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Speaker 1: Earners. What's up.

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Speaker 2: You ever walk into a small business and everything just

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Speaker 2: works like the checkout is fast, their seats are digital,

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Speaker 2: tipping is a breeze, and you're out the door before

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Speaker 2: the line even builds odds are they're using Square. We

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Speaker 2: love supporting businesses that run on Square because it just

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Speaker 2: feels seamless. Whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor

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Speaker 2: at a pop up market, or even one of our

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Speaker 2: merch partners. Square makes it easy for them to take payments,

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Speaker 2: manage inventory, and run their business with confidence, all from

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Speaker 2: one simple system. One of the things we love most

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Speaker 2: is seeing neighborhood businesses level up. Business West Indian spired

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Speaker 2: writing our community that started with a small takeout counter.

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Speaker 2: Now with Square, they've been able to expand into a

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Speaker 2: full sit down restaurant and even started catering events across

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Speaker 2: the city. That's the kind of growth that aspires us,

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Speaker 2: and it's powered by Square. Square is built for all

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Speaker 2: types of businesses, from the corner bagel shop that turned

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Speaker 2: into a local chain, to the specialty market with that

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Speaker 2: thousands of unique items, to the stylists who's been holding

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Speaker 2: you down for years. If you're a business owner or

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Speaker 2: even just thinking about launching something soon. Square is hands

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Speaker 2: down one of the best tools out there to help

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Speaker 2: you start, run and grow. It's not just about payments,

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Speaker 2: it's about giving you time back so you can focus

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Speaker 2: on what matters most ready. To see how Square can

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Speaker 2: transform your business, visit Square dot com backslash go backslash

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Speaker 2: eyl to learn more that Square dot com backslash, go

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Speaker 2: backslash eyl. Don't wait, don't hesitate. Let's Square handle the

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Speaker 2: back end so you can keep pushing your vision forward.

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Speaker 3: When I did the podcast with you all, I was telling.

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Speaker 2: You probably the most impactful interview I've done in my career.

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Speaker 1: Heroes out as real hero he shot at Troy talk

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Speaker 1: about the tags, letters about ciance.

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Speaker 2: You know, we talk in a language that is common

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Speaker 2: to the people that's from the community that we grew

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Speaker 2: up with.

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Speaker 1: You all are the bright spot.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, real Estate, thank juership for Black Americans.

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Speaker 1: This is the knowledge that actually matters both of you.

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Speaker 2: For this isn't it a country issue. It's not an

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Speaker 2: American issue, It's a world issue.

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Speaker 1: We came to earn Lisa.

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Speaker 3: Welcome Back special episode. This is Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: The lightning is is great?

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Speaker 3: Isn't yeah, we're back. We're back in the Mecca. You

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Speaker 3: know at that time we got we got a special guest.

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Speaker 3: Today we know him its chocolate. The world knows miss Chocolate.

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Speaker 3: The world does know him as chocolate.

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Speaker 1: Name. You want to say his name?

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Speaker 2: Well, way cool, quite cool. We should quay cool. We

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Speaker 2: got the first name correct. That means born on Wednesday.

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Speaker 2: I'm a born on Wednesday baby as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I felt brothers.

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Speaker 4: Yeah we do dioco Yeah so I mean yes, but bidiac,

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Speaker 4: which literally means came to fight. So I'm a warrior

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Speaker 4: then or darn duro? Yes, quake cool? Bediako, Yes, that's

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Speaker 4: my dad's name. Yeah, so quick. Who is my born day?

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Speaker 4: That's like my nature day? Bediako is my soul? Who

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Speaker 4: I am warrior, fight out, I never that, that never

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Speaker 4: quits and is my nature.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so okay, welcome my brother. All right, Well, first

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Speaker 1: and foremost, thank you for joining. I appreciate it. I

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Speaker 1: appreciate it.

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Speaker 4: And then listen, it feels always great to come back

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Speaker 4: to Atlanta, and you know now it just feels surreal love.

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Speaker 3: It and so all right, So for full context here,

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Speaker 3: Chalk is from Ghana, which I just found out. He

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Speaker 3: was actually born and raised in Nigeria, but living lives

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Speaker 3: in Ghana. So when you obviously if you've been following earlierly,

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Speaker 3: you know we've been doing a lot of traveling and

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Speaker 3: work on the continent and Ghana is like the primary

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Speaker 3: hub where we've been going. Shout out to Kwame, shot Alvin,

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Speaker 3: our whole team out there. So what he does is

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Speaker 3: he he's like the fashion god when it comes to

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Speaker 3: all things West Africa garment. So when you see us

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Speaker 3: in the caftans, that's kind of what Troy is wearing

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Speaker 3: right now.

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Speaker 1: I'm wearing chocolate, chocolate.

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Speaker 3: Most of the stuff that you see us wearing over

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Speaker 3: there comes via him, he said. Clients in the past

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Speaker 3: like Steve Harvey, who else, Michael B.

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Speaker 1: Jordy, Michael B.

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Speaker 4: Jonnan and the family, mister Jordan's. The list goes on

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Speaker 4: and on and on. Jamie Foxx, we currently clothed over

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Speaker 4: forty presidents now in prime ministers as well. But then

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Speaker 4: this goes on and on. I think it's not just

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Speaker 4: about the celebrities and public figures that we close. It

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Speaker 4: just goes a long way to just tell the world

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Speaker 4: that just validate the work, validate the brand, Uh, but

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Speaker 4: you know, we're very very excited to work with everyone

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Speaker 4: who understands what being different means and subscribes to a

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Speaker 4: global vision of where Africa has always been. And now

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Speaker 4: we get the chance to fuse in high level afrocentric

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Speaker 4: type where with high fashion.

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Speaker 3: Yeah did the fashion show it in vest fast, legendary,

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Speaker 3: first time we've ever done that. So yeah, man, you

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Speaker 3: want to you wann a nice role right now? So yeah,

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Speaker 3: looking forward to this conversation. Sorry, so let's let's let's

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Speaker 3: bring it back. And he has a store, so if

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Speaker 3: you ever go to a crowd, the number one hotel

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Speaker 3: is the Kopinski Penske Hotel.

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Speaker 4: Shout outs to them. They've they've held me down for

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Speaker 4: six years. And across the street from the Kopinske Hotel

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Speaker 4: is the mall. Yeah, it's the more. It's a gallery mall.

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Speaker 4: It's like an art gallery mall. But again they are

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Speaker 4: very open to work with brands that has an artistic

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Speaker 4: aesthetic and we fitted riding to that.

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Speaker 1: And you know it's just a beautiful store.

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Speaker 4: We have a full blown runway, so you know, come

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Speaker 4: pick up some clothes and do the catwork for us.

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Speaker 1: That's the fact.

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Speaker 3: All right, So we're gonna have this cross continental conversation. First,

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Speaker 3: how does this start?

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Speaker 1: Right? Like, how does this start?

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Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like the whole continent in Africa

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Speaker 3: right now is super popular. Everybody's you know, into the

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Speaker 3: Afro beats in the fashion and all that.

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Speaker 1: But that wasn't always the case.

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Speaker 3: So you growing up, what we'll put the dad's seed

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Speaker 3: in your head to be like, Okay, I'm gonna be

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Speaker 3: a designer, not just for where I live, but I

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Speaker 3: want to spread it out all over the world.

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Speaker 4: Well, it's been it's been a journey, man, it's been

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Speaker 4: a journey. My parents' professors. My dad is a uh

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Speaker 4: it's a professor implants pathology, and my mom is a

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Speaker 4: professor in botany. Every member of my family read science,

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Speaker 4: including me, and so from by the chemist uh to

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Speaker 4: molecular biologists, to a stem cell researcher, to a nurse

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Speaker 4: now turn public health person then to me that read

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Speaker 4: tech it and archaeology before I moved into fashion. But

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Speaker 4: you know, let's again go back to, you know, back

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Speaker 4: in the day where I feel like my my my

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Speaker 4: design power started when I was born. I used to

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Speaker 4: design cartoon characters, used to design buildings like buildings like this, this,

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Speaker 4: This is me used to design cars grails, used to

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Speaker 4: design car grails, the datchboards, gears, and also the signs

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Speaker 4: that I read also helped me sort of add that

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Speaker 4: sort of scientific touch to the design, Like can you

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Speaker 4: picture an idea of having a clutch system powered by your.

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Speaker 1: Hands on your steering wheel, So.

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Speaker 4: Literally you get a half clutch when you're edging close

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Speaker 4: to the wheel, and so you design a wheel to

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Speaker 4: like a steering wheel to go with that. So I've

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Speaker 4: always been a good blend of my nature and my nature,

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Speaker 4: which is being born with a creative edge, but being

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Speaker 4: also natured from a science, you know, community pretty much. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: I get the chance to look at things from a

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Speaker 4: different perspective.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 4: It's very interesting looking at the rise of the different

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Speaker 4: facets of culture and today I'm just really excited with

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Speaker 4: music as one sector, but its ability to feed into

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Speaker 4: the different branches food, storytelling, movies, fashion, and so on

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Speaker 4: and so forth. Yeah, so it's so very interesting to

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Speaker 4: see how they all feed into each other.

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Speaker 1: Now. All though I was going about my.

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Speaker 4: My schedule, which was to design buildings or to write poems,

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Speaker 4: I used to rap so wrap lyrics to songs, come

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Speaker 4: up with storylines. You know, when I was in university.

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Speaker 4: I finished UNI back in two thousand and nine, and

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Speaker 4: back in the day, I wrote about three different movie scripts.

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Speaker 4: I had this concept edge and felt like I was

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Speaker 4: going to make it to Hollywood.

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Speaker 1: I don't know why I thought about that, so, but anyways.

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Speaker 4: My pastor was Hollywood twenty twelve, because again I felt

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Speaker 4: like I was so much filled with creative energy that

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Speaker 4: was backed by a lot of cultural a cultural push,

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Speaker 4: just filled with many ideas.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: You said your nature versus your nurture, right, And so

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Speaker 2: I'm listening to it. Having parents who are in the

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Speaker 2: education field, I'm sort of certain expectations that.

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Speaker 1: They had for their children. Totally, you have this creative gene. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this sounds like a class Is that?

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Speaker 2: It was so like as you're realizing, like, this is

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Speaker 2: my gift, like to express myself, whether it's to lyrics

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Speaker 2: or it's through fashion, what is this class like?

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Speaker 1: Right? Because I'm sure.

