Veronica Nyakianda Gakio is the founder of Ankole luxury that deals in the designing and manufacturing of bespoke handmade jewellery, accessories which include but not limited to necklaces, earrings, bangles, pendants, cufflinks and candle holders. Before you read, check out part one and part two of this interview.
What is the African Country That You Want to Visit This Year?
I’m torn between Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana. I feel like those three countries, I might be wrong, but I feel like they really embrace their culture, even the way they talk.
For some of us, especially Kenyans, when you go to a foreign country, you will see someone who has gone to the US for six months and they have an accent. But for a Nigerian, even if they’ve been in the US for 20 years, they’ll always maintain their culture.
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And that starts with the accent. And they are proud of it. They always say, I’m from Nigeria, Proudly Nigerian with what they do and how they talk. I think they always show that thing of an apologetically Nigerian.
So I want to visit those countries and just see what it is that they are different that makes them so proud, even despite what people say about Nigerians. Nigerians don’t care. You people don’t care. You are so proud of being Nigerians.
For us Kenyans, whenever a few bad things are happening, we even want to say we are not from there. Oh, I used to be Kenyan, but now you get what I mean. We even want to abandon our country, but for Nigerians, unapologetically, whether it’s something very negative being discussed. They’ll say I’m from Nigeria. And then even the way you say will make that person even stop talking and apologize. I just love that attitude.
What’s the Most Underrated Kenyan Food?
Githeri. It’s a mixture of beans and beans. Whenever people say, I’m eating githeri, people always assume, oh, you cannot afford a proper meal. But this is food that used to be eaten by our grandparents. It’s a cultural food. But when you tell someone, a Kenyan, I’m eating githeri, they always identify it with poverty.
This is something that you can also cook with beef or something on the side and some vegetables, just like any other things. But people in Kenya associate eating githeri as poverty. And it’s a very healthy food, especially if it’s organic. It doesn’t even take much to prepare it. And you can even eat it when it’s just boiled. You eat it like peanuts. You can eat it when you have fried it.
How Do You Look After Yourself in Your Free Time?
Given that I work a lot from home. So, I make sure that once a week I go out and hang out with friends to understand what’s going on, what I have missed. I also attend workshops.
Whenever I hear there’s a workshop and I feel like the topics in the workshop relate to what I do, I also attend them. Because we get lost when working from home. And if you’re not too careful, you’d end up even staying a whole month away from people.
What Has Been the Most Humbling Moment in Your Journey as an Entrepreneur?
I was attending some program and then you see how you’re told, come with your products and then an item that you thought didn’t have any flaws. Then you’re told this, this, this needs to go.
And then you go to another program and you’re told the exact same thing. This, this, this needs to go. Why are you having this? And you’re always bragging about your items. You’re like, oh, they, they are flawless. No mistakes, no nothing. And then two people identify the same mistake.
So that humbled me and that’s why I’m always eager to learn, always asking people for feedback, even clients when they buy things, how is it? Do you think there’s anything that needs to change so that I can get better and better?
What Sports Do You Like?
I’m not a sports person, but I don’t mind when people are seated to watch the marathons or football. I enjoy with them. Maybe I guess I enjoy the company, but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the sport.
What’s One Thing You Like People to Know About You?
That I’m an autism advocate. I talk about autism, I want to bring awareness in Kenya about autism. So that’s one thing, whenever I go anywhere and introduce myself, I don’t only introduce myself as Veronica, founder of Ankole Luxury. But I always say that I’m an autism advocate. I like talking about autism matters. I try to bring awareness to people who don’t know about autism and how to relate with their kids when they have autism.
Do You Have Any Initiative on Autism That You’re Using to Push This Awareness?
I’m in several support groups, which do a lot when it comes to advocacy matters. We even push the government when we want something done or the government is not doing something right. I’m not going to say we harass them, but we really push them so that they can be able to assist us.
Because autism I think in Africa, I don’t know in East Africa, it’s not well known. So we are trying to create awareness and also try to get the government to get involved in matters that we think they should be helping us in.
Thank you so much for your time. And I really appreciate you for creating time and equally for reaching out to us.
