 So people are saying you sell in rags? Yes, so I don't, the price I make don't deserve what I sell, it's bullshit. You cannot, they told me I will only make one or two years and everybody will forget because I don't make something good or it's everybody make it. How can me, I can raise my brain, it will not work. Everybody told me like this and ten years later I'm still there with God. Hello, my name is Maureen, I'm 35 years old. I'm the owner of the clothes brand Nanawax and I love real estate too to make over and make decorations and I will, I don't know. I'm sorry for my English, all the video. Maureen, how are you doing? Hi, how are you? I'm good, I love your house. Thank you. That's a beautiful, luxury house. Thank you. You designed it yourself? Yes. Interesting, you know I came from Ghana, I've had a lot of money. You're so famous by the way, you know that? I don't know, I am famous in Ghana. No, you're famous, I'm coming from Ghana. Do you know the woman behind Nanawax? Are you the one? See, she's trying to be humble. She's actually the woman behind one of the biggest fashion brands in Africa called Nanawax. Initially when I saw Nanawax, I thought it's a Ghana brand. No, but Ghana, Togo, Benin, same language. So in my country, Benin and Togo, we speak Mina. Mina is like Ewe, Ewe. Ewe, yeah. So I understand small Ewe. So that's why Nana is the same thing. Nana in Mina, it's like the queen of something. Exactly, so in Ghana, Nana means queen. And we're from the Wax. Yes. Queen of the Wax. I just want to say you're amazing. You've done incredible stuff. That's why I'm here today. I want you to tell me more about yourself, especially how does it feel like being a female entrepreneur in Africa? My name is Maureen. I'm 35 years old. I'm an entrepreneur. I have a brand label and house for house label. I don't know how to say. And be a woman entrepreneur in Africa. There is no problem. You can be entrepreneur if you're a man or woman and you don't have discrimination in my case. I didn't be discriminated of being a woman in my work. But sometimes when I build a house, when I walk with a man, they say, no, you don't know. We know because you're a woman. You don't know how to build a house or to have a point of view on something. But there is only a small, small thing. It's not a stop to walk. Apart from fashion, what else do you do? Fashion, design, home design and kitchen. Wow, okay. Now I can see why you have this beautiful kitchen. Incredible. You designed this by yourself? Yes. On my laptop. You went to school to learn how to design? No. I check a YouTube channel and I do it by myself. Really? Yes. What about your Nana Wax? You also check on YouTube to get the brand itself? No. To get the brand, it's not YouTube. It's a small, small work and small, small experience and learning, but no school of design or entrepreneur. Let's start from here. Tell me more about how it all started. The Jenny of Maureen. It started with the Facebook group. Before, we didn't have a Facebook fan page. It was only a group. I had a group named... I love African prints. In French, it's what it means. I love prints of my country, of where I live. I make posts about different brands who use African prints or Wax and I talk about it. When I do my own clothes for myself, I put the picture on this group and people ask me, where can I buy? I say, no, I don't sell it. It's just to show you. You can take the picture, print and make a screen record. Show your tailor to... Make it for you? Yes, make it for you. It was just for this, but people ask me a lot, a lot and when I have to go to make a stash, I don't know how to say stash. Internship. Internship in... I don't remember the country. I have to make an internship and I need some money to live there because I don't have a lot of money. And I think the picture my follower asked me a lot. I will go back in Benin, produce some picture and after I will go back to France and I wrote a message on Facebook and say I have some dress you can come at this address to buy it and there was like 200 people came to buy 20 dresses. Really? And it starts like this. Which country in France? In France I sell it. I produce in Benin with my tailor and I go back to Paris and I sell it. You based in France? Yes. For how long? Three years. And you decided to come back? To come back, to produce some clothes and get back in France, sell it to pay my internship fee. What was the internship fee? Was it in Africa? No, it was in... I forgot the country in addition. Bulgaria. Bulgaria. Yes, and I was studying deaf people language so I have to make the internship in Sofia and I can't sell it because I sold all my dress and people ask again so I say okay I will use the 3-4 months to make another clothes to have more money and after make the internship and I never make the internship I only make Nana once in 10 years. That was 10 years ago? Yes. So you stopped the internship? Yes, everything. And you built your own brand? Yes. Out of Facebook groups? Yes. That's incredible. I also checked. You're also an Instagram influencer? No, yes, a little bit. I don't make for money so it's not my work. Just