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Speaker 2: Like West Indian it's like you're going to be a doctor,

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Speaker 2: You're going to be a lawyer.

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Speaker 1: Oh you're not going to be that. Oh no, no,

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Speaker 1: you better be that. Yeah? What was that like? For

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Speaker 1: you as you're going through the creative process.

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Speaker 4: Well, it was beautiful, man, it was beautiful. I've never

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Speaker 4: I've never kicked down. I'm a stubborn guy.

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Speaker 1: Man like.

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Speaker 4: There was a reason why the confide and named mediacal

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Speaker 4: to me, right, And I think that my parents really

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Speaker 4: got to understand what it meant after a while. It

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Speaker 4: wasn't easy. Clearly, I slept out of the house so

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Speaker 4: many times. I was kind off stipends so many times.

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Speaker 4: I remember when I started chocolate and by that time

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Speaker 4: I used to have a nine of five in marketing communication.

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Speaker 4: So afterwards I now go almost another hour and a

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Speaker 4: half to whether store used to be, and I recall

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Speaker 4: not having any money. And then you know you will

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Speaker 4: work till about six seven. You have extra work to

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Speaker 4: do about till ten. So by the time you want

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Speaker 4: to jump on public transport to get where you're going,

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Speaker 4: the cars are done, like they're done for the day,

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Speaker 4: So you got to walk all the way till you're

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Speaker 4: able to get something. And because you've been cut off

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Speaker 4: and you're trying to also hustle, you don't have the

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Speaker 4: means of jumping in a taxi or a cab or

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Speaker 4: uber or whatever. So there are times I recall walking

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Speaker 4: a good two hours three hours after work to get

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Speaker 4: to my destination and I have to leave in two

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Speaker 4: hours because I need to join the first public transport

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Speaker 4: from back to the house to get ready for my

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Speaker 4: next morning job.

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Speaker 1: Because if you get that after eight, you will be queried.

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Speaker 4: So this going on for like an hour, like a

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Speaker 4: year and a half, And clearly my parents are also

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Speaker 4: worried because they're like, yoh, listen, like you're going to

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Speaker 4: read this. First of all, the marketing communication you've gotten

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Speaker 4: into is not science, And I was like, no, that

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Speaker 4: is a science to this, Like, it's not just advertising.

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Speaker 4: You have to you know, there's a science behind it,

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Speaker 4: there's methodology. You have to understand that the way people

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Speaker 4: are thinking. So it took a while, like my first

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Speaker 4: two three years in that advertising space was not easy.

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Speaker 4: But again I recall gotting working up around three am someday,

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Speaker 4: or my dad just telling me that, hey, I'm listening

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Speaker 4: to this thing on BBC and I think advertising is

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Speaker 4: a science, you know, And I get that maybe made

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Speaker 4: him realize that, okay, maybe I should be open to that.

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Speaker 4: A year and a half afterwards, and I'm coming up

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Speaker 4: with his clothing brand, and he's like, like, what do

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Speaker 4: you want?

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Speaker 1: Is it fast? It's is this tomorrow? Is that? You know?

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Speaker 4: So I guess you know, it was very different. You know,

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Speaker 4: my dad was the first guy in his village to

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Speaker 4: go to university.

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Speaker 1: My mom out of eleven kids.

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Speaker 4: My mom was the first out of twelve kids and

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Speaker 4: used to also hustle way back. You know, she would

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Speaker 4: wake up in the morning, take bread the mom used

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Speaker 4: to bake, so take bread to the neighborhood, sell it

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Speaker 4: before she goes to school.

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Speaker 1: So they were also natural born hustlers.

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Speaker 4: But then they also found their career path through science.

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Speaker 4: So they knew that this was the only direction they

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Speaker 4: could go because this is what took them out of

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Speaker 4: the you know, their villages, right, and so it was

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Speaker 4: not they were not about to gamble with your with

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Speaker 4: your kid essentially. But I think one thing I'll say

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Speaker 4: is a lot to doff my hats to my parents

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Speaker 4: because they groomed us so well, they natured us so well.

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Speaker 4: Although you know we used to clash a lot, they

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Speaker 4: did a good job by by helping us to understand,

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Speaker 4: like well, first of all, boundaries to understand, to encourage

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Speaker 4: us to read to learn so much beyond what you

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Speaker 4: were studying, right, and that for me went a long

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Speaker 4: way to.

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Speaker 1: Ground me.

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Speaker 4: And so they sort of understood that it wasn't a

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Speaker 4: lost case.

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Speaker 1: He might know what he's doing.

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Speaker 4: Let's just, you know, let's just be on the sideline

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Speaker 4: and watch what he's doing, right, And so it's not

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Speaker 4: surprising when I first finished my first store and I

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Speaker 4: went to my dad and I told him, Hey, I

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Speaker 4: wanted to rent one of your buildings. So they eventually

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Speaker 4: got into real estate as well, and you know, I

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Speaker 4: went over to them. I'm like, hey, can I get

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Speaker 4: one of your one bedroom houses where I can turn

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Speaker 4: into a like a little workshop, And they're like, yeah, whatever.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the rent is a year. You know how

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Speaker 1: Ghana is.

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Speaker 4: You have to pay rents between a year in two years.

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Speaker 4: You don't pay monthly rents. So the following that I

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Speaker 4: cooked up the money and gave it to him, and

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Speaker 4: he was shocked because no one comes to rent a

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Speaker 4: house and they pay out rightly. So it made him

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Speaker 4: start to observe, started asking questions. Remember, he popped into

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Speaker 4: the my office sometime he had gone to a friend's

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Speaker 4: seven yeth birthday and he was walking chocolate, And when

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Speaker 4: he got there, the celebrant seven year old guy was

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Speaker 4: walking chocolate. All his kids from age like twenty eight

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Speaker 4: to about forty five, we're all walking chocolate. Very big

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Speaker 4: in new door was wearing chocolate at the party. So

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Speaker 4: he comes in, He's like, quick, who what are you know?

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Speaker 4: I just lived this party and it looks like everybody's

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Speaker 4: wearing chocolate, Like what are you doing?

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Speaker 1: What are you doing?

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Speaker 4: So I started explaining to him, Hey, you know what,

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Speaker 4: like because of the science background, I'm able to attach

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Speaker 4: to the back end sending solutions. People just don't need

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Speaker 4: clothes that just enhances them but also close the coverage

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Speaker 4: and the floor. So your ability to gauge that solution,

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Speaker 4: mix mix, and then create a connection makes our brand different.

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Speaker 4: And then he was like, okay, so are you saying

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Speaker 4: that you also so it's like you fish out defects

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Speaker 4: and diseases in people's worldrope.

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Speaker 1: Okay, then let's call it fashion pathology, you know.

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Speaker 4: And I think since that day, my dad started becoming

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Speaker 4: very open to the idea of what I was doing.

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Speaker 4: Started seeing a ton of celebrities coming to the house

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Speaker 4: because I started off in his house and you know,

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Speaker 4: let's just say twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, we

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Speaker 4: got prof out on CNN, and I remember he got

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Speaker 4: calls from his friends, his cousins, his work colleagues. They

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Speaker 4: were like, I think we saw someone like KiB on CNN,

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Speaker 4: you know, and my story was so impactful. They aired

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Speaker 4: for six months on African Startups and Voices and that's

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Speaker 4: what changed the whole that I make of your perception.

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Speaker 4: And you know, later on we got a chance to

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Speaker 4: make clothes for our local our Black Stars team, our

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Speaker 4: soccer team. Shout out to the Black Stars, you know,

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Speaker 4: when we're going for Brazol twenty fourteen, and it just

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Speaker 4: the global journey has just started.

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Speaker 1: It just started unfolding.

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Speaker 4: Got prof out on Forbes, then got profilt on so

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Speaker 4: many different platforms on BBC, and then the journeys just started.

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Speaker 3: Let me ask you this, what's it like as far

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Speaker 3: as fashion, know, we do the fashion thing, and you

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Speaker 3: know me, I like really study the fashion game. So

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Speaker 3: a lot of people may not be familiar. But like

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Speaker 3: in the nineties, late nineties, Kent cloth, kent te cloth, right, correct, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: that was a big thing in America. Like even I

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Speaker 3: look at my my brother's high school graduation, and yeah,

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Speaker 3: they kent to cloth skall phone that comes from Ghana, right.

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Speaker 4: Well, Ghana, West Africa. Because what it is is that

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Speaker 4: back in the day, it wasn't Ghana. You know, the

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Speaker 4: whole West Africa was kind of like just one different

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Speaker 4: different trips exactly different different types of kinte. So talk

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Speaker 4: about okay, talk about West African fashion, the Kent cloth,

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Speaker 4: the up and downs that they wear in Nigeria, right,

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Speaker 4: like the Ghanaian style.

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Speaker 1: We were just in beneath.

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Speaker 3: We've seen that they had their own staff like kind

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Speaker 3: of educate the audience.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So, I mean so Africa as a whole is full

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Speaker 4: of beautiful art, right. The idea of cloth, indigenous cloth

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Speaker 4: has always been part of us. Weaving of these cloths

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Speaker 4: have been part of us. When you go to different

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Speaker 4: parts of Africa, they call it different names. Also, these

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Speaker 4: different patterns also reflect different messaging.

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Speaker 1: I was privileged enough couple of last year when.

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Speaker 4: We got hosted by Prince William at a short prize

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Speaker 4: and I got the chance to meet other people who

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Speaker 4: were who've been doing specific studies about sustainable fashion, i e.

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Speaker 4: What kinty cloth is and how it makes it sustainable

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Speaker 4: and all of that, and you'll it will be surprising

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Speaker 4: for you to know that back in the day, you

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Speaker 4: pull up wearing a certain type of kinte and it

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Speaker 4: shows your status a certain type of cloth woven. It

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Speaker 4: shows the kind of men even if you had an

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Speaker 4: issue with your wife as a couple, and let's you

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Speaker 4: take it to the chief right to be the judge

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Speaker 4: of the issue. Depending on the cloth you wear, depending

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Speaker 4: on the white weave that you wear, it shows that

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Speaker 4: you're remorseful. It shows that you're not remuseful. It shows

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Speaker 4: that you are ready to take this to another level.

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Speaker 4: It shows all these meanings have come through just by

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Speaker 4: wearing seting or adorning setting cloth. It's very similar to

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Speaker 4: even like symbols like the gm is and then the

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Speaker 4: Dinkrahennas and all these other like symbols that also go

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Speaker 4: a long way to say things without uttering out a

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Speaker 4: word pretty much.

