OBA couture

 

Oba Couture, founded in 2011, is a premium business that produces handmade leather purses, boots, belts, wallets, various leather products, and ready-to-wear clothes. OBA items are created with the highest quality leather, precious metal hardware, and one-of-a-kind textiles. The majority of our raw materials are supplied locally.

OBA couture leather items are handcrafted by artists employing age-old Italian craft skills. OBA means King in Yoruba and is an acronym of their founder's name, Oluwabukola Asafa. OBA A lot of great goods endure for a long time because we recognise that making great items that last is part of the solution to a sustainable future. 

A portion of the profits from our items are donated to the Heritage Children's Foundation Africa, so every product purchased may help a kid who lacks food and education. 

Oba Couture Limited's Creative Director and Chief Executive Officer is Olubukola Asafa. Her career began in 2005, when, while working at a media firm, she pursued her desire and love for fashion by manufacturing and selling embroidered linen shirts on the side.

 

Instead of returning to a conventional career after earning her MBA, she opted to pursue her passion for fashion full-time and develop a business. She began selling imported ready-made shoes and purses at this time. After a while, Olubukola realised there was more she could do; she liked fashion and also enjoyed working with her hands, so when she sensed God directing her toward shoe and bag manufacturing, she decided it was time to get started.

After doing some research, she discovered that Nigeria had some of the best quality leather in the world, but the people who made leather shoes and bags in Nigeria at the time never acknowledged that they were made in Nigeria, instead claiming to be "Made in Italy,' because made in Nigeria shoes and bags had a bad reputation for being of very substandard, low quality.  Olubukola believed it was time to make a change, and she was determined to bring back Nigerian-made leather items. She filed for the YOUWIN (Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria) programme in 2011, and as a start-up, she received a grant of over 8 million naira from the federal government of Nigeria in 2012. She used some of the grant money to enrol in a shoemaking school in Florence, Italy, where she was trained by one of the top shoemakers in Florence. She also did a bag making course in London, UK.

The Lagos State Government awarded Olubukola a contract in 2019 to make approximately 3000 leather bags for the COWLSO (The Committee of Wives of Lagos State) 2019 Conference.

Olubukola's goal and desire is to push Nigerian-made products to the world stage. where it may compete with international names such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel, and Prada.