for fun? Yes. I checked on the internet. You have some like a property at a beach in... Yes, Assini. Yes, Nana home Assini. Are you also into real estate? Yes. In Abidjan I have 7 apartments and 1 penthouse and in Assini I have 2 houses. That's incredible. What really inspired you to venture into real estate? I always loved to make over of space and since I was young I was thinking if I have money I will buy house and make makeover or I will buy apartments, hold apartments dirty and make changes and I start like this with a house and with apartments so I buy apartment 50 square meters and I broke everything and I make makeover and I buy second until 7 and I sold it. I sold some, I keep some on Airbnb and I keep some for me. So the capital to build a house? Yes, it's from Nana Wax. Because I make private sale in a lot of countries. I make in New York, Barbados, Canada, Switzerland, Paris, in Africa, South Africa, in Ghana too. In a lot of countries, Senegal, everything. You see why I said you are famous in Ghana. You've been in this industry for 10 years. Would you say it's so worth it? Yes. And is it profitable? Yes. How profitable? Profitable, like I can buy a house. This house I visit one day and three days after I buy it. So it's profitable. Because it saves a lot of money in many years so I can now use and invest in other stuff like real estate. But in Africa, when you see women or anyone selling clothes, we don't tend to respect them because they just sell clothes. Yes, for me, it's not a shame to sell clothes. When I start and a lot of people say how you go in France to study and now you are selling clothes, they compare my clothes with Dexter. You buy, you study and now you are going to sell clothes like a small girl in the street, you deserve more or something. I say, I don't care if I can have money with this, if I love my work, I don't care about what people think. So when I start, a lot of people don't believe I can grow up with this. And today, when I see the people with who I went to school or grow up, nobody has made what I made without parents. Because I made it without parents, without husband, I made it by myself. And I don't see anybody go this point. What are the westerns that you've ever heard about yourself? Like westerns that you've heard about your business or yourself? They say, it's only when I start. Because today, a lot of people who say bad things about me or my work, today say, we're sorry. You close our mouth. They say, like, how do you say it now? Dexter. The debt? What was the debt? I'm so sorry, but I'm doing this interview. Oh, a duster, yeah. Come, come. So this is what she's starting to talk about. A rag. Yeah. So people are saying you sell in rags. Yes. So the price I make, don't they sell what I sell? It's bullshit. They told me I will only make one or two years and everybody will forget. Now it's because I don't make something good or everybody makes it. How can I raise my brain? It will not work. Everybody told me like this. And ten years later, I'm still there. We've got that. That's amazing. That's incredible. She says something, she made it without her husband. That's good. People normally think that when a woman makes it, there's a man behind it. You did all of that by yourself. By myself. I have so many young women that watch my video. If you should tell them something, what would that be? I will tell her that it's not a shame to have a man to help you. But if you don't have, you can start with the money or capacity you have and make it small, small, small. And you will be more proud of yourself to make it by yourself and say, I'm made by myself. It's not someone who will give me money or use his relation to help me to raise or something. But it's not a shame to be helped by someone. I know so many women that will be like, you know what? I'm not going to work. My husband or that sugar daddy will provide. They don't want to do anything. Me, I can't. Me, I'm not against the men. I have a man today. But I can depend on someone. It's like I'm with a man. And the man makes bad things to me, or be unfaithful, something like this. And I say, oh, I can't go because he makes my business. He gives me the money for my business. If I leave him, I have nothing after. So you stay for the wrong reason. And me, I cannot stay with someone who threats me badly. So I prefer to stay with someone for love or something. And not be there because of money or because I'm a slave, because he gives me money, I cannot. So I always, since I was young, made all my business without anybody, only me. And God, my mother will help me. And when you see yourself right now, what will you tell your 10 years ago self? I will tell the 10 years ago self that you got right. I don't know. You were right. You were right. And since 10 years and before, I'm a very confident woman. I know if I do something, I will not give up. I will keep my teeth. Yeah, I will not live. So until I make it, I will not live. Sometimes I don't have... Sometimes I'm weak, feeling... I don't feel good and I have bad experience. And I say, oh, I will live everything. Because I had a treason, I don't know