In the era where many ladies enjoy having their honeymoon abroad, in the most expensive suit and the city of their dream; anaedoonline met a young passionate shoe designer who says she had her honeymoon in a shoe manufacturing factory.
Mrs Nancy Ifeoma CHIDEBE, an energetic footwear designer and producer (shoemaker) who hails from Oko in Anambra State recently revealed what many don’t know about her in an exclusive interview with anaedoonline.com.
“Many that see me as a success today may not believe my hustle story”, she started.
“I am a graduate of Office Technology and Management (OTM) with Distinction but today I am a proud footwear producer or you can call me a shoemaker with a difference. Still judiciously living my life as a wife, mother, and career woman”.
For Nancy, shoe-making is not a job reserved for only men as many perceive it to be; she derives pleasure designing and creating new pairs herself and that informed her decision to go into the line of business. She described shoe-making as an industry that has potential of housing many according to what one wants to specialize on.
“I am a shoe addict growing up and love wearing a unique pair to every outing. So I can take up to even up to a week creating a new design just to make my clients look Unique. At the moment I concentrate on making unisex sandals, slippers and basic shoes as well as belts and hope to go into other Leathercraft such wallets making. I take my time to create every piece with love and passion to give it a fresh breath of comfort and confidence”, she said.
According to the testimonies of customers, NANCYSHOECRAFTS products are not just classic and Unique, they are rugged, comfortable and durable. Some of her clients also told us that they patronize Nancy because of her passion for her handiwork which is predominantly the occupation of men.
Just like most entrepreneurs, her journey through life in line with the business hasn’t been a bed of roses.
According to Nancy, While planning for ‘life after NYSC’ with the consideration of the reality of job scarcity in Nigeria with millions of unemployed graduates. Mrs Nancy decided to make a business out of her passion for creativity and designing. So, she registered for an apprenticeship course/Program in shoe-making while still on the compulsory NYSC Program. There she learned the basics and further enrolled for a Master class in St. Davids shoe Academy Lagos immediately after her NYSC and few days after her white wedding.
“At the end of my NYSC service year and barely few days after my wedding, I left my family in Anambra and travelled to Lagos for a 6months advanced class in shoe-making and leather crafts in other to acquire more advance knowledge in the skill of shoe-making. That was the first hard decision I and my husband had to take for the business and subsequent survival of the family”. She said.
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When she returned to her family in Anambra State, she immediately kick start her business with her house as her workstation.
Mrs Nancy, ‘Minister of Leather crafts’ as she rather prefer to be addressed, said after several failed attempts to secure a good shop in the main streets where she believes her business will move/sell well, she decided to turn a room in her residence into her temporal workshop while she does the filling and finishing part of the shoe-making in her backyard instead of waiting till she could afford a better situated business space.
“I studied my target audience and found out that online is the fastest platform to reach almost all of them, so I switched to that line of marketing and created a page (an account) across most frequently accessed Social media platforms. So to place an order and to get detailed/other information about my brand and business, one can easily access my pages with the username @nancyshoecrafts across all social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google. My products are available for online shopping at www.nancyshoecraft.com Nancy stated.
According to her, “in other to validate (make valid) my brand, I registered my business with CAC with as NANCYSHOECRAFT LEATHERWORKS.”
Mrs Nancy also disclosed that apart from people that order or shop her products online she moves about work places to sell and also participate in crafts Exhibitions, while some people visits her home workshop in Ekwulobia, Anambra state to buy.
She further said that while working that soonest people could also learn from her through online medium, she offers trainings in shoe-making and craftsmanship as well as apprenticeship program and she charges as low as #1000 for groups and #15000 for individual to encourage people to involve in this line of business.
Mrs Nancy Ifeoma CHIDEBE
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