4 May 2008
Lagos — It was fun talking with, Nigerian born International designer, Fred Eboka, who is positively representing Nigeria in South Africa.
Owner and designer of Eboka Design Studio, Johannesburg, his works are characterized by ethnicity and a fusion of contemporary look, that portrays true African in style and feel.
Eboka, who moved to South Africa in 1982, launched his first design studio in Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia, where he dressed high society ladies and celebrities.
He has dressed American Grammy nominees, South African music awards winners and many international celebrities and has also represented South Africa in international fashion shows. I caught up with him at his design studio, at the Hyatt hotel in Johannesburg South Africa, where he opened up on the passion for his job, fears for African designers, His views about Nigeria and life generally.
What is it like doing business in South Africa Well for me, I have been lucky. I came in 1992, but my business started from the states in Chess north, Philadelphia. I went to school in the states and I started my practice there.
When I moved down here there were not many black people in the fashion industry. So we had to pioneer many things and educate people about them; The fact that there is something called African beauty, there is something called African fashion it was pretty difficult but, luckily now there is a strong recognition for that. So far, I can't complain.
How would you compare business situations in South Africa to what we have in Nigeria?
Business rules in Nigeria is so difficult for people who will want to work in Nigeria. The business rule in Nigeria is that people do not understand what time is.
Nigerians do not evaluate time with money whereas, in many places in the world where I have been, time is evaluated with money. You have to be able to time a project or whatever you do, even when you are enjoying yourself its not an endless thing, you must time yourself, but the rule in Nigeria is so, and that is why probably people do not deliver their projects in time because time is not monitored. You go to somebody's office and they say you should come by 11am and when you go there you meet about twenty people waiting to see the same person, its so dehumanizing to wait for people endlessly.
For me, I can not do that, not for any money but, if I have to wait for people, 15 minutes is enough, for any amount of money, if I have waited for 15-30 minutes I am ready to go then its not meant for me and that has been my experience. Another thing is that there is no commitment. People don't stick with commitment, when they say they are going to do this, the variability changes.
When they say am doing this, when you come back somewhere along the line it might change and also people don't sign things here, they don't do the dotted line thing. There is no record for wasting your time.
I want to do things in Nigeria, I was invited for shows many times, but it never worked out. Initially when they call you, they will tell you they will pay for your ticket, hotel, this and that, but at the end of everything they Do not fulfill the agreement. I wouldn't want to mention any name.
When I was invited for a show, I gave them what and what I will be needing, the kind of hotel I will like to stay, my air ticket etc, and they said no problem that I should come and lodge myself in any hotel and when I'm leaving they are going to pay me back, so I went ahead to spend my money on the things I will be needing for the show, buying fabrics and putting them together.
After everything they really frustrated me and another incident similar to this happened. I don't want to sound as if things are done so perfectly elsewhere but, I must say its frustrating do things in Nigeria.
Does that mean that there is no hope of you coming to Nigeria to do a show or take part in any?
I am always willing and ready to come to Nigeria to do a show even when invited. One of my biggest fantasy is to do a show in Nigeria, unfortunately, it just has not happened.
But, Lexy organizes the Nigerian fashion show yearly and you are close to him, that should serve as a good platform, don't you think?
Yeah, I'm close to him, but one of the reason why I have not done his show is not so much of organizational problem, its because his show is also very close to the South African Fashion Week. We have the Capetown Fashion Week, and the Jbourge Fashion Week so by the time I finish in Capetown, he wants me to come to Nigeria, and the next week I am doing Jbourge so there is no way I'll be able to manage it. Lexy is one of the few people I respect the way they do things, he is very thorough so far, and I am still hoping that I will have the opportunity of working with him soon.
What about setting up in Nigeria, are you thinking of doing that?
Yeah, I am thinking seriously about setting up in Nigeria but, again that involves a lot of capital and secondly, I don't want to go and set up when I have not had the feel of the place. I want to do shows there, I want people to actually know what I do, my work and know me properly before I can set up. I don't just want to go, rent a shop and set up. I like things to be properly.
How do you intend to get a feel of the place when you do not stay there?
I have been going to Nigeria, last year, I was going every two weeks because I was doing a project for MTN which I'm not suppose to talk about until it comes on live on Television. It's a very big project, its one of the biggest project MTN is doing and I am involved in many ways, its going to be fantastic. So, during that time I was going to Nigeria all the time.
I actually had a first time experience. I think Nigeria needs a lot of true professionals, everybody is saying they know what they are doing, but when you look at the trends and details, you'll see that they do not really know it.
I am not trying to put anybody down. Even the project I was doing in Nigeria you find out that the smallest thing that you expect someone to know about, they do not know. When they say yes, they are saying yes to something else, So ultimately, I had to bring a whole lot of things from here.
Working there was very difficult, because when I say I want this look and feel, people do not even understand what I mean by that. Things are not properly done, they don't bring in real professionals to help do things. I can do a lot of visual things in Nigeria but the system just do not help at all.
You look at the environment here(South Africa), the look and feel is stable, it's a contemporary with the sense of African feel, but very global and you can see it in the way things are put together, and these are not things that you assume you know because they are not easy.
It requires a lot of knowledge to carry with you but the thing in Nigeria is that someone will just come and say i know it, I have been doing this for the past twenty years and they really do not know what they are doing.
When you come in and you say look this is how much I want to be paid and they are shocked, that this that we have been doing for twenty years we can charge you ten percent for this. We Nigerians have not learnt how to appreciate professionalism, we have only learnt how to recognize money and there is a conflict between money and professionalism.
If Mr A is a rich man, people respect him but, if you say this man is a very smart man who can do this and that, they wont respect him, if he is not driving the best car or live in best house. But in most societies there is a strong recognition for professionals and unless Nigeria starts respecting what professionals can do, our society can not improve. Societies are improved by thinkers, good professionals not by people who just have money no matter how they do things.
Of all the projects that you have done so far, which of them gave you the most satisfaction?
I will tell you, the project that I just did in Nigeria is giving me a lot of satisfaction. Unfortunately, I can not talk about it until its out on the television which is what they say.
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