By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Melandre makes beautiful stuff.
In design and leather quality, the top Nigerian shoemaker is giving established brand a good fight.
But Nigerian elite have a slavish mentality for foreign brand, which is the undoing of the industry that holds the prospect of employing a large chunk of Nigerians.
Gbenga Olanipekun, chief executive officer of the Ibadan based Melandrie shoes, says Nigerian shoemakers make great stuff, but face poor patronage especially from the elite members of the society who prefer foreign products even when such foreign products are inferior.
“The Italian shoes use the same leather as many Nigerian shoemakers. Melandrie shoes are handmade while theirs is industrially produced. But do you know that handmade shoes abroad are far more expensive! But here, our work is looked down upon,” he said.
Olanipekun says many Nigerians suffer from the inferiority complex of thinking that anything from the White Man is far better than what their kits and kin make.
The Melandrie boss argues that the growth of the Western Economies was made possible by their manufacturing prowess which is fueled by the kind of patronage they enjoy from their people.
He shares an experience he recently had when a client ordered for four shoes online from Lagos. He said the order also came with a question about the shoes’ origin, which he ignored to answer.
He said when his agent in Lagos delivered the shoes to the prospective buyer, the man first showered so much praise on the shoe, and asked for its country of origin. The agent proudly answered that Melandrie shoes were made in Ibadan. He said the prospective buyer’s enthusiasm quickly waned, and opted to buy only the one he had worn.
In 2018, Melandrie had made a customize designer shoe for vice president Yemi Osinbajo, and the number two Nigerian appreciated the offer with a lot of smiles. The VP later requested for a photograph with the Melandrie boss.
The VP had encouraged Nigerians at the event, which was a gathering of small and medium scale businesses, to patronize made in Nigerian products.