There is none with an empty store……..It’s in YOU
Do you know there is a place in every body’s house whether you are rich or poor? It is called a store.
When I was 7, I became terribly ill. My parent spent all - gave love, care, money, prayers and hope -but instead of improving, things got worse. They decided to let me stay with my grandma in the village, hoping for the worst or some miracle.
I remember going for a naming and the mother said "please leave don’t inflict my new born baby with your ailment” I cried myself out that day . A few years later, I got healed in my body along the line, but I carried a lot of baggage of low self-esteem and lack of confidence from my childhood.
Fast forward to many years after, I entered the university and my life was stored with all sort of regret, pain with thoughts of not good enough. While in the university I couldn’t afford a very good, neat and decent dress. Out of shame of repeating the same old cloth for an event, I would rather stay indoors. The situation became out of control few years after I graduated from the university as my retired mum wasn’t paid her pension benefits.
I became angry with what is happening around me, I looked through what I have stored myself with over the years and I felt it’s high time I changed my life store into something valuable that will be a source of blessing to people around me.
One weekend, I was in the house cleaning the kitchen and closets, then, I needed some items from the store.
I went there and while searching, I saw many clothes that we had put there for many years.
Right there, an idea struck me.
What if I can still make these condemned clothes great and all brand new?
This made me to come up with the idea of turning used cloth into a new designs using Adire (tie-dye). I made my first design with a wrapper I got from my elder brother and with less than ₦1000 I was able to produce an amazing design and that was the beginning of PetalsHub_Creations.
It is a place where used clothes are transformed into traditional Adire textile (tie and dye) which is made into corporate and bespoke fashion wears.
The business idea retells the story of strength, inner beauty and creativity in Africa to the world using history, arts, fashion and lifelong education to create jobs and other means of livelihood for community youths.
If many of us know the great potentials that is stored up within us, the world would have become a better place to live in. I looked through my own physical store, brought out my used clothes and give them all a new look using tie-dye.
Within 8months of starting the business it has generated more than $2,250, trained 8 senior secondary school students for West Africa Examinatioin Council and they all had distinction in tie-dye.
I wanted more than making money from the business, I wanted to unleash the creativity in people who think they are less privilege just like me while growing up. I took the step of going into rural communities to make them see the great potentials stored up in them.
In 2018, I organized a rural empowerment scheme for women and youths in Afon community of Kwara State, more than 200 women and young adults were trained for free on revamping their used clothes with tie-dye and this has generated a means of livelihood for the community people.
In 2019, I became Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur fellow because of the work we’re doing at PetalsHub Creations to reduce poverty and create a means of livelihood for rural communities.
I received 1-year mentoring award from Cherie Blair for women entrepreneur and I was selected as one of the beneficiary of Enterprise Development Centre.
Ever since then I and my team have impacted more than 1000 women, youths and teenagers across different states in Nigeria and we’re still counting.
Fear, doubt and worry are only feelings but in the heat of the moment they can seem as real as the air we breathe. Although the sensation can be overwhelming, one thing is for sure: it’s all stored in our head. To your