How Chocolate Clothes Global Turned African Culture Into a Global Fashion Brand

Summary

Podcast Summary: Earn Your Leisure – "How Chocolate Clothes Global Turned African Culture Into a Global Fashion Brand"

Podcast: Earn Your Leisure (iHeartPodcasts)
Episode Date: January 16, 2026
Hosts: Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings
Guest: Kwaku Bediako ("Chocolate"), founder of Chocolate Clothes Global

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Overview

In this engaging episode, Rashad and Troy welcome fashion entrepreneur Kwaku Bediako, famously known as "Chocolate," to discuss the meteoric rise of Chocolate Clothes Global. The conversation dives deep into how Kwaku fused West African heritage with global style, built a brand that dresses presidents and celebrities, and created a vibrant community that reflects African excellence on the world stage. The episode also explores lessons in entrepreneurship, the balance between creativity and business, and tips for up-and-coming designers.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Origins & Early Influences

• (05:24–09:23)
  • Kwaku introduces his Ghanaian heritage, upbringing in Nigeria, and how his family’s scientific background (parents are professors) shaped his analytical yet creative approach to fashion.
  • Early passions: Drawing cartoon characters, designing cars and buildings, and writing movie scripts and rap lyrics.
  • Quote:

    "I've always been a good blend of my nature and my nurture—with a creative edge but also a science community." (09:14 – Kwaku)

2. Balancing Creativity and Family Expectations

• (12:32–19:48)
  • Kwaku describes the challenge of pursuing creativity in a family of scientists and outlines the cultural expectation to become a doctor or lawyer.
  • He shares stories of financial hardships—walking miles after work due to cut-off stipends, and eventually winning parental support after his success became visible.
  • Memorable Moment:

    "There was a reason they conferred the name Bediako to me—a fighter that never quits." (13:09 – Kwaku)
    "2015/2016, we got profiled on CNN... That's what changed the whole dynamic of their perception." (18:08 – Kwaku)

3. The Cultural Depth of African Fashion

• (19:48–26:48)
  • Explains the significance behind West African textiles, especially kente, where color and patterns convey status, emotion, and even marital status.
  • Discusses how his designs modernize and reinterpret tradition—incorporating lace, crochet, velour, and denim with iconic patterns.
  • Quote:

    "For us, it's not just about wearing clothes. It's about key messaging, about communication. Authentic clothing goes beyond 'this color is fly'—it's what does green or purple and gold mean to us?" (20:44 – Kwaku)

4. Cross-Cultural Influences: America, Hip Hop, and Modernization

• (26:48–32:39)
  • Sharing the impact of 1990s and 2000s American pop culture, hip hop, sports, and movies on his creative evolution.
  • Describes integrating fabrics like velour, inspired by brands like Sean John and Rocawear, and how culture is now global, with music, sports, and fashion fueling each other.
  • Quote:

    "It's a fusion, if you're to ask me, it's a blend. For us as a brand, we’ve always been about that lifestyle—bringing people together, blending cultures and mindsets." (32:07 – Kwaku)

5. The Power of Networking & Game-Changing Moments

• (32:39–44:40)
  • Detailed story of how Kwaku got Steve Harvey to wear Chocolate, leveraging precise visual estimation of Steve’s size:

    "I’ve been following you... You were in Czech Republic, wearing a linen shirt and coral shorts. I eyeballed you and made you a suit." (39:55 – Kwaku)

  • Steve Harvey’s endorsement led to explosive growth:

    "Yesterday's price is not today’s price." (32:54 and 44:42 – Steve Harvey, as quoted by Kwaku)

  • Lesson: Opportunities come from preparation meeting the right connections.

6. Scaling Challenges & Lessons Learned

• (44:40–55:13)
  • Post-celebrity boom, Kwaku grappled with lack of business structure and the need for organic, not rushed, growth.
  • Example of a misstep with Naomi Campbell—creating pieces based on his vision instead of hers and the importance of listening to clients:

    "We need to understand who our client audience is. At the end of the day, even if we’re given the power to design, we just don’t go imposing our ideas." (51:26 – Kwaku)

7. Business Evolution: Partnerships & the NBA

• (55:13–61:45)
  • Describes partnership with NBA Africa’s Basketball Africa League—a first-of-its-kind global merch deal.
  • Developed new lines, including caps, hoodies, and bags, expanding into repurposed and recycled materials.
  • Quote:

    "With the NBA Africa partnership, we’re not just about high fashion—we’re empowering the community, blending culture with opportunities in sports, music, and art." (58:27 – Kwaku)

8. Community-Building & The Chocolate Membership Model

• (61:45–67:41)
  • Launched a membership (not subscription) structure, giving clients bespoke clothing, first access to collections, exclusive collaborations (e.g. Caveman watches), and networking opportunities across continents.
  • Focused on fostering global communities of like-minded, ambitious individuals:

    "We feel like we are building an ecosystem and community... There’s always that power of collaboration rather than competition." (64:08 – Kwaku)

9. Advice for Aspiring Designers & Entrepreneurs

• (67:41–69:30)
  • Kwaku’s actionable tips:
    • "Think big, start small, move fast."
    • "If you want to move fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together—collaborate."
    • "Be intentional. Plan. Learn how to plan."
  • Quote:

    "I don’t have no cap... We need to be intentional. Start small, move fast, and collaborate." (67:41 – Kwaku)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On reconciling creativity with family expectations:

  "My parents groomed us so well. Although we used to clash, they helped us understand boundaries, encouraged us to read and learn beyond what you’re studying. That grounded me." (16:57 – Kwaku)

• On cultural connection through clothing:

  "Community has always been part of us. So when you marry, the whole idea is—the family knows you’ve got community, that their daughter is safe." (37:31 – Kwaku)

• On organic business growth:

  "Organic growth is important. People are quick to want eyeballs, but their back end ain’t ready. You also need to know you don’t know it all—you learn on the job." (48:16 – Kwaku)

• Steve Harvey’s reaction:

  "Yesterday’s price is not today’s price." (32:54/44:42, as recounted by Kwaku)

• On blending cultures:

  "Buttons and stitch work bring things together, bring people together, help blend cultures and mindsets..." (32:07 – Kwaku)

• On learning from failure:

  "My biggest regret: I took creative license instead of giving Naomi Campbell what she wanted. You have to listen to your audience—a thin line between driving culture and being held hostage by it." (50:35 – Kwaku)

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Key Timestamps

• 05:24 — Kwaku’s heritage, his journey from science to fashion
• 12:32 — Struggles and clashes in family expectations
• 18:08 — First major media validation (CNN, Forbes)
• 20:44 — Depth of kente and African symbolic fashion
• 26:48 — American hip-hop and cultural influence
• 32:54 — Power of networking, Steve Harvey’s endorsement
• 44:40 — Structural challenges and lessons in business scaling
• 50:35 — Client misstep with Naomi Campbell
• 55:24 — NBA Africa partnership and merch lines
• 61:48 — Global membership model
• 67:41 — Advice for new designers
• 69:37 — Chocolate’s (soon-to-be-revamped) website, future of the app

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Final Takeaways

• Culture as Competitive Advantage: Kwaku’s blend of Afrocentric tradition and global culture is at the heart of Chocolate’s appeal; clients wear not just clothes but stories and status.
• Community Over Competition: The brand’s power comes from building ecosystems—whether through weddings, sports, or networking events, collaboration is key.
• Organic Growth & Adaptation: Even with celebrity endorsements, businesses need planning, structure, and the humility to learn from mistakes.
• Global Vision: Chocolate Clothes Global is less about selling garments and more about turning African identity into an expansive, modern lifestyle that connects continents.

