By Bon Peters

A Port Harcourt-based fashion designer, Ms Angela Wells, has said she’s optimistic 2024 would be a good year for business, though she tasked the federal government to redouble its efforts to ensure stability in the foreign exchange (FX) market.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of her annual event tagged Shop and Chop in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital recently, Ms Wells maintained that 2023 was a turbulent year for business, noting that it was by the grace of God that many entrepreneurs survived.

On the reason behind such assertion, the fashion expert noted that the exchange rate was not stable, insisting that the federal government, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should redouble efforts to ensure that naira is strengthened.

“Those of us who deal in imported materials for our attires did not find it funny in 2023. A situation you will wake up and your supplier tells you Dollars today is exchanging for N1,000 or above, only what you do is to struggle to survive,” she said.

“In a situation where you have already agreed with your customers on the price and quality of the materials, you would still have to design according to agreement and specifications despite the increase in the purchasing of the materials for the work,” Ms Wells added.

Ms Wells is the chairman and chief executive of Precise Look International, a fashion-designing business concern. She hails from the Ugwunagbo local government area of Abia State and runs one of the exquisite traditional fashion shops in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

She said her thrust for organizing an annual fashion show was to draw the attention of the state government to the need for fashion tourism, insisting that such can attract more revenue to the state government and generate employment for the youth even as she called on people of the same vision for collaboration for fashion exhibition in Rivers state.

It would be recalled that the event, which featured a fashion exhibition, masquerade displays, and high-life music, attracted many persons from all walks of life.

The programme offered participants a 50 per cent discount on every traditional attire purchased, free food for every buyer, gifts for all the children, and others.

Giving a historical account of her business, Ms Wells said she started her business in 2000 with the N10,000 she saved from the sale of oranges.

“It was in the year 2000, here in Oruworukwu, Rivers State, that I started this business with only N10,000 which I saved from the sale of oranges.

“I was pushing wheelbarrow around, hawking traditional dresses and others but today, when I look back and see what I have achieved so far, it is only God that I give all the glory,” she recounted.

On the challenges faced during her early stages, she said, “It wasn’t easy for me, a young girl hawking dresses in a wheelbarrow, and you know, my customers were mainly men, most of them who patronized me would always want to go down with me, but in all these, I was able to overcome because I was focused, committed and resilient.”

On the get-rich-quick syndrome in society at the moment, especially among young girls who depend on selling their bodies for money, Ms Wells admonished them to learn a trade to sustain themselves.

“If I can survive with N10,000 then, you can also survive no matter the amount you use in starting the business, I assure you determination is the key,” she emphasised.

Looking into the 2024 business climate, Ms Wells noted that though it would not be rosy at the beginning, “this year will be better than last year.”