We got the honour of featuring in the latest issue of Jewel Magazine, just as promised here's the full interview that was done with our directors, inspiring stuff.
Q. Profile of Company and how it started?
A: Lady Targaryen Investments (Pvt) Ltd (registered September 2012) is a registered
company trading as Lady Targaryen. Our business is leather products. That is handbags, travel
bags, laptop bags, wallets, purses etc. anything to do with 100% genuine leather falls within our
domain and these are made from the finest Ethiopian leathers. Lady Targaryen started as a mere
means to make an extra dollar. On trips to Ethiopia to visit my mother in law my husband would
often bring a few handbags back to sell via word of mouth. Typical of his nature, he researched
and explored the opportunity further and together we watched the numbers grow. After one too
many questions like “ko hamuna mamwe mabag here?” we decided to take the next step and
formally register the business in September 2012.
Q: What does your job entail?
A: The end game is to satisfy every last unique need our customers have to the best of
our ability. With that in mind, our job is to keep up with their needs, tastes, trends, you name
it. Whether these last for a day, month or an hour – we try to be their answer with regards to
specific textures, colours, designs. In all this we ensure that we maintain a standard of class
and quality in meeting the individual consumer’s uniqueness. The job entails getting to know
the customer as a unique person and not as a mere demographic we want to make sales with;
hence the reaching out to, and interacting with our customers on platforms such as social
media with an actual social feel to it. We actually make our customers part of the design
process for our products through their own designs that they give us and their feedback on
concept designs we come up with.
Q: How would you describe the success you have achieved?
A: If we were to describe the success we have achieved in three words it would be “not
enough yet”. We started off with small victories and grew to the stage we are now. The journey
from a few bags at a time in a travelling suitcase to supplying a nationwide retailer over just few
months has motivated us and fuelled our desire to attain even bigger victories. We definitely
feel like the company and Lady Targaryen as a growing brand will enjoy more success too
as we still have much more to offer to the Zimbabwean fashion-appreciating consumer. The
success we have enjoyed so far has been inspiring but we have barely started.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you have faced as a businesswoman/designer and how have you
overcome it?
A: The biggest challenge we have faced is not giving up each time we hit a snag. As with any
start-up company not all things go smoothly, sometimes things simply fall apart and dreams
can get shattered in a heartbeat. The challenge is picking up the pieces and keeping at it each
time. It is hard. We overcame this by believing what we had would work eventually, by believing
that the window of opportunity would not elude us for much longer; at every single point
without this belief we could have given up. What kept us going is a simple Japanese proverb,
“fall seven times, stand up eight”. When you fall to the ground from there you can only look
upwards, why not get up and keep trying?
Q: What difference are you making to Zimbabwe?
A: Moving back to Zimbabwe after having completed our tertiary education in Cape Town,
South Africa, we had many of our fellow Zimbabwean classmates and friends asking “Why
are you moving back home? Life is better and easier here.” Lady Targaryen amongst other
entrepreneurial ventures in Zimbabwe is living proof that it can be done, it is being done and
you can do it. We believe that we have made a difference to Zimbabwe by disproving the
misconceptions surrounding “Life in Zimbabwe” as a formerly foreign based young adult.
Q: What’s your work ethic?
A: Honesty, Integrity and Respect are what we value the most in our work ethic. These of
course flow from us upholding the same virtues as people so it only makes sense that our work
be guided by the same. We strongly believe in what we stand for as people and as a business
and see no need whatsoever to violate any of our core values in the way we conduct our work.
Q: What personal qualities got you where you are?
A: Hard work, determination, perseverance and courage. We got where we are through 1%
inspiration and 99% perspiration, through the sheer will power to see a dream come to fruition.
Q: Why are you so passionate about your career?
A: In as much as we are passionate about fashion, style and uniqueness in the way one
presents or dresses themselves, our contribution in this regard is driven by Lady Targaryen
being our first born son’s inheritance. He is our ever growing source of inspiration and our
passion for fashion happens to be the avenue through which this inspiration manifests itself.
