A Fashion design school is a business that trains people on how to make patterns, construct clothes, textile designs, sketching, sewing techniques and even management and marketing of fashion business and products. In Nigeria there is a huge demand for fashion design training because it has huge economic benefits. People who are trained on how to design dresses, gowns, skirts, jump suits, plain shirts, suits, men’s native wares and even bags can always make money for themselves thus becoming self-employed and even employing others.
The major selling point of fashion design schools is that they can create a large number of entrepreneurs and ease off unemployment as Tailoring and Fashion design business is one of the lucrative businesses in Nigeria that require minimal startup capital. It is based on this, that highly experienced and skilled fashion designers can setup schools and academies to train interested persons on how to become skilled clothiers and fashion designers.

The Business Opportunity for Fashion Design Training in Nigeria
There is a huge market for fashion design training in Nigeria. A lot of young women who are tired of job hunting find that learning a fashion based skill can help them make money for themselves, earn respect from their peers and make them self-reliant. The men are not left out. Some men actually take time to learn fashion design specializing in mostly men’s clothing. Besides job seekers even people with regular jobs but in need of backup plan in case of unemployment also embark on vocational training in fashion design. So the market pool is quite large and is not restricted to just a few cities in Nigeria as even in the semi-urban towns, people acquaint themselves as apprentices with “tailors” to learn sewing.

The Potential Market Size of Fashion Design Training in Nigeria
Fashion schools in Nigeria can cumulatively pool over 15 billion naira annually

If we are to estimate the market size of people interested in learning fashion design in Nigeria and how much they are willing to pay we should be looking at 190,000 people potentially willing to spend between 50,000 and 120,000 naira to learn fashion designing for 3 months to 12 months period. Most of these trainees would be looking for informal arrangements but they could be convinced to try out more reliable formal training.

Reasons why fashion design training is very popular in Nigeria
Nigeria has close to 26 million unemployed people and many of these people want to acquire vocational and technical skills
Fashion design has the ability to empower people financially and reduce unemployment
It is one of the most popular options available in the vocational training market
The amount required to start a fashion oriented is minimal
A lot of people want their idle children and wards (especially those through with secondary school) to acquire fashion design skills while awaiting admission into University

Another opportunity that will help fashion schools grow in Nigeria is the use of social media and search engine marketing to promote training courses online. The use of digital marketing for Nigeria businesses is not only affordable but is becoming very effective for small businesses on a budget. A new fashion school should prepare itself to exploit these opportunities to grow.

The fact that entry requirements into setting up or running a fashion school in Nigeria is not too strident also means that people who have advanced skills in fashion design business are not only eligible to set one up but they can partner with people who have the money to setup a fashion design school that will offer better structured and formal trainings leading to the growth of the fashion design industry and creating wealth and new business opportunities as well.

But while a fashion school should primarily teach technical skills needed for garment making, styling and other relevant skills, there is the managerial and marketing aspect that also deserves attention. The reality most fashion schools in Nigeria don’t do this which creates a gap in this market. People should not only learn how sew and design, but also run their businesses and find ways of selling them. A lot of people will patronize a fashion design school with a good course outline and training methods that will make them highly skilled and relevant. The business therefore is very easy to market.

Challenges of Starting and Running a Fashion School in Nigeria
Starting a fashion school in Nigeria isn’t the main problem, keeping it afloat is the main problem but even more pertinent making it profitable. Among numerous challenges the following are briefly highlighted as factors that slow the growth or hamper smooth running of fashion design schools in Nigeria.

Stiff competition from many fashion design schools and academies both formal and informal
Financing and growth is a major challenge for operators who want to expand and acquire new machines and equipment
Developing a world class curriculum and syllabus can be tricky without affiliation to any major University or institute
Difficulty in capturing the middle class market who can afford more advanced course fees
Alternative online courses from overseas based professionals provide prospects with less expensive and even better perceived options for fashion design

How much is required to start a fashion school in Nigeria?
If you already have a fashion design business then you can already start an informal fashion design school and slowly grow it. On the other hand if you want to run a business that thrives on fees from enrollments alongside running a fashion design business then this breakdown is just a sample.

You can read the full article here: https://lagosbusinesses..com/2020/07/sample-business-plan-fashion-design.html