First thing I would do is make sure every girl in my shop can access real business training — not the kind where some man charges you to teach you what your mother already showed you, but the kind where you learn to read your own accounts, negotiate with suppliers, and know when a customer is trying to chop your profit. Second, I would build a cooperative with the other tailors on my street so we are not each one fighting NEPA and fabric prices alone — together we can buy power and stock in bulk, and together we can push back when Balogun wants to squeeze us. Third, I would make sure my girls own something by the time they leave me, not just skill but capital, so they do not have to beg a man or a bank to start their own. Autonomy is not freedom to do what you like — it is the quiet power to say no, and you cannot say no when you are hungry or when your children need school fees. Give me reliable electricity, fair prices for my fabric, and my girls with money in their hands, and then we can talk about the rest.
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