WE UNESCO UNVEIL EXCELLENT REPORT OF AFRICAN FASHION EMPOWERMENT, A. AZOULAY SAY

USPA NEWS - Audrey Azoulay, the General Secretary of UNESCO, unveiled the African fashion sector: trends, challenges & opportunities for growth » report, at UNESCO headquarters, on Friday, January 26, at 3 pm. The 80 pages, report,
“Here at UNESCO, we are dedicated to science and education, of course with our 194 nations, but also to fashion, because we have the loose creative booklet to imagine and carry with it innovation and also heritage.
Certain African fabrics are part of UNESCO’s intangible heritage.
Audrey Azoulay, insists on the importance of bringing together industrial players, designers, legislators from the textile and fashion industries, within the largest cultural house of peoples, UNESCO, to enable “Empowering the African Fashion Sector”

Secretary General Azoulay adds that “It’s a way of telling the world who we are from, and where we are in the world! She continues, “UNESCO supports in its own way the excitement of fashion in Africa that we see around the world between Afro-descendants and entering this most inspiring and innovative environment via Africa.

UNESCO’ S.G AZOULAY UNVEILS REPORT EMPOWERING AFRICAN FASHION DESIGNERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT AMID HAUTE COUTURE WEEK
Secretary General Azoulay adds that “It’s a way of telling the world who we are from, and where we are in the world! She continues, “UNESCO supports in its own way the excitement of fashion in Africa that we see around the world between Afro-descendants and entering this most inspiring and innovative environment via Africa.
Audrey Azoulay, concludes “All these talents and agency distribution platforms consolidate this end of Fashion Week in Paris. There were around thirty events on the African continent. The commercial, industrial and customs system must be supported to help this sector of Fashion in Africa with the cultural and symbolic economic momentum that represents it.

"We had already presented the same partnership on cinema in Africa with the partnership with Netflix.
I wish the same success on this report and wish it as much success as for the cinema reader." Audrey Azoulay concluded as she introduced the two panel sessions to come, and to be moderated by Toussaint Tiendrebeogo, Secretary of the UNESCO 2005 Convention for the protection and the promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Toussaint presents the eighty pages report findings with testimonials moderated by Toussaint Tiendrebeogo, Secretary of the UNESCO 2005 Convention for the protection and the promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, followed by presentation by Kenyan artist Thandiwe Muriu and 193 Gallery. The two panel sessions, led to a Q&A Session, giving the floor to few guests. Discussion -Two hours and a half later, the Ernesto Ottone R., UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture delivered the Closing Remarks, as for concluding this event.  

Amongst the prestigious speakers, here is the list of the panelists

1st PANEL SESSION : PRESENTATION OF THE REPORTS FINDINGS & TESTIMONIALS
? Omoyemi Akerele (Nigeria), Founder and CEO of Lagos Fashion Week
? Alphadi (Niger), Fashion Designer and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for African innovation and creation
? Imane Ayissi (Cameroon), Fashion Designer
? Aissa Dione (Senegal), Textile Designer
? Laureen Kouassi-Olsson (Cote d’Ivoire), Founder and CEO of Birimian Ventures
? Lulu Shabell (Tanzania), Founder of Creativity Champion

2nd PANEL SESSION : PARTNERSHIPS INCUBATOR MODERATED BY Julien Pellaux, Director of Partnerships, UNESCO Bureau of Strategic Planning
• Roberta Annan, Founder, African Fashion Foundation
• Thomas Delattre, Director of Fashion Entrepreneurship Center, Institut Français de la Mode
• Patrick Duffy, Founder, Global Fashion Exchange
• Ammar Kessab, Governance Principal Specialist, African Development Bank (Fashionomics Africa)
• Jina Luciani, Vice-Chair, Fonds de Dotation Maison Mode Méditerranée
• Megan McAstocker, Head of Events and Programmes, Fashion Impact Fund

HAUTE COUTURE WEEK: UNESCO PUTS AFRICAN FASHION DESIGNERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
 
UNESCO will hold a conference at its headquarters to spotlight African designers on the sidelines Paris Haute Couture Week. This event will build on the momentum of the UNESCO report on African fashion, published in October 2023, which showed that the continent has all it takes to become one of the next global fashion leaders.

According to The UNESCO report, the panelists discussed over this study, that highlighted the huge market that represent the African Fashion Market of 30 €Bn, which is at the beginning of its potential huge growth to come.
« Im really tired of talking, it is not an idole to wash it ad celebrate it each 5 years. the report said the global opportunist form Dakar fashion weeks, till the rest of Africa, Is there any real platform, and how to finance, is it a loan, or grant, or other way of financing, so back to education, how to fill the curriculum. » Omoyemi Akerele (Nigeria), Founder and CEO of Lagos Fashion Week.

“I was appointed ambassador to UNESCO 10 years ago, and thanks to fashion, during the terrorist rebellion in Niger, we created objects to revive leucotomy at half mast. I thank Audrey Azoulay for renewing my role as peace ambassador,
We are different countries, it took more than 10 years after creating in 1994, in Ghana, the African Fashion Federation, but it must be integrated, I welcomed 53 countries and this resulted in the creation of 40 000 jobs with jewelry in Niger
We have to find the solutions” explains Alphadi (Niger), Fashion Designer and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for African innovation and creation who had the audacity to share his own expression and the initiatives already known and recognized by his peers, and the limitations and obstacles facing he was confronted for decades.

Laureen KOUASSI OLSSON (Ivory Coast), BIRIMIAN VENTURES since 2020, Capital Venture in Finance, who comes from the world of finance and out of passion, she chose fashion. “These are lessons in humility because it is very very difficult for investors to convince them because of fragile brands and the method of financing and capitalization is very difficult. We have taken a 360 degree turn, today we support 21 brands, but we need local specificities in addition to the pan-African approach. She adds that it is necessary to put in place a solid tax base and the equivalent of a large employers' union, like the MEDEF to give credibility to this fashion sector in Africa.

Aissa DIONE (Senegal) Textile Designer, explains how she raises the problem of “the process which would allow us to move to the pre-Industry stage and allow designers who must be able to find textile cottons and threads on the continent, with markets worth €30 billion and everything goes back to foreigners while we are the world producer of cotton”

Lulu SHABELL Founder of creativity Champion , from Tanzania, epxlpique quant a elle confirme les dires de Aissa « we had lots of time to talk , the investors would like to take risk and put money on advertising, this is so important for the designers. but given the belonging to a one continent,
including 55 countries, despite having similarities, they have their own specificities to be exploited.This is a requirement if we hold the idea to build up a champion.
In Fance you have Federation de a Haute Couture, and many other unions, we need the same trusters and pillars in Africa
I conceptualised a platform that a chose creativity to short cut African fashion and we give access to the designers, in partnership with Portugal fashion week.