“I own OP Chic Boutique, for those who love to look sleek,” Patricia Otoa, a Ugandan entrepreneur, beams with excitement as she opens up about her ‘Be Your Own Boss Award’ win at the eBay for Business Awards 2020. The awards are designed to celebrate the best of British small and medium sized businesses on the e-commerce platform. Her excitement, however, is coming from a special place. 2020 was such a challenging year for everyone, but she saw this uncertainty, which precipitated a surge in demand for online services, as an opportunity. Hence the win!
But, Patricia’s journey to this triumphant place didn’t start during the pandemic, the mother of one started OP Chic Boutique (Then known as OP Clothing UG) 9 years ago. Her passion for vibrant clothing; styling it and interesting others to buy in, having started right on her mother’s veranda in Uganda.
In our quest to pick lessons from what should have been the most difficult year ever, I reached out to Patricia to chart her journey to triumph, and how she managed to succeed in her business over the years.
OP Chic Boutique sells high-end vintage and high street clothing on eBay. Before it took form, Patricia was many things; a budding designer and before that, a Corporate Relations Manager. “I had a corporate job; however, I always felt my calling was more towards entrepreneurship,” she tells me over WhatsApp call from her home in Bedford.
As with most entrepreneurs, the urge to jump into self-employment came almost naturally. “It had been hard to save because I was at university as well, and there was tuition and other fees to pay yet I was earning approximately 360,000 net monthly at the time,” she recounts.
She quit the job, with just 400,000 UGX as savings, and was already fired up to pursue her passion for fashion. OP Clothing, a design house, was born, with her mother’s veranda as its work premises. She spent the savings on fabrics and threads, which were sourced from Kiyembe market. “Naturally, my first customers were friends and neighbours,” she recalls. She also elicited help from a friend who needed more opportunities to model, while teaching her the basics of tailoring. “The business was financially viable since I wasn’t paying rent or salaries.”
More growth for OP Clothing
Eventually, word of mouth brought more clients to her door and after a few months in business, OP Clothing outgrew the veranda. She then set up physical stores in Kansanga and Gaba. After listening to customer demands even more, and realising that most of her clients were from the city center, she opened another branch at Gatto Matto in Bugolobi. Indeed, the third time was the charm because the business flourished. Shortly after, another branch was opened at Prunes in Kololo and another on Buganda Road in downtown Kampala.
“We hired more local women; supporting fellow women is something I’ve always been so passionate about,” she recalls. “At that point, which was the year 2014, the business had an annual turnover of over 100,000,000 UGX .”
Patricia’s strategy was simple – combine quality, traditional fabrics with modern Western designs. She was also keen to give back to her community, through supporting local women by selling their crafts and paper beads as accessories to O.P Clothing, at no additional cost.
Things were looking up for the fashion lover, who had spread her wings and was making a living out of her passion. Life, however had other plans.
Moving to the UK
After getting married in Uganda, she and her husband moved to the UK.
They say that business is never the same without the owner around, and Patricia experienced this first hand when she left Uganda. “I couldn’t really monitor what was going on, there was little or no accountability,” she says. “Also, it was challenging managing the team and ensuring that our products were of the quality standards I had set despite having a quality control team. There were so many other factors that contributed to impediment in growth of the business.”
Once a profitable venture, OP Clothing became a loss maker, and it wasn’t long before she made the tough decision to close the business.
“Only a few months later, I had to travel back to Uganda and shut down 4 outlets and 12 employees lost their jobs, which was hurtful on its own. These are women I had built this company with. They felt like family to me, and having to leave them behind was painful but it felt right. It felt like I was heading into another phase of my life,” she explains painfully.
Starting out in the UK
The transition wasn’t smooth, but the passion never died. She tried to give OP Clothing another shot in the UK. However, after a while, she realised that it was such a different market.
“I thought I would carry my excitement of vibrant African clothing to a new
market since the concept had worked in Uganda, but I was wrong,” she laughs, that all just went out of the window because of the weather is different, I wasn’t sure who my customer was as well, or if these were the kinds of clothes people wanted to wear. I knew I needed a new strategy for the company, I needed a new vision.”
This is how OP Chic Boutique was born. After making extensive research on what people were wearing, Patricia zeroed in on vintage clothing. She tested the waters by selling some of her personal clothes and accessories on eBay. When this turned out fine, the entrepreneur in her was fired up once again.
“EBay was such a relief since it is easy to set up, and didn’t need the usual paperwork that comes along with setting up a business,” she explains. She also had room to try and fail. When her initial items sold, she went on to source more items both online and from local charity shops. The business hit off and has since grown from strength to strength.
Three years down the road, Patricia is the proud winner of eBay’s ‘Be Your Own Boss’ award, & the ‘Big Feels Award’ prize that came with a mouth-watering cash prize to boost her business plus lots of marketing support from the e-commerce giant.
Running OP Chic Boutique hasn’t been completely a smooth sailing since, as she now has the challenge of doing all work tasks herself, “The reality is, having previously managed a business and having different people doing their own jobs; like I had an accountant, I had a procurement person, I had tailors – the challenge with OP Chic Boutique is that I am the photographer, the social media person, I’m doing the sourcing, steaming – all that, while also being a mom.” Sometimes she works up to midnight, which is gruelling.
As you might guess, this challenge isn’t something to slow her down, as she continues to run her businesses almost seamlessly.
There’s just so much to learn from Patricia’s story. With the pandemic came a surge in online transactions, which are a safer option because there’s little to no person to person interaction. While e-commerce is yet to pick up in Uganda, there couldn’t be a more opportune time to put your business online. According to research done by UNCTAD, e-commerce platforms in Uganda saw a triple-digit increase in business following the outbreak of the pandemic.
That aside, Patricia’s resilience cushioned by her relentless passion is another take home. Allowing herself to start all over again after painfully closing a business born out of passion is no small feat.
But as OP Chic Boutique continues to thrive as a remnant of resilience, endless passion and elegance, I ask Patricia about what keeps her going? Where she draws her entrepreneurial spirit and vision?
“I want my brand to be world renowned for providing clothing that bridges the gap between fast and slow fashion,” she muses. “My vision is for it to become a space to find clothing that’s chic, ethical and sustainable, because that is what OP Chic is all about.”
Check out Instagram: opchicboutique
atwiine@satisfashionug.com
