“Entrepreneurship is a marathon and not a sprint.” says the hardworking and inspiring Taffi Woolward Ayodele, beautiful CEO and Co-Founder of Thando’s Shoes – Africa’s 1st brand of Foldable Flats. She talks about how she started her niche brand, the challenges and rewards of being an entrepreneur, and how her relationship with God keeps her going.

In a few words, tell us a little bit about who Taffi Woolward is?

TA: My name is Taffi (Woolward) Ayodele and I was born in Guyana, South America but raised in New York City. I moved to Lagos in 2013 to start up Thando’s Shoes, a footwear design and distribution company,  with my Nigerian-American co-founder (now husband) Jibolu “JG” Ayodele.

 

 

You’re the Co-Founder of Thandos Shoes; what does the company do?

TA: Thando’s is Africa’s first portable shoe brand designed by Africans for the World. Thando’s shoes are fashionable, comfortable and so convenient that they can fold up and fit inside a small handbag, office drawer or the glove compartment of a car. We do this through a platform that democratizes the shoe manufacturing process for aspiring African designers. Our portable shoes are designed for the modern woman, who typically wears high heels but hates the painful and damaging consequences of wearing them for long periods of time.

 

Thandos officially launched in Nigeria in 2014 2015; how has the response to the brand been?
TA: We’ve seen a very positive response to the Thando’s brand. Our shoes are now available through 7 retailers in Nigeria through a combination of e-tailers and brick and mortar stores. We’ve recently added worldwide distribution through DOKU.com. Within the first quarter we’ve experienced over 30% growth in revenue from January through March and realized over 63% growth from March through April. All while experiencing a greater than 40% sell through on our first order. We were also selected as one of the top 1000 entrepreneurs in Africa by the Tony Elumelu Foundation. We’ve also grown our Thando’s instagram followership by over 200% within the quarter and our customers love posting very unique “shoefies”, that is a selfie of your Thando’s shoes. (We would like to believe that we helped coin the term)

 

How were you able to get funding to start up your business?
TA: It took a lot of work and sacrifice on our part to raise the initial capital for the business. I cashed in my retirement account and we took loans from our parents in order to get the business off the ground. For new entrepreneurs, raising funds from personal savings, friends and family is very important because banks will not lend to you if you have no collateral. Now that we are officially in the market and are looking to scale we are tapping into our networks from our professional careers as well as our alumni networks at New York University and University of North Carolina in order to access Angel Investors and smaller Venture Capitalists.
You don’t just design shoes, you design foldable flats. Why this particular niche?

TA: In 2012, I lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa for 2 months with a luxury brand and spent a lot of time in high-heeled shoes. As a New Yorker, the comfort of my feet is always a priority but staying fashionable is equally as important. My girlfriends were so amazed by the cheap basic foldable flats that I always kept in my handbag and in the office. I did my research and found out that foldable flats were not being sold anywhere in South Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa at the time. The gap in the market for foldable flats made me decide to start my company. The name Thando’s was inspired by my name and the love I discovered in Africa. Taffi, is derived from the Welch name ‘Dfyd,’ which means ‘beloved.’ So as a gift at my 30th birthday dinner in South Africa, my girlfriends decided to give me a local name—Thando, meaning ‘Love’. It is a common unisex name in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. The logo for Thando’s is inspired by a love for Africa and the pleasurable feeling of a bare foot in the sand. Our company is fueled by a passion for comfort and a commitment to providing beautiful footwear for our customers.

You operate a unique model of co-designing and sharing profits with other like designers. How does this work?

TA: Our inaugural Behind The Scenes Collection was inspired by the designers of Thando’s 5 piece line of foldable ballerina flats. Each creation is an artistic representation of the designer. The Fierce Walk (designed by Leila Lopes – Miss Universe 2011 from Angola) takes you into the life of a beauty queen, while The Class Act (designed by Zikhona Sodlaka  – South African actress and host of BET’s Top Actor SA) takes you onto the set of a feature film. The Kach Me if You Can (designed by Kanayo Ebi – Nigerian celebrity stylist)  is the boldness within a celebrity fashion stylist, while The Fritzwa (Sierra Leonean/Ghanaian musician) sings a different tune with its unique pink sole. The First Kiss is a reflection of our Co-founders love for each other and love for the sole. Designs for future collections will be opened up to African designers around the world. We are excited to implement what we like to call a “crowdsourcing” strategy to do so whereby we open up the design process to achieve this. The crowdsourcing process will take place via the following 5 steps:

• Thando’s calls to authenticate you.
• Send a picture or sketch of your design to [email protected]
• Designers register and agree to our Design Challenge Submission Legal Terms and Conditions at Thandos.com
• We evaluate your design. If approved, your design will compete in our design challenge. (Thando’s fans vote for the designs they like via Thandos.com and our social media platforms)
• If you win, your shoe gets made and you share in the sales proceeds!