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Speaker 1: So for us, it's not just about wearing clothes.

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Speaker 4: Again, as I said, it's about key message and it's

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Speaker 4: about communication. And because this has been a core part

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Speaker 4: of us, you realize that everyone expresses it differently and

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Speaker 4: it makes it authentic. So when we talk about authentic clothing,

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Speaker 4: authentic art.

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Speaker 1: This is what we mean.

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Speaker 4: It goes beyond Hey, like this color is fly, so

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Speaker 4: I'm going to wear this. It goes a lot on

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Speaker 4: what does green mean to us? What does it's fusion

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Speaker 4: with orange means? What does purple and gold mean? Doesn't

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Speaker 4: mean or does it mean something else?

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Speaker 1: Right?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So that is literally the crux of what garments

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Speaker 4: from our continent means. But of course recent times has

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Speaker 4: come with its own interpretation of it. There are certain

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Speaker 4: type of comms that we're not relevant or are not

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Speaker 4: necessarily relevant.

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Speaker 1: To today's age.

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Speaker 4: But it's kind of like propelled setting conversations in today's age.

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Speaker 4: And that's why you know you're looking at even what

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Speaker 4: we are doing. I'll try to show some pans that

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Speaker 4: I brought where Now, what designers like me are doing

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Speaker 4: is we're coming up with our own type of patons, right,

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Speaker 4: and so if we're saying, okay, this is traditional canteke, however,

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Speaker 4: this is how I'm going to weave this into that.

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Speaker 1: Like, take a look at this shirt. This is like

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Speaker 1: a Lays shirt.

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Speaker 4: But then what we did was we wove a setting

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Speaker 4: line of patson which is very similar to the traditional

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Speaker 4: one and then we crouchede on top of it. We

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Speaker 4: then creates a different element of or a layered experience

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Speaker 4: to it. So you might be talking about, hey, I

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Speaker 4: am royalty in terms of like they can't take woven approach,

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Speaker 4: But then you also get an element of style design.

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Speaker 4: Who's a modern guy? Does the modern guy just subscribe

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Speaker 4: to the old way of doing things?

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Speaker 1: Not quite? But does it inspire him to do greater things? Yes?

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Speaker 4: You know, like back in the day, for example, our

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Speaker 4: fathers will want to they call something called pension homes

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Speaker 4: like and I I don't get roasted for this. It's

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Speaker 4: an internal joke that we have in our home, for example,

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Speaker 4: where my dad is like, oh well, hey, I'm gonna

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Speaker 4: finish this building for my pension. And then you realize

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Speaker 4: you go toi Ghana, you have all these three stories,

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Speaker 4: four stories at age sixty, who will be staying on

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Speaker 4: the fourth floor?

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Speaker 1: Right? But the modern African things differently.

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Speaker 4: He is trying to say that, Hey, listen, I'm aspirational,

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Speaker 4: I'm ambitious. I love to connect with like minded people,

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Speaker 4: and I love, at a very early age to establish

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Speaker 4: basic things so that I can also make time for family.

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Speaker 4: And so you realize that it's literally the same thing,

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Speaker 4: but like we express things differently and in that same way.

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Speaker 4: It's seen in our type of clothes we wear and

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Speaker 4: a type of choice of setting, woven type of fabrics. Also,

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Speaker 4: you know, posts, colonization and everything. We also had, you know,

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Speaker 4: some elements of how do we create how do we

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Speaker 4: scale this idea? Yes, do I think it took out

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Speaker 4: a little bit of the crux of weave and of cloth.

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Speaker 1: Yes, But the good news is it still gets done.

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Speaker 4: But in the attempt of scaling the art, you have

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Speaker 4: conversations like wax printing, where in that case, you know

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Speaker 4: you've got like a digitized version of of the same

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Speaker 4: idea of the can't take weave, but then it's now

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Speaker 4: showcased in a more scalable way. And then you know,

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Speaker 4: to aid distribution to aid, other people also tap into

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Speaker 4: the art.

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Speaker 1: And that's what how.

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Speaker 4: Come today you see the likes of companies like Blisco

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Speaker 4: Woudine that we actually work with with just about dropping

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Speaker 4: a collab first time in history in the four African countries,

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Speaker 4: been in Kodivoa, Togo and Ghana. So yeah, so you know,

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Speaker 4: just to give you just like a little like a

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Speaker 4: surface conversation. That's that's that's that's the bigger look of

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00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 4: the fabric itself and how in modern day it's being

439
00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:58,760
Speaker 4: scaled on one level for let's say, affordable luxury lines,

440
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,199
Speaker 4: and how for high fashion it still remains as woven.

441
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 2: As I'm hearing you talk, and the more we have conversations,

442
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,040
Speaker 2: I hear the science right like I'm listening to the

443
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:14,560
Speaker 2: fashion pathologists in you. It's interesting, right because we had

444
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 2: a conversation the other day, and I know we're talking

445
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:21,720
Speaker 2: about West African fashion, but the impact that American fashion

446
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,199
Speaker 2: had on you, right, Like as we were even discussing this,

447
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 2: we were talking about the nineties and that's the era.

448
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,439
Speaker 2: When you talked about the nineties, I'm like, oh, we

449
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,359
Speaker 2: grew up in the same era, right, It was like

450
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:32,440
Speaker 2: I could.

451
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,760
Speaker 1: Never get to Sean John Villon. Yeah, I'm just like

452
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,800
Speaker 1: I loved it, Like that was the thing for us.

453
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:40,600
Speaker 2: But the fact that you incorporated the valor into your

454
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,720
Speaker 2: fashion now talks about that scale and that modernization, that

455
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 2: science pathology. Talk about the influence that America had on

456
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 2: your design and how it's incorporated into stuff now.

457
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,400
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I mean definitely, I think my my connection

458
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 4: with America started way back. I mean my dad schooled

459
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 4: in Cisson and lectured in both you know, Arizona and

460
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,680
Speaker 4: University of California, my mom's school in Canada. Right, they

461
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 4: met even at at a very early age three four,

462
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:09,720
Speaker 4: I think we met. We might have come here for

463
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 4: a few months before we went back to Nigeria, where

464
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 4: I was born. So there are elements that these things

465
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 4: play in the heads of creatives. Right fast forward back

466
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 4: in high school when the Lords became a thing, like

467
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 4: we were deep. As I said, I used to rap,

468
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 4: so I used to dance. I used to rap, and

469
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 4: so the hip hop culture was embedded in my blood

470
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 4: right and obviously you had music like hip live afro

471
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 4: beats also tapping into like a good fusion of taking

472
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,640
Speaker 4: beats from here, tapping back into where the original hip

473
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 4: hop beats are from. Like all these things have. There's

474
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 4: been a cross cultural diffusion of all of this, right,

475
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,719
Speaker 4: So for a creative like me, going to parties and

476
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,199
Speaker 4: look in a certain type of way was was my all.

477
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,159
Speaker 4: Like I was telling you yesterday that I could afford

478
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:08,360
Speaker 4: some red monkeys and some Gino Greens and some visu.

479
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,480
Speaker 4: But back in the day, man I couldn't afford or

480
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 4: even have access.

481
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 1: To the son John.

482
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 4: The laws, the Rockaway, the laws, right, the Jaafari's you know.

483
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 4: And so for me looking at fashion back in the day,

484
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 4: let's say, early two thousands, looking at when that was

485
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 4: the first time I ever got a chance. And again,

486
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 4: I used to like all the facets of all the

487
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,400
Speaker 4: cultural facets. So I used to like basketball, I used

488
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,680
Speaker 4: to like the movies. You used to love food, right,

489
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,040
Speaker 4: But then you take a look at the culture back

490
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 4: then you go like you watch NBA games from the

491
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 4: screen and then you're seeing hip hop parties at these

492
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:51,720
Speaker 4: basketball games. You're looking at all the food elements being incorporated.

493
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 4: You're looking at all these fashion elements that were incorporated.

494
00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 4: And let's look at twenty years afterwards, what is happened

495
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:05,199
Speaker 4: to the world currently, And it's the same thing, but

496
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:08,160
Speaker 4: now it's happening to Africa where you take a look

497
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,400
Speaker 4: at Jeeloff Wars, right, you know, it's a sensitive conversation

498
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:13,720
Speaker 4: with me when it comes to Jeloff.

499
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 1: But yeah, like Olmo, don't kill me. What's that?

500
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 2: Well, you can't play either side, Okay, what I mean?

501
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: I said, man, you have to tick sites.

502
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:32,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you take how that is influencing type of

503
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:34,080
Speaker 4: even songs being done.

504
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: You take a look at.

505
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 4: Songs also talking about ten type of gears like chocolate gears,

506
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,399
Speaker 4: like Christie Brown gears like you know, so many different

507
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 4: new crop of new African creatives coming up with all

508
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 4: these spiffy clothing that also ties in with the culture.

509
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 1: Right. You take a look at even NBA Africa B

510
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: A L. So you look.

511
00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,400
Speaker 4: At the texture of the space and you look how

512
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,680
Speaker 4: afrobeats is influencing the fashion, fashion, influencing the sports, sports,

513
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,360
Speaker 4: influential the movies art as well, and the artists well,

514
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 4: I mean, hey, come on, I'm an artist, you know.

515
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 4: So it's a very interesting conversation of what happened back

516
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 4: in the day early two thousands, late nineteen nineties, and

517
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,680
Speaker 4: how everything sipped into each other, and how as a

518
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,720
Speaker 4: young designer or a young creative who are still studying science,

519
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,320
Speaker 4: how that sort of plays in my with my mindset

520
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:35,199
Speaker 4: and helps me tap into inspose to now redesign and

521
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 4: come up with a new line of ideology that's able

522
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 4: to fuse affrocentric lifestyles into high fashion, that's able to

523
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,719
Speaker 4: fuse afrocentric lifestyles the hip hop culture that's able to

524
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 4: fuse different mindsets, different people, different cultures, you know. So

525
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 4: today we're doing kaftans, as they call it, all boo boos,

526
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 4: and we are not just fusing king. We want to

527
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 4: fuse it with the laws. Want to fuse it with

528
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 4: cor drays. We want to fuse it with sustainable someone's

529
00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:11,200
Speaker 4: old sustainable denim that is never being done again. Bring

530
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 4: it back to life, and get our Cacaw brand to

531
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 4: jump on that, to repurpose it, you know. So it's

532
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 4: it's a fusion, if you're to ask, it's a blend.

