The fashion sisters tell us about their sales ideas and techniques

Our names are Samantha and Stephanie Ossuetta. We are 10 and 9-year olds. We both own the brand AjiKo clothing and accessories for girls. We love fashion a lot, Mum noticed our interest in fashion and she has been our greatest support. We started when we joined the KENT Skills Acquisition Programme in August 2017

We learned how to sew. We were taught the basics of sewing, cutting the fabric, how to measure and how to create different styles. Our flair for fashion grew stronger, we met other kids who inspired us too. Every Kid should be an entrepreneur, it is fun and interesting. Both of us are co-owners, designers and we both sew. We agree on the different designs that we would like to sell to our customers and we make clothes for kids and adults. We are particular about the prints we use. We know Nigerians love beautiful prints. It was so easy choosing the perfect business name. We joined our middle names Ajiri and Kome together and created the name “AjiKo”. A lot of kids like the name.

When we finished from the Skills Acquisition Programme; we knew we had to perfect what we had learned. So, we got enrolled with a formal tailor. She further taught us how to sew edges using bias; how to sew flares and how to use manual sewing machine.

As we heard about the kids business fair and planned to participate. We had to go to the market to source for fabrics and materials we needed, we did a lot of research too. We had to find out what will sell fast &add value to our customers. We made sure that our product had the best quality. We sewed skirts, tops, jackets and made hair accessories to sell on that day. We learnt marketing skills and sales pitch, we also learnt how to use business terms. At first we were scared of selling our products, the biggest obstacle of fear is rejection, but we had to overcome our fears we tried new methods to sell our products like dancing round the stand, smiling to every potential customer and playing with kids that came around. We showed people our products and told them a story about our designs. That way we were able to engage more customers. That idea really worked for us. People like when you’re pleasant and welcoming.

We made huge profits, which we are saving to buy new sewing machines.

We look forward to growing our AjiKo brand and become an inspiration to many other kids all over the world.