 

The shoe industry is known traditionally to be a male-dominated one. How have you been able to break the mold?

TA: The shoe industry has been historically dominated by men. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that you started to see more women in c-suite positions of large shoe brands. Although the industry still has a long way to go, successful female executives like the co-founder of Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon, and Tory Burch have really helped pave the way for me. We’ve broken the mold by bringing a unique design concept into a virtually untapped market.

 

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as an entrepreneur?
TA: The biggest challenges we have faced so far were: (1) finding the right manufacturing partner: most quality factories require a minimum order size that far exceeds what a start-up can actually afford and (2) what we at Thando’s call “the strike that stole Christmas”: the major aviation authorities in Nigeria went on strike during the holidays which left us and many other businesses without goods to sell during the holiday season. What we learned from this is to incorporate more forward planning for future orders.
Most would say that the future of retail is online. How do you plan to make commerce and technology work for you?

 TA: We like to describe Thando’s as a tech-fashion company. We are excited about the growth in e-commerce. The data we can derive from online customers will really help us improve our product design and customer service. There are also some cool tools we plan on building into Thandos.com but you’ll have to follow @teamthandos on instagram to learn about our new technological developments.

Let’s talk about distribution; how do you reach your customers in different parts of the world?

TA: We’re available in 7 e-tailers and brick and mortar stores in Nigeria but we recently added DOKU.com, a US based e-commerce platform with worldwide delivery. We will soon be available on a popular global e-commerce platform that will allow us to keep inventory in different parts of the world which will translate to reduced shipping time and costs for our customers.

 

You placed 3rd in the She Leads Africa competition in 2014. What are some of the learning points you took away from that experience?

TA: One of the main takeaways from the She Leads Africa Pitch Competition was the importance of always being ready to pitch my business. Everyone you meet is a potential customer or investor so have your story down pact.

 

What drives you? That one thing that keeps you going?

TA: My relationship with God is what keeps me going because “with God ALL things are possible”. Those 6 words keep me going through the toughest times because the entrepreneurial path can be very difficult at times.

 

You were recently recognized by Forbes Africa magazine as one of female, African entrepreneurs to watch; how did that make you feel?

TA: Seeing my name in Forbes Africa made me feel extremely honored. I was able to check one accomplishment off of my bucket list.

Who are your role models, and how have they affected your life?

TA: My mother was my first role model and has been my greatest inspiration. She has always taught me how to find peace in the toughest moments. As an entrepreneur things don’t often turn out the way I plan, but being able to tap into something greater than myself helps me not to give up. My mother has always lived her life that way and that is part of her legacy to me.

 

How do you relax, and where are your favourite tourist destinations?
TA: I use my weekends for relaxation. A typical weekend for me includes date-night with my husband on Fridays, exercise bootcamp with my friends on Saturday mornings and Church with the family on Sundays. My favourite tourist destinations are Trinidad (I love their annual Carnival), Essaouira in Morocco (where my husband and I fell in love) and South Africa (for so many reasons that would require a separate interview).

Are there any plans to extend the brand in future? Bags or accessories perhaps?

TA: Yes, we would love to extend our line into accessories but always keeping in line with our brand values of fashion, comfort and convenience.
Last words of advice to young women who want to be entrepreneurs?

TA: Entrepreneurship is a marathon and not a sprint. Having strong emotional and financial support will help you through the tough times and believe me be prepared for those because they will come. Ultimately, if you’re doing what you love it will all be worth it.

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Follow Taffi on twitter @Taffitime and on instagram @taffitime

 

The Leading Ladies Africa Series is a weekly interview series that focuses on women of African descent, showcases their experiences across all socio-economic sectors, highlights their personal and professional achievements and offers useful advice on how to make life more satisfying for women.

It is an off-shoot of Leading Ladies Africa; an initiative that seeks to effectively mentor and inspire women, with particular emphasis on the African continent.

Do you know any woman of African descent doing phenomenal things? Send an email to [email protected] and we just might feature her.