533
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:22,840
Speaker 4: And for us as a brand, for me as a person,

534
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 4: I've always been about that, that lifestyle. Like I love networking,

535
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 4: I love meeting people, sharing perspectives.

536
00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:31,440
Speaker 1: And so you know, take a look at every.

537
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 4: Type of chocolate and you see buttons every type of chocolate.

538
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: You see stitch work.

539
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 4: And because these two elements invariably brings things together, bring

540
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 4: people together, it helps blend cultures and mindsets. And no, no,

541
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 4: you look this spiffy man, I'm wondering why I was shot.

542
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 4: Didn't wear nothing chocolate? Man, shot? What's happening? What's happening?

543
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 2: Man?

544
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 3: So talk about the power of networking. Tell the story

545
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 3: about Steve Harvey, because that's a good story. But also,

546
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 3: you know, it's important for people that are looking to

547
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 3: get their brand in front of big names or just anybody, right, like,

548
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 3: talk about your strategy and that story specifically.

549
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,160
Speaker 4: Well, so first of all, shout outs to Steve Harvey man,

550
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 4: Like I still remember when he said when he had

551
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 4: his first chocolate on and he said, Yesterday's prize is

552
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:22,080
Speaker 4: not today's prize.

553
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: That's exactly what he said.

554
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 4: But yeah, well, first of all, I can talk about

555
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 4: Steve Harvey without shotting out Kevin Autry. Kevin Autry has

556
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 4: been a big brother friend of mine for a while.

557
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,920
Speaker 4: And I do recall when I when I was very

558
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 4: specific on my vision, how do we build the biggest

559
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 4: lifestyle business and brand in the world that happens to

560
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 4: be from Africa. And I knew that and at that

561
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 4: time we were responsible for like what was indigenously African culture.

562
00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 1: With weddings, I used to make.

563
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 4: The biggest weddings clothes for the biggest team of groomsmen

564
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 4: and bridal teams. Right, so let me give you a

565
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 4: typical example when people are getting married here, you see

566
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 4: like maybe five grooms men, six brides mates. We decided

567
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,719
Speaker 4: way back to fully understand what that meant for our

568
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 4: traditional weddings. You finished school with such a huge community,

569
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 4: and for us in Africa, community has been part of us.

570
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 4: Like you're going to school and everybody can query you,

571
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 4: everybody can punish you, everybody can reward you. So community

572
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,720
Speaker 4: has always been part of us. So why then would

573
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 4: you want to marry in a traditional community and make

574
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 4: six people your core groomsmen? So for us we started

575
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 4: to say, no, hey, how many friends you got? How

576
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,000
Speaker 4: many associates do you have? So I mean, the biggest

577
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 4: wedding we ever did was one hundred and seventy five

578
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 4: grooms men. I just said a one hundred and seventy

579
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,120
Speaker 4: five grooms man, which was between Garner and Spain. We

580
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,240
Speaker 4: started this whole idea of pretty much like your pack

581
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 4: will be behind you. Like, the whole idea is that

582
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 4: if I'm going to get married to someone, the family

583
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 4: has to know that I've got community and that the

584
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,720
Speaker 4: out daughter is safe. If I'm not there, the community

585
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 4: got her right. So that was the whole idea of that.

586
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 1: Wow, yeah, I guess.

587
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 4: You know Africa, everything is tricky, right, but yeah, so

588
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:28,960
Speaker 4: you know, after doing it for a while and we

589
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 4: realized that now like, yeah, this is a good strategy locally,

590
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 4: but on a global startus, how then do we go

591
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 4: back to our vision? And we quickly realized that no,

592
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 4: the first thing we got to do is to look

593
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,960
Speaker 4: at the connecting factor. How do we connect our people

594
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 4: with our Afrid Diasbra people. How do we connect cultures?

595
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 4: How do we connect mindsets? How do we connect sectors?

596
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,000
Speaker 4: So conversations such as even not just with Steve Harvey,

597
00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 4: but with NBA Africa with BA l started as such,

598
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 4: how then do we create a link between sectors fashion

599
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 4: and sports?

600
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: How do we create connections between.

601
00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:12,120
Speaker 4: As you know us from back in slave trade, post

602
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 4: slave trade?

603
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,320
Speaker 1: How do we turn that energy back into power?

604
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 4: And then how do we work together you know to

605
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 4: form bigger businesses and bigger fronts. So that then started us.

606
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 4: That front started with Boris Kujoe.

607
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: Me.

608
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 4: We met in London and then we got a chance

609
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,479
Speaker 4: to he was coming to Ghana at that time, Uh

610
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 4: to start the whole year of return.

611
00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: Uh. He had I think.

612
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:43,280
Speaker 4: Merged with a Bosoma Saint John and I think richlu

613
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:46,360
Speaker 4: Uh to form what they call the full circle, and

614
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 4: then they launched the first of our Year of Return

615
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 4: a year before the Year of Return. So that was

616
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 4: a wide awakening for us because then we got to

617
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:55,920
Speaker 4: we realize that, oh wow, we can get a lot

618
00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 4: of validation and a lot of endorsement from not just

619
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:06,160
Speaker 4: captains of industries but also public figures that could understand

620
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,160
Speaker 4: our vision and where we're going, so that, you know,

621
00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:11,840
Speaker 4: in ripple effects then got us to got me to

622
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,440
Speaker 4: know that, well, hey, Steve Ave's coming to Ghana. So

623
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 4: I'm sitting there, I'm like, yo, listen, I got to

624
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 4: make clothes. And this is the thing that I've been

625
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 4: blessed with. I'm able to eyeball people and tell you

626
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 4: what your size is. And I think the first a

627
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 4: bount of close y'all got was like that, right, and so,

628
00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:30,680
Speaker 4: but for the funny thing is with Steve Harvey was

629
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 4: always in suits. He was always in suits. So then

630
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 4: I kept on tracking his social media. I'm like, how

631
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 4: do I get this guy's measurements right? And then he

632
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,320
Speaker 4: went on this holiday with the family in Czech Republic

633
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 4: and they went for fishing, they cast some muscles and

634
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,799
Speaker 4: was wearing those white Lenden shirt with coral shorts. I

635
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 4: still remember, like yesterday and I was like, ah, there

636
00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:56,880
Speaker 4: you go. So I bought him, came up with a

637
00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 4: good suits for him. He came to Ghana, tapped in

638
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:06,280
Speaker 4: with Kevin, met him in his office, and I remember

639
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 4: when we got introduced.

640
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:11,160
Speaker 1: Kevin's like, hey, Steve, uh, this is chocolate. He's one

641
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,919
Speaker 1: of the best designers over here. He's made you too, Steve.

642
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,279
Speaker 4: He's like, no, no, no, I don't wear no ready to wear.

643
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:19,440
Speaker 4: You know I don't wear I don't wear no ready

644
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,120
Speaker 4: to wear a thing. I'm like, no, trust me, man,

645
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,400
Speaker 4: I've been I've been following. I've worked over four hundred

646
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 4: episodes of Family Feud. To you, Harvey show, you were

647
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 4: always in suits. It didn't help me. But last two

648
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 4: weeks before you came here, you were in chechopop me.

649
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 1: You were wearing this da da da da. Dude is

650
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 1: just standing there.

651
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:39,240
Speaker 4: Like he was just staring at me, and he's like, listen,

652
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,480
Speaker 4: my credibility is on the line. If you rock this

653
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:46,000
Speaker 4: and it doesn't fit you, like, that's it. That's my shot.

654
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 4: And I lost it. It's like okay, So he picked

655
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,759
Speaker 4: up the clothes, goes into the washroom. I'm sitting there

656
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,480
Speaker 4: tensed as hell, like I wanted the I don't know

657
00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 4: whether or not you feel so tense sometimes like you feel

658
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,920
Speaker 4: like you're sitting straight by, like your care there's so

659
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 4: much weights on you. And then he comes out like,

660
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 4: so we're sitting there, I'm chatting with the team, with

661
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 4: the family, with his kids.

662
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:11,960
Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden we hear.

663
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,399
Speaker 5: So he comes out of the washroom dripped and those

664
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 5: all black suits, topping pants captain with trims of kinte

665
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,720
Speaker 5: listen and at that time he was into boggy stuff,

666
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:30,240
Speaker 5: baggy pants.

667
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,400
Speaker 4: So as soon as he came out, the first response

668
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 4: was from the wife, Marjorie said, finally, these are the

669
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 4: pants I've always wanted you to have, And it was

670
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 4: like clockwork, like he was. He was blown away. He

671
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 4: immediately ordered for five more suits for him and ordered

672
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,880
Speaker 4: the suit for everybody in the family. And that's literally

673
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,520
Speaker 4: what he said. Well, yesterday's fries is today's fries. And

674
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 4: he said, quick, I'll make it my mission to make

675
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:05,680
Speaker 4: sure that everyone knows of chocolate and you're going to

676
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,880
Speaker 4: be global. And since then, you know, we've done family

677
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:12,200
Speaker 4: two seasons of family feud, Africa. We've done I think

678
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:16,280
Speaker 4: Miss World, you know, succeeded in clothing him in different

679
00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 4: spheres of life. But again it goes back to the validation.

680
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 4: It goes back to when opportunity meets preparation and you know,

681
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,479
Speaker 4: very very excited by our association and we still stay

682
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 4: in touch. You know, we messaged you out us a

683
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 4: few days ago. He gets your uh you know, chance

684
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:37,080
Speaker 4: to meet him as well. But yeah, it's just really

685
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,360
Speaker 4: really exciting and posts him. I mean, the list.

686
00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 1: Goes on and on.

687
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 4: He grise ELBA, the Bee Jordan family entrenched more of

688
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 4: our position with the NBA and the NBA Africa. Yeah,

689
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 4: and the list goes on and on.

690
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 1: You know.

691
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that moment changes your life. It definitely did

692
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 2: changes everything for you. I wonder as you get this moment,

693
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,239
Speaker 2: obviously you prepare for it, but challenges come. Right, So,

694
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:03,920
Speaker 2: like when we think about it, like we prepare for

695
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:05,799
Speaker 2: this moment our whole life, we don't know what's on

696
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:06,240
Speaker 2: the other.

697
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 1: Side of that.

698
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:08,840
Speaker 2: So what were some of the things challenges that you

699
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 2: face post that moment?

700
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:10,719
Speaker 1: Right?

