little from what he had earned.
He started his designing business in 1993 while designing for people. MUDI saved for four years to get a shop and after those years of savings he was able to raise only N17,000. It eventually took him five years to get his first shop through the assistance of a benefactor.
Challenges
As a business man, he was not without his share of hiccups. Apart from the teething stage of his business, every time he was about to break new grounds outside Nigeria, he had to register his company in that new country, visit the embassy to inform the consulate after renting an office in that country, bring in new designs, get an official car attached to the new office, and then employ workers to run the new place.
Achievements
Having learnt from his mother that hard work pays, he holds that as his personal mantra till date. He was at the Nigerian Fashion show in 2004 and his personal show in Ghana. He personally designed his office complex in Anthony village, Lagos.
He designs clothes for the high and mighty in the society and according to him, his clothes are made for everyone who can afford it. He has branches in Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Lagos, Dakar, Nairobi, South Africa and Ghana.
- Culled from: http://www.vanguardngr.com
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