While handing the cheques to the winners, who were
successful in a business pitch, Polaris Bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr.
Innocent C. Ike, disclosed that the most important factor required by existing
and budding entrepreneurs to get investors interested in their businesses is
the entrepreneurial spirit.
Aside the business pitch winners, special prizes were also
given to the Most Original Store and Best Decorated Store at the Fashion Souk.
The winners were given equipment grants by Polaris Bank to further expand their
businesses.
The overall winner of the pitch, Mrs. Oluwatosin Ogunbanjo,
who runs a leather bag and shoes company, Avenue 7, got N750,000 and first
runner-up, Victoria Udoh, a painting on Fabric Company, Vudoh was given
N500,000 while the second runner-up, Tunde Issa, a Tailor and Founder of male
clothing line company, RoyalKlassicKoutoure, went home with N250,000.
The hugely attended one-day Fashion Souk/business fair which
held at the prestigious Harbour Point facility in Victoria Island, Lagos, on
Sunday, provided a platform for more than 150 SMEs in Nigeria’s fashion
industry to showcase their creativity, product lines, and economic potentials.
Some of the SMEs categories at the fair included: manufacturers, retailers,
leather and jewelry/accessories.
The objective of sponsoring the Fashion Souk according to
Polaris Bank, was a reinforcement of its support to SMEs as the catalyst for
propelling the growth of the Nigerian economy.
Shedding more light on how fundamental entrepreneurial
spirit is for a business success, the Polaris Bank CEO said he has a habit of
telling entrepreneurs that what makes the difference, “Is the creative idea
that an entrepreneur has and the ability to sit down and put it together
diligently in a well-articulated manner.”
He added that “Creative ideas are the only way to attract
funding from banks and individuals who will like to invest in the idea because
they will see clearly that it is viable. He said the only way an entrepreneur
can achieve that is by sitting down and putting his thoughts together and by
making sure he crosses all the T’s and dots all the I’s.”
According the Polaris Bank CEO, “When such a business
proposal is presented to any investor Bank, it will be very convincing and such
an entrepreneur will not get a ‘no’ for an answer.”
Earlier in her address too, Chairman of Eventful/Convener of
the Event, Mrs. Yewande Zaccheus, appreciated Polaris Bank for consistently
supporting SMEs in the country over the years, remarking that the Bank is not
only talking but actually putting its money where its mouth is and urged the
Bank to sustain the Partnership for a sustainable Fashion Souk.
Highlight of the Fashion Souk was the product launch that
SMEs could leverage the Bank’s loan products like: Polaris Business Loan,
Invoice Discounting facility and LPO financing among others were pitched with
the participating SMEs.
The Bank has developed SME-friendly products to cater to the
needs of SMEs based on sector/industry-specific, ranging from SMEs in the
Health sector, Education, Manufacturing, General business, Agriculture, Export,
Creative Industry, etc.”
Polaris Bank also provides business advisory at no cost
while SMEs are encouraged to send in their business proposal for review via-
smebusiness@polarisbanklimited.com
Aside Polaris Bank, the fashion fair also featured product
launches by other top participating Fashion companies like Arami, Tara, Mobos
and Zaron; as well as runways by Clatural, Aaboux/Cornocupia, Woora and Dyelab,
among others.
Nigeria’s fashion sub-sector has huge and untapped
potentials capable of reducing the rate of unemployment in the country.
According to statistics by the Fashion Association Designers of Nigeria
(FADAN), Nigeria’s fashion industry is valued at $10 billion. Africa
Development Bank (AfDB) also projects the global fashion industry worth to be
over $2.5 trillion with Africa’s share estimated at less than 1% of that value
in 2020, putting Africa’s entire textile/clothing market at more than $31
billion.
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