701
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 2: Sometimes you scale too fast, the business may not be ready.

702
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:18,000
Speaker 2: What are some of those things that you face after

703
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:19,040
Speaker 2: having this huge moment.

704
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,960
Speaker 1: Excuse me, I think definitely I even have a story

705
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:26,239
Speaker 1: with that structure.

706
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 4: Now, most businesses on the continent, the necessary structure that

707
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 4: should guide businesses aren't available. You even getting to work

708
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,360
Speaker 4: with the best of accountants, lawyers, all of that are

709
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 4: not readily available. There's also this sort of myth that,

710
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:51,080
Speaker 4: like things that has to do with lifestyle, such as clothing, food,

711
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 4: all these things are not typical careers.

712
00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:59,320
Speaker 1: If I'm gonna put it this way, like everyone is.

713
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 4: Naturally, it's not your way that you got to be

714
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 4: a doctor, a lawyer, engineer, right, And so imagine you

715
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:07,399
Speaker 4: have such a business and opportunity and you go talk

716
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:12,400
Speaker 4: to a lawyer. He's wondering why he's giving you his hours. Definitely,

717
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:19,560
Speaker 4: structure now becomes a huge conversation. Then you start asking yourself, Okay,

718
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 4: what does this mean? Would you want to continuously make

719
00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:26,040
Speaker 4: just bespoke suits? How do you even just continuously make

720
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,480
Speaker 4: bespoke suits? Or are you going to are you link

721
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:32,200
Speaker 4: thinking of scaling? That conversation and to answer all these

722
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:36,000
Speaker 4: these questions goes back down to structure. So, yes, we

723
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:40,800
Speaker 4: definitely did have our own fast share of not being structured.

724
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:45,240
Speaker 4: Enough to leverage off this one hundred percent on the continent,

725
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 4: though we still went ahead to still push the narrative

726
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 4: on weddings, people's ceremonial clothes, copy clothes, casual clothes. And

727
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 4: this also helped us to gradually move the business on

728
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:03,239
Speaker 4: a continent from it being just a one off, one

729
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 4: man business to also attracting people over time because they

730
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,920
Speaker 4: started realizing that it's not just about being a lawyer

731
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:13,560
Speaker 4: and doctor, but there are other conversations and other sectors

732
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:18,000
Speaker 4: that could also attract individuals that are also learned in

733
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 4: the accounting and law and all of that. Secondly, this

734
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:26,920
Speaker 4: is the story right and you know shutouts now we

735
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:32,120
Speaker 4: Campbell acquired recalls. Noami Cambo was in Ghana twenty eighteen,

736
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 4: twenty nineteen. One of my big brothers, fred Swanka and Achalecki.

737
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:40,080
Speaker 1: Fantastic individuals. Man.

738
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,719
Speaker 4: They have this platform called African Leadership Network, so they

739
00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:47,880
Speaker 4: launched it a year in Mauritials and then to Ghana

740
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,600
Speaker 4: and it attracted one of the wealthiest billionaires in the

741
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:56,359
Speaker 4: world Andris Polsen who owns asos dot com bestseller. All

742
00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,800
Speaker 4: of these so that weekend was filled full of a listers.

743
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,080
Speaker 1: I recall meeting being Nowomi and I'm like, hey, I

744
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:05,320
Speaker 1: would like to grab a picture.

745
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 4: Like she was saying no to everybody, but for me,

746
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 4: there was something about me, that thing she was gone to.

747
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 4: So now mem yeah, so you know, she did a

748
00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 4: quick selfie and she's like, hey, you know, let's talk later.

749
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:21,000
Speaker 4: Now we show up at the event and every a

750
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,959
Speaker 4: lister at that event is wearing chocolate. So she goes

751
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 4: to tell Fred, hey, where is where is this chocolate guy?

752
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 1: So he's like, oh, he's coming, He's coming.

753
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 4: So now I get to the space and yes, so

754
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:36,319
Speaker 4: you know, everyone was wearing chocolate was eyeballed. Okay, we

755
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,400
Speaker 4: didn't have access to the to them, you know, all

756
00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:42,080
Speaker 4: of them. So I get to the space. Nowomi it's

757
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 4: like no. So they go like, well, hey chocolate, come.

758
00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:47,600
Speaker 4: Have you met Nami Kama before? Now?

759
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:51,279
Speaker 1: Like why we met earlier today? So we laughed at

760
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: the office.

761
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 4: He's like, yo, quick coo, I want this that that

762
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:59,520
Speaker 4: she wanted everything everybody was wearing. What did the Stomorne

763
00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 4: quick go and do? I went back to my workshop

764
00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,720
Speaker 4: and decided to be what was the word. I decided

765
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,000
Speaker 4: to be like I'm there, I'm there, know it's all

766
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 4: start doing, started doing some things and went to meet her.

767
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 4: She was twixed, like she was calling, quick, who when

768
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,279
Speaker 4: is my clothes coming? Like she was so excited. Now

769
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:25,799
Speaker 4: I get to her, the clothes get to her. She

770
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:27,400
Speaker 4: gives it back to the people like this is not

771
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:30,320
Speaker 4: this is not this is not for her before I

772
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:32,560
Speaker 4: clicks her that wait, is this what you made for me?

773
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: Listen?

774
00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:40,959
Speaker 4: It was one of my biggest regrets off and two

775
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,880
Speaker 4: and there are two elements here. We got to be

776
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:51,080
Speaker 4: very very careful when you want to scale. Organic growth

777
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:54,359
Speaker 4: is very very important. People are so quick to want

778
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 4: to get mileage eyeballs, but they're back in and ready. Two,

779
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:02,440
Speaker 4: you also need to know that you don't know it all.

780
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:08,239
Speaker 4: You learn on the job. You never think that, hey,

781
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:12,239
Speaker 4: I've gotten into the status. I'm doing all these businesses

782
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:14,560
Speaker 4: with all these big A listers.

783
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:15,920
Speaker 1: And so I know it all.

784
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,839
Speaker 4: And so these two things was a lot of It

785
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,960
Speaker 4: was a learning care for me with Naomi. I mean,

786
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,160
Speaker 4: we still got a chance to finish up another outfit

787
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:26,640
Speaker 4: for her, and you know, I mean it's been a

788
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 4: while since I met her, but like, at least we

789
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:30,120
Speaker 4: did solve that issue.

790
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:31,600
Speaker 1: But for any other person.

791
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:35,640
Speaker 4: I guess it would have been a blow because some

792
00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:39,120
Speaker 4: opportunities just don't come like that, you know, they don't

793
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 4: come like that.

794
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 1: We need to.

795
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 3: Wanted to do. You took creative design to do what

796
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:44,840
Speaker 3: you wanted to do, not what she wanted.

797
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 1: What she wanted. She was disappointed in that. She was

798
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:50,640
Speaker 1: definitely disappointed with that.

799
00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:53,440
Speaker 4: And you know, I know that, like I'm up tune

800
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:58,759
Speaker 4: through creative I do love the idea that.

801
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:00,440
Speaker 1: I'm able to come up with set in ideas.

802
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,799
Speaker 4: I love it when clients and I love it when

803
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:05,920
Speaker 4: individual goes like, hey, Greake ool, they don't want tweet

804
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:08,160
Speaker 4: this for me all of that, or hey, come up

805
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 4: with something beautiful.

806
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 1: I love it.

807
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:12,480
Speaker 4: But again, it's not every single time that you meet

808
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,400
Speaker 4: people that are going to be comfortable with sets in

809
00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:19,960
Speaker 4: line of design pallets. We need to and this is

810
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,839
Speaker 4: a creative conversation. We need to understand who our client

811
00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 4: audience is. We need to understand who the client is.

812
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 4: So at the end of the day, when even if

813
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 4: we are given the power to design, we just don't

814
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:34,040
Speaker 4: go imposing sets and type of ideologies and cetain type

815
00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:37,040
Speaker 4: of looks on that end of it all, especially when it's.

816
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:38,319
Speaker 1: Not who they are.

817
00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:40,719
Speaker 3: Well, that goes back to just not just it's a

818
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 3: business conversation, because it happens all the time in business

819
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:45,719
Speaker 3: where the customer acts for one thing and then you

820
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 3: give them something else.

821
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:47,760
Speaker 1: They could be content.

822
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,759
Speaker 3: Then they might not even verbally say it, but they

823
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,520
Speaker 3: could like show it by like they're watching this type

824
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:56,520
Speaker 3: of content, and then you, as a content creator, you

825
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,160
Speaker 3: want to make another type of content. Or it could

826
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,839
Speaker 3: be let's say, like we have an event, right if

827
00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 3: his speaker or whatever. Like you know, bottom line is this,

828
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,040
Speaker 3: you have to listen to the audience, but it is

829
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:10,160
Speaker 3: a thin line because you also have to drive the

830
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:14,000
Speaker 3: audience also, right, Like you can't you can't get held

831
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:17,719
Speaker 3: hostage by the audience. That happens in music all the time. Right,

832
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,440
Speaker 3: Like you look at somebody like Nas for thirty years,

833
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:22,680
Speaker 3: they wanted him to make his first album. If he

834
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:25,160
Speaker 3: were he would he would have still be nineteen. Like

835
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:26,399
Speaker 3: you know, I mean, like you got to be able

836
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:28,160
Speaker 3: to grow and you got to force the audience to

837
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,960
Speaker 3: grow with you. But that is definitely a difficult balance.

838
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 4: But yeah, yeah, but I think that like this was

839
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 4: my lending curve, right, Like I'm still very stubborn, like

840
00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:40,840
Speaker 4: a lot of my great clients would tell you like,

841
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:43,920
Speaker 4: quick who, Like you know one of my my big brothers,

842
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:46,080
Speaker 4: Pops Polpman Si Bones who first got in to play

843
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:48,480
Speaker 4: the NBA shut out the Pops Man, and he would

844
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:54,120
Speaker 4: tell you, quick who quao listen, I want this luck,

845
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:56,600
Speaker 4: that's pretty, that's really good.

846
00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:59,239
Speaker 1: Shout out to you. That's really good.

847
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:04,200
Speaker 4: Right, But I think it takes time. It goes to

848
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,520
Speaker 4: building an organic business. You need to be able to

849
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:12,280
Speaker 4: understand that, yes, you have full of all the great ideas,

850
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,200
Speaker 4: but you cannot You can't get to the top in

851
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:19,640
Speaker 4: a day, you know, And so forming a good balance

852
00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:22,640
Speaker 4: also does mean that Okay, hey, okay, this is the

853
00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:24,480
Speaker 4: first time, Like I remember the very first time I

854
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:28,680
Speaker 4: met y'all. Yeah, we're pretty specific on what you had wanted.

