Africa Business Communities

[Startup Interview] Zeldah Schrama starts African Lingerie Line, for the African Woman

Zeldah Schrama is founder and managing director of Oh My Bra, a lingerie line for the African woman. 

Africa Business Communities brings this interview with her.

Please introduce Oh My Bra to us.

Oh my bra is an early stage lingerie startup, with a focus on creating beautiful and perfectly fitting African-inspired lingerie for women with cup sizes C to G. In short, we refuse to cater to the unrealistic image of women as promoted by the current fashion industry at large. Instead, we cater those real beauties out there who have been blessed by Mother Nature with a cornucopia of curves. We feel that women are grossly underrepresented on the catwalks of today, and Oh my bra has made it its mission to do something about that!

In what industry does Oh My Bra operate?

Oh my bra operates in the fashion industry, and, more specifically, the lingerie industry. What makes this particularly interesting is that we are a specifically Africa-inspired company operating from the heart of Europe, and are able to draw both our resources and inspiration from both continents and combine them into something new, unique and vibrantly eclectic. This international outlook that we start with also gives us a few distinct advantages. For one thing, we have discovered that Africa's native fashion industry is surprisingly small for such a huge and electric continent. Especially when it comes to lingerie, Africa is currently being overrun by European and Asian imports, which very often simply don't do the job. And so we have made it our mission to put Africa back on the map once and for all.

What is your business background pre-Oh My Bra?

I decided to start up my own company after completing my MBA at TIAS Business School in the Netherlands. In addition to Oh my bra, I work in consulting with a Dutch agency called AfricanWise. I have also held various positions at ING Belgium, Tractebel Engineering/GDF Suez, Bank of New York  Mellon, OpenERP, Cisco and even as brand ambassador for SABMiller in South Africa.

Why did you start Oh my bra?

I decided to start Oh my bra because of personal experience. It called my attention that finding perfectly fitting and flattering fashion items, be it lingerie or jeans, when you’re endowed with curves as I am, can be a bit of a struggle, and that's putting it mildly. While doing my MBA in 2014, I used it as the topic of a feasibility study I did for my entrepreneurship class. After receiving my MBA, I decided to further develop the concept behind my business idea, with a focus on lingerie. This focus was the result of the chronic lack of color in lingerie that I noticed while buying some African wax fabric. I thought: Why not put two and two together? An excellent fit with a splash of color! So I set to work, with a plan to bring beautiful, African lingerie to curvy girls everywhere.

Who owns Oh My Bra and how is it Financed?

Ownership of Oh my bra is shared between the partners, of which there are currently three: myself as managing director, a friend and MBA fellow Saskia Naujok as creative director and Melissa Weinand as product design director.

At this point, Oh my bra is financed through a mixture of our own private capital, winning business competitions and through crowd-funding. For now, the funds derived from these sources have been adequate for our needs, but for future growth, we are putting a great deal of effort in attracting outside investors.

Who are your clients?

Our future clients are all women with bra cup sizes C to G and bust sizes of 85 to 100cm. Also, it is for women who love beautiful crafted lingerie and bold colors! Our main outlets are through the online store which will go live soon as well as through selected boutiques in our target countries.

What can Oh my bra do that other companies cannot?

Nobody else in the high fashion lingerie is currently doing premium Africa-inspired lingerie with perfect and quality fit for cup sizes C to G. We have the ability to combine colourful designs with a focus on real women, which is something that other fashion houses seem either unwilling or unable to do. We have an excellent team with over 30 years in lingerie, fashion and operations. With no capital we have managed to negotiate our position and are putting the final touches to our first collection.

What will Oh my bra deliver in 2015?

End-2015, we will launch our first African inspired lingerie collection for plus size women.

What are your ambitions in terms of (international) markets, growth?

Oh my bra is starting up with an international outlook. The founders of the company are from South Africa, Germany and the United States and we have the ambition to share our lingerie with Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world. 

What do you want people and companies who read this interview to do?

We’re currently working on obtaining funding, and we would like everyone who believes in us and finds our idea interesting to show us some love on Facebook  and subscribe to our newsletter, visit our website and simply stay in touch.  Beyond creating beautiful lingerie with perfect fit, we are also trying to build a community of people with whom we can have conversations on various topics that are pertinent to women. 

www.ohmybra.eu

www.linkedin.com/profile

 

Africa Business Communities is conducting a series of interviews with startup businesses in Africa. Are you a startup and interested in an interview? Please send an e-mail to Andrea Ayemoba: andrea@africabusinesscommunities.com

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