EUR 100 million for African creative and fashion industries

Its goal is to provide funding opportunities for young creators in sub-Saharan Africa.

A significant announcement was made in Paris at the peace Forum in mid-November. A fund of 100 million euros will be launched for the creative and fashion industries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Named Impact Fund for Africa (IFFA), this fund is the result of a partnership between the Ethical Fashion Initiative, the European Commission and Roberta Annan Capital Partners, a company specialized in Investment and Consultancy.

The purpose of this fund is to broaden the scope of the creators in their search for financing, palliative measure to administrative slowness when it is not the lack of interest on the part of the public institutions of their respective countries. It will thus contribute to the sustainable development goals of UN Agenda 2030.

“I believe that this will give African brands the funding and resources to compete in a competitive way in the global economy,” says Roberta Annan, who says: We identify opportunities for cooperation with the European Commission on their new strategy to support investment in Africa. Indeed, the Ghanaian thirties is experienced.

She founded in 2014 the African Fashion Fund, a non-profit organization for young African stylists who offers a certification program with the famous Parsons School of Design in New York. She has also created Frallain to invest in social labels focused on women’s empowerment in the textile industry.

The other actor of the IFFA, the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), is a program of the international Trade Centre, a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. The EFI links the world of luxury and international buyers with that of local crafts produced in an ethical way, mainly by women in developing countries. Initiated with the Anglo-Nigerian stylist Duro Olowu, the other axis of work of the EFI is the cooperation with promising African brands by providing them with mentoring.