Celso Ferreira – Make an opportunity a look at everyone

We didn’t have specific knowledge or skills, there was just a lot of will and persistence.

“Just as a river along its path overcomes many obstacles and grows stronger, it knows its reason. I believe today that difficulties and obstacles are lessons for self-analysis.” The sentence is not ours, it is by Celso Ferreira, the creator of Zambezi Eyewear, who explains how he created a flagship brand in such a special context, such as the birth of a river.

There are people for whom the Covid-19 pandemic was a moment of reflection and for generating ideas. Celso Ferreira was one of those examples. At the end of 2019, after having to buy his third pair of glasses, he remembered to create a national eyewear brand himself. Born and raised in the Mozambican capital, the young graduate in accounting and auditing, realized that this was the best way to change his life and create something of his own and this is how Zambezi Eyewear was born.

Advertising

“Seven months after the lockdown, I decided to quit my job because I felt an immense responsibility in defining what my life purpose was. I realized that I was born for this, because when I started to build the brand my own skills as a professional changed. The challenges and opportunities that arose were exciting; I gathered the right people who could add value to the project in the second half of 2021 and, in January 2022, we officially arrived to the market,” Celso tells us.

It’s impossible to think about the brand’s journey and not relate it to Celso’s personal growth. Persistent, resilient and dedicated, the young man shares how difficult it was to enter a totally unknown path. “We didn’t have specific knowledge or skills, there was just a lot of will and persistence.  We were very time-tested, with product scarcity and we had to organise and select a strategic team with different capabilities”.

The path is made by walking and the truth is that it was the difficulties that made Celso’s work improve. From the beginning, the young man knew that the quality of his product was crucial to reach more people. To the national raw materials, Celso added design exclusivity, a mixture always guided by his own willpower.

The Mozambican wooden eyewear brand promises to bring added value to the market and since the beginning of the year Zambezi Eyewear has been gaining a foothold in the market by bringing, above all, “differentiation”.

“I believe my image is similar (to the story of Zambezi) in that I won some battles over self-esteem. It has a lot to do with how I see myself and not how others see me. So, all I do is to be aligned with my purpose, with my identity and make an economic and social contribution,” Celso Ferreira states. With a new look, the young man promises to inspire and connect with people who approach creative ideas.

Issue 76 Nov/Dec| Download.