Dennis, living his Dream

By Igboanugo Sunday
“Don’t wait for something to happen before you take a step towards your dream”, says Dennis Igboanugo who is the proud owner of Idex Outfitters, a clothing boutique situated on the corner of Long Market and Adderley Street.

For a little boy who was born in an obscure corner of the Eastern part of Oba near Onitsha in Anambra State, Nigeria and grew up in the same town, life was far from paradise. The only thing he held onto was his dream which was to be a successful boutique owner in a township. “I Love clothing, not just fashion. Making people look, feel and exude beauty has been my dream since I was a child”, said Dennis

At the age of 20, he left the shore of his Country in search of what he believed and dreamed to do when he was a boy. Having traveled all part of the world, at age of 26, he came to South Africa because he wanted a place close to his home country, Nigeria with European setup, he choose Cape Town. “Cape Town is a centre point between Asian, American and Europe, therefore, rich culture exchange, and diversity of fashion contribute to make the city one of the World’s favorite cities and a place for fashion business”, said Dennis

With his dream still far from reach, with drive and ambition he established a small scale business at the corner of third class train’s station and from there he moved on to sell his goods at free the market. “I noticed that many big stores like Spar, Pick-n-Pay, checkers etc close early so I capitalized on that, by making most of my sales at night, which help built up the business”.

Dennis believed that success of any business depends on the ability of the owner to built trust and depend on high quality products, because good quality products will bring trust, good name, maintain culture, and will help sustain customers which he wanted in his business. “It is important for me to be ethical and honest by offering the best products and service to our customers who came first. This has been my vision and the key to success in all things”.

Dennis admits that he faced many challenges especially due to the fact that he was in competition with large well known clothing brands, but he refused give up and rather capitalized on these challenges and fired his boutique to the next level.
I was taught to believe in myself, work hard, stay committed and refusing to give up is a key in dream realization”, said Dennis.

It is important to have passion for whatever you want to do in life. If you failed, try and try again. “Taking all that I had learnt from failing and getting up and improving on my previous effects gave me the drive and confidence to come back a second time and today I’m living my dream. Don’t undermine the importance of mentors and their guidance and advice” said Dennis.
“ It is never too late to start a business”