La Mode’s Journey Thus Far

As the winner of the Innovation Solution of the Year award, we are delighted to have Fahmida Islam of La Mode with us to share her experience thus far. Tunajina Islam digs into Fahmida Islam’s backstory.

Fahmida was always with the latest trends since she was a student. Sadly, being a student with a student budget never really satisfied her longing for style. She always resorted to those budget friendly online pages that imported goods from abroad, like we all do from time to time. But there is a harsh reality behind favouring foreign goods over your own locally produced ones. These were the motives behind the birth of La Mode. “Remaking the need for fashionable accessories, I decided to manufacture them in Bangladesh alongside retailing my manufactured accessories via an e-commerce platform,” she says. Initially when they had started in 2012 with only e-commerce outlets, it was a risky idea as the concept on buying goods online was still fairly new in Bangladesh. Fortunately, the still made it within just a few months with tremendous positive response. “I am proud to say that now we currently own 4 retail outlets, a fully functioning e-commerce platform, selling on Amazon prime (USA, Canada & Mexico) and a strong social media presence,” Fahmida says. This venture has inspired many entrepreneurs to take on e-commerce business as a profession till now.  

Contrary to her success, Fahmida had faced a lot of backlash due to Bangladesh’s dark underbelly- misogyny. “I used to hear things like “females can’t run businesses,” but I always used to take it as challenge rather than an obstacle,” she adds. Negativity is probably what pushes us harder to smile in the face of adversity. “You are in charge of your own life, so make every bit count,” she says. Of course, staying strong is not all that easy, so you have to be sure to find your willpower and remember what inspired you in the first place. Fahmida talks about her biggest role models being her parents who are also successful entrepreneurs and taught her the keys to success since she could remember. Another source of inspiration came from Mark Zuckerberg, back in 2011, who inspired her to take Facebook as a platform to sell their products & reach huge potential clients. Today Facebook is counted as best platform to promote consumer products 

Fahmida believes that the younger generation of girls can be inspired via Social media Platforms; “In today’s high tech world; future generations are more connected on social media. I use Instagram as a personal storybook now where I share my daily life, achievement & struggles. Young ladies message me telling my influence in their lives helped them pursue their dreams. My award-winning picture has received many comments on social media and many of them were telling me how my story helped them to believe in their dreams again! My fellow award-winning entrepreneurs can share their stories on social platform & can make a huge impact on young entrepreneurs,” Fahmida states. Just like Colors believes stories have immense power in their core, Fahmida believes it too. Staying motivated is not any trouble for Fahmida as she finds great pleasure in the incredibly positive feedback she constantly gets from clients, customers, family, friends and more. “I find these little moments of appreciation to be my proudest moments and I feel content,” she says. She wraps up by stating that success is a journey; not merely a destination. You always have much ahead of you and you need to keep working just as hard as you first did. “Work hard & be patient. There’s no shortcut to success!”