• Ajayi mending a palm slippers as her customers look on
Mary Ajayi, a female National Diploma II student of the department of Accountancy has become the cynosure of all eyes at the Polytechnic Motion Ground following her decision to venture into shoe mending and shoe-making. In this interview with Olasunbo Sobogun, she bares her mind on her love for shoes and how she was sexually harassed while working for her passion. Excerpts;
A: When did you start business here?
B: I started business on this Motion Ground on the 12th of December, 2016.
A: What motivated you to learn to make and mend shoes, given that you are a woman?
B: What motivated me was the way shoes are made, I find it really interesting and impressive and I am a kind of person that likes shoes, I really love shoes and want to know how they are made.
A: Where and when did you learn your trade?
B: I didn’t learn how to mend shoes but I did learn how to make palm sandals and shoes at Austin House of Shoes located at Iyana-Oloke, Abeokuta.
A: How has been patronage since you started?
B: Thank God, it’s not bad.
A: How do you feel being a female cobbler, do you enjoy it?
B: I am happy with my trade though I was shy when I started, I was really shy but I got over it with time and I didn’t let it discourage or spoil my career.
A: Have you had any negative experience since you started bearing in mind the funny attitudes of students at times
B: Yes, there was a time I wanted to make sandal for a student but didn’t have a filing machine for it so I wanted to borrow that of another student but he harassed me sexually. There are things that one does not like but has to endure for business so that is why I didn’t let it discourage me, I just forget about it and others like that. I moved on.
A: If you have a choice, would you quit shoe-making?
B: I would prefer an advancement, staying in one area and being very good at making shoes in that category.
A: You mean there is specialisation in shoe-making?
B: Exactly, so I would stay one place (shoe-making) and make the best of it.
A: Do you have a role model?
B: Not really, I just want to develop myself and make changes because I have not seen a female cobbler, I only hear of it.