Everyday Heroes: Meet Aderayo Animashaun

Aminat Aderayo Animashaun is the Creative Director and CEO of Switt Fashion and Leather Works, a company based in Ibadan, Oyo State. Aderayo founded the company in 2012 to give expression to her passion for fashion and the production of quality bags, purses and shoes made from Ankara, aso-ofi, adire and leather materials. Derayo did not just stumble into the fashion industry. She noticed that from a tender age of 9, she used to enjoy stitching fabrics and by the time she was in JSS 2, she declared her desire to learn fashion designing. Her mother, Mrs Aderonke Animashaun, enrolled her at a fashion house where she reported daily after school hours. De’rayo Today, she has not only founded Switt Fashion and Leather Works; she has also created a brand name, De’rayo and is the CEO of De’rayo Vocational Limited, which is an institute where she teaches and trains youths as well as corps members how to make bags, shoes and other accessories. Her passion to take youths off the streets and empower them to become relevant in and to add value to the society led to the founding of the institute. Aderayo Animashaun is the co-founder of Prospect for Girls Foundation, a non-profit organization that trains and empowers young girls in Africa. Her organization also gives fully paid scholarships to youths who are interested to learn the skill. In addition, they visit orphanages to train and empower the orphans there. Hers is not a roadside brand as her company produces for 18 Forever, a London-based brand and Redefine Africa based in Pennsylvania, USA. Aderayo has a Diploma in Marketing from Olabisi Onabanjo University. She holds a DELF certificate in French and has a B.Sc. in Entrepreneurial and Business Administration at Nigeria National Open University. She is also a beneficiary of the World Bank’s Women X scholarship, where she studied Entrepreneurial Development at Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Lagos Business School (LBS). Reference: www.google.com.ng/amp/s/guardian.ng/guardian-woman/i-was-in-junior-school-when-i-told-my-mum-i-wanted-to-learn-fashion-designing-animashaun-aminat-aderayo/amp/