Junior (our son) is our beacon of light at the end of every dark tunnel.
Q: What is your long term goal?
A: Our mission is “to be the provider of choice for classy, premium quality leather products
to the Zimbabwean consumer and retail markets”. Our long term goal is to have our brand(s)
recognised, associated and synonymous with a classy Zimbabwean lifestyle. We aim to reach a
point where the “Lady Targaryen” brand sells itself simply because of what it is known for.
Q: Your power principle?
A: “When reaching for the stars, should you fall you will land on the clouds” – Remain
focused and aim high!
Q: Biggest work related challenges?
A: To date the biggest work related challenge would probably be working as business
partners while we are a married couple at the same time. Sometimes we don’t see things the
same way and clashes can take centre stage when they need not. Emotions can pop up where
they must not. Your business partner is someone you can tell coldly where you feel they are
wrong and it is perfectly fine because it is for the sake of the business. Whereas with your
spouse… well, it’s your spouse, your lover, your best friend, your significant other - you have to
be a bit more careful. So the notion of business partner vs. spouse can sometimes be tricky, the
key is finding and maintaining that delicate balance to keep the business ticking like clockwork.
Q: How important is it to have a mentor?
A: Having someone to show you the ropes is always a good thing, one of the most important
things in your arsenal especially as a business. Like they say no man is an island and
experience is the best teacher. A mentor who can lend a helping hand with solutions you may
not have thought of, share their own experiences, motivate you when you need it, encourage
you to keep going and guide you is definitely something one should value. However, not
to sound naive but we do maintain enough room to make our own mistakes. After all, Lady
Targaryen has only our fingerprints on it and no one else’s and as it grows this remains the
same. We hate being spoon fed and the people we look up to as mentors know this. They know
we see things in our own way and often dive in head first. This is not to say we don’t take heed
of what we are told; we do, the knowledge imparted to us from our mentors is priceless. But
sometimes, more often than not, only we see what we want and it seems foreign to people
around us and in those situations the “make your own mistakes” philosophy kicks in. We are
never afraid to fly out on our own because that is precisely how Lady Targaryen started, our
wings were made strong early. When it doesn’t work out we live and we learn.
Q: Who was/is your role model?
A: Our role models are our parents, having recently become parents ourselves we now have
a greater appreciation for the passion, commitment, hard work and sweat our parents showed
towards their dreams and careers. They never gave up, they kept going and they are still going
and encouraging us too along the way. Through them we have been inspired to keep fighting till
it happens because no matter how many obstacles one may face, one way or the other they can
be overcome. We are always reminded to keep the bigger picture in mind.
Q: How has Zimbabwe influenced you?
A: Zimbabwe has seen some tough times as a country but as always the Zimbabwean always
pulls through. In South Africa we always used to say amongst friends “muZimbabwean haagare
nechikwereti” while mocking the lifestyle of living on credit that is quite popular in South Africa
and western countries for houses, cars etc. Regardless of economic background or ethnicity,
the Zimbabwean person is usually more resourceful than the next. The Zimbabwean person
is always ready and willing to make more of himself anywhere they find themselves on God’s
green earth. It’s almost as if it’s branded in us somehow as a nation. That mindset is one we
proudly revel in and has influenced us in the way we think as people and not just as business
owners. Zimbabwe has given us a different lense through which we view life; it has influenced
us to always be in a state of growth in all facets of our lives.
Q: What has your experience of the place been?
A: Having been back for almost two years now we have noticed that generally there is a
more positive attitude towards entrepreneurs. People are more receptive to new things, new
ideas, new concepts thus making it easier to take the risk and implement a new business idea,
or concept. There is an increased willingness to move with the times, keep up with the latest
trends and even support those who want to create and introduce new Zimbabwean trends.
Q: What is challenging about this industry?
