keni

asked for this.

I started an endeavour early this year, a website for tailors, crocheters, quilters etc to list and find sewing & crafts tools and accessories. I named it Bobbin. The west has Etsy, Africa has none. This is a certain need.

Bobbin was meant to be a marketplace, so the platform would make revenue by charging for featured listings. I got stuck trying to solve the Chicken and Egg dilemma. To solve that problem, you need either massive capital to put up an artificial demand/supply side or you do intensive door to door outreach. I didn't have capital and I didn't have time/money for door to door calls.

I have a pitch deck already, so I know how massive the crafts industry is. The industry caught my attention three years ago, I know the potential in there. I have a Facebook Group with thousands of members, a Facebook Page with over 4000 followers and a sewing meme IG page with over 1000 followers. Bobbin was my third attempt at building something for the niche. I had huge plans for that industry, to be an ecosystem of software and online platforms for them.

To be honest, I had given up on Bobbin and the entire fashion industry until late last night, when I saw Keni's request to write about it.

An idea sparked.

Maybe, just maybe I could enter in the frame via Fintech. I had the whole idea developed further today. I'll be writing more about it in this collection.