Ep.56 From Homelessness to a Multimillion £ Brand: Founder Rokeya Khanum's Truly Incredible Story
Oct 2, 2023
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From teenage homelessness to founding a multimillion £ brand, Rokeya Khanum shares her incredible journey of resilience and success. She discusses her struggles, determination, and turning pain into power. The podcast delves into the evolution of her luxury clothing brand, challenges in the fashion industry, and the importance of mentorship and networking in business.
Resilience and determination are key in overcoming adversity and transforming challenges into opportunities for success.
Creating a supportive and engaging work culture involves embracing diversity, offering mental health initiatives, and implementing hybrid work models.
Adapting to market demands, diversifying product range, and protecting intellectual property are essential strategies for sustaining business growth in the fashion industry.
Deep dives
Challenges and Triumphs in Workplaces
Creating a workplace that supports and empowers employees to thrive and feel fulfilled involves various essential factors discussed in the podcast. Among the highlighted elements is the importance of businesses embracing female representation to empower women in the workforce. Additionally, implementing initiatives like duvet days, allowing employees unplanned days off for mental and emotional well-being, contributes to a happier and more engaged workforce. Furthermore, adopting hybrid work models that blend collaboration and flexibility can enhance work-life balance and productivity.
Valuing a Fun and Energetic Startup Culture
Fostering a dynamic and engaging startup working culture can significantly impact employee satisfaction and performance. The podcast emphasizes the importance of creating a fast-paced and challenging environment where individuals, like the speaker, thrive and continuously learn. By encouraging a diverse range of tasks and roles within the business, employees can develop new skills and gain insights into different aspects of the company, enhancing personal growth and overall success.
Rakeya Kanem's Inspiring Journey to Success
Rakeya Kanem's remarkable journey from facing adversity as a teenage mother to becoming a successful founder of a luxury clothing brand, Kanem's, showcases resilience, determination, and transformation. Overcoming challenges of homelessness, unemployment, and financial struggles, Rakeya's entrepreneurial spirit led her to start her business with a vision for affordable luxury wear. Through strategic collaborations, adapting to market demands, and genuine passion for her brand, Rakeya exemplifies turning obstacles into opportunities and inspiring others to pursue their dreams.
Adapting Business Strategy During Party Season
In response to a decrease in demand for intricately embellished dresses, the speaker diversified the product range to include plain style dresses with subtle embellishments, leading to unexpected success. This strategic shift was driven by the need to sustain business growth, demonstrating the importance of flexibility and adapting to market trends.
Protecting Designs and Handling Legal Disputes
The speaker shared a personal experience of legally protecting original designs by taking action against a brand that copied their work. Despite facing challenges and the costs of legal action, the speaker emphasized the importance of defending intellectual property rights. This experience also highlighted the emotional toll and complexities involved in safeguarding creative assets within the fashion industry.
In her own words, Rokeya Khanum has achieved the goals she once referred to as impossible acts.
Born to parents who moved from Bangladesh to East London, she was raised alongside her seven siblings and Rokeya has always been really honest about her childhood, opening up about her teen pregnancy at 17 years old where she was then made homeless, moving from hostel to hostel and barely affording the basic necessities.
Fast forward to the present day and Rokeya is founder of the luxury clothing brand Khanum’s. Rokeya shares her incredible origin story, from initially spotting a gap in the market, to generating six figures in 7 months, all from what she viewed as a side hustle.
Now stocked in Harvey Nichols, taking the Middle East by storm and turning over 7 figures, Rokeya shares her success story from hardship. She talks about how she was determined to turn it around and exactly how she did that, after her journey on becoming a teenage mother to then going back into education and going to university to study law to realising she couldn't study law because she couldn't afford the LPC. Then working for a few years before she found herself unemployed for 18 months which led to her starting Khanum's. It really is an incredible story.
After hearing this, Rokeya is proof that you can always come back stronger from setbacks and build a future you are very much proud of. As Rokeya says herself, she is “turning pain into power and shattering those f’ing glass ceilings.”
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