855
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,080
Speaker 4: But then it takes time because I was like, okay,

856
00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:33,879
Speaker 4: we'll do a top and down each, we do topping

857
00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:37,840
Speaker 4: shorts each. Okay, then we'll learn from what you wanted

858
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:42,719
Speaker 4: versus sending colors that I tweeted in Okay, this doesn't work.

859
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:47,359
Speaker 4: So you learn with your audience and then you start

860
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 4: tweaking it accordingly. You can't just surface and then come

861
00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:55,040
Speaker 4: in and post. It's in fact, this conversation goes beyond

862
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:59,799
Speaker 4: just clientele, even goes beyond I'm humming more on even

863
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,680
Speaker 4: ideas that we want to bring to even this market.

864
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:06,879
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, we've got our global strategy guide

865
00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:10,239
Speaker 4: with us. The type of clothing we do in let's

866
00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:12,720
Speaker 4: say West Africa versus the type.

867
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:15,399
Speaker 1: Of clothing we do let's say in the Middle East, verre'us.

868
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:17,920
Speaker 4: The type of clothing we do in the Caribbean versus

869
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 4: the kind of clothes that we're hoping to do here.

870
00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:25,400
Speaker 4: Are all different because every society, every community is different,

871
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 4: and as a creative or as a business owner, you

872
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:35,160
Speaker 4: need to be able to be discerning to know this. Otherwise,

873
00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:37,400
Speaker 4: if I show up just coming to impose it's in

874
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 4: line of look on you, you might not have a

875
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:42,640
Speaker 4: good break through in the market. That's literally what it is,

876
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:46,319
Speaker 4: you know. So I'm very, very sensitive when it comes

877
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:50,359
Speaker 4: to these conversations. My greatest goal, which we've started doing,

878
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:54,800
Speaker 4: is to have creative teams and all these different markets,

879
00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:58,000
Speaker 4: because what happens is that you are able to now

880
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,880
Speaker 4: tap into the soul of people and so when they

881
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:02,840
Speaker 4: look at the clothing, they don't know what it is.

882
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:05,400
Speaker 1: It might not necessarily be what they will go in for.

883
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:07,440
Speaker 1: I guess its all the time. Wow, I would have

884
00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 1: never picked Brown. Oh wow, I never knew that. Like

885
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:11,000
Speaker 1: this looks nice for me.

886
00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:14,320
Speaker 4: Why because it takes it carries essence and spirits of

887
00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:19,520
Speaker 4: who the who they are and people blended with ideas

888
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:22,160
Speaker 4: and perspectives from a different place that now they start

889
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:23,719
Speaker 4: getting comfortable with.

890
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:27,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you had that moment.

891
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,920
Speaker 2: And then we talk about the power relationships, right, I

892
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:32,840
Speaker 2: think since we've met, we've seen you with.

893
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:36,080
Speaker 1: This bad talk about.

894
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:41,359
Speaker 2: Talk about the influence in basketball, the partnership with the NBA.

895
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,520
Speaker 1: How that all came about. What are the dynamics of

896
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:46,920
Speaker 1: the relationship. No, I mean it's amazing.

897
00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:52,279
Speaker 4: I think for years I've always been a big fun

898
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,920
Speaker 4: of basketball, Like I've not been the best of players.

899
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 1: But self awareness is important. Yeah, exactly exactly.

900
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:03,040
Speaker 4: I mean, now I'm about the business, you know, And

901
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:07,200
Speaker 4: so it was very interesting to me again knowing that hey,

902
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:09,560
Speaker 4: we want to build the largest lifestyle business in the

903
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:14,040
Speaker 4: world that happens to be from Africa, and so conversations

904
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:17,239
Speaker 4: and networking, Hey, who is in the NBA?

905
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:20,040
Speaker 1: Who do I know? You know, who do I lice with,

906
00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:20,960
Speaker 1: who do I vibe with?

907
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 4: Especially after we made clothes for All Black Stars twenty

908
00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 4: fourteen and soccer right, so twenty eighteen twenty I think

909
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:34,719
Speaker 4: twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, I got a chance to meet Pops.

910
00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:36,120
Speaker 4: He came to Ghana for the first time after a

911
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:40,080
Speaker 4: long time and I met him, Lual Dang, Chris Bosh,

912
00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:43,160
Speaker 4: a couple of guys that came to Ghana and I

913
00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:45,640
Speaker 4: was really excited because I ended up making clothes for

914
00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:47,680
Speaker 4: them and back in the day, I saw also make shoes,

915
00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:50,279
Speaker 4: so I made shoes for them with size fifty and

916
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:54,400
Speaker 4: size fifty ones. First time we ever made shoes like that, right,

917
00:49:55,560 --> 00:50:00,560
Speaker 4: and so I started getting more insightful about that space.

918
00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:04,319
Speaker 4: Fast forward to Black Panther and there was so many

919
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:07,560
Speaker 4: different parties and events that were hosted in collaboration with

920
00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:10,680
Speaker 4: Black Panther, and will get a lot of requests for

921
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:15,040
Speaker 4: setting looks and drips for these parties. And there was

922
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:17,719
Speaker 4: one such party that was done by I think it

923
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:20,840
Speaker 4: was World Dang or one of these big NBA players

924
00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:26,239
Speaker 4: in La And at that party, everything changed because then

925
00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:29,879
Speaker 4: now people started seeing not just clothing, but they also

926
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:30,920
Speaker 4: started seeing.

927
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 1: An armor.

928
00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:37,600
Speaker 4: So you have the story of Black Panther that with

929
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:41,440
Speaker 4: maybe fiction, but also speaks to the reality.

930
00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:44,600
Speaker 1: On the ground in Africa and how that empowers us as.

931
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:50,000
Speaker 4: A community, and having the clothes as a tangible element

932
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:54,480
Speaker 4: of what that key message it will be. So any

933
00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:56,320
Speaker 4: long story shorts is a lot of people fell in

934
00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:57,960
Speaker 4: love with the looks and the drips.

935
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,000
Speaker 1: So then we built much stronger relationships.

936
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:05,400
Speaker 4: And then I quite remember twenty twenty when the launch

937
00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:08,759
Speaker 4: of NBA Africa with Ball was happening. I got the

938
00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:13,480
Speaker 4: chance to be in Chicago and witnessed it. At that point,

939
00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:16,320
Speaker 4: I still didn't understand what the bigger conversation was. In

940
00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:19,520
Speaker 4: my mind, I'm like, hey, you know what, I want

941
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:23,440
Speaker 4: to make clothes for everybody who's a top executive in

942
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:26,920
Speaker 4: basketball in the NBA all of that. Also there was

943
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:29,640
Speaker 4: a little bit of I mean, uh, you know, uh

944
00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:33,440
Speaker 4: a former president while your former president Barack Obama is

945
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:38,720
Speaker 4: a key is a key is a key, uh pillar

946
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:41,680
Speaker 4: in NBA Africa in ball. So I also had an

947
00:51:41,719 --> 00:51:43,359
Speaker 4: idea that, you know what, I want to make clothes

948
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:44,040
Speaker 4: for Baba two.

949
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:44,360
Speaker 1: You know.

950
00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 4: Plus he's left handed, you know. So it was all

951
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 4: the elements. I was getting me really excited with the

952
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:54,279
Speaker 4: NBA Africa back in the day. But then I also

953
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:57,840
Speaker 4: realized after a year, a year or two in post COVID,

954
00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:01,360
Speaker 4: that it meant more than just high fashion.

955
00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:04,840
Speaker 1: There was a great space for.

956
00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:13,160
Speaker 4: Off court, off pitch merch and obviously a lot of

957
00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 4: people know our brand and so having conversations key conversations

958
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,800
Speaker 4: like this and in a space, and then the business

959
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:24,359
Speaker 4: model of bal which is to empower the community within

960
00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:29,040
Speaker 4: that same direction or in that same direction. We then

961
00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:33,279
Speaker 4: sported a gap which is okay, hey, there are no

962
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 4: brands that are doing merch for the league, and so

963
00:52:38,480 --> 00:52:41,120
Speaker 4: we got into conversations, looked into it. It was not

964
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:43,640
Speaker 4: a model we were doing because we do high fashion,

965
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:48,600
Speaker 4: but we got so inspired, got challenged. There was an

966
00:52:48,680 --> 00:52:53,680
Speaker 4: initial brand I started a little bit as outside chocolate,

967
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:56,919
Speaker 4: which was called Chocolate Urban or it was called Urban,

968
00:52:57,040 --> 00:53:00,520
Speaker 4: but like it was still affiliated to chocolate. But back

969
00:53:00,560 --> 00:53:02,440
Speaker 4: in the day, people still didn't see what I was

970
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:04,239
Speaker 4: trying to do, so we just still made it as

971
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 4: part of chocolate. So when the conversations with Bow NBA

972
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:12,759
Speaker 4: Africa was getting close to like our sailing the deal,

973
00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:15,000
Speaker 4: we realized that no we need to be able to

974
00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:18,880
Speaker 4: have a separate brand that will cater to partnerships, catered

975
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:22,480
Speaker 4: to the affordable luxury space, and you know you speak

976
00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:26,279
Speaker 4: to such deals and you know we you know, got

977
00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:28,239
Speaker 4: a deal signed about I think the first contract was

978
00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 4: three years ago. Got a global deal to distribute March

979
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:38,480
Speaker 4: by March first time in history. And it has been

980
00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:43,840
Speaker 4: such an amazing journey because again Africa, we don't have

981
00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:45,440
Speaker 4: a lot of brands that are doing this within the

982
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:49,279
Speaker 4: African space and also brands that are also looking to

983
00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:54,120
Speaker 4: take Africa to the world. So initially we just did caps,

984
00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:58,479
Speaker 4: T shirts, hoodies and I was like, no, what else

985
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:01,040
Speaker 4: can we bring to the table that would be totally

986
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:04,919
Speaker 4: different And you know, definitely came up with these repurposed

987
00:54:05,239 --> 00:54:11,279
Speaker 4: ball bags and you know, recyclable straps and got into

988
00:54:11,400 --> 00:54:15,800
Speaker 4: motion and till they like everybody's in awe, you know,

989
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:20,080
Speaker 4: seeing the brand associated with with bl and NBA Africa.

