Nigerian fashion brand with Marquette ties among winners of $10K Milwaukee startup grant

An e-commerce brand for custom Nigerian fashion was among six early-stage companies to recently receive a $10,000 grant through the MKE Tech Hub Coalition's FOR-M startup incubator program.

Oluwapelumi Oguntade started the company, Oluomo Worldwide, as a freshman at Marquette University in 2019. Walking around campus wearing clothing made by her mother, a seamstress, Oguntade had the idea to start a business to share Nigerian clothing with others.

"I didn’t want to just be another fashion company,” Oguntade said. "I wanted to differentiate myself."

Oguntade decided to focus on offering custom-made clothing made by a network of tailors both in the U.S. and Nigeria. Oluomo means "one of a kind," in Yoruba, a Nigerian language.

Oluomo Worldwide has sold its clothing through social media and at in-person events like the Milwaukee Night Market, Oguntade said. She plans to launch a website for the business this summer.

More than 200 entrepreneurs, including Oguntade, have participated in the free FOR-M startup program since it started in 2019. Of those, 30 entrepreneurs have collectively received $300,000 in grant funding.

Oguntade plans to use the grant funding to pay for expenses including web development and fabric. A team of Marquette students is developing Oluomo Worldwide's website.

The other recent FOR-M grant winners were: