Student-Preneur of the Week

Student-Preneur of the Week

NAPS PRESS: Can we meet you?

KIZZITO: My name is Ebere Kizzito Chijuba, also known as STEEZØ, a 300 level student of the department of Philosophy.

NAPS PRESS: Can you tell me about your business?

KIZZITO: The name of my brand is STEEZØ, it is an underground streetwear brand based in Ibadan, Nigeria that is focused on using grunge and colorful graphic designs that depict the young wild and free lives of the Nigerian youth coupled with surreal visualization through photography showing the raw uncut creative scene in Ibadan.

NAPS PRESS: What is the inspiration behind your brand, STEEZØ?

KIZZITO: The main inspiration behind STEEZØ was me wanting to wear what I loved. My brand’s outlook is captured around the blend of Nigerian grunge aesthetic, skate culture and the altè scene, all these themes are stuff I find interesting as a person so they all just fell in when I started making designs and building the brands aesthetic. So basically my interests as a person and me wanting to wear stuff I liked inspired me to start the streetwear brand.

NAPS PRESS: Can you tell me about your business ideas and how it solves problems or meet needs?

KIZZITO: The idea about my brand is to create and sell designs and streetwear pieces while also documenting the process and telling a story with it . It is been able to help with making money for myself and also building a community around my brand, working with other creative designers in the scene, networking with people and also having fun, I think having fun and making money has been the best part of the whole experience.

NAPS PRESS: How do you balance academic works with the demands of running a business?

KIZZITO: I’ve been able to balance school and my business by just planning properly, I try to keep in track with time and resources to school and my business respectively and it's been working out fine for me.

NAPS PRESS: What skills have you gained from your entrepreneurial experience?

KIZZITO: Over the course of running the brand, I’ve been able to gain skills such as graphic design, photography, filming/video editing, social media management and lot of other skills have come with running the business

NAPS PRESS: Can you share a success story from your entrepreneurial journey so far?

KIZZITO: For this I'd say Choc party 2022, which is one of the biggest outdoor events in Ibadan. I was present at the event as just a normal outgoing person and to my surprise a lot of people were wearing the brand, like a lot of people who I didn’t even know and it was so massive for me that it made me emotional. It was also crazy because that was the same year I started the brand. Another success story which I must add was winning the Entrepreneur of the year award in the department when I was just a fresh year student. These stories just showed me how organic the love and representation of the brand was both inside and outside school.

NAPS PRESS: What are your plans to grow and heighten your business  after graduation?

KIZZITO: I plan to grow the business after graduation by putting in a lot of work right now when I’m in school, cause I believe its a good foundation to start, I also plan on making my products available in walk-in stores and improving my marketing skills to capture the audience outside school and lastly making the right moves as per networking with people who could work with me when I’m done with school.

NAPS PRESS: What has been your major support system (s) as a student-preneur?

KIZZITO: My family, close course mates have been really great support systems because they were the first customers of my brand .Department/faculty events have been really solid support systems for me in school because they gave me a platform to showcase the brand, and I think social media has done a lot of work in helping with marketing and advertising

NAPS PRESS: How do you manage your schedule?

KIZZITO : I manage my schedule by just creating a list of things I need to do within a stipulated time and working towards it.

NAPS PRESS: How do you stay up to date with industry trends and new developments?

KIZZITO: I’m really not a fan of trends, and I can say I barely hop on trends when it comes to the business, I can say for a fact that I am way ahead of trends when cause the brands name which was coined from the word ‘steeze’ has been around for over two years before it became a pop culture trend.

NAPS PRESS: So before STEEZØ came to live, what was your funding experience or challenges like?

KIZZITO: My experience for funding is quite simple, there’s a capital for each project/collection and I work around a budget for it. Sponsors such as my parents, siblings and close friends have also been helpful with funding so far.

NAPS PRESS: How do you measure success and track progress in your business?

KIZZITO: For that, it's just the influence for me, I feel being a source of inspiration to other creatives and people around me counts as success. Also working with other creatives in the scene is good track progress because it means they see a part of your work thats useful to theirs.

NAPS PRESS: What is the most important lesson you have learnt as a student-preneur?

KIZZITO: A big lesson I've learnt so far as a student entrepreneur is to engagement the community of students around you and carry them along with your craft cause that is what has taken me this far.

NAPS PRESS: Where do you see your brand in the next 6 to 12 months time from now?

KIZZITO: I see the brand experimenting more with film making and visuals. The brand is also going to be collaborations with creatives outside Ibadan and Nigeria very soon.

NAPS PRESS: What advice would you give to up and coming Napsites and student-preneurs who will love to venture into business as well?

KIZZITO: Follow your heart, read and learn more about what you’re invested in. Your only competition is yourself. Don't just build a business, build a lifestyle around it and have fun doing it, get lost in what you love.