
Perlicious was founded in 2010 by Sara Codjo, a young Beninese entrepreneur with a deep passion for African fashion. A line of handmade jewelry made of beads, pearls, and stones and of handmade beaded reception dresses. Perlicious has over the years consistently produced bracelets, beaded bags, and complete jewel sets for weddings and big occasions.
Sarah Codjo and the Perlicious Brand
The CEO and Founder of Perlicious, Sarah Codjo, studied in Senegal, in a mixed school of many people from almost everywhere in the world. According to her, that was where she had her first mixed experience, as she had to team up with people of different nationalities to make things work. As a matter of fact, the school made it compulsory to have at least five different nationalities in a team, which helped her greatly and drove her vision to infuse people of different nationalities into building a successful brand.
Sarah has a Master Degree in Management (DSG) Finance and a Master in Audit and Management Control and several certificates in English, making her bilingual. These certificates have helped her offer her clients a quality service through her entrepreneurial and creative profession. She has further worked in different countries after getting her degree, but her dream has always been to rather see her clients as bosses than work for anybody.
I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
The Africanism in Perlicious
Perlicious is one of such brands that you don’t have to look too far before spotting the Africanism in it. Growing the brand into one that disrupts the global market with its taste of Africanness can be seen as deliberate. Let’s take a quick look at some of these things that make it purely African:
- Sarah makes use of semi-precious stones all over Africa and ensures that through her work lies the story of beads, pearls, and stones to suit the client’s personality
- At least two materials from two different African countries are used to make a necklace
- The brand, which is primarily based in Benin, currently teams with about two Nigerians to teach some skills and to help with pro-activeness in fast mass production
- They team up with Kenyans to make bracelets and bags
- Tailors are from Senegal and Nigeria
- The designer is Beninese, Sarah Codjo herself
- The marketing manager is from Ivory Coast
The fabrics used are sourced from Turkey or Dubai.
Sarah Codjo, while speaking with ISOKO Africa points out that it’s not just about the brand or fashion but about a global vision with Africa coming first, hence the need to spread wings and cut across as many African countries as possible and even beyond Africa. With this vision in mind, Sarah ensures her brand teams up with almost everybody, which includes Africa and the world and she understands the need to mix with culture to bring the best out of her brand and add a little spice to African fashion
What Does the Future Hold For Perlicious?
Perlicious is certainly growing to be one of the most enviable African brands in the world, as it doesn’t seem to be relenting on the top-notch Africanism that has been built into it. With the increased use of technology in the world today, we can guess that Sarah Codjo makes quality use of the Internet. Perlicious do not only get orders from their Facebook page, which is their main social media platform, but also on an online store that’s focused on Europe and America.
Sarah attests that she invests a lot in attractive content and this includes the use of good visual and models on social media. She believes that with a good content, one can easily pull in more clients, which is very realistic. In addition to that, the Perlicious brand makes use of models of different sizes and colours, to let others know that they can rock the brand in any way they’d like to and shouldn’t be limited by their size.
With consistent posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Perlicious has been able to get a lot of clients and even vendors. Sarah Codjo has been able to represent Benin at fashion shows, exhibitions and cultural meetings in a number of countries, including Benin, France, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Malawi. She has also won a number of awards in the last 5 years, giving Perlicious a promising future, provided she doesn’t relent.