YORMAGES Boss, Yomi Awoyemi @ 40: My loss, my lesson

… Launches new designs to mark 10 year anniversary

Today August 19, Yomi Awoyemi, the Creative Director of Yormages is in a double celebration mood. His company clocks the 10-year anniversary at the same time he clinches the 40 years mark. In order to distinguish this day he has unleashed various designs with a 20 percent discount for his customers. The erudite graduate of the University of Ilorin speaks to newsmen on his achievement and challenges of an entrepreneur in Nigeria and SECURITY MONITOR’s Managing Editor, Wale Abideen was there…

Hon. Yomex as fondly called by his University of Ilorin fans is the fourth among six children and the first in the family to attend a university, grew on the street of Ibadan, hawking water and drinks to augment the family’s purse, adding that there was never a time he enjoyed any form of mentorship as a teenager and even when he was an apprentice air conditioner repairer.

“I grew up in a family of 10living in one-room apartment; there was always relatives staying with us. When you leave the house 6am, you don’t come back to the house till 8pm. Even when getting home, we still have to do home chores. Our parents were gender-neutral. They subjected everybody to the same duty at home. My mother taught me how to cook very well. She said when I grow up; I will be an asset to my wife,” he stated.

The fashion guru gives further insight to his background: “The man you see today started as a cobbler. I would follow a friend of mine in those days to his father’s shop, after helping the man to do his job we would do our own to sell. It was one of the first times I made a gain for myself out of my own sweat. This was after selling ice-water and minerals as a child for my parents. The hustle continued in the university when I would sew some bedspread and sold them at the female hostels.”

The journey through life wasn’t altogether easy and smooth sailing for Yomi. According to him, the 10-year milestone would not have come to pass if he was as foolish as not to make hay while the sun was still shinning.

At a point, he admits, he deviated from the established fashion brand he struggled to build from scratch, to dabble into courier service. “The saving grace was that my partner pulled out and that was a wakeup call for me that it was not going to work and I patched it up until I was able to recoup my investment and I bailed out. I went back to what I knew how to do best, my fashion business. In the last 10 years, I have been able to launch five signature designs and have been able to sew for kinds of Yakubu Gowon, Raji Rasaki, Igodalo and so on. I think it was Jay Jay Okocha that side he was paid for having fun as a footballer. The betrayal has always been there including the failed relationships before my wife came along,” he stated.

He advised that the fashion industry need to brace up to get to the standard the music industry.

Yomi set part of the goals he has set for his 40^th birthday is to be impactful. “I am going to move into politics and philanthropy. The country needs to be inspired by someone who has seen it all in this country. At my level, out of nothing, I have built a business line that has endured this long,” he stated