990
00:54:22,440 --> 00:54:25,120
Speaker 4: You know, we see we're always having conversations with this.

991
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:28,200
Speaker 4: We did another BBC article last year we got this

992
00:54:28,360 --> 00:54:30,800
Speaker 4: featured on. We just did another one with d W

993
00:54:31,080 --> 00:54:33,239
Speaker 4: also got that featured on. So you know, there's a

994
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:36,320
Speaker 4: lot of great conversations again going back to the fusion

995
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:39,839
Speaker 4: of cultures where we're now able to like look at

996
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:43,400
Speaker 4: it from Okay, what can we do within the music space? Okay,

997
00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:47,240
Speaker 4: what can we do within the within the sports space?

998
00:54:47,280 --> 00:54:49,200
Speaker 4: What can we do within the food space? What can

999
00:54:49,239 --> 00:54:50,800
Speaker 4: we do within the movie space? What can we do

1000
00:54:50,880 --> 00:54:53,320
Speaker 4: in the art space? You know, and we've thanks to

1001
00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:56,800
Speaker 4: Cacao and even chocolate, we've touched on all these things.

1002
00:54:57,080 --> 00:55:00,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, so talk about your subscription model that you're launching.

1003
00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:03,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, membership, man, Like, Okay, so I got I got

1004
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:06,120
Speaker 4: to reminded. I got reminded the subscriptions on Netflix and

1005
00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:09,640
Speaker 4: members are membership is in the high fashion. But yeah,

1006
00:55:09,719 --> 00:55:14,680
Speaker 4: so you know, with every with our global strategy, you know,

1007
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:18,279
Speaker 4: there's a very important element of always what we've been doing,

1008
00:55:18,320 --> 00:55:23,880
Speaker 4: which is bespoke fashion. I made a promise to several

1009
00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:27,480
Speaker 4: clients about ten years ago that we will never repeat

1010
00:55:27,480 --> 00:55:31,400
Speaker 4: the same thing, and we put money on it.

1011
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:33,040
Speaker 1: Two years afterwards. I want that money.

1012
00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:36,960
Speaker 4: And so being doing custom made stuff, bespoke stuff has

1013
00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:38,440
Speaker 4: always been a core part of us.

1014
00:55:40,520 --> 00:55:42,640
Speaker 1: But again, we wanted to structure that conversation.

1015
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,080
Speaker 4: We wanted to make sure that the wardrobes of our

1016
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:53,960
Speaker 4: target audiences are always very different. We're always we're always

1017
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:58,040
Speaker 4: coming up with collections twice a year. But again, for

1018
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,759
Speaker 4: people who show our bespoke clothes, they get a chance

1019
00:56:01,800 --> 00:56:05,520
Speaker 4: to wear most of the looks way ahead of even

1020
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 4: when the idea of the collection will come to play.

1021
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:12,160
Speaker 4: We've also seen the need that a lot of target

1022
00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:15,440
Speaker 4: audiences that are very busy, you know, they don't have time.

1023
00:56:15,520 --> 00:56:17,479
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember when we're trying to coordinate your.

1024
00:56:17,400 --> 00:56:20,879
Speaker 4: Looks earlier I could quick these says that yo, dude

1025
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:24,200
Speaker 4: is in like six countries in a week, the last

1026
00:56:24,239 --> 00:56:28,160
Speaker 4: thing he's thinking about is clothes. Right, But with everywhere

1027
00:56:28,360 --> 00:56:30,759
Speaker 4: you show up, you want to look a certain type

1028
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:37,120
Speaker 4: of way, be it a casual meetup, ceremonial meetup, corporate meetup,

1029
00:56:37,719 --> 00:56:40,080
Speaker 4: and for a browd like hours that caterced to all

1030
00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:44,320
Speaker 4: these three segments. We wanted to give the opportunity to

1031
00:56:45,200 --> 00:56:48,279
Speaker 4: our you know, our members right to get the first

1032
00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:50,680
Speaker 4: scoop of what being different does mean.

1033
00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:54,400
Speaker 1: Also, you know, we close over forty presidents.

1034
00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:59,719
Speaker 4: Different coptoins of industries, different celebrities. My power of networking

1035
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:02,960
Speaker 4: has gotten me here, and there's so many different examples

1036
00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:06,320
Speaker 4: I've given with shows we've done back in Ghana, shows

1037
00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:09,320
Speaker 4: we've done in Senegal, shows we've done in the Caribbean.

1038
00:57:09,800 --> 00:57:12,400
Speaker 4: That brings people together and we feel like we're building

1039
00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:18,520
Speaker 4: an ecosystem and community of like minded people. When you

1040
00:57:18,720 --> 00:57:22,840
Speaker 4: meet another person wearing chocolate, there's hardly any form of airs.

1041
00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:26,240
Speaker 4: There's always that sort of power of collaboration rather than

1042
00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:29,280
Speaker 4: like competition. And we felt like, Okay, how then do

1043
00:57:29,360 --> 00:57:32,040
Speaker 4: we give back to that same community? Uh ther people

1044
00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:35,960
Speaker 4: looking to expand your businesses beyond your community, beyond their

1045
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:40,320
Speaker 4: where they stay. Are we able to do a show

1046
00:57:40,560 --> 00:57:44,040
Speaker 4: in Guyana? You know where you know the president is

1047
00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:46,880
Speaker 4: a big, big, big fun of mine. I'm a big

1048
00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:49,720
Speaker 4: big fun of his as well. Are we able to

1049
00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:52,040
Speaker 4: get people who are trying to expand your businesses to

1050
00:57:52,120 --> 00:57:53,840
Speaker 4: Guyana to be part of this?

1051
00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:56,880
Speaker 1: How do we even leverage off.

1052
00:57:56,840 --> 00:58:01,120
Speaker 4: Some of these captains of industries who are maybe on

1053
00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:04,080
Speaker 4: the verge of doing setting big deals. Are we able

1054
00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:07,720
Speaker 4: to get people within the network within that ecosystem to

1055
00:58:08,200 --> 00:58:13,800
Speaker 4: work hand in hand? Are we able to look at

1056
00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:17,200
Speaker 4: how also these captains of industry sits at the forefront

1057
00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:20,440
Speaker 4: of setting businesses and are able to offer set in

1058
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:24,960
Speaker 4: line of rebates discounts to our members. So, for example,

1059
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:29,120
Speaker 4: I have a good friend of mine, Terrence Terrence. Terrence

1060
00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:33,880
Speaker 4: runs an agency called icons Who's that's an eyewear agency,

1061
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:37,480
Speaker 4: and he's actually responsible for a lot of activations LVMH

1062
00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:40,800
Speaker 4: is doing in the States. For example, there are loads

1063
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:45,400
Speaker 4: of clientele that love sunglasses. So part of the membership

1064
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:48,320
Speaker 4: structure is number one, get certain type of rebates, certain

1065
00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:50,160
Speaker 4: type of exclusive sort oftwares.

1066
00:58:50,440 --> 00:58:50,560
Speaker 1: Right.

1067
00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:54,840
Speaker 4: Also back on the continent, we have several collaboration deals

1068
00:58:55,200 --> 00:58:57,840
Speaker 4: with win we mentioned earlier were one of my good

1069
00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:03,120
Speaker 4: friends Caveman. Caveman makes amazing watches. We're teaming up to

1070
00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:05,160
Speaker 4: make very fantastic one. I think I'm gonna have a

1071
00:59:05,240 --> 00:59:07,840
Speaker 4: sample here where literally every member is going to get

1072
00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:11,160
Speaker 4: one with their customized names on it. And the most

1073
00:59:11,200 --> 00:59:14,640
Speaker 4: important thing about these watches is it's even with our

1074
00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:15,640
Speaker 4: Cacao concept.

1075
00:59:15,760 --> 00:59:15,880
Speaker 1: Right.

1076
00:59:15,960 --> 00:59:22,680
Speaker 4: Cacaw is our our sustainability brand. We repurpose, we eco friendly,

1077
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 4: all of that, And for this line, we are coming

1078
00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:28,600
Speaker 4: up with repurpose denim. So you have like this and

1079
00:59:28,640 --> 00:59:31,760
Speaker 4: then all you have is a customized names and then

1080
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:34,280
Speaker 4: you know, making the world a better place.

1081
00:59:34,560 --> 00:59:39,160
Speaker 1: Right. Uh yeah, So there's so many different collaborations.

1082
00:59:39,800 --> 00:59:43,040
Speaker 4: Grenada. Grenada is like my second third home. I love

1083
00:59:43,160 --> 00:59:46,520
Speaker 4: love Grenada. It's like it's like haven to me, right,

1084
00:59:46,640 --> 00:59:49,440
Speaker 4: And we have our team out there, right, We have

1085
00:59:49,520 --> 00:59:52,560
Speaker 4: our team out there. And what we're doing with such

1086
00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:57,480
Speaker 4: markets is to collaborate with like different the different youth

1087
00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:00,360
Speaker 4: out there, to help skill train them right and then

1088
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:04,760
Speaker 4: build stoll fronts that could celebrate that that collaboration for example.

1089
01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:08,320
Speaker 4: So again, anybody who's looking to expand your businesses or

1090
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:12,440
Speaker 4: expand your social circles to all these places that are

1091
01:00:12,480 --> 01:00:15,440
Speaker 4: part of our membership comes with all these pecs now

1092
01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:16,080
Speaker 4: and all of that.

1093
01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:19,480
Speaker 1: Shout out to Caveman. We met Caveman. I think you

1094
01:00:19,560 --> 01:00:20,919
Speaker 1: got a cave Man. Give me a watch.

1095
01:00:21,360 --> 01:00:23,840
Speaker 2: Man got the watch cave still wait and my brother,

1096
01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:28,600
Speaker 2: your trail blazer obviously, I mean appreciate that the brand

1097
01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:29,160
Speaker 2: is global.

1098
01:00:29,200 --> 01:00:31,120
Speaker 1: When you see that. See what that ice cream grip?

1099
01:00:31,160 --> 01:00:33,720
Speaker 1: We know, we know where it came from.

1100
01:00:34,160 --> 01:00:38,600
Speaker 2: I wonder, as you're blazing this trail, what advice would

1101
01:00:38,600 --> 01:00:41,360
Speaker 2: you give to up and coming designers, like in terms

1102
01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:46,760
Speaker 2: of getting into this business manufacturer and distribution marketing, right,

1103
01:00:46,840 --> 01:00:50,040
Speaker 2: because I'm sure that people like I want to be chocolate.

