‘The GMYT wand’ Real life fairy mother, Princess Kelechi Oghene, tackling biggest societal problems

Princess Oghene by sight can be easily summed up to represent either of the two stereotypes – the super-fine Lagos babe with ‘a big God’ or the superstar housewife, shining off their spouse’s wealth. She indeed has got everything going for her-head-twisting gorgeous look, enchanting charisma and a compelling presence. From a traditional African lens, she can’t be all that without some masculine energy behind the scene, so fixing her into any of the two constructs will be a relief to the mind.

Well, that is for the indolent thinkers of the former times. The place of the girl child and women in the development of a society has come to an authoritative bargain. The last two decades have seen the old biases about the ability of the woman trumped by categorical successes this underrated gender has led in the scheme of things.

Angela Merkel, the German Vice-Chancellor holds a plaque in the pedestal of transformative governance of powerful global economies. In no less capacities are the exploits of Dr. Ngozi Okwonjo-Iweala, Chimamanda Adichie, Dora Akuyili, Obi Ezekwesili, to name a few from our backyard. Even this allusion is not reflective of the fact that women have always been a powerful economic and social development force.

As traditional as Nigeria is, the informal sector of the economy is still being led by women, who are small and medium scale business owners, oiling the fulcrum of our economic growth. A rebuttal of this factor can be easily dismissed when you take a trip to ‘Isale Eko’, where the billionaire Alhajas run the engine of Nigeria’s distribution. From clothing, to fast moving consumer goods, to building materials, to large scale appliances, these network of women are the reason big corporations celebrate high turn-overs at the end of each financial year, because they move the goods! If in doubt, ask sales managers at top FMCG companies.

Nigerian women are known to be hard working, determined and focused. They are also known to hold vital character sets that are critical to business growth; integrity, prudence and good customer service. Though they have been sidelined by the men in politics for so long, it is known that their bold, unwavering stand often come to play when leading a cause of change.

The Aba Women Riot of 1929, against direct taxation lends a historical credence to the thunderous voice of women in driving or opposing change. The recent #EndSars protest led by Feminist Coalition gave another insight into the ability of women to stand up and stand out for positive change. The protest is the most startling in modern history of Nigeria, because the ladies brought along their innate organizational power, influential leadership, selflessness, courage and perseverance. Of course, the government finally buckled the cause over, but it created an exhaling experience and insight of the possibilities of a united, strong and systemic nation.

An economy is active work, structured growth and innovation that solves the basic and big problems of the society. And human bare necessities at the end of the day still remain food, shelter, clothing and healthcare. To build a nation is to build for these needs. 2020 was blunt about this fact.

Bringing this issue into perspective and mirroring against the life of Princess Kelechi Oghene and her brilliant enterprises, one would then appreciate deeply the quality of this proud Daughter of South! Like most ladies blessed with her kind of look, Princess Kelechi Oghene first hit our screens as one of the very beautiful Orange Drugs ambassadors and Delta soap models.

But this goal-getter didn’t get stuck-on, living off the fame and the accruing gifts. She went on to build a brand, a successful business and now a life-transforming cause. Her strong passion for fashion and the zeal to excel had her start the GMYT Fashion brand, which she built to a resounding success.

Supposedly inspired by her own success, she thought it wise to replicate herself in young ladies, then GMYT Fashion Academy came to be. This academy and her foundation, GMYT Foundation, have empowered hundreds of women with world-class fashion design and styling capacity, with some participants going on to establish major fashion brands in Nigeria.

Princess Kelechi, herself well educated – an alumna of Lagos State University, Lagos Business School, London College of Fashion and Harvard Business School, integrates entrepreneurial education into the curriculum of the fashion academy to ensure that graduates are launched out business-ready.

New inductees into academy often get settled in fast and rapidly acquire the skills, because the system sets you up with a starter pack that removes all the problems of tools and materials. From all required text books, to customized branded school bags to their fabrics, drafting papers, French curves, scissors, zips, needles, sets of metal rulers, drape pin sets seam reapers, tracing wheel, tape measure, threads and more all handed to the students free, a great head start is guaranteed for enrollees. Upon completion of their programmes, students get the opportunity of exhibiting their works to an audience of HNWIs at the annual Gawah Awards & Fashion Show, also hosted by Princess Oghene annually.

The GMYT Academy, by all standard is a perfect Streets-to-Throne programme for many young women in Nigeria. It is also worthy to note that a lot of the participants are on scholarships, often solicited and acquired by Princess Kelechi herself, in line with her spirit of altruism and determination to empower women.

The impact of Princess Kelechi, as a worthy role model and a beacon of light for young ladies and the scale of her undertakings can be easily projected for the ten next years on praise worthy note. With her current ambition to run 500 women through the academy every year, it is expected that 5,000 formidable fashion brands and businesses would have been established over the course of 10 years through this initiative. Considering the critical role women play in the finances of homes (take size of a home to be 3), average 8 direct employees for an established SME, and 27 indirect beneficiaries from operations, Princess Kelechi Oghene’s laudable project would have taken poverty away from about 190,000 lives by 2031! Massive impact you would agree!

Therefore, why hasn’t her program received overwhelming support from major brands in Nigeria or even the government? Or is this another solo race an average woman is meant to deal with?

The FLEA Awards is an initiative aimed at focusing the essence of leadership on the paradigm of long-term, sustainable social impact.

The awards night will be more of a story-telling night, presenting well-researched insights on the activities of outstanding Nigerian personalities and brands, with informed projections of their impacts on our society within the next decade. It will be an annual exclusive gathering of select public and private sector leaders who are providing such visionary leadership, both in discourse and practice (online and offline).

These individuals will be given a symbolic present to remind them of the impact they have on our common futures. For more information about TheFLEA Awards, visit www.thefleaawards.com

Victor Ojelabi