A: What is challenging is that not everyone who claims that their product is genuine leather
sells genuine leather, so often people are crooked into buying fake products for genuine
product prices. It therefore becomes difficult to remove that stigma of “people always sell fake
things” when you are manufacturing 100% genuine leather. Proving that we are only about 100%
genuine leather, becomes difficult with regards to penetrating the market for there are only a
select few people who actually know about and appreciate 100% genuine leather.
Q: What sets you apart from other designers?
A: It would be very naive on our part to assume we are the only suppliers of premium leather
products in Zimbabwe. The difference with Lady Targaryen is in the way our products are
brought to the market, the way we present ourselves and our brand to the market is unique to
us. We focus more on selling the brand itself – we focus on selling what the brand stands for
rather than the artefact. We always say about our handbags, “At Lady Targaryen we sell class,
not bags”. As far as the Zimbabwean market is concerned we stand different in the way we
approach it. We approach our clientèle more as a person introducing a new idea as opposed to
a business trying to make a sale. We try as much as possible in many ways for our business to
have a more intimate, personal connection with our customers. After all the business is run by
people and people are social creatures so the way we see it the social element must not be lost
simply because it’s a business. We are people before we are a business and that thinking sets
us apart in the way we go about satisfying our customers.
Q; Why are Zimbabwean designers not visible?
A: To people who closely and consciously follow Zimbabwean fashion they are, but I
suppose to regular folk they aren’t because they just aren’t marketed well enough. So in a
sense their visibility can be subjective. For example, a friend of ours from abroad only just got
introduced to the idea of a Zimbabwean fashion industry over this year’s HIFA event. The work
by Zimbabwean designers she saw, as impressive as it was, was only by chance. Many locals
share her ignorance too but not out of choice. If one doesn’t know the right Facebook pages,
or follow the right people on twitter or simply overhear the right conversation their chances
of exposure to Zimbabwean designers are drastically reduced. Not enough is being done to
make them visible. Some may argue that there isn’t enough interest in local fashion because
the industry is too small but the way we see it is there isn’t much interest because people don’t
know much about it as small as it may be. No one was interested in the iPod until Steve Jobs
told them about it, and that’s the same scenario we have here with Zimbabwean designers and
their work.
Q; What is your best city in terms of Fashion?
A: We regard Paris as one of the fashion capitals of the world as it has had major influence
on international fashion trends. We are inspired by the elegance of their fashion designs. We
find Parisian designs to be elegant, classy, refined and present a chic formal feature.
Q: Who would you love to dress?
A: The character Daenerys Stormborn, of House Targaryen from the books A Song of Ice
and Fire who is also appears in the television series Game of Thrones. She was the inspiration
behind the name “Lady Targaryen” in case that was not apparent to everyone yet. Finding
the perfect handbag to match and compliment the unyielding strength, will and power she
exudes in her unmistakable female form would be a challenge we would dare to dream of and an
honourable one to take on. Just picturing her in the show, as she speaks, as she addresses her
followers... what kind of handbag would be sitting next to her? Wow.
Q: What can you not do without as a designer?
A: Simplicity. We go strictly for simplicity and class. Sometimes as a designer one can get
caught up in thinking out of the box, searching far and wide for the ultimate design for the
product, say a handbag. We would sit there and picture the woman we want to see carrying our
bag; her personality, the way she conducts herself, her elegance, her class. We would sit there
and imagine what it would be like to be in this woman’s presence, hear her voice, get to know
her and be amazed by her. This woman wouldn’t be carrying a noisy looking bag, at the same
time that bag should convey simple and clearly audible message “I am a classy woman”. The
ability to ground our designs in this thorough and elaborate simplicity and class is our main
tool. One we cannot do without.
Q: What is a HOT fashion item in 2013?
A: A fashion must have item in 2013 definitely has to be an African print trendy and modern
outfit – be it a skirt, an elegant dress, a fashionable top you name it, we believe everyone should
own their very own African print attire that is tailored to their unique taste and style. African
print fabric is a fabric of elegance, it’s simply beautiful!
Q: Your must have fashion item is?
A: Fashion must have item has to be a classy handbag! Class is not about being noticed, but
about being remembered once you have walked out the room.
