His holidays in Lagos with his businessman elder brother fired his interest in the fashion business. Today, Chidiebere Onu has become a quintessential clothier whose clientele ranges from top Nigerian celebrities to famous Nollywood actors and politicians. In this chat with DGossip247.com, Don Massaratte talks about his journey into the highly competitive music entertainment industry
You are a businessman who owns a clothing line and a music label. How best can one describe you?
I always describe myself as a fashion designer and an entertainer.
Almost everything you are involved in takes up a lot of hours. How do you manage the two businesses?
Initially when I started the entertainment business, I did not really know the business very well but I also discovered that fashion and music go together.
So when I got into entertainment, I had to give it some time in order to understand the business since I had established the fashion business very well. I had to put more time into grasping the entertainment industry. I need to give it time; in fact I had a 70-30 per cent ration between the fashion business and the entertainment side.
Immediately I became knowledgeable in the business, I then balanced the time I gave to the two ventures because when I left the fashion business and put my focus on the entertainment industry, it affected the fashion business as my presence matters a lot. I then balanced the two in a 50-50 pattern.
What influenced your going into business and the entertainment industry?
When I was in high school at Government Science Secondary School at Mbasa Local Government of Kogi State during my senior secondary school, I usually came to Lagos to visit my elder brother who was into business. I come from a poor background; not that we were excruciatingly poor. My parents had enough to afford us an education. So, whenever I visited my elder brother in Lagos, I thought he was doing well in his clothing business.
To my greatest surprise, when I had a chance to look into his business, I found out he was not doing very well. So in order for me to position the family for the standard I had in mind, I had to sacrifice furthering my education to focus on business. I knew that if I came into the scene, I would reorganise the business and make it flourish better than he did.
What gave you that confidence that you would do better?
I know what is in me and what I could achieve. I am always confident and believe myself because I pray and believe in God to direct me very well in all I do.
Could you tell us about your childhood memories?
I remember when I was a child I loved God so much and thought I would become a priest; I also loved to dance. I also loved music. Before I ventured into business, I thought about my strong attachment to the church and prayed to God to give me directions. I still have reverence for God and I f God calls me to leave everything I am doing now to follow him, I will do just that.
How did you get the experience in the clothing business?
What I did was to get busy on the Internet doing researches to know what’s in vogue; I have a big dream and believe that I don’t see any fashion designer in Nigeria or Africa. I look at designers like Polo Ralph, Burberry, Hugo Boss and because I have a brand of my own, these are the standards I look up to. I am looking forward to the day I will sit down with Polo Ralph and discuss business.
It’s the target I have set for myself -to sit down with such designers and rub minds on a business level. I believe that that thing in them is equally in us despite the fact that I am a black man, a Nigeria and African. I look forward to attaining their standards and surpassing their achievements.
Your fashion store can be likened to those seen abroad with the setup. What expertise did you bring into the business that your brother who started the business didn’t have?
There were a lot of things that weren’t there initially when I commenced. First is that my brother was focussed on just one product -jeans. When I was building the business I brought in a unique customer service. I had that manner of approach that appealed to my customers that some of them that had in mind to buy a particular brand would change their mind and heed to my advice on what suits them.
I had that charisma to carry people along and convince customers. I also brought in a friendly attitude to both my customers and my workers and that helped me to build the business to an extent that I found out that dealing on just one product would not take us to the next level.
So, I started bringing in shirts. After that I went into T-shirts. I did not go to study those brands but was doing them out of passion for fashion. I found out that we were doing well selling jeans and T-shirts. I then went into plain trousers and made so much money that I had to go into suits. It was a gradual process. Another strategy I had to change was getting into retails sales.
We were fully into wholesales but I found out that it would not elevate me to the dreams I had to be a great clothier in Nigeria. So we got into retail sales. I always think of the next level whenever I achieve a set goal but in all these, I must say that the greatest virtue is integrity and the Grace of God. Also, prayers. I pray always and always commune with God to direct my steps.
Who is your best designer and what makes it so?
My best designer is Burberry. One special feature in Burberry is that checkered and horse. I like the checkered very well. I remember the first car my brother gave me back then was a Golf car and I would furnish the seats, steering and interior with checkered design to match with the Burberry colour, even the football I had at the back.
The origin of the name is very interesting. I told you that I started with Burberry products and everything I dealt in was Burberry. Because I know the plans and strategy I had, I focussed only on Burberry. My competitors at a point felt that it was only Burberry that was selling more so they started importing Burberry. This led me to deviate and I started bringing in Dolce and Gabanna (D &G) and all of a sudden, everyone started dealing in D&G.
I then diverted to Marks and Spencer and the same effect occurred in the market. It was at this point that I realized that there was something in me that I needed to bring out so I decided to choose a brand name. I prayed about it and asked God to direct me on a brand name to use.
For a brand to be internationally accepted it has to sound good. I was trying to combine my Igbo name with my English name but it did not sound appealing. I fasted and while I was sleeping the name Don Maserati came to me in a dream. When I woke up I was at first confused because there was a Don Maserati label already -the Italian Don Maserati.
So what I did was to do something unique and that resulted in changing the spelling; the pronunciation would be the same but the spelling will be different. I came up with Don Masaratte. After achieving that, I then had to create a logo and it was difficult. I prayed again and was inspired to have the logo I am using now, the DM, and it’s on green and white colours which represents Nigeria because I am proud of my country and want to represent this country to the highest level.
What kind of clientele do you have and what kind of people have you clothed?
I have clothed a lot of people from politicians, entertainers, movie celebrities, standup comedians and many m o r e . I have also styled s o many musicians for their music videos.
Can you name some of the celebrities who are your clients?
Yes, Oritsefemi, Flavour, Tuface Idibia, DJ Neptune, DJ Humility and so many others.
What informed your decision to float Don Maseratte Entertainment?
My decision to go for that category of artistes was due to an incident that happened to the artiste signed on to my label. His name is 4real Eze. Initially, he was signed on a record label owned by a cousin of mine and a friend.
At that starting point, they ran into a problem which sank the business. The young man was living with us at that time and I saw that he was a humble and focussed young man; very hardworking, good looking and talented but he didn’t have sponsors. I am the kind of person that if I see a talented person, I would always want to support that person.
We supported him by giving him money to go for studio sessions and songs and he did some songs that he started taking around scouting for someone that would sign him on. I got pissed off one day when he went out and met a man who promised to sign him under the condition that he would be in a gay relationship with him.
The said man promised to get him a Range Rover SUV, get him a house and all that but he refused the offer. When he told that story, everyone burst out laughing but it touched me very well. I called Tuface Idibia and asked for his advice and he encouraged me to help the guy and venture into the entertainment because he had listened to the guy’s work and he was good.
I gave it a thought and then realized that fashion and entertainment are intertwined. I figured that as a fashion designer that owns a record label, both businesses will boost each other. I ventured into the music business and signed him on. He did two songs and we started prom o t i n g them. So far, he is d o i n g v e r y well.
