EMO RUGENE: FROM ACTOR AND FASHION MODEL TO CHIC AFROSHOE MAKER

EMO'S GOT A BRAND NEW AFROSHOE LINE BUT NEEDS A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS

By margaretta wa Gacheru April 13,  2016

Emo Rugene may be best known around Nairobi as either an actor (playing Kenzo in the One Fine Day-Ginger Ink film, ‘Veve’) or a fashion model who won a ‘top model’ award during the 2012 Swahili Fashion Week.

But that same year, Rugene got his start as a shoe designer, after having modelled on a slew of catwalks and runways since 2009, and seeing there was a gap in the local fashion market: “No Kenyan at the time was making chic and trendy shoes,” said the former footballer turned fashionista and entrepreneur.

He had already been working as a stylist for an African fashion house, (Blackbird Jeans) even as he’d just completed a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from USIU. So it felt like a natural progression for him to transform his passion for fashion into what he hoped would become a lucrative enterprise by designing his own fashion line of Afro-centric shoes.

Starting small with seed capital raised from a few family members and friends, Rugene, working closely with two local cobblers, began designing colorful kitenge-covered shoes.

It didn’t take long before his Afroshoes started selling like hot cakes, especially after he mobilized his fellow fashion models and designers to wear his Afroshoes on several high profile runways, like the FaFa Fashion Shows held at the Villa Nova Kempinski Hotel.

Currently, Rugene’s shoes are selling not only in Kenya but also in East Africa and beyond.  “We have outlets where our shoes are selling in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda as well as in the US and the UK,” he said, adding, “We sell between 30 to 50 pairs of Afroshoes a month which amount to between KSh90,000 and 150,000.”

Admitting he has to approximate since all his overseas clients buy his shoes in bulk, Rugene said he can’t be more precise than this. “We don’t give out our shoes on consignment since our international clients like to buy our shoes outright and resell them setting their own price points.”

Having just completed his master’s degree in peace studies from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, Rugene is now ready to expand the business by starting a new shoe line and shifting its production to another East African country altogether.

“I got the idea for this new collection while I was still in Europe, but I was also researching around East Africa and discovered the best place to start-up its production,” said Rugene who’s found there are highly skilled shoe makers and shoe factories in Addis Ababa.

“There’s also plenty of well-priced sheep’s leather in Ethiopia, which is what my Nyala Sneaker Collection will be made from,” he added.

Noting that ‘nyala’ is an Amharic word meaning ‘gazelle’, he said he intends for his new line of shoes (which will be unisex) to be casual yet elegant, sporty yet beautiful and chic, and flexible as a gazelle is agile.

Calling his leather sneakers an “intercity shoe” Rugene says his Nyala line, like his Afroshoe, will be more than just a Kenyan brand. “The idea of the Nyala design was inspired during my time in Berlin [which is currently his second home], so the shoe will reflect my Nairobi influence plus that of Addis Ababa where he already has the factory and the shoe makers lined up.

All he needs now is the capital to get the new line rolling and that he went back to Berlin this past weekend. “I’ll be crowd-sourcing online through Kickstart,” said Rugene who explained that Kickstart is not operational anywhere in Africa but it works when you open a crowd-funding appeal in Europe.

“My goal is to raise between 30,000 and 40,000 Euros or approximately USD40,000 to USD50,000,” he said noting that the concept of crowd-sourcing has successfully taken off especially in Europe and the States.

“It’s a model that young entrepreneurs are using to raise funds from the public for start-up enterprises like my mine,” he said.

Noting that his Kickstart appeal went online starting on April 11^th and will be on the internet for 40 days. After that, if he doesn’t reach his goal, he won’t get any of the funds offered by the public.

I believe the public pledges can come in any currency, not just in dollars, euros, yens, rumbis or even Kenya shillings, so if are prepared to own a pair of Rugene’s Nyala Sneakers, they might want to do so before mid-May. And if he succeeds, his decision to commute between Nairobi and Berlin could pave the way for other Kenyans to try crowd-sourcing as a means to make their own business start=up succeed.