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To follow Chocolate Clothes Global:

• Instagram (major updates)
• Website: chocolateclothesglobal.com – relaunching with new features
• [App coming soon] — for custom measurements & member updates

"Think big, start small, move fast." — Kwaku Bediako (67:41)

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#End of Summary

Transcript

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[A]

When I did the podcast with you.

[D]

All, I was telling you probably the.

[A]

Most impactful interview I've done in my career.

[D]

I'm heroes now, like real heroes.

[E]

I heard Rashad Detroit talk about the.

[D]

Tax letter, about finance. But we talk in a language that is common to the people.

[A]

That's from the communities that we grew up in. You all are the bright spot.

[E]

Thank you.

[A]

Real estate. Thank you.

[E]

And entrepreneurship for black Americans.

[A]

This is the knowledge that actually matters. I applaud both of you for this.

[E]

Thank you, Lizzie.

[D]

Isn't it a country issue? It's not an American issue.

[A]

It's a world issue.

[E]

He came to earn our leisure. Welcome back. Special episode. This is Atlanta.

[D]

The lighting is. Is great, isn't it?

[E]

Yeah, yeah. We back. We back in the Mecca. You know, it's that time. We got. We got a special guest today. We know him as Chocolate. The world knows him as Chocolate.

[D]

The world does know him as Chocolate.

[E]

His name. You want to say his name?

[A]

Well, Kwaku.

[D]

Kwaku.

[E]

We share the first quake. We got the first name correct.

[A]

Yeah, you did.

[D]

That means born on Wednesday. I'm a born on Wednesday baby as well.

[A]

Yeah. I felt the connection.

[D]

Brothers.

[A]

Yeah, we do. Yeah. So, I mean, yes, bediako. But it's bidiaco.

[E]

Beacon.

[A]

Yeah. Which literally means came to fight. So I'm a warrior.

[D]

Ah.

[E]

And then.

[A]

Oduro. Oduro. Oduro, yes. Odura. Kweku.

[E]

Beriako.

[A]

Odoro. Oduro. Yes.

[D]

The odoro is.

[A]

That's my dad's name.

[D]

Dad's name.

[A]

Yeah. So Kwaku is my born day.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

That's like my nature day.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Bediako is my soul, who I am.

[D]

Warrior.

[A]

A fighter that never. That. That never quits.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

And Odro is my nurture. Yeah.

[E]

So, okay.

[D]

Welcome, my brother.

[E]

So, all right, well, first and foremost, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.

[A]

I appreciate it. And listen, it feels always great to come back to Atlanta and, you know, now it just feels surreal. Love it.

[E]

And so, all right, so for full context here, Chalk is from Ghana, which I just found out. You was actually born and raised in Nigeria.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

But living lives in Ghana. So when you, obviously, if you've been following, earn your leads. You know, we've been doing a lot of traveling and work on the continent, and Ghana is like, the primary hub of where we've been going. Shout out to Kwame, shout out to Alvin. Shout out to our whole team out there. So what he does is he's like the fashion guy when it comes to all things West Africa garments. So when you see us in the caftans, that's kind of what Troy is wearing right now.

[D]

I'm wearing chocolate.

[A]

Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate.

[E]

Yeah. Most of the stuff that you see us wearing over there comes via him. He's had clients in the past, like Steve Harvey. Who else?

[A]

There's a whole host.

[E]

Michael B. Jordan.

[A]

Michael B. Jordan and the family. Mr. Jordan. The list goes on and on and on. Jamie Foxx. We currently close over 40 presidents now and prime ministers as well. But the list goes on and on. I think it's not just about the celebrities and public figures that we clothe. It just goes a long way to just tell the world, just validate the work, validate the brand. But, you know, we are very, very excited to work with everyone who understands what being different means and subscribes to a global vision of where Africa has always been. And now we get the chance to fuse in high level Afrocentric type wear with high fashion.

[E]

Yeah. Did the fashion show at Invest Fest. Legendary. First time we've ever done that. So, yeah, man, you want to, you want a nice roll right now. So appreciate that. Yeah. Looking forward to this conversation. So let's, let's, let's bring it back. And he has a store. So if you ever go to Accra, the number one hotel is the Kopinsky Hotel.

[A]

Kopinsky Hotel. Shout outs to them. They've held me down for six years.

[E]

And across the street from the Kopinsky hotel is the mall.

[A]

Yeah, it's a mall. It's a galleria mall. So it's like an art gallery mall. But again, they are very open to work with brands that has an artistic aesthetic. And we fitted right into that. And, you know, it's just a beautiful store. We have a full blown Runway. So, you know, come pick up some clothes and do the catwalk for us. That's a fact.

[E]

That's a fact. All right, so we gonna have this cross continental conversation first. How does this start? Right? Like, how does this start? I mean, I feel like the whole continent of Africa right now is super popular. Everybody's, you know, into the Afrobeats and the fashion and all that, but that wasn't always the case. So you growing up, what put that seed in your head to be like, okay, I'm gonna be a designer not just for where I live, but I want to spread it out all over the world.

[A]

Well, it's been a journey, man. It's been a journey. My parents are professors. My dad is a professor in plant pathology and my mom is a professor in botany. Every member of my family read science, including me. And so from biochemist to a molecular biologist to a stem cell researcher to a nurse now turned public health person, then to me that red tech I T and archaeology before I moved into fashion. But you know, let's again go back to, you know, back in the day when I felt like my, my design power started when I was born. I used to design cartoon characters, used to design buildings like, like buildings like this. This, this is me. Used to design cars, grails, move up A little bit. Okay. Used to design car grills, the dashboards, gears, and also the signs that I read also helped me sort of add that sort of scientific touch to the design. Like, can you picture an idea of having a clutch system powered by your hands on your steering wheel? So literally, you get a half clutch when you're edging close to the wheel. And so you design a wheel to, like, a steering wheel to go with that. So I've always been a good blend of my nature and my nature, which is being born with a creative edge, but being also nurtured from a science, you know, community. Pretty much, yeah. I get the chance to look at things from a different perspective now. It's very interesting looking at the rise of the different facets of culture. And today I'm just really excited with music as one sector, but its ability to feed into the different branches. Food, storytelling, movies, fashion, and so on and so forth. Yeah. So it's all very interesting to see how they all feed into each other. Now, although I was going about my schedule, which was to design buildings or to write poems, I used to rap, so rap lyrics to songs come up with storylines. You know, when I was in university, I finished uni back in 2009, and back in the day, I wrote about three different movie scripts. I had this concert edge and felt like I was gonna make it to Hollywood. I don't know why I thought about that. So. But anyways, my passing was Hollywood 2012, because, again, I felt like I was so much filled with creative energy that was backed by a lot of cultural. A cultural push. Just filled with many ideas. Right.

