Modelling, especially in developing countries, is a profession many people don’t consider lucrative, regardless of the fact that the fashion industry is growing tremendously.

The Covid-19 outbreak set back the fashion industry, including bringing to a halt the many annual events that used to be held in Kigali.

On the other hand, corporate companies have cut down on advertising budgets and being a model, therefore, is something you can only do as a hobby. Right?

Not for Franco Kabano. The 35-year-old former model and now entrepreneur believes modelling is something that can be a huge industry with many opportunities for young people, not just in Rwanda but also abroad.

Some of the models on the runway of international fashion shows. Photos courtesy. 

Kabano believes fashion and modelling are inborn talents and can be moulded to become better and lucrative for many who are passionate about it.

His personal story is a testimony of how this is possible because he never went to any school to study fashion or modelling, but he set out to go after his dream even as life threw difficulties, including dropping out of school, his way. 

"I started modelling in 2006 but I had to wait until 2010 to be on an international runway,” Kabano says, recalling that he started off with Daddy de Maximo Mwicira Mitali’s modelling agency.

Kabano’s first international exposure was at the Rwanda Fashion Week, which brought continental and global models on the same runway and from there, he knew there is so much one can do as a model.

 He got a chance to model in different East African countries and in Europe, which in a way made him realise how big the industry was.

In 2015, he stopped modelling to set up his own agency with a vision of training young kids and people who love modelling in general, because this is something new that is undermined by many.

Kabano first established his first agency, Golden Models, in 2017, which evolved to his current agency, ‘We Best Models’, which does model scouting, development and placement globally. He runs it with his partner.

Kabano, was born in a family of eight, and believes modelling is something inborn for him. He used to encourage his siblings to pick interest in fashion and modelling. Even as an adult, he would find himself rejecting job offers just to focus on modelling.

 "It was something I was born with. It is something that I had in my spirit,” he says, adding that he encountered many challenges along the way but never gave up.

Not even his family members understood what he was up to but his mum believed in him and knew that he had the talent.

"I thank God that my mum stuck by me. She didn’t know so much about modelling but she knew that talent is something you can work on and make you achieve all your goals or what you want to be in life,” he says, adding that it is the reason he carried on.

A field not understood by many

Kabano says modelling is something many people don’t understand but it can be lucrative.

"Modelling is something that can change your life just like that,” Kabano says, adding that many people don’t understand the industry, mainly because of cultural beliefs.

He says that people in the modelling business get judged by society due to lack of understanding. Some even wonder what a man is doing in modelling. He believes he can change this perception.

Kabano says that he persisted in modelling to prove to people that it is a job and that not everybody can be a doctor or lawyer. He has had to fight a lot of things, including being judged.

Today, his models are earning good money, appearing on the runway or in ads in Europe and beyond and he gets his commission as the mother agency.

 He says on some gigs, models can earn up to $10, 000 just to appear for a few hours. Kabano gets calls to take models abroad, from Nigeria, to Europe and beyond, where they earn some good money and he gets his commission.

Venturing into fashion and modelling taught him a lot, including the requirements for models to be considered ‘international’, and he has invested himself in ensuring that he develops high class models that can be demanded globally. 

Scouting starts as early as when kids are 16, where they are identified and trained to a level where they can be recognised internationally. There are a lot of details that go into it because it is a very specific industry.

As a mother agency, Kabano focuses on ensuring that he nurtures the best group of models who will be attractive for the international market, and works with agencies abroad. His agency takes care of everything.

 In total, he has 19 signed models, five of them in Europe, three of them with running contracts, and his models have worked in Paris Fashion Week, London Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week, among others.

"We are starting to do New York Fashion Week this year in September,” he says, adding that ‘We Best Models’ have featured in fashion shows in Barcelona, Madrid, Germany and Switzerland, among other countries.

Kabano is looking to establish himself in Europe because that is where modelling is lucrative, but also locally, he will keep his foot on the ground. He believes Rwanda’s fashion industry has grown by leaps and bounds.

"Previously we had like only three or two designers and other people were just tailors. Today we have a lot of young designers and they’re doing great,” he notes.

 Kabano believes his calling is particularly in modelling and can’t be a fashion designer. Growing up, he dreamed of becoming a journalist, particularly a TV presenter but as they say, destiny has its own way.

For young aspiring models, Kabano says who you are really matters. Your personality and character can take you places and your conduct in society determines what value it attaches to you.

Much as he focuses on high-class modelling, Kabano believes everyone can be a model regardless of size or height. It is what you feel that makes you one.