| HAOWA BELLO |
Meet
Haowa Bello, the Nigerian goat farmer and designer of accessories who believes
in personal service delivery to her customers.
However,
her personal service may not be able to extend to New York, London, Berlin and
other fashion cities of the world where some of her goat skin leather ends up as
bags under her Madame Coquette label.
| ONE OF HER BAGS |
Her
bag designer business took off with a $200 loan from her sister in the mid 2000
with the use of an artisan to commence her design as she had no idea of drawing.
She was, however, able to collaborate with skilled craftsmen and in 2008, her
first bags were sold and she also got a grant of $25,000 from the Nigerian
government which enabled her to purchase livestock and build her business.
Madame
Coquette to date has made over 600 leather bags and still keeps about 60 goats
and hopes to open her own tannery. She hopes it would serve her business and also
propagate the tradition of her Fulani community.
She
says. "I don't think we live in a place where women are encouraged to make
a difference," but she states that "I want to make that difference.”
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