[D]

You said your nature versus your nurture.

[A]

Right.

[D]

And so I'm listening to it. Having parents who are in the education field.

[A]

Mm.

[D]

I'm sort of certain expectations that they have for their children.

[A]

Totally.

[D]

You have this creative gene.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

This sounds like a clash. That is that it was so, like, as you. You're realizing, like, this is my gift, like, expressing myself, whether it's through lyrics or it's through fashion. What is this class like? Right. Because I'm sure, like, West Indian. It's like you're going to be a doctor, you're going to be a lawyer. Oh, you're not going to be that. Oh, no, no. You better be that.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

What was that like for you as you're going through the creative process?

[A]

Well, it was beautiful, man. It was beautiful. I've never. I've never kicked down. I'm a stubborn guy, man. Like, there was a reason why they conferred the name Bediako to me, right? And I think that my parents really got to understand what it meant after a while. It wasn't easy, clearly. I slept out of the house so many times. I was cut off stipends so many times. I remember when I started chocolate, at that time I used to have a 9 to 5 in marketing communication. So afterwards I now go almost another hour and a half to where the store used to be. And I recall not having any money. And then, you know, you will work till about 6, 7, you have extra work to do about till 10. So by the time you want to jump on public transport to get to where you're going, the cars are done, like they're done for the day. So you got to walk all the way till you're able to get something. And because you've been cut off and you're trying to also hustle, you don't have the means of jumping in a taxi or a cab or Uber or whatever. So there are times I recall walking a good two hours, three hours after work to get to my destination and I have to leave in two hours because I need to join the first public transport from back to the house to get ready for my next morning job. Because if you get there after 8, you will be queried. So this went on for like an hour and like a year and a half. And clearly my parents are also worried because they're like, yo, listen, like you've gone to read this first of all. The marketing communication you've gotten into is not science. I was like, no, that is a science to this. Like it's not just advertising. You have to, you know, there's a science behind it. There's methodology. You have to understand that the way people are thinking. So it took a while. Like my first two, three years in that advertising space was not easy. But again, I recall going woken up around 3am someday with my dad just telling me, hey, I'm listening to this thing on BBC and I think advertising is a science, you know, And I get that, maybe made him realize that, okay, maybe I should be open to that. A year and a half afterwards and I'm coming up with this clothing brand and he's like, like, what do you want? Is it first it is this tomorrow is that, you know. So I guess, you know, it was very different. You know, my dad was the first guy in his village to go to university. My mom, out of 11 kids, my mom was the first out of 12 kids and used to also hustle way back, you know, she'd Wake up in the morning, take bread, the mom used to bake, so take bread to the neighborhood, sell it before she goes to school. So they were also naturally born hustlers, but then they also found their career path through science. So they knew that this was the only direction they could go. Cause this is what took them out of their villages, right? And so it was not, they were not about to gamble with your kid essentially. But I think one thing I'll, I'll say is I'd like to doff my hats to my parents because they groomed us so well, they nurtured us so well. Although you know, we used to clash a lot. They did a good job by, by helping us to understand like well, first of all, boundaries to understand, to encourage us to read, to learn so much beyond what you are studying, right. And that for me went a long way to ground me. And so they sort of understood that it wasn't a lost case, he might know what he's doing. Let's just, you know, let's just be on the sideline and watch what he's doing, right. And so it's not surprising when I first finished my first store and I went, I went to my dad and I told him, hey, I wanted to rent one of your buildings. So they eventually got into real estate as well. And you know, I went over to them like, hey, can I get one of your one bedroom houses where I could turn into a, like a little workshop. And they're like, yeah, whatever. I mean the rent is a year. You know how Ghana is, you have to pay rent between a year and two years. You don't pay monthly rent. So the following day I cooked up the money and gave it to him and he was shocked because no one comes to rent a house and they pay outrightly. So it made him start to observe, started asking questions. I remember he popped into my office sometime, he had gone to a friend's 70th birthday and he was rocking chocolate. And when he got there, the celebrant 70 year old guy was rocking chocolate. All his kids from age like 28 to about 45 were all rocking chocolate. Very big individuals wearing chocolate at the party. So he comes and he's like.

[B]

You.

[A]

Know, I just left this party and it looks like everybody is wearing chocolate. Like what are you doing? What are you doing? So I started explaining to him, hey, you know what, like because of the science background, I'm able to attach to the back end certain solutions. People just don't need clothes that just enhances Them, but also closer coverage and floor. So your ability to gauge that solution makes, makes and then create a connection makes our brand different. And then he was like, okay, so are you saying that you also. So it's like you fish out defects and diseases in people's wardrobe. Okay, then let's call it fashion pathology. You know, And I think since that day, my dad started becoming very open to the idea of what I was doing. Started seeing a ton of celebrities come to the house. Cause I started off in his house and you know, let's just say 2016, 2015, 2016, we got profiled on CNN. And I remember he got calls from his friends, his cousins, his work colleagues, you know, like, ah, I think we saw someone like KB on cnn, you know. And my story was so impactful, they aired it for six months on African startups and voices. And that's what changed the whole dynamic of their perception. And you know, later on we got a chance to make clothes for our local, our Black Stars team, our soccer team, shout outs to the Black Stars. You know, when we're going for Brazil 2014. And it just. The global journey just started. It just started unfolding. Got profiled on Forbes, then got profiled on so many different platforms on BBC and then the journey just started.

[E]

Let me ask you this, what's the like as far as fashion? We do the fashion thing. And you know me, I like really study the fashion game. So a lot of people may not be familiar, but like in the 90s, late 90s, Kente cloth. Kente cloth, Right, Correctly.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

That was a big thing in America. Like even I look at my. My brother's high school graduation and he had a kente cloth scarf on. That comes from Ghana, right?

[A]

Well, Ghana, West Africa. Because what it is is that back in the day it wasn't Ghana. You know, the whole West Africa was kind of like just one big.

[E]

And then it's like different. Different tribes.

[A]

Exactly. Different. Now there are different types of kente. So.

