VODI : Exclusive With Northern's Beauty.

Style shows taste, and in learning the secrets of his clothing empire,  outstanding, hardworking and creative popular designer Vodi, reveals the history and journey of his success to Olori Wendy at Vodi Tailors in Abuja. 

Who is Vodi, what does it signify?

I'm Seyi Adekunle, creative director of Vodi Tailors. Vodi is a Fulani word for beauty. I started the Vodi business in 2002 immediately after my NYSC, started with 3,600 Naira paid to me as a corper.

Vodi started from a Ghana Must Go bag, I would go to Aba, buy materials and make clothes then sell to corpers, bankers and friends. I learnt the basics of tailoring as a corper

How did you begin expansion? 

It was gradual, it was a vision born out of nothing, out of necessity, meeting needs. There was clamp down on importation of foreign goods by former president Obasanjo, and initially I wanted to drop my CV to job hunt, but decided otherwise after trying few times. However, there's no part of Abuja that I didn't hawk, no ministry, no bank I didn't take my work to, so basically there is no part of Abuja I didn't take my work to and eventually I got my flagship shop in Gwagalada, but interestingly even boys were coming from town to make cloths in Gwagalada and it was out of that demand I got another shop in Wuse 2 in Octorber 2004 and from there started growing our staff.

We didn't recruit based on out of face value but once there is a staff to need because in Vodi we don't encourage loafing around. Everybody you see has a problem he is solving.

Why Abuja, is it because you don't want to battle competition with Lagos Numerous Designers?

The truth is that I have this thing with Lagos, Nigeria has got 36 States and we have got the mind-set that everything good comes from Lagos but we have good designers in Kano, Kaduna and other states but the media has not been fair, they don't leave their comfort zone to see other parts. It is not because of competition per se I'm in Abuja, in this country you can challenge that for designers we have been rated top three (3) in this country. You don't have to be in Lagos to be successful but we will soon have a branch in Lagos because from time to time, there's no week we don't get clients from Lagos. Starting in Abuja didn't mean we were afraid of competition, but felt Abuja is there and we can start something here. 

Why focus on male clothing?

Emmm, we take it part time, when we started it was Vodi Shirt Makers, at some point we started making natives, trousers, and soon we will go into female clothing, we have been studying the trend. We can't just start everything together. Now that we are stable enough we are starting our female clothing. 

What kinda fabric and designs are you known for?

Yes for Vodi we do cloths for all sorts of people, we don't restrict ourselves to only the upwardly mobile, we do students, workers. We use brocade, voil, cashmere, tessile, from different ranges, super 120 to super 140, we also use cotton.

 

Who are your clients, general public or only the elites?  

I have seen !!, and we learn from other people's mistake, it is suicidal for any business man to think his business should be for a certain class. Any business that operates on open market doesn't fall easily. For us it is for everybody. We have what the rich and affluent can buy and what students can buy. The difference is the choice of fabric.

What are your everyday challenges?

Starting !!, that has been the greatest undoing of so many young entrepreneurs in Africa. Over the years, we almost went down using generator everyday of the year, because every day and night, there was no light in Gwagalada. Challenge of staffing too, getting the right people as you grow the business, we need people that can grow with the brand. Some graduates who studied accounting, etc not tailoring, look at the work casually, no matter what name you give it, it is tailoring, so staffing has been a big problem. Also at a point everyone wants to be independent. They want to leave, some can't tell me because of the respect they have for me, so I have come to terms with that and they are right in their own way, but now we have our academy to recruit from. However, 80 percent of our desk top people are graduates, even amongst the tailors. 

So how many staff are in your employment? 

We have about 95 to 100 staff at the last count. Graduates and non graduates. 

Do awards motivate you? 

We are not doing it for awards. We are doing it for positive purpose, besides you can't just place me among people selling beer or your cousins, and carve a plaque. Event organizers make awards seem commercial so I hardly work to get awards but for positive purposes. 

What other business are you involved in?

Tailoring, drying cleaning, under Vodi group but we have different companies under the group. Vodi Properties headed by Barrister Folusho Akinigbagbe, Vodi Textile by Funmilayo Oguntuase, Vodi Kleen Dry Cleaning by Oyemade Adeyemi, Vodi Tailors (the female section), starting in June will be handled by Maryann Shekarau. Vodi Tailoring Academy will also be made public and commercial in June, but it is still free before then

What is style and fashion to you?

For me style is inherent, it is about the person, it is internal, however fashion evolves, fashion in the 1940s is not the one in 2000s, there was a time we had animal skin, afro, iro and buba in vogue but now it is different. Color blocking is also gradually fading away. Nevertheless, style is permanent. You either have it or not. 

How do you see female fashion against male trends?

It depends on the approach, if you go to Oxford street in London, on the same street, you have Zara and Alexandra Mcqueen. In terms of male and female differences, I think they are even. Men wear clothes as well as women but in terms of commercial, women clothes are very commercial. For female fashion, you put a lot of effort in creating and that takes more money to deliver. Unlike male outfits which are just straight cuts. 

How do you unwind and mix business plus family as a busy person?

I used to have a staff, a lady, when she left, her dad asked her if those people were Chinese. So I said I'd rather work like the Chinese people because that is why they are successful. During the second world war, their land was destroyed but they worked hard and are stable now, meanwhile Nigeria got independence in 1960 yet we are like 200 years behind them. I like to work than people to see me as a lazy man. For me, after my God, my family comes next and I try to balance it. As I work hard, I find time to party with friends weekends. Best day of my life are Mondays because of new challenges, new aspirations. For me I use every day to measure my success and I'm happy when I achieve most of my targets for the week.