Youth Entrepreneur Diaries: Imaan Kala from MyClosetZA

This Youth month we will be featuring all the wonderful Proudly South African youth entrepreneurs we stock on the SOOQ here on the blog. Last week we spoke to Terri Stone, founder of Maiden Stone, our Jewellery brand stocked on the store. This week we are featuring 21 year old Imaan Kala, the founder of MyClosetZA.

She's our youngest supplier and definitely one of our most inspiring! Imaan Kala has always had a passion for fashion so she decided to start her own business as a “side hustle” whilst completing her studies. MyClosetZA is an online retail brand that sells an exclusive range of outwear.

She started off selling her pre-loved clothing online then opened up her platform for others to also sell their pre-loved items. This continued for a year until she moved on to creating her own range which included personalised hoodies and sweaters.

My Closet ZA stocks items like t–shirts, sweatpants, hoodies, sweaters and jerseys – mostly limited editions. Their latest winter collection is characterised as urban classy. Each jersey has been designed to ensure that the person who wears it makes a statement. 

“Being in partnership with the SOOQ does not only open doors for a wider target market but also allows me to be in partnership with a female owned business because if women support each other we can conquer the struggles which we are faced with in today's society.”  – Imaan

Let's find out more about Imaan Kala...

Imaan, what inspires you? “Striking at my own ideas and seeing positive results really gets me going; although not all ideas are successful but those that are, inspire me to keep going and keep trying new things.”

What Business advice would you give to young entrepreneurs like yourself? “One of the most important things which I have learnt in this journey is that you have to have ambition to be able to achieve success. You have to keep going and do not give up easily! You will come across times where you won’t reach your goals in your business but that should not stop you. Instead look for alternative ways to achieve your goal. With perseverance and hard work, it will work out and all be worth it in the end. Also make sure to manage your time wisely, remember you will need to put in quite a bit of time into your business in order to grow it and make it a success, this does not happen overnight.

P.S. also remember to have fun while you are building your business.”

What’s the Biggest challenge you have had to overcome? “Finding the right balance with my study time and focusing on my business. Majority of the work is done by me so managing my time between the two and still having a good social life was difficult but overtime I figured out a way to balance everything.”

 Who is your Business mentor? ”My business mentor is my mum. She is an ambitious woman who has taught me not to be a follower and to always follow my dreams and do my utmost best to achieve all that I desire. She has inspired me to become a woman like her especially in the business world.”

Finally - what’s your Favourite business inspirational quote? “Everyone has the key, it just a matter of using it.”

We are blown away by young female entrepreneurs like Imaan, aren’t you? Our country and economy definitely need more youth-preneurs like her to drive change & of course impact significant socio-economic factors like unemployment and the GDP ;) If more small business support small business – imagine the change we would see?

Next week we feature Stacy & Che from Sweet Peas! Don’t miss it!