[E]

Yeah, so talk about. Okay, talk about West African fashion. The kente cloth, the up and downs that they wear in Nigeria. Right. Like the Ghanaian style. We was just in Benin, we seen that they had their own style, like kind of educate the audience.

[A]

Yeah. So, I mean, so Africa as a whole is full of beautiful art. Right. The idea of cloth, indigenous cloth has always been part of us. Weaving of these cloths have been part of us. When you go to different parts of Africa, they call it different names also. These different patterns also reflect different messaging. I was privileged enough. Couple of Last year, when we got hosted by Prince William at Escort Prize, and I got the chance to meet other people who were who've been doing specific studies about sustainable fashion. That is what kente cloth is and how it makes it sustainable and all of that. And it will be surprising for you to know that back in the day, you pull up wearing a certain type of kente and it shows your status, a certain type of cloth woven, it shows the kind of messaging. Even if you had an issue with your wife as a couple, and let's say you take it to the chief right to be the judge of the issue. Depending on the cloth you wear, depending on the weave that you wear, it shows that you're remorseful, it shows that you are not remorseful. It shows that you are ready to take this to another level. It shows all these meanings have come through just by wearing certain or adorning certain cloth. It's very similar to even, like, symbols like the giames and then the dinkrahinnes and all these other, like, symbols that also go a long way to say things without uttering out a word, pretty much. So for us, it's not just about wearing clothes. Again, as I said, it's about key messaging. It's about communication. And because this has been a core part of us, you realize that everyone expresses it differently and it makes it authentic. So when we talk about authentic clothing, authentic art, this is what we mean. It goes beyond, hey, like, this color is fly, so I'm going to wear this. It goes a lot on, what does green mean to us? What does its fusion with orange mean? What does it's. What does purple and gold mean? Does it mean or does it mean something else? Right, yeah. So that is literally the crux of what garments from our continent means. But of course, recent times has come with its own interpretation of it. There are certain type of comms that were not relevant or are not necessarily relevant to today's age, but it's kind of like propel setting conversations in today's age. And that's why, you know, you're looking at even what we are doing. I'll try and show some patterns that I brought where now what designers like me are doing is we're coming up with our own type of patterns. Right? And so if we're saying, okay, this is traditional kente, however, this is how I'm going to weave this into that. Like, take a look at this shirt. This is like a lace shirt. But then what we did was we wove a certain line of pattern which Is very similar to the traditional one. And then we crocheted on top of it. We then create a different element of or a layered experience to it. So you might be talking about, hey, I am royalty in terms of like the kente woven approach. But then you also get an element of style design. Who's a modern guy. Does the modern guy just subscribe to the old way of doing things? Not quite. But is it, does it inspire him to do greater things? Yes. You know, like back in the day, for example, our fathers will want to they call something called pension homes. Like, and I hope I didn't get roasted for this. It's an internal joke that we have in our home, for example, where my dad is like, oh, well, hey, I'm going to you finish this building for my pension. And then you realize you go to Ghana, you have all these three stories, four stories at age 60, who will be staying on the fourth floor? Right. But the modern African things differently. He is trying to say that, hey, listen, I'm aspirational, I'm ambitious, I love to connect with like minded people and I love at a very early age to establish basic things so that I can also make time for family. And so you realize that it's literally the same thing, but like, we express things differently and in that same way is seen in our type of clothes we wear and the type of choice of certain woven type of fabrics. Also, you know, post colonization and everything. We also had, you know, some elements of how do we create, how do we scale this idea? Yes. Do I think it took out a little bit of the crux of weaving of cloth? Yes. But the good news is it still gets done. But in the attempt of scaling the art, you have conversations like wax printing, where in that case, you know, you got like a digitized version of, of the same idea of the kente weave, but then is now showcased in a more scalable way. And then, you know, to aid distribution, to aid other people also tap into the art. And that's what. How come today you see the likes of companies like Vlisco, Woudin that we actually work with, we're just about dropping a collab. First time in history in four African countries. Benin, Cote d', Ivoire, Togo and Ghana. So yeah, so you know, just to give you just like a little like a surface conversation, that's the bigger look of the fabric itself and how in modern day it's being scaled on one level for, let's say, affordable luxury lines and how for high fashion, it still remains as woven yeah.

[D]

As I'm hearing you talk, and the more we have conversations, I hear the science, right? Like, I'm listening to the fashion pathologists in you. It's interesting, right, because we had a conversation the other day and I know we're talking about West African fashion, but the impact that American fashion had on you, Right? Like, as we were even discussing this, we were talking about the 90s, and that's the era. When you talked about the 90s, I'm like, oh, we grew up in the same area, right. It was like I could never get to Sean Joan Velour.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

I'm just like, I loved it. Like, that was a thing for us.

[A]

Yeah, totally.

[D]

But the fact that you incorporated the velour into your fashion now talks about that scaling, that modernization, that science, pathology. Talk about the influence that America had on your design and how it's incorporated into the stuff now.

[A]

Yeah, no, I mean, definitely. I think my, my, my connection with America started way back. I mean, my dad schooled in Tucson and lectured in both University of Arizona and University of California. My mom schooled in Canada. Right. They met even at a very early age, three, four, I think we met. We might have come here for a few months before we went back to Nigeria where I was born. So there are elements that these things play in the heads of creatives, right? Fast forward. Back in high school when Velouris became a thing, we were deep. As I said, I used to rape, so I used to dance, I used to rap. And so the hip hop culture was embedded in my blood, right? And obviously you had music like hip, live Afrobeats also tapping into like a good fusion of taking beats from here, tapping back into where the original hip hop beats are from. Like, all these things have. There's been a cross cultural diffusion of all of this, right? So for a creative like me, going to parties and looking a certain type of way was my goal. Like I was telling you yesterday that I could afford some red monkeys and some Geno greens and some Evisu, but back in the day, man, I couldn't afford or even have access to the son genre laws, the Rockaway Veloz, right, The Jafaris, you know, and so for me, looking at fashion back in the day, let's say early 2000s, looking at when that was the first time I ever got a chance. And again, I used to like all the facets of all the cultural facets. So I used to like basketball, I used to like the movies, used to love food, right? But then you take a look at the culture back then. You go like, you see, you watch NBA games from the screen and then you're seeing hip hop parties at. At these basketball games. You're looking at all the food elements being incorporated, you're looking at all these fashion elements that were incorporated. And let's look at 20 years afterwards, what is happening to the world currently. And it's the same thing, but now it's happening to Africa, where you take a look at Jollof Wars. Right. You know, it's a sensitive conversation with me when it comes to Jollof. Yeah. Like Nigel, don't kill me. What side?

[D]

Well, you can't play either side.

[A]

Kana Jolov.

[D]

Okay, okay.

