‘Why I dumped my university degree for tailoring’

Having completed his university education in 2008, he is now busy earning money from his tailoring skill while most of his colleagues move from one office to another, in search of an elusive white collar job. Tailoring is the transformation in the mode of dressing from just covering the nakedness of the body to a […]

Having completed his university education in 2008, he is now busy earning money from his tailoring skill while most of his colleagues move from one office to another, in search of an elusive white collar job.

Tailoring is the transformation in the mode of dressing from just covering the nakedness of the body to a more sophisticated art of show-business. The tailoring profession has also become one business that keeps those in it regularly busy, if they are good and creative. Apart from bringing some people into the limelight as top designers, it is also well known that such fame has equally been trailed by a commensurate fortune. The bubbling interest in designs from local fabrics has done much to keep Nigerian tailors at all levels busy and smiling to the bank as well.
The beginning
Before I started my education, I had already ventured into the tailoring business. I started right from when I was in secondary school. So while in school, I had envisaged the possibility of combining a personal business with a paid employment. This compelled me to learn tailoring, which today has become my primary source of income. After I graduated from the university, I went in search of a white collar job like every graduate does, but after I searched for a while and I was not successful, I decided to come back to the work I know how to do well which is tailoring and develop it even better rather than going around begging people to look for a job for me or to help me feed myself and my family.
I knew it was going to sustain me somehow but I never expected that it would take my time so much that I wouldn’t even have enough time for other things. While in the university, it just crossed my mind that I could decide to be on my own immediately after graduation, without going through the frustration of searching for employment. The thought gave me the drive to put in more effort to learn tailoring and I finished learning even before I gained admission into the university and since then, I have been busy making clothes for people and more clients come in on a daily basis.
Why I chose tailoring
My friend convinced me to venture into tailoring. I used to go to his shop when I was in secondary school to spend time there, it was while I was there that he suggested I start learning the trade instead of being idle. At first, I was very reluctant but I later took his advice and that is how I picked interest and it made me what I am today. I have been searching for a job in many places, anytime I see or hear of a vacancy, I do not hesitate to apply, but they have all been unsuccessful. I have over six young men learning how to sew under my watch.
Challenges
Like every other business, tailoring also has its own challenges, the most profound being funding, I need a helping hand from government as doing business in Nigeria is not very easy and the most difficult aspect of it all is sustaining the business, one has to battle with electricity then multiple taxation from government agencies in the name of tax collection are all hindering factors to small and medium businesses in Kaduna  State. When there is no light, I have to fuel my generator to sew so that I don’t disappoint my customers especially during festivities which takes a huge toll on my capital as well as the small profit I make. I face a lot of challenges paying my children’s school fees too, but with the help of God, I have been able to meet up with all my responsibilities through this business. If I did not have the business and I was still waiting to get a white collar job, I do not know how I would have been able to survive because as you know, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.
Profitability
Tailoring is quite profitable if one is able to give the customers what they need, there is no magic to it other than commitment to the job and one’s ability to be creative with clothes. You really have to learn to do new things and always allow your work to stand out. If a customer says you should make a design for a customer, may be to attend a function, go a step further to include details that will make people take a second look at the dress. At least, one person must ask where the dress was made and from there, you are sure to get one or more customer.
I make  between N50 and N60, 000 in a month, so I would say the business is lucrative, it is the only means of livelihood I have, I sustain myself,  my wife and my four children who are all in school with the proceeds from the business but it requires a lot of patience.
Starting a tailoring business and investing in the business is not as difficult as what obtains in some other businesses, where you must acquire some skills before putting in your money. For those who have the money but with no time to learn the trade, the appropriate thing to do is to buy the sewing machines and other equipment and supervise the business closely. Apart from the cost of renting a shop, one can conveniently start the business with about N200, 000 that will enable one buy at least one industrial machine and some items. Industrial machine goes for between N40, 000 and N50, 000, depending on the quality while weaving and ordinary machines go for about N60, 000 to N15, 000 respectively.
Advice to starters in the business and jobless youth.
Those intending to ply the trade should not to be discouraged at the beginning as all investments go with their different risks, but in the long run, when the business kicks-off, they will also be smiling to the bank.
Some of my friends, who I used to invite to come and learn free of charge from me, are now admiring what I do, I thank God that I have been very busy– not just busy but earning some money as well. The Nigeria of today is not the Nigeria we used to know, youth have to rise up to the challenge and start a business no matter how small rather than wait for government jobs that are not forth coming. It is not when you work for government that you can become someone in society. An example can be cited in the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, he never worked for government and today, he is the richest man in Africa.
Achievement with the proceeds of business
I have achieved a lot because it is with the proceeds of the business that I gained an education from secondary school up to university, I pay my children’s school fees, pay my house rent, help my parents and cater for the daily needs of my family.