African Fashion Business

• September 4, 2023
• Moffee
• no comments

What The Business Of Fashion Means For Africa.

How do we keep our heritage and culture and use it as a niche to promote the [fashion] industry without becoming the ‘Chinas’ and the ‘Indias’ of this world?

Lulu Shabell, SilverBacks Valley Interview Excerpt.

Lulu Shabell, Meron Demisse & Safi Seck, sat down to an interview with Ibrahim Sagna of Silverbacks Valley – a podcast bridging the worlds of venture capital, tech, sports, media, and lifestyle in Africa.

Tech can help us find the balance between growing our African fashion industry and sustainability goals.

Lulu Shabell, SilverBacks Valley Interview Excerpt.

Lulu Shabell is the founder of Lulubell Group, a consulting firm servicing African luxury brands with sustainable strategies for expansion into global markets. Meron Demisse is a writer and media platform founder of Culture and Conversations on Africa – a platform that brings to the centerstage, conversations about culture in Africa. Safi Seck, a fashion designer, is the Founder and Director of Senegalese fashion label, Saraaya.

Lulu Shabell speaks on harnessing the blessings that fashion in Africa has to offer; “now, Africa is blessed with an abundance of creativity. However we have not, until now, looked at fashion as a component of creativity that can be used for economic development. Because generically speaking, we look at agriculture, we look at medicine, we look at engineering, we look at manufacturing in its grand scale without thinking that fashion could be a contributor, actually, to the growth of our continent.” The consulting firm founder champions the creation of structures within the creative and cultural industries, particularly in fashion, that will create access for the youth into an ecosystem that enables them understand what the value chain can be like in a bid to have African fashion available everywhere in the world.

Meron Demisse, Founder and CEO, Culture and Conversations on Africa, speaks on driving visual integration by amplifying the cultural economy which focuses, she says, on 6 pillars – visual arts, entertainment, music, literature, culinary art, and fashion. From an advocacy perspective, the media platform founder looks to ensure that the creative capital from the fashion perspective is in the entire eco system; drawing out Ghana’s institution of National Wear Program, where Ghanaian Identity is celebrated, and tailored local fabric is proudly worn as business attires, every Friday. “Everybody is wearing their national dress, proudly so, and also… thinking about what that does to the respective economy!”. Meron Demisse also speaks on Tourism as an untapped market to appreciate cultural heritage, how much growth said industry has had in recent times, and the clog that has slowed things down.

At the heart of it, business and policy have to meet in order to be able to create an enabling environment so people can consume and appreciate heritage and culture.

Meron Demisse, SilverBacks Valley Interview Excerpt.

On looking inwards and creating brands that can stand the test of time, fashion designer, Safi Seck, Founder and Director of Senegalese fashion label, Saraaya, speaks on Integrity being a key player.

Integrity needs a big connection into your deep self. I have been through some challenges that actually affected my mental health, but it has taught me something very important- you need to be true to yourself. You have to be true to yourself; you cannot try to be someone else. Being able to express my emotions, my true emotions into my design, has helped me to release, connect, accept who I was, no matter what, because integrity means also being able to stand up despite people not agreeing with you, and having the courage to do it.

Safi Seck, SilverBacks Valley Interview Excerpt.

Dubbed the three Champions of African fashion, Lulu Shabell, Meron Demisse, and Safi Seck have discussed even more in their sit-down at the valley with Ibrahim Sagna. With every second thought-provoking, tap here to watch.