[A]

Yeah. What you mean as a man, you have to take sides? Yeah. And you take on how that is influencing type of even songs being done. You take a look at songs also talking about certain type of gears, like chocolate gears, like Christy Brown gears, like, you know, so many different new crop of new African creatives coming up with all these spiffy clothing that also ties in with the culture. Right. You take a look at even NBA Africa. Bal. So you look at the texture of the space and you look at how Afrobeats is influencing the fashion, fashion influencing the sports, sports influencing the movies.

[D]

Art as well.

[A]

And the art as well. I mean, hey, come on, I'm an artist, you know. So it's a very interesting conversation of what happened back in the day, early 2000s, late 1990s, and how everything sipped into each other and how as a young designer or a young creative who was still studying signs, how that sort of plays in my. With my mindset and helps me tap into inspos to now redesign and come up with a new line of ideology that's able to fuse Afrocentric lifestyles into high fashion, that's able to fuse Afrocentric lifestyles to hip hop culture, that's able to fuse different mindsets, different people, different cultures, you know, so today we are doing kaftans, as they call it, or boo boos. And we are not just fusing kente. We want to fuse it with velour's, we want to fuse it with corduroys, we want to fuse it with sustainable, someone's old sustainable denim that is never being done again. Bring it back to life and get our cacao brand to jump on that, to repurpose it, you know, so it's. It's a fusion, if you're to ask me, it's a blend. And for us as a brand, for me, as a person, I've Always been about that lifestyle. Like I love networking. I love meeting people, sharing perspectives. And so, you know, take a look at every type of chocolate and you see buttons, every type of chocolate, you see stitch work. And because these two elements invariably brings things together, bring people together, helps blend cultures and mindsets. And no wonder you look this spiffy, man. I'm wondering why Rashad didn't wear nothing chocolate, man. Rashad, what's happening? Kojo, what's happening man?

[E]

So talk about the power of networking. Tell the story about Steve Harvey. Cause that's a good story, but also like, you know, it's important for people that are looking to get their brand in front of big names or just anybody, right? Like talk about your strategy and that story specifically.

[A]

Well, so first of all, shout outs to Steve Harvey, man. Like I still remember when he said when he had his first chocolate on and he said yesterday's prize is not today's prize. That's exactly what he said. But yeah. Well, first of all, I can't talk about Steve Harvey without shouting out Kevin Autry. Kevin Autry has been a big brother friend of mine for a while. And I do recall when I was very specific on my vision. How do we build the biggest lifestyle?

[B]

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[A]

Business and brand in the world that happens to be from Africa. And I knew that. And at that time, we were responsible for, like, what was indigenously African culture with weddings. I used to make the biggest weddings clothes for the biggest team of groomsmen and bridal teams. Right. So let me give you a typical example. When people are getting married here, you see, like, maybe five groomsmen, six bridesmaids. We decided way back to fully understand what that meant for our traditional weddings. You finished school with such a huge community, and for us in Africa, community has been part of us. Like, you are going to school and everybody can query you, everybody can punish you, everybody can reward you. So community has always been part of us. So why then would you want to marry in a traditional community and make six people your core groomsmen? So for us, we started to say, no, hey, how many friends you got? How many. How many associates do you have? So, I mean, the biggest wedding we ever did was 175 groomsmen, 175gr, 175 groomsmen, which was between Ghana and Spain. We started this whole idea of pretty much like your. Your pack will be behind you. Like, the whole idea is that if I'm going to get married to someone, the family has to know that I've got community and that their daughter is safe. If I'm not there, the community got her. Right? So that was the whole idea of.

[D]

That can get tricky.

[A]

Well, yeah, I guess, you know, Africa, everything is tricky, right? But yeah, so, you know, after doing that for a while, and we realized that, no, like, yeah, this is a good strategy locally, but on a global status, how then do we go back to our vision? And we quickly realized that, no, the first thing we got to do is to look at the connecting factor. How do we connect our people with our Afro diaspora people? How do we connect cultures? How do we connect mindsets? How do we connect sectors? So conversations such as even not just with Steve Harvey, but with NBA Africa, with bal started as such. How then do we create a link between sectors fashion and sports? How do we create connections between us as you know us from back in slave trade, post slave trade, how do we turn that energy back into power? And then how do we work together, you know, to form bigger businesses and bigger fronts? So that then started us. That front started with Boris Cujo. We met in London, and then we got a chance to. He was coming to Ghana at that time to start the whole year of return. He had, I think, merged with Bozoma St. John and I think Rich Lou. To form what they call a full circle. And then they launched the first ever year of return, a year before the year of return. So that was a wide awakening for us, because then we got the. We realized that, oh, wow, we can get a lot of validation and a lot of endorsement from not just captains of industries, but also public figures that could understand our vision and where we're going. So that, you know, ripple effects then got us to. Got me to know that, well, hey, cevavi is coming to Ghana. So I'm sitting there, I'm like, yo, listen, I got to make clothes. And this is the thing that I've been blessed with. I'm able to eyeball people and tell you what your size is. And I think the first batch of clothes y' all got was like that, right? And so, but for. The funny thing is, with Steve Harvey, he was always in suits. He was always in suits. So then I kept on tracking his social media. I'm like, how do I get this guy's measurements right? And then he went on this holiday with a family in Czech Republic, and they went for fishing. The cost of muscles. And he was wearing those white linen shirt with coral shorts. I still remember, like, yesterday, I was like, ah, there you go. So I eyeballed him, came up with a good suit for him. He came to Ghana, tabbed in with Kevin, met him in his office. And I remember when we got introduced, Kevin's like, hey, Steve, this is Chocolate. He's one of the best designers over here. He's made you a suit. Stevie's like, no, no, no. I don't wear no ready to wear. You know, I don't wear. I don't wear no ready to wear thing. I'm like, no, trust me, man. I've been. I've been following you. I've worked over 400 episodes of Family Feud, Steve Harvey Show. You were always in suits. It didn't help me. But last two weeks before you came here, you were in Czech Republic. You were wearing this. Da, da, da. Dude is just standing there. Like, he was just staring at me, and he's like, listen, my credibility is on the line. If you rock this and it doesn't fit you, like, that's it. That's my shot. And I lost it. It's like, okay. So he picked up the clothes, goes into the washroom. I'm sitting there tensed as hell. Like, I wanted the. I don't know whether or not you feel so tense sometimes. Like, you feel like you're sitting straight, but you're but like you're curved. So much weight on you. And then he comes out like. So we're sitting there, I'm chatting with the team, with the family, with his kids. Then all of a sudden we hear, so he comes out of the washroom draped in this all black suits, top and pants, kaftan with trims of kente. Listen. And at that time, he was into baggy stuff, baggy pants. So as soon as he came out, the first response was from the wife, Marjorie said, finally, these are the pants I've always wanted you to have. And it was like clockwork. Like he was, he was blown away. He immediately ordered for five more suits for him and ordered a suit for everybody in the family. And that's literally when he said, well, yesterday's prize is today's prize. And he said, kweku, I'll make it my mission to make sure that everyone knows of chocolate. And you're going to be global. And since then, you know, we've done family, two seasons of family, food, Africa. We've done, I think Miss World, you know, succeeded in clothing him in different spheres of life. But again, it goes back to the validation. It goes back to when opportunity meets preparation. And, you know, very, very excited by our association. And we still stay in touch. You know, we messaged each other some few days ago. He gets your, you know, got a chance to meet him as well. But yeah, it's just really, really exciting. And post him. I mean, the list goes on and on. Idris Elba, the B. Jordan family entrenched more of our position with the NBA and NBA Africa. Yeah. And the list goes on and on, you know. Yeah.

