When I was a young girl, I used to collect scrap pieces of fabric from my mum (Mumy was a seamstress when she was not at work 😉) to sew dresses for my dolls. I had three of them and each was particular to my eyes. I never made them the same dresses. This was because, in my imagination, I could also understand they had different morphology and different tastes. And maybe this was because at a tender age, I knew exactly what I wanted to wear and how I wanted it to look on me. Looking at this and getting to know more about African brands, I came to understand the choice of Minsangi, a unique online clothing platform, to highlight the customer’s style and personal touch. I met Claudia Maria Aboudi, the project lead who gave more insights into the brand and its vision.
Thanks once more for accepting to take part in this interview. It is always a pleasure for me to encounter great minds who wish to change the game in the fashion industry and contribute to its expansion and growth.
Mona, thank you for the opportunity.
I have been following your activities online for some time and I appreciate the emphasis you put on tradition and culture. Could you tell us what inspired you to call your clothing line Minsangi? And what does it mean?
Minsangi is in the Beti language, it means necklaces and more globally, jewellery. As we see our products as precious to us and our customers.
Who is the face behind Minsangi? Can you tell us how it all started?
Minsangi is the result of the love for both fashion and African culture. There is a team behind Minsangi, made of people who work daily to deliver the bests products, and artisans who give us the opportunity to explore and integrate their art in our collections.
Looking at your various collections, we notice that you name them after African denominations. What do these various names mean? And why did you make such a choice?
Our collections usually start with inspiration. Which is usually a story, fictional or not. For example, the Juju parade tells the story of a handweaver who freed his village from the oppression of invaders. Kompali celebrates a woman in construction engineering and the most recent one, Jebale is based on the story of the Jengu (Sawa deity) Jo A Male. Starting from this point of view, it became natural for us to give our collections, African in general and Cameroonian names in particular. This is also a way to invite our clients into our World.
CMAP: Why putting the client at the centre of the clothing creation process is so important to you?
Minsangi: The client usually perfectly knows what he/she wants. He/She decides and what we are just doing is advising the client. But in the end, he/she is the one designing. That is why we are always keeping that conversation with the client so that at the end of the creation process, the product responds to the needs.
Knowing that the management of clients is not always easy and having in mind that your main objective is to please and abide by the customers’ choices, how do you overcome difficulties and challenges in this aspect? Is it easy for you to build customer loyalty?
Nothing in life is easy, we always have to work to satisfy the client. What we do at Minsangi is to stay clear and always tell the truth to the client. As we work online it is important to describe as best as we can our products and keep the customer informed.
The fashion industry in Cameroon is expanding. With the advent of the Covid-19 Pandemic was it easy for you to keep up with clients’ demands? At least at the local level as it became obvious that local consumption was the only way out.
It may sound surprising but during the lockdown, we noticed an increase in international sales. We sell most online on e-commerce platforms and on our website. It was not easy to keep up with demands but at the end of the day, those difficulties helped us to improve a little more our process.
If you were allowed to collaborate with another local or African brand, would you take it? Any future projects you would like to share?
Yes of course we would love to collaborate with other brands. With time we are willing to see each collection as a means to promote one or more artists. We are actually working on a new collection, for dry season 2021, that hopefully will be released very soon. In this new collection, we will continue collaborating with artists we love and make you discover new ones.
This was a great interview and we applaud the work you have been doing so far. Thank you for your opportunity and time.
Thank you Mona it was a pleasure to discuss with you our brand. We invite you and your followers to keep in touch with our brand. More and more designs are coming. Don’t forget to have a look at our different platforms.
Website: www.minsangi.com
Etsy: www.minsangi.etsy.com
Afrikrea: www.minsangi.afrikrea.com
Twitter: @Minsangi3
Instagram: @minsangicameroon
Facebook: www.facebook.com/minsangi
