London pair defy odds to grow clothing company
Nwanne Maduanusi was on the bus when she had the idea that would become Simply Asoebi. “I used to make earrings and thought, ‘oooh it would be nice to include my earrings inside asoebi packages’”, she says. Then she messaged her friend, Moyo Castano, and they decided to go into business together.
“Asoebi” is a Yoruba word that translates as “family cloth”. Guests at Nigerian weddings wear the colourful fabric which often serves to identify the two families present, such that one could be clad in red and the other wearing, say, blue.
Before the two women started their business, sourcing asoebi in the UK meant buying poor quality fabrics in bulk and meeting large numbers of people to personally take payment.
“There’s still unsold fabric from my sister’s wedding in my parents’ house to this day”, says Moyo, and she once came across an impressive glittery fabric only for the sequins to fall off when she picked it up. The shopkeeper told her to “just put hairspray on it”. And that was after making several unsuccessful trips to the local market. No wonder that people have even been known to fly to Nigeria to find asoebi.
Simply Asoebi takes the pain out of the process. It sources, sells and delivers premium fabrics on behalf of the bride and groom, setting up a personalised website so wedding guests can easily pay online. “There’s no involvement in the logistics from the bride and groom”, says Moyo.
Starting a business is not easy. Almost 60 per cent of businesses fail in their first three years, according to Beauhurst, a consultancy. Simply Asoebi has made it to three and a half, thanks to the pair’s dynamism. Moyo is the kind of person “to worry that it’s all going to go up in flames”, she says, but had the fortune to partner with Nwanne, someone who is “driven and ready to go and brings me out of my shell”. And Nwanne says she benefited from Moyo saying, “‘let’s do some market research, let’s see if people actually want this.’” The two planned for a year before incorporating their company.
They have had help along the way. The founders of Saint Aymes, which bills itself as “the prettiest cafe in London”, told them very early on about the importance of social media and a consistent brand, for example. They reached out to the founder of Nubian Skin, a hosiery brand specialising in nude undergarments for women of colour, for advice. A fellow female business owner, speaking at an event on securing finance, told them “‘you need to speak about your business wherever you can’”, says Nwanne.
They also helped themselves by deciding early on to bank with Tide. “We had Tide before we had our first customer”, says Nwanne. Just a week’s research and it was clear that Tide stood out. “It’s definitely small-business friendly”, says Moyo.
“Any payments we make, they all go through the business account, any invoices that we make, they go through Tide as well, any last minute purchases and we just send them a payment link through Tide, because that’s faster”, says Nwanne. The intuitive interface makes it easy to see when payments are late, crucial for small businesses that often have cash flow problems. Helpful, too, that the Free Plan, which Moyo and Nwanne use, comes with no monthly fees.
The Personal Touch
Tide also has “a personal touch”, says Nwanne. The platform supported them after a contractor invoiced them for a website he never made, securing their money within two months and keeping them informed throughout the process. “That kind of support is really important for a small business”, she says. “I don’t know if with a bigger bank you’d even know who you were talking to.” Tide even lets its customers vote on which features should be tested and deployed in future, she says.
Moyo and Nwanne advise budding entrepreneurs to bank with Tide. And “if you’re actually serious about starting a business, start at the most daunting part”, says Nwanne. Friends who want to start businesses often start with “the fun stuff” like the packaging and leave the trickier aspects like market research and talking to manufacturers for later.
Looking to the future, they want to give their online business a physical presence. “Our biggest vision for the business is to have that bricks and mortar showroom”, says Moyo. It would be “awesome” to make brides feel special with tailor-made asoebi and dresses, she says. Moyo and Nwanne are also fundraising to improve their website and want to increase the personalisation they can offer their customers.
Tide will be with them on their journey. “One thing that we’ve seen with Tide is that they’re constantly evolving”, says Nwanne. Payment links are one new feature that have been particularly helpful. “As they progress and we progress, that’s definitely a relationship we want to continue. They’ve been with us from the beginning.”
Besides, says Moyo, “there’s still a lot of things that we haven’t tapped into yet”, such as automatic invoice-chasing, available on Tide’s other plans. Taking away the stress of running a business so that Moyo and Nwanne can take away the stress of planning a wedding, Tide gives them the time to get more joy out of their business.
Find out more: https://www.tide.co
Supporting Black female business owners is crucial
By Heather Cobb, SVP Member Engagement at Tide
A record number of women are now starting businesses – all-female-led companies accounted for 20% of new UK businesses started in 2022, up from 16% in 2018[1]. However, a troubling fact still stands: three times more women than men told us that gender was a barrier to launching their businesses.
For ethnic minorities, Black women in particular, the challenges faced are harder than most. We surveyed[2] Tide members of all gender and ethnic backgrounds to understand their experiences when starting a small business. Almost 2,000 responses later, and the data shows that over half (53%) of women across the UK found it challenging to start a business. Of that, more than 2 in 3 (68%) Black female business owners found the process of launching a business challenging. That’s almost a fifth higher than their white and Indian counterparts (49%).
The benefits beyond economic contribution
A third (32%) of Black women reported not having access to finance (investment, loans or financial support) as the top challenge to launching a business. This was followed by lack of self-confidence and not having enough sector-specific knowledge of the business area that they were setting up in.
It takes admirable tenacity to start a small business when the odds are against you. As a society, there’s still a long way to go in levelling the playing field so Black women, and other underrepresented groups, can start their entrepreneurial journeys on the same footing as everyone else.
Supporting Black women-led businesses further enhances the benefits that small businesses bring to the UK. Beyond financial contribution, they fuel innovation, bring different perspectives, diversity of thought and lived experiences to our ever-growing business community – all of which fosters inclusivity.
Take Simply Asoebi for example. Founded by two Black female entrepreneurs, Moyo Castano and Nwanne Muduanusi, they source high quality, unique fabric traditionally worn at events in African countries for diaspora communities in the UK. By simply doing what they love, they help those with African heritage celebrate their culture no matter where they are. We’re proud to support them as pioneers in the business community, and as Tide members.
At Tide, we’ve welcomed over 110,000[3] women to our platform, exceeding our 100,000 target[4] almost a year early. But our work doesn’t stop here. We’re working on our new UK commitment, which will be announced later this year. We want to provide further support to help our members – especially those from underrepresented groups – expand their networks, improve their operational know-how, secure finance and reach their full potential.