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Lilian Nnogo is the Chief Executive Officer of Liliyan Couture based in Ikorodu, Lagos with branches in Cotonou, and other parts of West Africa. She is a graduate of Chemistry from University of Lagos. The Aniocha, Delta State-born fashion designer’s aim is to empower people by training over 500 on beaded dresses, a venture she has been at since 2012. She was recently honored with the Outstanding Women Award (OWA) by Sail Edutainment Media for her empowerment programme.


How did childhood and family background shape who you are now?

I grew up from a broken home. My mom left us when I was 12 years old. She was constantly being battered by my dad for every little reason and called names. My father used to attend Celestial church, and they came up with stories about witchcraft. The beatings were too much and she had to leave. It was really tough for us . My father was well-to-do, he was an accountant with the Water Board. My dad was this uncaring father that would rather help those outside than his children. We barely ate, my father would buy bag of rice and dash people, whereas in our house we ate kpokpo garri. My father would send people abroad to go and school. I grew up using the same uniform from Class One to Five. My uniform got so short, that I couldn’t bend down. I would be the last person to pay school fees, or buy books even though I was intelligent.


It was really a painful experience. The life I experienced growing up kind of affected me, but thank God I met Jesus Christ and he helped me to change a lot of the things that I believed. I always believed that men were wicked and I made up my mind not to get married if marriage was what I saw with my mom and dad. That continued for years, I didn’t allow men to come near me.


I hated men, I just didn’t think any man was worth it, but when I entered university, my roommate was the one who really changed my thinking. Her father would come and see her, they would gist and play. For me to see a father talking with the daughter was a huge shock to me. It’s really strange, I have never sat together with my dad in a room to discuss anything. That experience opened my eyes that all fathers and all men were not the same. It left an indelible mark on me, but with Jesus in my life I was able to forgive my dad.


How did you venture into fashion design?

During my youth service in 1997/98, we were called upon to go for our graduation ceremony. I had planned with my tailor to make an outfit for me that was outstanding. My tailor could not deliver on the said date I gave him. A night before the graduation, the cloth was still not ready. I had to practically sleep in his shop to get the cloth ready. I said to myself, this is not the first time tailors act this way, or is there something about tailoring that made all tailors behave this way? I made up my mind to make a change in that direction. I wanted a situation whereby when someone gives clothes to the tailor, they would get it at the set time and to the specification of the customer.


After my youth service, I didn’t get retained in Shell Petroleum because that year in 1998 they were doing mass retrenchment. So I stayed at home for one year doing nothing, and I was like I could actually start up my own fashion house. What I did was to go to a tailor that I located in Port Harcourt and all I learnt from him was how to take measurements. I went online also, to see different ways of achieving the structure of a woman.


I would go to my former colleagues in Shell and tell them, I have a fashion house, whereas I didn’t even have a needle or scissors. I will collect their clothes from them, take it to that tailor, he would make them and I would return it. I made sure the clothes were made according to the design and delivery dates were kept, so with that I had lots of customers in Shell. The tailor could not handle the jobs anymore; from there I had to get machines in my house and got tailors. That’s how my business started, from one tailor, to two to five and the rest is history.


What inspires your designs?

I am inspired by nature. I just look at things, trees and it inspires me to come up with ideas to work on.


What are your challenges?

It’s been very trying, but in the trials I have learnt a lot. I started by making English wears and suits. Sometime in 2001/2002, when China suits came into Nigeria, this affected my business. The customers felt they could just walk into a shop and buy a ready-made suit, though it was China made, and they would bring it for amendment. I would say, no, because we Africans are curvy, while the Chinese people are straight. So I had that challenge and I lost a lot of customers because of that.


By God’s divine intervention, Nigeria started embracing African wears that time, I had to start going into African wears. This created another opportunity for me to look into our African clothing. Since then, every challenge has been a stepping stone to a new level.


What have you learnt in life?

I discovered my passion out of a dissatisfaction of what is obtainable. I have a passion for excellence; integrity is key for me. I have always loved fashion, because I am a very creative person, doing some drawings here and there, cutting patterns, even though I didn’t have formal education on fashion. When I noticed that dissatisfaction, it brought out a craving in me to do something about it. You discover your passion from something you find pleasure in doing, even if they are not paying you. If you enjoy what you are doing, you will be able to overcome every challenge.


What drives you?

For me, what drives me is the need for me to help people, achieve their potential. I hate poverty. I have experienced what poverty is and I don’t wish anybody to be poor. My driving force is the urge to empower people to do something about themselves and reduce poverty in the society. I have trained over 500 young men and women on bead making on clothes since 2012 till date. It is afree of charge training for two months, then on monthly basis the trainee gets paid. Presently, I have over 200 people working for me.


What advice do you have for the young ones?

God has a purpose for everyone. First of all, the individual must seek God and know God. Stop looking at your circumstance, or for someone to sponsor you. Learn to think outside the box. Most people want to wait until everything is in place to start, you can start from anywhere.


How do you cope with male admirers?

My life is such that I don’t have that space of time to actually see men. My life is church, my fashion house and market. I don’t go to parties or socialize. I have met some few men and of course they are actually intimidated by the level of success I have attained. For any man to be intimidated, then you can’t be a part of me and I can’t have anything to do with such man.

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