Following the success of the recently concluded OAUFW maiden edition. I had an encounter with the Managing Director of the event. Enjoy this beautiful piece.
Meet Khafre a Managing director of STRIPES,a fashion model brand and the event director of the OAU Fashion Week.
Hello, please introduce yourselves and tell us what you do.
Khafre: My name is Olajide Oluwatobiloba Khafre , the event director of the maiden edition of the OAU fashion week, I am a UI/UX designer, Graphics designer and also a software engineer.
Nice to meet you. Let’s get to the real deal. What birth the idea of OAUFW?
Khafre : The idea of the OAUFW was birth out of the interest to promote fashion and the business of fashion among the student community. As we know fashion week is a great avenue for designers, stylist and other people in the business of fashion to promote what they do and draw in audience towards their brands.
What was your impression on bringing it to the university community?
Khafre : Fashion so far is something that has not been done within the university community, to an extent, there is no university that does that on campus, then we decided to start something great with OAUFW.
So, what were the challenges?
Khafre: Well , it took a lot of planning, as it had it own challenges owing to the fact that it is a maiden edition, from funding issues to people’s interest.
We had a lot of audience though , but we could not get a major sponsor due to the fact that it is a maiden edition, we had few sponsors from Lighthouse, Lemonade, Kingscab, to name a few. We also got a support from the House of DD, a fashion brand based in Abuja.
How did you manage designers participation ?
Khafre: We placed our focus on student designers, they mostly showed interest but couldn’t meet up with the payment which is in regard of the models participation in the event and they need to be paid, although we couldn’t pay the money in cash, we appreciated them in ways we could.
What Inspired you more?
Khafre : It was a lot of things, over 70 designers in showed interest, those designers that participated from Lagos, Ibadan, Portharcourt, Abuja, in total 8 designers and 2 designers from OAU.
The maiden edition was a great one , we did everything we could to make it a success. We got attention even from the Vice Chancellor.
Aww, this is lovely. Any Shout Outs
Khafre: Special thanks to our major club support Dr Akinbiola from PHE department, Dr Ajila of Family Nutrition and Consumer Science, our big pillar of support. Also, to the Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Development studies, we drew attention from The PRO of the university and also the CSO , it was a really fantastic experience. A big shout out to some of my team members, southpaw, Geekeez, Dynamite, Temmy, Busayo, AMJ, and Dara and also volunteers and partners in the project.
So, moving on to the next edition, what should we expect?
Khafre : The next edition promises to be great, we are going to call on student designers from all around Nigeria to encourage them and those interested in the business of fashion.
Lol, so we should leave fashion entrepreneurship for you ?
Khafre : Yes and No, we could only do the little we can within the student community. We will also try to encourage other universities to join the train.
Conclusion
Adedolapo Amos (Interviewer): On this note, we have come to the end of the interview, Mr Olajide Oluwatobiloba Khafre .
The TRYBE Magazine appreciate you for your time dedication and swiftness to our interview questions.
We continue to wish you well in your career and we can’t wait to have you here once again to celebrate your new achievements in the the fashion world. It was such an interactive one.
Thank you and have a nice day ahead.
Khafre: Thank you for inviting me.
I look forward to speaking with you again.
Lol, it was nice meeting you , Thank you for the enlightenment.
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