“Jumia Women Inspiring change”
In the first post about the Jumia women, I mentioned that they are young, stylish and Hardworking. Today we have all that and more to talk about this woman, who is inspiring change in the Fashion and Ecommerce Industry. She is what you would call stylish and she knows her stuff very well.
Meet Funmi Daniel Head of Fashion at Nigeria’s largest Fashion online store. She manages a team of 15 people who work around building the biggest online fashion store in Nigeria.
Follow Funmi Daniel through her journey and how she inspires change with her role as Head of Fashion at Jumia Nigeria.
Meet Funmi: Can You tell us about your background?
My name is Funmi Daniel. I am a Nigerian but grew up in the UK and came back to Nigeria for the first time 4 years ago. I worked as a Fashion Planner for a warehouse for TESCO UK Clothing and when I came back to Nigeria, it was difficult for me to do the same thing because the retail store did not really exist and so I helped set up new stores for Mango in showrooms in Barcelona and later worked for Tiffany Amber for a year, after which i worked as a fashion editor for Exquisite magazine for a year and eventually came to Jumia Nigeria where I’ve worked for a year and 2 months.
My Role in Jumia and A typical day at work?
At the moment, I am the head of fashion at Jumia and one of the things I love about my job which is also one of the most frustrating things is that no day is ever the same. Being the head of fashion, I manage planners who plan individual categories, also coordinating marketing, production and inbounding all at the same time.
Major Challenges I face working in a fast growing industry like Ecommerce?
I guess because this is a new emerging industry, it is challenging as a woman. Though I do not have a family but I can imagine if you had to manage a family and maintaining a work-life balance. It can be quite hard for some people.
My motivation and How it helps me achieve my career goals..
My motivation is that I do enjoy my job. I enjoy the complexities and the multi-faceted nature of it. My job is quite analytical and also creative and I enjoy the aspects of it. This keeps me going even during the frustrating times pushing my team to be the best they can be and achieving team goals. And I must say this is really a great time in history to be in Nigeria and to be a part of the Jumia story whether or not I am here in 5 years, I will still be proud to say I am a part of the story.
The typical Nigerian working class woman and my Advise to Nigerian women>
I believe every Nigerian woman should learn to be independent regardless of whether she has a husband or not. She should have a degree of independence, no matter how little, being able to go out to earn your own money and to contribute to the family and the society.
Catch up with Funmi on Linkedin
Interview by Aisha Aburime Afam Anyika
Article was written by Olamide Amosu
Funmi is a friend of mine and I can say she lives out her convictions and passion. She truly is an inspirational personality, focused, very hardworking, compassionate, articulate and knows the fashion business very well.
She is clearly someone I can see going very far in her industry and certainly a young Nigerian lady to watch out for.