how to say it. Treason, yeah, treason. I had bad stuff happen in life, like everybody. And I said, no, I will stop everything. I'm tired. But I get back to myself and I say, no, you can't live. You have to continue and I always make like this. I want to know what has been the biggest challenge since it started. The biggest challenge is the people. How to manage people in Africa to don't be late. Come to work, make a good customer experience. It's the biggest challenge because to make a shop is easy. To produce clothes is easy. But the customer service is challenging and we still work on it every day, on packaging, on everything. Which is money is not a problem? In Nanawaks, no, it's not a problem. I never had a bank credit. No bank gave you credit? No, in 10 years I never asked and never had any credit bank or people credit. I auto-financed. You make the money and you use it to invest back. Again, yes. Sorry for my English. No, it's okay. You're doing well. How many people have you employed so far? I think 40, 40 people like this. That's incredible. See, I know you don't have time, but can we just check out your house? Yes, yes. Alright, you guys come along with us. Here is the living room. Okay. Living room and I don't want to have a house with a TV all the time. So I want people to come and we talk, we make games. No TV, TV all the time. So I don't put the TV, but I put a screen. So when we need to see football match or something, we make on this with the retro projector. The projector? Yes. That's incredible. Like listen, I never expected this. Whoa, look at that. Yes. I would definitely do this in my house. But it's not expensive. You see like this, but it's not expensive. I pay like 300 dollars to have the screen. You live in a smart house. Everything is automated. Yes. Even the curtains. And it can connect with Wi-Fi. How do you say table to eat? Dining table. Dining table, it's same, it's a dining table. Dining table, it's made in Mali. Okay. And take a truck, I don't know how to say truck. A truck and bring to... Avricots. Avricots for me here. Wow. It's a Malian designer, Fatouma Aydara. She made for me and Pablo. And all the table with very good wood. Wood. Yes. From Mali. Yes, from Mali Empire. Yes. So here it's my favorite part of the house because I really love to cook. All the time I cook days, nights. In the middle of the night I can cook. So I cook all the time. So I made my kitchen to be easy to use and with smart using. So the dining dinner table is here. So here I have all my plates. Yes. Wow. So you take it. And we can do directly here. I have my fridge here like this. And so when I cook here, I have a... When you make the Vaparco cheese come here. You put it down. It's sort of going up. Oh yeah. The films from the... You see if there is inside. So no smell in the house. Even everything is closed. You don't have smell in the house because it's... It's going directly down from here. Wow. So when I cook I'm here. I use all my oil. Everything is here. My utensils for cooking. So I make everything like this. The oil is stuck in the bowl. And all is like this. Do you do this just for yourself? Yes, just for myself. What about me? Here all my difference. Oh my God. Let's look at that. Yes. When I cook I have my electric stuff to plug here. I have USB, USB-C to plug the telephone and the cooking machine. And you can control with Wi-Fi too. But I don't use Wi-Fi. I only press like this. And I really love glasses. So I have my glasses. Wow. Placache, Pantry. I don't know. I have my glasses, all my glasses here. So we love champagne here. So we have a lot of champagne. And all here is champagne glasses. But we don't use often. So I put upstairs. It's only when I make a party. How often do you do parties here? Yes, very often. Like every week. This weekend? Yes. So I'm invited. Yes, you can. Even if you don't invite me, I'm inviting myself. Yes, you can come. I make Iftar, Muslim Christian. Everybody comes because there is it. So here you have my glasses, Pantry, I don't know. And here you have this. What do you mean? So you can come. That's a space. Yes. Oh my goodness. Wow. Oh my God. So it's like my... More like a storeroom for everything. Oh wow. So I have my machine. I make my own pasta. So I use my machine to make my pasta. All my machine I have here, my drink, my champagne. And everything I use to make pastries. My tea. This is my tea room, all the tea I drink. And yes, the rice, the gari, everything we use to make African food. And Italian food, French food. So I stock everything here. So I don't need to go to the supermarket. And I have this machine to make foofo. The foofo machine? Yes, the foofo machine. It's incredible. I feel like I need to invite you to Ghana. Because I'm moving to a new house. Okay. And after seeing this, I don't want anyone to touch my kitchen. Can it be a deal for me to invite you to Ghana? Yes, I can. And I can make in distance or I can go to make... No, I don't want to do it in distance. I want you to be there. I want you to make my kitchen for me. Deal or no deal. Deal. Deal? Deal. They're waiting for the next video of you making my