Zia Bett, who is married to Kenyan musician Nyashinski, recently talked about how she got into the fashion industry. She explained how it all started back when she was just a student trying to make some extra cash.
In a YouTube chat with Celestine Ndinda, Zia mentioned that her business actually kicked off as a side project around 13 years ago during her university days.
Her method was pretty simple back then. She would just buy thrifted clothes from Gikomba market and sell them to people she knew.
After a while, she realized that a lot of university students ended up wearing the exact same things.
Seeing that gave her the push to turn her little side project into an actual business.
Back in those days, she used Facebook to post pictures of the clothes.
On weekends, she would meet up with buyers at Nakumatt Lifestyle so they could try things on. People only paid her after they were happy with the fit.
She kept this going from 2013 all the way to 2020. Eventually, she started bringing in clothes from China because more people wanted to buy from her.
By 2019, she used her own savings to legally register the brand and open a real shop. Sadly, the pandemic hit soon after, and she had to close the doors less than a month later.
Even with that huge disappointment, Zia did not give up. She figured out a way to rebuild, and today she runs a fashion brand that makes nice, eco-friendly clothes for women and kids.
Looking at where she is now, it really shows what happens when you stick with something. She took a tiny college side job and managed to turn it into a proper fashion business.