At this years Creative Africa Nexus Weekend CANEX, 18 designers from Africa and the Caribbean are hoping to catch the eyes of buyers and investors. They are part of a larger group of 80 designers from 29 countries, under the CANEX Presents Africa at Portugal Fashion programme that is coordinated by Lulu Shabell in collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank Afreximbank initiative into the creative industries, particularly fashion.
Shabell, who founded the Lulubelle fashion consultancy group and is its chief creativity champion, believes that African fashion brands can, with support and adequate capacity, become global brands. Shabell conceptualised the programme in Portugal, after noticing the distinct lack of an African presence in major stores globally, and is attempting to correct that.
Shabell attributes the paucity of African brands to three major causes Initially, it was a branding issue African fashion was often seen as trivial. There was also inadequate infrastructure to support a viable fashion business case in Africa, and finally, there was no consistent access to markets or investment.
Putting Africa at the centre of fashionWith the support of Afreximbank, Shabell is working to position African fashion at the centre of the global industry. This initiative is built on four key pillars storytelling, capacity building, market access and investment. Afreximbanks programme includes a business of fashion accelerator program, international exposure to production and manufacturing capacities, and participation in fashion business events such as Trano in Paris and CANEX, which this year took place in Algiers.
Its a selective programme and only a few get picked out of the hundreds of applications, Shabell explains. For those lucky enough to be picked by the fashion talent selection jury, however, its an opportunity to sharpen not just their creative skills but also to hone the art of managing a business.