[D]

So that moment changes your life.

[A]

It definitely did.

[D]

Changes everything for you. I wonder as you get this moment, obviously you prepare for it, but challenges come, right? So like when we think about it, like we prepare for this moment our whole life, we don't know what's on the other side of that. So what were some of the things, challenges that you face post that moment? Right. Sometimes you scale too fast and business may not be ready. What are some of those things that you face after having this huge moment? Excuse me.

[A]

I think definitely I even have a story with that structure now. Most businesses on the continent, the necessary structure that should guide businesses aren't available. You even getting to work with the best of accountants, lawyers, all of that are not readily available. There's also this sort of myth that like things that has to do with lifestyle such as clothing, food, all these things are not typical careers. If I'm gonna put it this way. Like everyone is nurtured in such a way that you got to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, right? And so imagine you have such a business and opportunity and you go talk to a lawyer, he's wondering what, why he's giving you his hours. Definitely. Structure now becomes a huge conversation. Then you start asking yourself, okay, what does this mean? Would you want to continuously make just bespoke suits? How do you even just continuously make bespoke suits? Or are you thinking of scaling that conversation? And to answer all these questions goes back down to structure. So yes, we definitely did have our own fair share of not being structured enough to leverage off this 100%. On the continent though, we still went ahead to still push the narrative on weddings, people's ceremonial clothes, corporate clothes, casual clothes. And this also helped us to gradually move the business on a continent from it being just a one off, one man business to also attracting people over time because they started realizing that it's not just about being a lawyer and doctor, but there are other conversations and other sectors that could also attract individuals that also landed in accounting and law and all of that. Secondly, there's a story, right? And shout out to Naomi Campbell. I quite recall Naomi Campbell was in Ghana 2018, 2019. One of my big brothers, Fred Swaneka and Achaleki. Fantastic individuals, man. They have this platform called African Leadership Network. So they launched it a year in Mauritius and then to Ghana, and it attracted one of the wealthiest billionaires in in the world, Andres Polson, who owns ASOS.com, bestseller, all of these. So that weekend was filled full of a listers. I recall meeting Naomi and I'm like, hey, I would like to grab a picture. Like, she was saying no to everybody. But for me, there was something about me that I think she was drawn to.

[D]

So Naomi Campbell.

[A]

Naomi Campbell, Yeah. So, you know, she did a quick selfie and she's like, you know, let's talk later. Now we show up at the event and every a lister at that event is wearing chocolate. So she goes to tell Fred, hey, where is, where is this chocolate guy? So he's like, oh, he's coming, he's coming. So now I get to the space and just so you know, everyone was wearing chocolate, was eyeballed. Okay. We didn't have access to the, to them, you know, all of them. Anyway, so I get to the space. Naomi is like, no. So they go like, well, hey, chocolate, come, come, come, come, come. Have you met Naomi Kamel before? Naomi's like, wait, we Met earlier today. So we laughed it off. He's like, yo, Kweku, I want this, that, that. She wanted everything everybody was wearing. What did the stubborn Kweku go and do? I went back to my workshop and decided to be. What's the word? I decided to be like, I'm the. I'm the. Know it all. Start doing. Started doing some things and went to meet her. She was so excited. Like, she was calling Kweku, where does my clothes come? Like, she was so excited. Now I get to her. The clothes get to her. She gives it back to the people. Like, this is not. This is not. This not for her. Before it clicks here that. Wait, is this what you made for me? Listen, it was one of my biggest regrets of and two, and there are two elements here. We got to be very, very careful when you want to scale. Organic growth is very, very important. People are so quick to want to get mileage eyeballs, but their back end ain't ready. Two, you also need to know that you don't know it all. You learn on the job. You never think that, hey, I've got into this status. I'm doing all these businesses with all these big A listers, and so I know it all. And so these two things was a lot of it was a learning curve for me with Naomi. I mean, we still got a chance to finish up another outfit for her. And, you know, I mean, it's been a while since I met her, but, like, at least we did solve that issue. But for any other person, I guess it would have been a blow because some opportunities just don't come like that, you know, they don't come like that. We need to.

[E]

What you wanted to do, you took creative design to do what you wanted to do, not what she wanted.

[A]

What she wanted.

[E]

She was disappointed in that.

[A]

She was definitely disappointed with that. And, you know, I know that, like, I'm a true and true creative. I do love the idea that I'm able to come up with certain ideas. I love it when clients and I love it when individual goes, hey, Kwaku, do you know what? Tweak this for me. All of that. Or, hey, come up with something beautiful. I love it. But again, it's not every single time that you meet people that are going to be comfortable with certain line of design palettes. We need to. And this is a creative conversation. We need to understand who our client audience is. We need to understand who the client is. So at the end of the day, when even if we are given the power to Design. We just don't go imposing certain type of ideologies and certain type of looks on that individual, especially when it's not who they are.

[E]

Well, that goes back to just not just. It's a business conversation, because that happens all the time in business where the customer asks for one thing and then you give them something else. It could be content. They can. They might not even verbally say it, but they could, like, show it by, like, they're watching this type of content. And then you, as a content creator, you want to make another type of content. Or it could be, let's say, like, we have an event, right? If a speaker or whatever. Like, you know, bottom line is this. You have to listen to the audience. But is it. But it is a thin line because you also have to drive the audience also totally, right?

[A]

Like, you can't formulate.

[E]

You can't get held hostage by the audience. That happens in music all the time, right? Like, you look at somebody like NAs for 30 years, they wanted him to.

[A]

Make his first album.

[E]

If he would have, he would. He would have still be 19. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you gotta be able to grow, and you gotta force the audience to grow with you. Yeah, but that is definitely a difficult balance. But, yeah, I guess.

[A]

Yeah. But I think that, like, this was my learning curve, right? Like, I'm still very stubborn. Like, a lot of my great clients would tell you, like. Like, you know, one of my big brothers, Pops. Pops Mansa Bones, who first got in to play the NB Shout out to Pops, man, And he would tell you, listen, I want this look.

[D]

That's pretty good. That's really good.

[A]

Shout out to you, Pops.

[D]

That's really good.