1104
01:00:50,400 --> 01:00:52,480
Speaker 1: I want to be successful. Say what type of things

1105
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:53,080
Speaker 1: would you tell them?

1106
01:00:53,760 --> 01:00:58,080
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, thing big, start small, move fast.

1107
01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:04,240
Speaker 4: I think big man, I don't have I don't have

1108
01:01:04,480 --> 01:01:07,960
Speaker 4: no cup like I'm just Once we think about something,

1109
01:01:08,920 --> 01:01:11,720
Speaker 4: I'm looking at the best way we can build collaborations

1110
01:01:11,800 --> 01:01:14,960
Speaker 4: to make it happen. So thing big, starts more, move fast.

1111
01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:19,919
Speaker 4: We need to develop the concept of collaboration. They said,

1112
01:01:19,960 --> 01:01:23,840
Speaker 4: if you want to move fast, you go alone. But

1113
01:01:23,920 --> 01:01:26,240
Speaker 4: if you want to go further, you work, or you

1114
01:01:26,280 --> 01:01:28,360
Speaker 4: build a team or your work hand in hand. So

1115
01:01:28,840 --> 01:01:33,240
Speaker 4: again that's going to be my second advice. And thirdly,

1116
01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:44,160
Speaker 4: let's let's not think that things just happen. We need

1117
01:01:44,240 --> 01:01:46,520
Speaker 4: to be intentional. I think one of the podcasts I

1118
01:01:46,680 --> 01:01:48,560
Speaker 4: was listening to and I could so relate to it.

1119
01:01:50,720 --> 01:01:54,160
Speaker 4: Successful people just don't get up and become successful.

1120
01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:56,640
Speaker 1: We need to be able to.

1121
01:01:56,800 --> 01:02:03,480
Speaker 4: Plan and learn how to plan. I, for one, I've

1122
01:02:03,600 --> 01:02:07,120
Speaker 4: learned the hard way of I've always been a plan

1123
01:02:07,160 --> 01:02:09,200
Speaker 4: I started playing chess when i was five, so I've

1124
01:02:09,240 --> 01:02:10,360
Speaker 4: always had a very.

1125
01:02:11,960 --> 01:02:14,720
Speaker 1: Certain type of mindset. But I realized that.

1126
01:02:15,560 --> 01:02:20,760
Speaker 4: Learning to plan has helped cutapult my business from not

1127
01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:25,040
Speaker 4: just being a local business in Ghana, but a major

1128
01:02:25,160 --> 01:02:29,200
Speaker 4: frontier and within Africa and is really helping to support

1129
01:02:29,320 --> 01:02:33,960
Speaker 4: this global expansion. Yeah, and so I mean these are

1130
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:38,440
Speaker 4: the three things thing big starts, small, move fast, the

1131
01:02:38,560 --> 01:02:41,600
Speaker 4: power of collaboration, and then learning to plan.

1132
01:02:42,880 --> 01:02:46,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, Chocolate, my brother man always a pleasure telling people

1133
01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:49,600
Speaker 3: how they can follow you website for the membership and

1134
01:02:49,640 --> 01:02:49,880
Speaker 3: all that.

1135
01:02:50,240 --> 01:02:56,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, I mean currently we're redeveloping our website. It's

1136
01:02:56,360 --> 01:03:02,800
Speaker 4: Chocolate closed Global dot com, redeveloping it to have a

1137
01:03:02,960 --> 01:03:10,600
Speaker 4: new aesthetic. We launched that in October. But definitely Instagram

1138
01:03:10,760 --> 01:03:12,560
Speaker 4: is one of our major plays. We have a lot

1139
01:03:12,640 --> 01:03:16,160
Speaker 4: of like vibes out there where you know, we get

1140
01:03:16,200 --> 01:03:18,800
Speaker 4: a chance to tag people who rock our stuff, our stories,

1141
01:03:18,840 --> 01:03:22,880
Speaker 4: all of that. And then we're also building an app

1142
01:03:23,120 --> 01:03:25,480
Speaker 4: that should probably be ready by next year. And hopefully

1143
01:03:25,560 --> 01:03:27,680
Speaker 4: with that app, I just don't need to eyeball you.

1144
01:03:27,680 --> 01:03:29,680
Speaker 4: You know, you should probably just take a picture and

1145
01:03:29,680 --> 01:03:32,200
Speaker 4: I'll know your size. Please take that headache for me.

1146
01:03:34,240 --> 01:03:37,840
Speaker 4: But yeah, and also quite exciting. We have our team

1147
01:03:37,920 --> 01:03:41,520
Speaker 4: on the ground as well that are going to be

1148
01:03:41,720 --> 01:03:44,800
Speaker 4: an astary're building the major structures for the Americas and

1149
01:03:44,920 --> 01:03:48,040
Speaker 4: any other parts of our global expansion. We're going to

1150
01:03:48,040 --> 01:03:52,920
Speaker 4: also be communicating that we have newsletters, we have We've

1151
01:03:52,920 --> 01:03:56,440
Speaker 4: got so many different ways of that that we're going

1152
01:03:56,520 --> 01:04:00,360
Speaker 4: to be communicating from now to December on how people

1153
01:04:00,360 --> 01:04:02,440
Speaker 4: can stay in touch and everything. But yeah, let's just

1154
01:04:02,520 --> 01:04:06,880
Speaker 4: make sure y'all wardrobes are like looking spiffy. I mean,

1155
01:04:06,960 --> 01:04:08,280
Speaker 4: you can tell them how you're feeling.

1156
01:04:08,360 --> 01:04:11,600
Speaker 1: Now. I'm feeling great. I mean these fabrics feel great.

1157
01:04:11,720 --> 01:04:14,280
Speaker 2: Like I said, it's interesting because out of the colors

1158
01:04:14,360 --> 01:04:18,160
Speaker 2: that I've told you before, I've never gone with Yeah,

1159
01:04:19,040 --> 01:04:20,960
Speaker 2: and so it's great. And if you're looking at this

1160
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:23,680
Speaker 2: and you're admiring it, as you should be, this is

1161
01:04:23,720 --> 01:04:25,960
Speaker 2: a one on one and so you got to get

1162
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:27,600
Speaker 2: your own. You got to hit chocolate up and you

1163
01:04:27,640 --> 01:04:30,520
Speaker 2: got to figure out what the design is for you.

1164
01:04:31,280 --> 01:04:33,280
Speaker 2: He did this one off the cuff and again he

1165
01:04:33,360 --> 01:04:34,040
Speaker 2: did eyeball it.

1166
01:04:34,160 --> 01:04:34,360
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1167
01:04:35,240 --> 01:04:36,880
Speaker 2: We were playing phone tag for a while and I

1168
01:04:37,040 --> 01:04:39,200
Speaker 2: was like, oh, you made something. Oh if it's perfect,

1169
01:04:39,240 --> 01:04:41,320
Speaker 2: thank you, shout out to you.

1170
01:04:41,520 --> 01:04:44,120
Speaker 1: Man. I appreciate you. Man, I appreciate you. All right,

1171
01:04:44,160 --> 01:04:44,640
Speaker 1: my brother.

1172
01:04:45,000 --> 01:04:47,320
Speaker 4: No, but listen, I got to say one thing before

1173
01:04:47,320 --> 01:04:49,480
Speaker 4: I go. Man, Listen, you guys are doing an amazing job.

1174
01:04:50,160 --> 01:04:53,600
Speaker 4: Like I admire your energy. You keep on hopping on

1175
01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:58,080
Speaker 4: different Marcus, different continents and you know people like us

1176
01:04:58,200 --> 01:05:04,960
Speaker 4: are watching right and it's super inspiring. Just witnessing over

1177
01:05:05,160 --> 01:05:09,200
Speaker 4: forty fifty thousand people was totally overwhelming. And you know

1178
01:05:09,360 --> 01:05:13,280
Speaker 4: my brother partner Fosso was saying that, well, the only way,

1179
01:05:13,960 --> 01:05:15,760
Speaker 4: the only people who can command this as a church,

1180
01:05:17,760 --> 01:05:20,960
Speaker 4: a bet y'all movement and you know, big ups and

1181
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:22,840
Speaker 4: big shout outs to you, and I can also say

1182
01:05:22,880 --> 01:05:24,560
Speaker 4: shout out to you without saying big shout outs to

1183
01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:30,520
Speaker 4: Alvin Man he's been. He's been like my silent pay

1184
01:05:30,600 --> 01:05:34,400
Speaker 4: set as well. You know, got us introduced to Tams,

1185
01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:38,280
Speaker 4: to all Irish Star, all these big players who have

1186
01:05:38,680 --> 01:05:42,920
Speaker 4: recorded and written your music in my house back in Ghana,

1187
01:05:43,400 --> 01:05:47,080
Speaker 4: all thanks to Alvin and eventually making this meet up

1188
01:05:47,120 --> 01:05:49,480
Speaker 4: possible finally with him.

1189
01:05:49,640 --> 01:05:52,480
Speaker 1: And also shout outs to Kwame and Ko Kwame Ko

1190
01:05:52,680 --> 01:05:53,640
Speaker 1: got us together first.

1191
01:05:53,800 --> 01:05:56,520
Speaker 4: Yes, and you know he's been an amazing pillar of

1192
01:05:56,600 --> 01:05:59,000
Speaker 4: hours and big shout outs to you Kam and Koh.

1193
01:05:59,200 --> 01:06:01,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely absolutely. Then you have a ladies and gentlemen

1194
01:06:01,840 --> 01:06:03,160
Speaker 1: that you rocking Onsill see you next week.

1195
01:06:03,240 --> 01:06:06,560
Speaker 2: Pease this episode is brought to you by P and

1196
01:06:06,640 --> 01:06:09,640
Speaker 2: C Bank. A lot of people think podcasts about work

1197
01:06:09,720 --> 01:06:13,640
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1198
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1199
01:06:16,800 --> 01:06:20,840
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01:06:20,960 --> 01:06:23,600
Speaker 2: P and C Bank. It might seem boring to save,

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Speaker 2: plan and make calculated decisions with your bank, but keeping

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Speaker 2: your money boring is what helps you live a more

1203
01:06:29,600 --> 01:06:33,880
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1204
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1205
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1206
01:06:41,560 --> 01:06:44,960
Speaker 2: P and C Bank National Association Member FDIC