Renukah Rampaul and Djamina Drabo met as freshmen in the SEEK program, brought together by the same drive: Drabo’s passion for entrepreneurship and Rampaul’s interest in financial literacy. Those ambitions drew both to the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization club, where they would soon create their own brand.
What started as a project in the CEO club resulted in their clothing line, Homme D’Affaire — a brand focused on business-casual attire, employing students as interns. Founded in 2021, the duo developed a clothing line with the slogan “the attire of ambition,” focused on professional and sustainable clothing.
“We want to be a place where students feel confident in wearing our pieces and feel empowered to reach their personal or professional goals,” Rampaul said.
With help from designers and the previous president of CEO, Homme D’affaire was able to get inspiration and funding for its initial launch. While most CEO projects discontinue after launching, Drabo and Rampaul decided to continue the clothing line with limited inventory and the $65 they made in profits.
Drabo, who is now president of the CEO club, came up with the name “Homme D’affaire,” which literally translates to “men in business” in French but is interpreted as “people in business.”
The self-sustaining business worked to achieve the mission of creating business casual and comfortable clothing. Using 100% French terry cotton material and embroidery allows the clothing to be durable and long-lasting.
“We don’t want to be a piece of fast fashion, we want to be a sustainable clothing brand,” Rampaul said.
The current collection consists of shirts, polos, half-zip hoodies, and sweaters. Each product is offered in various colors, including forest green, cobalt blue, dusty rose, and chocolate brown. Sizes can range from small to extra-large.
Homme D’affaire has mainly sold through in-person opportunities at Baruch College and Queens Botanical Garden marketplaces. In addition, the in-person sales allow Drabo and Rampaul to inform buyers of the origins of the company and its goals.
Clothes can also be bought online through their website. When online orders come through, someone at Homme D’affaire will pack and ship the order, sometimes even shipping the order from the U.S. Postal Service office by Baruch’s campus.
By using the knowledge gained from their Zicklin courses, the duo has improved their business operations tremendously. Rampaul’s marketing and operations classes allowed her to get feedback on branding plans and inventory skills to apply it to Homme D’affaire. For Drabo, case studies of businesses helped her gain insight on impactful strategies.
Homme D’affaire also takes on student interns to help the business run. Around 30 interns from various backgrounds are employed to work in different departments of the clothing brand, including finance, social media, web design, business development, human resources, and operations. The interns are not just Baruch students, but also include students from other CUNYs, SUNYs, and other colleges.
Rampaul and Drabo say the business would not function without the help of interns.
“Renukah and I might have a specific vision and interns would bring in different perspectives that would get us thinking about the brand,” Drabo said. “Anything that you see on our social media is literally the interns. The web design, social media posts, the LinkedIn, the Instagram reels are done by students.”
Although they get no financial compensation, the interns are given professional development and a discount on Homme D’affaire clothing. Speakers from various companies are invited to speak to interns, and sometimes the interns are taken to tour offices and network.
Homme D’affaire has faced challenges along their journey.
“As a small business, [problems] look different. We encountered transportation delays and manufacturing issues, so we had to learn to overcome this,” Rampaul said.
In one situation, Homme D’affaire was preparing for a fashion show, but a clothing shipment from their new collection was not going to arrive on time. The dire situation made them consider canceling the show, but Marlene Leekang, the executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, encouraged them to continue the fashion show.
Rampaul and Drabo decided to showcase the clothes they have created since Homme D’affaire’s launch. Even with items that were sold out, the duo reached out to their customers and asked them to model it at their show.
The duo hopes to continue Homme D’affaire even after graduating in the spring and to continue giving opportunities to interns. Since the profit goes back into the company, they also hope that interns may be financially compensated when it becomes feasible to do so.
Drabo and Rampaul advise other entrepreneurs to start acting on their dreams.
“If there’s something you wanna do, just go ahead and start it,” Drabo said. “There’s always going to be challenges and you will learn along the way.”