[A]

Right? But I think it takes time. It goes to building an organic business. You need to be able to understand that. Yes, you are full of all the great ideas, but you cannot. But you can't get to the top in a day, you know? And so forming a good balance also does mean that. Okay, hey. Okay, this is the first. I'm like, I remember the very first time I met y'.

[D]

All.

[A]

Y' all were pretty specific on what you had wanted. But then it takes time, because I was like, okay, we'll do a top and down each. We'll do top and shorts each. Okay? Then we'll learn from what you wanted versus certain colors that I tweet in. Okay? This doesn't work. So you learn with your audience, and then you start tweaking it accordingly. You can't just surface and then come in A post. In fact, this conversation goes beyond just clientele, even goes beyond. I'm humming more on even ideas that we want to bring to even this market. I mean, you know, we've got our global strategy guy with us. The type of clothing we do in, let's say West Africa versus the type of clothing we do, let's say in the Middle east versus the type of clothing we do in the Caribbean, versus the kind of clothes that we are hoping to do here are all different because every society, every community is different. And as a creative or as a business owner, you need to be able to be discerning to know this. Otherwise if I show up just coming to impose certain line of look on you, you might not have a good break through in the market. That's literally what it is, you know, so I'm very, very sensitive when it comes to these conversations. My greatest goal, which we've started doing, is to have creative teams in all these different markets. Because what happens is that you are able to now tap into the soul of people. And so when they look at the clothing, they don't know what it is. It might not necessarily be what they will go in for. I get this all the time. Wow. I would have never picked Brown. Oh, wow. I never knew that. Like, this looks nice on me. Why? Because it takes. It carries essence and spirits of who they are as a people blended with ideas and perspectives from a different place that now they start getting comfortable with. Yeah.

[D]

So you had that moment and then we talk about the power relationships. Right. I think since we've met, we've seen you with this bag, talk about the.

[A]

Bal man, shout out to beer, talk.

[D]

About the influence in basketball, the partnership with the NBA, how that all came about and what are the dynamics of the relationship?

[A]

No, I mean, it's amazing. I think for years I've always been a big fan of basketball. Like I've not been the best of.

[D]

Players, but self awareness is important.

[A]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, now I'm about a business, you know, and so it was very interesting to me again knowing that, hey, we want to build the largest lifestyle business in the world that happens to be from Africa. And so conversations and networking. Hey, who, who is an NBA? Who do I know? You know, who do I liaise with? Who do I vibe with? Especially after we made clothes for our Black Stars. 2014 and soccer. Right. So 2018. No, 20, I think 2015, 2016, I got a chance to meet Pops. He came to Ghana for the first time after a long time. And I Met him, Lual Deng, Chris Bosch, a couple of guys that came to Ghana. And I was really excited because I ended up making clothes for them. And back in the day I also make shoes. So I made shoes for them with size 50 and size 51s. First time we ever made shoes like that, right. And so I started getting more insightful about that space. Fast forward to Black Panther and there was so many different parties and events that were hosted in collaboration with Black Panther and we'll get a lot of requests for certain looks and drips for these parties. And there was one such party that was done by, I think it was Luo Deng or one of these big NBA players in la. And at that party everything changed because then now people started seeing not just clothing, but they also started seeing an armor. So you have the story of Black Panther with maybe fiction, but also speaks to the reality on the ground in Africa and how that empowers us as a community and having the clothes as a tangible element of what that key messaging will be. So anyways, long story short is a lot of people fell in love with that, the looks and the drips. So then we build much stronger relationships. And then I quite remember 2020 when the launch of NBA Africa with Ball was happening. I got a chance to be in Chicago and witnessed it. At that point I still didn't understand what the bigger conversation was in my mind. I'm like, hey, you know what? I want to make clothes for everybody who's a top executive in basketball in NBA. All of that. Also there was a little bit of, I mean, you know, our former president, well, your former president Barack Obama is a key, is a key, is a key pillar in NBA Africa in ball. So I also had an idea that, you know what, I want to make clothes for Obama too, you know, plus he's left handed, you know. So it was all the elements that was getting me really excited with NBA Africa back in the day. But then I also realized after a year or two in post Covid that it meant more than just high fashion. There was a great space for off court, off pitch merch. And obviously a lot of people know our brand. And so having conversations, key conversations like this and in a space and in the business model of bal, which is to empower the community within that same same direction or in that same direction, we then spotted a gap, which is, okay, hey, there are no brands that are doing merch for the league. And so we got into conversations, looked into it. It was not a model we were doing because we do High fashion. But we got so inspired, got challenged. There was a. An initial brand I started a little bit as Outside Chocolate, which was called Chocolate Urban. Well, it was called Urban, but like, it was still affiliated to Chocolate. But back in the day, people still didn't see what I was trying to do. So we just still made it as part of Chocolate. So when the conversations with Bao, with NBA Africa was getting close to, like, us selling the deal, we realized that, no, we need to be able to have a separate brand that will cater to partnerships, cater to the affordable luxury space. And, you know, you speak to such deals and, you know, you know, got a deal signed about. I think the first contract was three years ago. Got a global deal to distribute Merch Biomerch. First time in history. And it has been such an amazing journey because again, Africa, we don't have a lot of brands that are doing this within the African space and also brands that are also looking to take Africa to the world. So initially we just did caps, T shirts, hoodies, and I was like, no, what else can we bring to the table that would be totally different? And, you know, definitely came up with these repurposed ball bags and, you know, recyclable straps and got into motion. And till date, like, everybody's in awe, you know, seeing the brand associated with. With BL and NBA Africa. You know, we say we are always having conversations with this. We did another BBC article last year, got this featured on. We just did another one with dw, also got that featured on. So, you know, there's a lot of great conversations again, going back to the fusion of cultures where we are now able to, like, look at it from, okay, what. What can we do within the music space? Okay, what can we do within the. Within the sports space? What can we do within the food space? What can we do within the movie space? What can we do in the art space? You know, and we've. Thanks to cacao and even chocolate, we've touched on all these things. Yeah.

[E]

So talk about your subscription model that you're launching.

