Passion over promise

IRENE ABAGI, 25, gave up the enviable engineering field for entrepreneurship. She opened up to SHIRLEY GENGA on what advised this decision.

Q: What do you do for a living?

IA: I am the co-founder and CEO of Closet49, an online fashion marketplace connecting multiple clothing and accessory vendors with one simple check out.

Q: What does your job entail?

IA: My primary role is maintaining our website, managing the database and photography. We are a still a cottage business, which means that I assume other multiple roles.

Q: When did you start the business and what was the inspiration behind it?

IA: Closet49 started operations in March 2011. Originally it was a physical store. The marketplace as it exists today, however, started in September last year, after we received funding from 88mph, a local investment company.

Q: What do you think makes your business stand out?

IA: Most women, if not all, have this problem, we only wear 25 per cent of our closets. The other 75 include some good items that we don’t wear anymore because either we lost or gained weight, shoes that are not as comfortable as we thought, or clothes we bought to wear once at a special event. Closet49 lets you sell these items and use the money you earn for another fashionable find from someone else’s closet. Simply put, it is guilt-free shopping!

Q: Is this your first job, and if not what is your job history?

IA: My first job was in 2010, where I worked with We Care Solar, a California based NGO that promotes safe motherhood and reduces maternal mortality in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, mobile communication, and blood bank refrigeration using solar electricity. With them, I conducted several installations and training in rural clinics in Kenya and Uganda. In the same year, I worked for was RVE.Sol, a Portuguese social enterprise. Theirs was a pilot project based in Kenya that addressed rural village energy and water. After my contract ended, however, I felt it was time I began something on my own rather than get employed again. The following year, I decided to delve into the world of fashion, something I have always been passionate about.

Q: What do you love about your job?

IA: I love the fact that my job gives me the freedom to do what I love, even in my pyjamas. I have a great co-founder Serah Kanyua, and the best part of growing a business together, especially in an under tapped field like e-commerce, is that everyday is different. I also get to play dress up and attend cool events where fashion, art and music collide.

Q: What are some of the challenges you have faced?

IA: The usual challenges when starting a business that include limited resources for advertising, expansion, hiring qualified staff, logistics problems. This also means we just have to get creative in how we do things.

Q: Is what you are doing your childhood dream?

IA: So funny that you should ask this because I wanted to study Medicine. I was a good student and my family put it in my head that I should be a doctor. I have worked in hospitals but from an engineering perspective installing solar electric systems in rural hospitals all over Kenya, and I am glad I am not doing that everyday.

Q: What did you study in campus?

IA: I majored in Electrical Engineering with a minor in mathematics at New Mexico State University, USA — Class of 2009.

Q: What advice would you give young people who are job hunting?

IA: I recently stumbled upon the Holstee Manifesto. Google it, I could not have put it any better.

Q: What is your future hope and plan for your business?

IA: We are constantly working to improve our user experience from the feedback we get from our customers. Shopping for clothes should be fun, affordable and super convenient. Closet49 aims to be your one-stop shop, ensuring you can find the perfect piece no matter your shape, size, style or budget.

Q: What do you do for fun?

IA: I love to travel. I immerse myself in long work hours then unwind on vacations.