Trade Minister to speak at African Fashion Week Nigeria conference

RONKE

By AZUH AMATUS

Africa Fashion Week Nigeria (AFWN) will hold the inaugural edition of Textile and Garment Manufacturing Conference on Friday, 1st July 2016, at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos.

The conference which is the primary activity on the opening day of the AFWN 2016 will hold under the theme: Making Nigeria the fashion production hub of Africa.

The conference aims to redefine textile and garment production processes in Nigeria and its entire value chain in order to boost job creation and a future of shared prosperity for Nigerians.

It will host fashion entrepreneurs, development finance institutions, and textile industry groups, among others, and will feature speakers that include Mrs. Aisha Abubakar, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment; Dr. Dr Mustapha Abiodun Akinkunmi, Commissioner for Finance, Lagos State and Mr. Akin Oyebode, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, and Mr. Dapo Adelegan, President, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce.

Other confirmed speakers at the conference are Mr. Hamma Ali Kwajaffa, Acting Director General, Nigeria Textile Garment and Tailoring Employers Association; Ms. Jennifer Anoyika, Director General, Nigerian-German Business Association; Ms. Doris Onwugamba Managing Director, Manufacturing Resource Centre; Dr. Peter Kondricz, First Secretary, Embassy of Hungary; Dr. Johannes Flosbach, Head of Performance Management, TGI Group, and Ms. Chioma Nwagbosa, Advisor on Public Partnerships for GIZ (German International Cooperation).

Speaking on the conference, Founder, Africa Fashion Week Nigeria & London, Ronke Ademiluyi, said the conference was necessitated by the abysmal performance of the textile industry. “It is ironic that the textile manufacturing sector which played a major role in boosting the nation’s economy and accelerating her development pace is at an all-time low. This is why Africa Fashion Week Nigeria is bringing industry stakeholders together to deliberate and strategize on how to get the sector which once provided employment to millions of Nigerians fully operational again.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian-German Business Association (NGBA), a not-for-profit organisation comprising of over 400 Nigerian and German owned business enterprises, has been named as an institutional partner for the AFWN manufacturing conference. Other partnering institutions are the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

The conference is a timely intervention focused on reviving textile and garment production in Nigeria thereby positioning home-grown fashion entrepreneurs for emerging opportunities in an increasingly globalised world. As Nigerian designers and fashion entrepreneurs gain increasing recognition across the world’s fashion capital of New York, Paris for their genius, there is more than a compelling need for the local fashion production value chain to be strategically positioned to face the influx of global challengers.

About AFWL& AFWN

Africa Fashion Week London is the biggest African-inspired fashion event in Europe at the moment. It has been running for five successful years. The project has successfully launched the careers of over 400 young fashion designers of Nigerian origin in the Diaspora. AFWL discovered, nurtured their careers and shot them into the limelight, and are ensuring that they stay there for good.

Having succeeded in London and seeing that most of the show’s talent finds are Nigerians, we decided to bring the project home and in May 2014, we launched Africa Fashion Week Nigeria. It was an explosive success, long awaited and became the most anticipated fashion runway in Nigeria today.