Content supplied by Chivas  

A self-taught Nigerian fashion entrepreneur, Eseoghene Odiete created one of Nigeria’s leading fashion brands, HESEY Designs, with a strong vision of empowering women and youth in her local community.

Being raised and inspired by a strong mother who also had entrepreneurial pursuits, Odiete always knew she would follow in her footsteps.  Odiete created HESEY Designs five years ago and has honestly never looked back.

HESEY Designs specialise in designing trend setting afrocentric fashion accessories and corporate gift items. Their products are made from the finest locally sourced materials and manufactured to reflect an embodiment of uncompromising quality and great craftsmanship.

Chivas, Win the Right Way, season 2 presenter – Gugulethu Mfuphi caught up with the fashion mogul, Eseoghene Odiete, to discuss some of her entrepreneurial achievements over a glass of Chivas Regal 12-Year-Old Whiskey.

When asked about why she chose her industry, Odiete mentions that after extensive research she found that the “textile industry was the second largest employer after agriculture in the developing world, and a large percentage of this workforce were women.’’  She further emphasises that investing in women helps empower families and their surrounding communities.

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Unshaken about her business’ purpose, Odiete believes being a social entrepreneur means that her business activities are beyond making money. It’s also about how much impact she can deliver to her community and how the business can act as a change driver for those in contact with HESEY.

Like any other business, funding plays a critical role and for Odiete, it is one of the needs that stands out to make this social venture a successful and impactful one. These funds are required to increase the business’ production capacity by investing in bigger factory space with more art machines, women artisan network and build an extensive distribution network through online retail stores.

In the last two years, the dynamic fashion brand has quickly grown to include an initiative that empowers unemployed young girls with vocational skills in handmade fashion accessories to join their workforce or start their own small businesses. “We want to unlock the potential of creativity as an economic force by empowering 60 disadvantaged women and girls in Nigeria annually through our unique Hesey fashion for empowerment model. Our dream is for the HESEY brand to become a catalyst for driving the economic impact of the creative sector on the Nigerian economy.”

She shares that she would attribute her current success to the “Courage to take risks and support from my elder brother who runs a business advisory firm, my husband, close friends and of course my amazing team.” Proving that shared success begins with the people who surround you.

Odiete charmingly resonates with Chivas’ principles of sharing success because with Chivas Regal success tastes better shared and as an entrepreneur she is all for that. “As an individual who is passionate about entrepreneurship and community development, I see my best self in helping other young people reach viable personal subsistence not just in their finances through skillset but as citizens of a promising continent.”

Chivas, WinTheRightWay season 2 is a TV series that features Africa’s most inspiring social entrepreneurs who run their businesses based on profit with purpose. These entrepreneurs use their shared success to inspire other African entrepreneurs to be part of this ever-growing movement.

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Chivas, Win the Right Way airs on CNBC Africa and on Dstv, channel 410. The next episode will be at 21h15 CAT, 22h00 WAT and 00h00 EAT.