• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Meet Jibue Omorhirhi, entrepreneur building successful fashion business

Capturenow

In Nigeria’s highly competitive fashion business, it is difficult to stand out from the crowd. But this is certainly not the case for Jibue Omorhirhi, COO of Inidigo Boutique – a fashion powerhouse and one of the oldest boutiques in Lagos metropolitan.

Jibue who is professionally known as Jibbywest, is a talented Nigerian stylist, fashionpreneur, costume designer and blogger.

She was inspired to venture into the business by her mum who happens to be a fashion designer and the founder of Inidigo Boutique.

“I was born into the fashion industry. My mum always had good taste and was selling clothes from our yard before she opened Indigo Boutique,” she says.

“I would go there every day after school to help out and I realized immediately that I loved styling people,” she further says.

To deepen her fashion skills, the young entrepreneur proceeded to Northumbria University, School of Design to obtain a Master of Arts degree in Fashion Management and Entrepreneurship, after her Bachelor degree in Business Management in Brunel University London.

She joined her mother’s business immediately after her National Youth Service Corps in 2013 and after working there for two years, she opened her branch in 2015.

She notes that the fashion business is a family business. “You can say it is a family business even though my mum has retired now. She still helps out once in a while so she can meet new people and gist with old customers.”

To survive the pandemic impact, she says her business had to re-strategize by selling online via various social media platforms.

“Instagram helped a lot in our sales during the lockdown. You have no idea how much social media plays a part in the success of a business,” she stresses.

She adds that she worked with Masha Mombelli, a celebrity stylist during the Londo Fashion Week while pursuing her post-graduate degree.

Similarly, she worked with Guinness NG for their smooth tribe campaign. “I styled Agba, Fireboy, Yagazie and Beverly Naya. I style Pearl Cardy of Soundcitytv for most of her TV shows including Top10 Nigeria.”

“I have styled Niyola on many occasions as her stylist. I’ve worked with her for different looks for her album cover, birthday shoots and more.

“I styled Omowunmi Akinnifesi for her interview with Vanguard Allure which included the cover and full-page spread among others”

She says 2020 remains the major turning point for her business.

Speaking on her vision for the next five years, she says it is getting all my brands on the global radar.

She adds that she intends to style more international celebrities and have a website for the fashion house that will put it on the global map in the short run.

On her advice to other entrepreneurs, Jibue says “Authenticity! Show up as the best, authentic version of yourself and everything will fall into place. This has worked for me.”