At only 21 years of age, Cedric Mizero is already making a name for himself as a designer and fashion pundit. The young man was born in 1994 in the Cyangugu, in a family of eight children.

He attended primary at Ecole primaries de Mushaka where he completed primary school, later he enrolled at Groupe Scolaire de Kigombe for secondary school and also undertook a one-month course at Académie de Beaux Arts in Kinshasha.

From the start his parents were divided on his decision to become a fashion designer; his dad frowned on his choice of profession while his mother is his die-hard fan and supporter.

"I started out in 2007, Before that, I used to love fashion a lot, I liked to put on different outfits when I was young, I kept it going up to a point I felt that I could make a living out of it; The first outfits we came up with were shoes and clothes,” Mizero says.

Over the years, he has been able to rub shoulders with big names in the fashion industry; he has worked with several companies like; Gisele shop and Mose Tekle. He also worked with Korean model Suyoung Kim who jetted in the country in 2012 to showcase his outfits.

As he recalls, this was the highlight of his budding career as a fashion designer. That same year, he opened up a fashion house, House of Fashion Killers which designs clothes under the label, Mizero. Youth under 17 are the ones he uses to showcase his designs.

However, life as fashion designer in Rwanda is not without its own setbacks; among the challenges he faces include, being able to keep up with change in the dynamic fashion industry.

As he says, for the case of young people, trends in fashion change a lot especially for the ladies clothing and accessories.

"I use African materials, sometimes I use recycled materials to make my products; most times, I craft the outfits with my hands. I am always inspired by nature and most of my products derive their originality from natural sources,” he adds.

Other challenges that he faces include; inadequate finances and capital to invest in his business and lack of materials to use. According to Mizero, most of the materials that he uses come from neighbouring countries.

Some of the big fashion shows he has participated in include Techno fashion week, Red Carpet Fashion event and Youth festival. These have helped him to get exposure and experience in the local fashion industry.

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