Footwear Academy, Nigeria’s foremost footwear production training school has officially opened its facility in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State with Governor Okezie Ikpeazu enrolling as a student of the academy.
The aim is to create employment opportunities for people, especially the youth, according to Bentley Chukwuemekka, co-founder of the school.
He stated also that the academy would help formalise shoemaking in Aba, as well as equip the new generation of shoemakers for quality production. He explained that starting up the school was never an easy task, as he faced many challenges, which he and his partner were able to overcome by focusing on the bigger picture and where they were aiming for the future.
“Major motivation for me was the empowerment of individuals out of job, who had no jobs or out of school. I felt that the best way to help them is to enable them to have a lifetime skill.
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“So, I came down to Aba, after spending time in Lagos. I met some old shoemakers here and I told them that it is better to transfer these skills to some of our younger ones, to enable us secure the next generation of shoemakers”.
Chukwuemeka stated that the vision to change the narrative in shoemaking pushed him and his partner to travel to Florence in Italy precisely at “Accademia Riaci”, a renowned footwear school.
“We found a school in Italy that has been in existence for over 40 years, Accademia Riaci in Florence Italy. We registered for six weeks programme there, learnt shoemaking and how to formalise it.
“We returned to Aba and we trained over 130 students on shoemaking in 2020. Because of COVID-19, they were coming in small batches and over 50 percent were female,” he stated
Chukwuemeka explained that the Footwear Academy has two sections-training and production, noting that the essence of the production section is to showcase whatever the students would be learning there in practical terms.
He stressed that the production section now gets involved in commercial shoemaking with the brand name, Bold Step which does contract production for brands according to specification.
He stated that the training was designed differently to the needs and ability of the student, which includes: three weeks, two months, three months, six weeks and one year programme.
“They can go for other higher programmes after three weeks like – months, three months, six months and one year. “Shoemaking involves basically two things: understanding the process and practicing. The longer you stay, the better the understanding you will have.
“Our trainings are affordable, but not so affordable. Surprisingly in 2019 when we returned, the cost of our training was N35,000 and only one person came. And then, we were willing to give all, but just one person came.
“However, that era has gone. Now, our three weeks programme is N50,000, three months programme is N300,000, six months programme is N600,000, while our nine months programme is N900,000.
“We are not expensive, we are not cheap. It is shoemaking made easy. We know the approach to use, to make things easy for those studying under us”.
Chukwuemeka, however, stated that the Footwear Academy was not in Aba to compete with the already existing shoe clusters, but to transfer knowledge to people willing to get involved in shoemaking.
“For the existing shoe-makers having issues with pattern making, we equally train them. Most times if you go to Ariaria, you’ll see a shoemaker, who has been in the business for 15-20 years making just one pattern. We help them to do better”.
Ikpeazu, while registering as a student of the academy, urged Nigerians to take pride in patronizing made in Nigeria products as a way of boosting the economy. He observed that except Nigerians endorse their own products and take pride in them that they will be merely supporting the economic growth of other nations.
