The Business of African Fashion





As someone who managed Apparel Merchandising PMO for the world's largest retailer; Walmart, I know exactly the economic accelerant that the Apparel industry represent for any region of the world that gets it right. From Bangladesh to Vietnam to China to India these are regions of the world that continue to benefit economically from the commercial opportunities that the global Apparel value chain presents.





So why not Africa? This has been the question we have been solving for @ Nazaru. From conversations with the biggest buyers of Apparel in the world to investors to technical experts in the industry and producers on ground to the Trade Financing institutions such as the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) - I have successfully engaged with all the various stakeholders - listening to them and concluding that the opportunities abound and so does the barriers.


When Black Panther movie first came out I sat with retailers asking how prepared they were to support the demand flow for African fashion as a result of the rise of Afrocentricity - they weren't prepared. And because of the lack of connectivity to the African supplier chain, China stepped forward to fill the gaps - they supplied "African swords", " African jewelries" etc. What a missed opportunity economically for Africa. The African Opportunity Growth Act (AGOA) continues to be under-utilized. This U.S


policy allows African Apparel originating from the continent to be imported directly into the U.S. market with zero tariffs and without quota. But without tacking capacity development, standardization head-on and attracting investments into the sector it remains a pipe dream. Join me on September 30th as I host a webinar with all the stakeholders in the industry. This webinar is already filling up quickly because of high demand.


Find registration details on my website at www.toyinumesiri.com