At last, investors are backing emerging African designers. They’re willing to provide brands with capital, connect them with industry leaders, and help designers build businesses. Even if the investments are small, experts who know the long-term frustrations of the under-resourced African fashion industry sense that momentum is turning in the right direction.
Venture capital firm Birimian and European private equity firm Trail announced on 11 April plans to invest at least $5 million a year in selected African and diasporic brands. The African fashion industry is poised for significant growth, predicts Xavier Marin, chairman of Trail. “We know African heritage is going to be a big thing. If you look at music or fashion, there’s a lot of interest there.” Trail’s partnership with Birmian is intended to provide support beyond investment, with guidance on production and selling in international markets.
Another sign of change in the air: on 2 March, the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), which helps African brands develop an international presence, backed nine African designers to present at Paris Fashion Week.
The EFI, a public-private partnership founded by Simone Cipriani that falls under the United Nations umbrella, launched an accelerator programme in 2019. Alumni include 2021 LVMH Karl Lagerfeld Prize winner Lukhanyo Mdingi, from South Africa. This year its list of designers includes Laurenceairline, whose founder is based between Côte d’Ivoire and Paris; Kente Gentlemen, another Côte d’Ivoire-based brand; Kenyan womenswear brands Hamaji and Katush; Kenyan accessories brands Suave and Jiamini; Abidjan-based jewellery brand Ohiri; and Burundi’s Margaux Wong. Lukhanyo Mdingi and Kente Gentlemen declined to share sales figures. Laurenceairline predicts 20 per cent sales growth this year.
Lukhanyo Mdingi, who joined the accelerator programme in 2020, says his partnership with the EFI is still ongoing, despite completing the accelerator programme. “It would be [silly] of me to let go of that because of the positive contribution EFI has brought into our business,” he says. “Having our label be a part of EFI has been just as beneficial for them as well.”
The EFI input has been critical to the development of many new African fashion businesses. After a fire burnt down her workshop in Côte d’Ivoire back in 2015, Laurence Chauvin-Buthaud was forced to rebuild Laurenceairline, her menswear brand. The disaster led her to reflect on the missing elements of her business, Chauvin-Buthaud recalls. “I’m a designer; I’m not a business person,” she says. “I was focusing on creating a good collection and ensuring I had a good production… The rest was too much for me.”
The Ethical Fashion Initiative’s team can offer support with every stage of a business including finance and sales. EFI worked with Chauvin-Buthaud on sales and communication, helping her to relaunch her website. “We want to have a direct to consumer strategy and an online strategy,” she says. “We’re working with them to rebuild the site in a way that we need, and in a way that makes it easier for customers to discover the collection and buy it.”
For Mdingi, the accelerator programme provided him with broad business learnings. “We were introduced to the whole business side of things, predominantly within sales and distribution,” he says. “We still have a relationship with the sales agent with whom we were initially working during the accelerator programme.” Mdingi says he’s been able to build a strong network of contacts who share their expertise with him and his team.
The Paris Fashion Week presentation in March was an important step, notes Ivorian designer Aristide Loua, founder of Kente Gentlemen. Two months ahead of the event, he worked with the EFI to plan and strategise every element of the set, including which looks to present, the preparation of moodboards and a meeting with the Lucien Pages PR firm, to discuss logistics, he says.
The EFI accelerator programme is an important part of the preparation process before speaking to investors. “They saw the potential in our brand; they saw the products, but now it’s about finessing everything so that in a year from now, when we talk to investors, we have a business plan ready,” says Loua, recalling how the EFI team came to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa, to help him create a collection plan as well as discuss brand and marketing strategy.
The creation of a “deeper infrastructure” is the goal of Birimian founder Laureen Kouassi-Olsson. “We are working at the foundations of these brands. Transforming them from designers and informal brands or informal companies into creative entrepreneurs and sustainable enterprises.” That means constant follow-through initiatives, says Kouassi-Olsson: brands are supported by mentors who arrange weekly meetings and review business progress.
Why invest in African brands?
How many years will it take for African brands to scale? The optimists believe it could happen fast. “I believe that in the next five or 10 years African heritage brands will be big,” says Trail’s Marin.
Marin is ready to think long term. “We are building up an investment company,” he says. “It’s not a fund where you buy and then sell piece by piece. We [Birimian and Trail] are going to create a Maison, where we’ll build and grow companies and brands.”
For the Ethical Fashion Initiative, investing in young African designers and brands is also about creating enduring production opportunities. Since 2009, the EFI has been seeking to integrate African artisans into the global fashion supply chain. Progress has been made to bring together local communities and international luxury businesses, including the likes of British designer Vivienne Westwood and Kering-owned Gucci. Artisans are producing bags, accessories and fabrics for several fashion brands and attracting orders from Japan, Europe, the US and Australia.