kitchen for me. Yes, I will. Ha, voila! No, you see, one thing that I want to say is that the room is like minimalist, but touch of luxury. It's not something huge, but I mean every space that you go to has something unique in it. A bit of a style that I've never seen anywhere. It's incredible. I was not really expecting all that I'm seeing. You know, everything is just here. But so stylish, man. Where is this place? Is that a gallery? No way! I'm still moving! Doesn't it look more like a guest room? Yes. If you had explained it to me, I would have done it well. You can... You can... You can... You can... You can... You have a guest room. You have a desk to work on. I feel like you love white. I love white and I love wood. So I often have. And I think for the guest room, because you don't know your guest's taste. So I don't want to make a color who can be... Who the guests will not love. Make white, so it's... White, not white. Yes, white and wood or color, light. So it can be... Everybody can love it. But this guest room, for example. I made a design. It's a hand-made paint on the wall. And I made like this. What? Wow! This is in the bedroom, bro. Life is good when you have an architect as your wife. I mean, a room designer. I mean, a T.I. designer. You get to choose the taste that you want and she makes it happen. So here is my room. Your room? That's incredible, man. I mean, you did everything by yourself. Yes. This is mind-blowing. Very minimalist. Yes, I told you I don't like big stuff. And too much color, I like simplicity. And it's like here, you have my TV. And if you are in the bathroom or on the cabinet toilet and you want to see TV, you can turn it. And so here you have a mirror. And on the other side, when you are in the bathtub, you can see the TV. And here you can have the mirror. What do you mean? If you are here, on the bathtub, you can check. Yes. You know what? I can spend the whole day in the washroom. On the... It starts from the bathroom? Oh my God. Yes, you can see it. You can have... From here, you have an outdoor shower. Yes, I have. Because I really love Bali, Indonesia, architecture, and they make a shower outside. So I made the same for my man. He makes a lot of spores outside. And when he finished, he took a shower before to come inside and after got another shower here. So I put a shower outside and put some... And you know, it's more like you can also shower... Looking at the stars. Yes. I did that in one country. Oh my goodness. This is incredible. You know, this is like a resort. But you're living in your own house. Yes. And it's... When you say about resort, I have in my... Here, my fridge to make my stuff. I have my champagne if I want to drink some tea or something. And here I have my dressing. You have here the clothes I wear all the time I put all here. I guess you make your own clothes. Not all. Some are my clothes. Some are another designer. But I have a lot of nanowax for sure. And now here I have the real dressing. What do you mean? No way! I just shouted. But put off your shoes. What? I have no clothes set. It's hidden. This is mind blowing man. This is mind blowing. Please. I'm inviting you to Ghana. I'm serious. Okay. Wow. So you don't do this for people. You just do it for yourself. Yes. Only for myself. I'll be the second person. I'm just blown away. I don't know what to tell you guys. If you have a message for Africans. What would that message be? The message for me is to be excellent even no matter which work you make. Even if you sell tomatoes. Sell the tomatoes like nobody else. Like when you go to the market a lot of people sell tomatoes, onion, everything. But when you sell, you have to make a good customer service. You have to make beautiful packaging. So people say, okay, everybody sells tomatoes. But I will buy with her because with her I got another experience or another packaging or another. So whatever you make when you work, make it with excellence and be on time. Always on time because be on time is the good thing in life. And in Africa we don't, everybody always late. And it's not a good thing. We have to take the good stuff of another continent and bring to us. Because in Africa we have a lot of stuff, a lot of good things. But we don't make excellence a priority. How do you say that in French? Always try to do excellent work. Always try to improve. Always try to make a better work. Don't say, okay, what I do is good. It's okay. No, you have to be better and better and better all the time. Because a lot of concurrence, a lot of competition in everything you do. Like I have a brand of clothes, but there is thousands and thousands of brands. So if you won't stay in the game, you have to all the time make change, make new stuff and be better in what you do. Where can we find another wax brand? I have shop in Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo and Benin. And I have an online shop too. If you had a chance to change one thing in Africa, what would you change? The late of people. So Africa needs to be poncho? Yes. I want to say thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate your time. Me too. Thank you.