Tiwalade Jumai Soladoye-Adewole is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Leather Palace, a brand that specializes in the making of quality handcraft bags and accessories using quality leathers and Ankara fabrics. A native of Ibadan, she studied Agricultural Extension and Rural Development at the University of Ibadan and currently rounding off a masters degree programme in Rural Communication from the same school. She spoke with FLORENCE OLUGBODI.
Q: For how long have you been into bag making?
Well, I have been into bag making since 2018. I started with Ankara crafts in 2017. It was during this period that I discovered leather works and decided to delve into it.
Q: As an Agriculturist that is currently doing a Masters programme, why did you delve into making bags and your source of motivation?
Although I love agriculture, I’ve always tended towards being creative with my hands. I love creating stuff and seeing people appreciate and make use of my products give me indescribable joy. Then, there is this happiness too that comes from looking at a product you created. You look at it and you are like “Wow! I made this?”
Q: How do you cope with combining your academic programme and vocational skill?
It has not been easy. Both my education and my vocational skill are quite demanding. I remember when I was staying in the school hostel, students were always laughing at me for running home every weekend. They thought I was missing home, but the truth is I usually had orders waiting for me to complete. Due to the demands of school, I have not had enough time to fully explore the potentials of my business. I hope to face it when I’m finally done with the M.Sc. research I am currently working on.
Q: Guess you should be done with it pretty soon.
Oh yeah, I will.
Q: Do you have anybody close to you who is into white-collar jobs?
Well, I do. Friends and family alike.
Q: So how do you compare your income to theirs?
Well, my income cannot be predetermined like theirs. As a white-collar worker, you know how much your salary is, and when you will get it, aside from the fact that you get everything at once. It is not so for me. I can’t tell how many bags I will sell in a month or how many contracts I will get and how much income I will earn. My total income by the end of a particular month maybe four times that of next month. I may get five orders today and get ten tomorrow. So, I just make sure to set and meet up with saving targets because it is easy to spend recklessly if you are always having sales money on you.
Q: Do you now think vocational skills is the way out?
Well, I will say the informal sector to which vocational skills belongs contributes in a huge way towards the economy, although it is difficult to measure the exact percentage of its contribution. However, for a lot of youths, it is a way out of the unemployment situation that keeps getting worse in the country. As long as you can carve a niche for yourself, put in hard work and creativity, one will be fine. One will be better off than those who are unemployed and even much more than many who are into white-collar jobs.
Q: Do you believe education alone can guarantee success?
Well, education in itself is not a key to success. What brings success is how you utilise your education. Whether one is working in an office or at a workshop, there is always a way one can leverage education to reach for success. With the right education, one can add value to whatever one does. One’s approach to situations, packaging and all will be an extra point.
Q: How did you get inspired into making different designs for your brand?
My inspiration comes from different things. I may be looking at a particular bag and I start to think of the different ways the bag can be improved upon. It may be the design of a cloth that will strike through my mind, it may even be by simply looking at leftover materials and thinking of the various things that could be done with them to avoid throwing them all away.
Q: What has been your challenges so far?
Well, one major challenge is the rising cost of materials. I bought some materials at the rate of N1,500.00 per yard at a time, only to go to the market a few months later and I was shocked to see the same materials being sold at N2,000.00 per yard. We can never tell when prices will rise and when they rose, they never go down. Customers do not understand when you explain this to them.
Another challenge is poor electricity supply. I have an industrial machine, but I don’t have a power generating set yet. The supply of electricity here is poor. At times, we stay a week or more without electricity supply. So most times, I make use of my manual machine. There are several other challenges, but those are pretty much at the top of the list.
Q: So how have you been overcoming those challenges?
It has not been easy. Most times, before I charge when given a contract, I have to call my suppliers in the market to find out current prices. Also, I’ve been leveraging a lot on social media to sell my goods.
For electricity, it is mostly a manual machine to the rescue although it makes work slower.
Q: Where do you see your brand in the next five years?
I see Leather Palace expanding beyond Ibadan. I see us having outlets in more locations with the brand becoming a household name when talking of bags. There are also plans of establishing a leather works training institute. This way, I will contribute my quota towards reducing the rate of unemployment in the society. I am particularly passionate about using it as an avenue to empower female folks. It is all in the pipeline though.
Q: What advice can you give to the youths out there?
I will say it’s high time we stop sitting down, waiting on the government to provide jobs. How about we provide jobs for ourselves and others? The sky is wide enough for us all to fly comfortably, there is always a vacuum somewhere for us to fill.
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