Evelyne Akinyi Odongo is the CEO of Mefa Arts Centre and the owner of Akinyi Odongo Kenya, a high fashion brand. She also dresses First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.

Evelyne Odongo is a wife, a mother and entrepreneur. In a crowded fashion industry, she has managed to carve out a niche for herself. In fact, she is set to showcase her latest achievement, an international fashion brand at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2015 this weekend. What did she do different? What sets her apart?

“I focused on my designs and refused to get derailed by sideshows like seeking fame which can easily distract one in this industry,” she shares.

She comes off as polished and glamorous but her journey which started in Rang’ala, a small village in Nyanza hasn’t been a smooth one.

She registered her business Mefa Creations 10 years ago and has watched it grow slowly. Every time she steps out of her house, she makes sure that she is wearing her designs. She reckons that she needs to believe in her brand before other people can and this has worked for her. She gets direct feedback and through word of mouth, has watched her business grow and added big names to her client list. Last year, she had an opportunity to design for the First Lady Margaret Kenyatta who also in support of the textile industry graced a runway at Origin Africa by gracefully giving the first catwalk.

“It isn’t an easy industry, there isn’t structure, and financial institutions do not take one seriously. Sometimes it can be such a lonely place to be.”

For her, the success can partly be attributed to the fact that she has always been looking for challenges. Five years into her business, she expanded it to include a training centre where she coaches aspiring designers on everything from how to go about registration to where to source for fabric. She is aggressive. She doesn’t wait for things to happen to her.

Two years ago, she took the initiative to go into government offices to get information on what opportunities for growth were available for her out there. She learnt that there was demand out there for the products that were produced here. She has worked with the Export Promotion Council, African Women Entrepreneurs Program, and Africa Cotton and Textile Industries Federation, to get her products out there. She stayed involved and this year, she is going international with a high-end fashion brand.

“We are at a good place. There is opportunity here. I believe that at this moment it is a great thing to be an African woman, especially in Kenya.”