[A]

Yeah, membership, man. Like, okay, so I got. I got a remindment. I got reminded that subscriptions are on Netflix and members are. Membership is, you know, it's high fashion. But yeah. So, you know, with every. With our global strategy, you know, there's a very important element of always what we've been doing, which is bespoke fashion. I made a promise to several clients about 10 years ago that we would never repeat the same thing. And we put money on it. Two years afterwards, I won that money. And so doing custom made stuff, bespoke stuff, has always been a core part of us. But again, we wanted to structure that conversation. We wanted to make sure that the wardrobes of our target audiences are always very different. We are always coming up with collections twice a year. But again, for people who saw our bespoke clothes, they get a chance to wear most of the looks way ahead of even when the idea of the collection will come to play. We've also seen the need that there are a lot of target audiences that are very busy. You know, they don't have time. I mean, I remember when we're trying to coordinate your looks earlier, I could quickly say, yo, dude is in like six countries in a week. The last thing he's thinking about is clothes, right? But with everywhere you show up, you want to look a certain type of way, be it a casual meetup, ceremonial meetup, corporate meetup, and for a brand like ours that caters to all these three, three segments, we wanted to give the opportunity to our, you know, our members, right, to get the first scoop of what being different does mean. Also, you know, we close over 40 presidents, different captains of industries, different celebrities. My power of networking has gotten me here and there's so many different examples I've given with shows we've done back in Ghana, shows we've done in Senegal, shows we've done in the Caribbean. That brings people together and we feel like we are building an ecosystem of and community of like minded people. When you meet another person wearing chocolate, there's hardly any form of heirs. There's always that sort of power of collaboration rather than like competition. And we felt like, okay, how then do we give back to that same community? There are people looking to expand their businesses beyond their community, beyond where they stay. Are we able to do a show in Guyana, you know, where the president is a big, big, big fan of mine? I'm a big, big fan of his as well. Are we able to get people who are trying to expand their businesses to Guyana to be part of this? How do we even leverage off some of these captains of industries who are maybe on the verge of doing certain big deals? Are we able to get people within the network, within that ecosystem to work hand in hand? Are we able to look at how also these captains of industries sit at the forefront of certain businesses and are able to offer a certain line of rebates, discounts to our members? So for example, I have a good friend of mine, Terrence Terrence. Terrence runs an agency called Icons that's an eyewear agency, and he's actually responsible for a lot of the activations LVMH is doing. In the States, for example, there are loads of clientele that love sunglasses. So part of the membership structure is, number one, get certain type of rebates, certain type of exclusive sort of wears. Right. Also, back on the continent, we have several collaboration deals with Woodeen. We mentioned earlier with one of my good friends, Caveman. Caveman makes amazing watches. We're teaming up to make very fantastic. I think I might have a sample here where literally every member is going to get one with their customized names on it. And the most important thing about these watches is it's even with. With our Cacao concept. Right? Cacao is our. Our. Our sustainability brand. We repurpose, we eco friendly, all of that. And for this line, we are coming up with repurposed denim. So you have like this, and then all you have is customized names and then, you know, making the world a better place, right? Yeah. So there are so many different collaborations. Grenada. Grenada is like my second, third home. I love love with Grenada. It's like haven to me. Right. And we have our team out there. Right? We have our team out there. And what we are doing with such markets is to collaborate with, like, different. The different youth out there to help skill train them. Right. And then build storefronts that could celebrate that collaboration, for example. So again, anybody who's looking to expand your businesses or expand your social circles to all these places that are part of our membership comes with, like all these pecs and.

[D]

And all of that, shout out to Caveman. We met Caveman. I think you got a Caveman.

[E]

Yeah. Give me a watch.

[D]

Yeah, Caveman got the watch. Caveman still waiting, my brother. You're a trailblazer, obviously. I mean, appreciate that the brand is global. When you see that seed with that ice cream grill, we know. We know who it came from. I wonder, as you're blazing this trail, what advice would you give to up and coming designers, like, in terms of getting into this business? Manufacturing, distribution, marketing. Right. Because I'm sure there are people like, I want to be chocolate. I want to be a successful. Listen, what type of things would you tell them?

[A]

Well, first of all, think big, start small, move fast. I think big, man, I don't have. I don't have no cup. Like, I'm just. Once we think about something, I'm looking at the best way we can build collaborations to make it happen. So think big, start small, move fast. We need to develop the concept of collaboration. They said, if you want to move fast, you go alone. But if you want to go further, you work or you build a team or you work hand in hand. So, again, that's going to be my second advice. And thirdly, Let's not think that things just happen. We need to be intentional. I think one of the podcasts I was listening to, and I could so relate to it, successful people just don't get up and become successful. We need to be able to plan and learn how to plan. I, for one, I've learned the hard way of. I've always been a planner. Started playing chess when I was five. So I've always had a very. A certain type of mindset. But I realized that learning to plan has helped catapult my business from not just being a local business in Ghana, but a major frontier within Africa and is really helping to support this global expansion. Yeah. And so, I mean, these are the three things. Think big, start small, move fast. The power of collaboration, and then learning to plan.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

Chocolate, my brother, man, always a pleasure. Tell the people how they can follow you. The website for the membership and all that.

[A]

Yeah. So, I mean, currently we are redeveloping our website. It's chocolateclothesglobal.com but we're redeveloping it to have a new aesthetic. We launched that in October, but definitely Instagram is one of our major plays. We have a lot of, like, vibes out there where, you know, we get a chance to tag people who rock our stuff, our stories, all of that. And then we're also building an app that should probably be ready by next year. And hopefully with that app, I just don't need to eyeball you. You know, you should probably just take a picture and I'll know your size. Please take that headache from me. But, yeah, and also quite exciting, we have our team on the ground as well that are going to be in. As we're building the major structures for the Americas and any other parts of our global expansion, we're going to also be communicating that we have newsletters. We've got so many different ways that we're going to be communicating from now to December on how people can stay in touch and everything. But, yeah, let's just make sure y' all wardrobes are, like, looking spiffy. I mean, you can tell them how you're feeling now.

[D]

No, I'm feeling great. I mean, these fabrics feel great. Like I said, it's interesting because out of the colors that I've told you before, I've never gone with, with brown shops. And so it was great. And if you're looking at this and you're admiring it as you should be, this is a one of one. And so you got to get your own, you got to hit chalk it up and you got to figure out what the design is for you, man. He did this one off the cuff. And again, you did eyeball it. Yeah, we were playing phone tag for a while and I was like, oh, you made something. Oh, it fits perfect. Thank you. Shout out to you, man.

[A]

Appreciate you, man. I appreciate you.

[E]

All right, my brother.

[A]

Now what's that? But listen, I gotta say one thing before I go, man, listen, you guys are doing an amazing job. Like, I admire your energy. You keep on hopping on different markets, different continents. And you know, people like us are watching, right? And it's super inspiring. Just witnessing over 40, 50,000 people was totally overwhelming. And you know, my brother partner Fossil was saying that, well, the only way or the only people who can command this is a church. I bet y' all are movement. And you know, big ups and big shout outs to you. And I can also say shout out to you without saying big shout outs to Alvin, man. He's been. He's been like my silent pay set as well, you know, got us introduced to Tams, to all Irish star, all these big players who have recorded and written their music in my house back in Ghana. All that all thanks to Alvin and eventually making this meetup possible finally with him. And also shout outs to Kwame Unkun. Kwame Unkun got us together first.

[D]

Yes, yes.

[A]

And you know, he's been an amazing pillow of ours. And big shout out to you, Kwame Unkun. Yeah, absolutely.

[D]

Absolutely.

[E]

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for rocking with us. We'll see you next week. Peace.

[D]

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