Sarah succeeds with bags of style ... and a little help from a mentor

Industrial and Commercial Training

ISSN: 0019-7858

Article publication date: 1 June 2003

92

Citation

(2003), "Sarah succeeds with bags of style ... and a little help from a mentor", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 35 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2003.03735cab.002

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited


Sarah succeeds with bags of style ... and a little help from a mentor

Sarah succeeds with bags of style . . . and a little help from a mentor

A UK firm is transforming the work of skilled African craftsmen and women into stylish handbags and accessories for Western markets, thanks in part to a business-mentoring scheme.

Okapi, the brainchild of Sarah Clough, uses hand-crafted beadwork and trims to accessorize luxurious yet practical handbags, scarves and related accessories.

The company combines Sarah's design background and exposure to indigenous people during six years in Africa with solid business skills learned in part from her Business Link for West Yorkshire mentor, Phil Harrison.

"Phil has been particularly helpful on the financial side, doing projections and things like that. This is an area I don't really relish. He is very focused and logical and quite objective about things. He is also someone I can bounce ideas off", she said.

Sarah also completed a short course on Web site design and content. "The Web site has played an important part in helping Okapi to target wholesales in the UK and abroad, and I would eventually like to develop it into a full e-commerce site to reach consumers directly", she said.

"I am also looking to do a short course on e-commerce credit management".

Sarah, of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, took a degree in fashion and knitwear design at Nottingham Trent University. After two years in Asia, she set up a small business in Leeds and London, selling young fashion and club-wear.

She spent six years in Africa from 1994. "I had always wanted to go to Africa and took up the opportunity to do volunteer work with people who were HIV-positive", said Sarah. "The project aimed to help people to come to terms with their HIV status, while developing skills they could use to set up sustainable businesses".

This developed, after 18 months, into an organization that provided sheltered managed space for small African businesses, and encouraged them to develop products they could export. Following a partnership agreement with Traidcraft Exchange, the venture began to look at export development for craft businesses, but also for value-added foods and products such as honey and essential oils.

When Sarah returned to the UK she set up Okapi. It now employs two people and has outworkers and manufacturing subcontractors.

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