Nigeria-
With Fashion Focus Africa having officially openned applications for Class of 2019/2020,for 8 years, Heineken Lagos Fashion Week has sought to empower African fashion creatives by presenting them with an opportunity to be scouted, nurtured and awarded a grant to propel their business forward via the Fashion Focus Fund.
In recent years, Fashion Focus Africa has encouraged designers to harness their talent and develop a much needed business acumen, that’s crucial for building businesses that can attain commercial success in Africa and beyond. Here, programme participants are provided with mentorship, business and creative workshops.
Past recipients of Fashion Focus Fund include: Emmy Kasbit – class of 2017/2018 and Cynthia Abila – class of 2018/2019, who both winners received a 5 Million Naira cash grant and business mentorship with Avivere. For the first time last year, Fashion Focus accepted applications from fashion creatives across Africa, making the programme open to creatives beyond Nigeria. The 2018/2019 programme included finalists from Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda. These five designers will also be showing at the Heineken Lagos Fashion Week runway in October, “We understand the challenges that come with establishing a successful fashion business and making it competitive on a global scale. We are committed to providing the necessary tools needed to thrive to the individuals that pass through Fashion Focus Africa.” – commented Founder and Executive Director, Omoyemi Akerele. With the application exercise having closed on September 20, 2019, applications received will be reviewed, then after ten (10) shortlisted applicants will be invited to present their work to a selection panel at Lagos Fashion Week in 2020.
The 5 Finalists for the Fashion Focus Africa 2019/20 session will be announced and programme will commence December 2019/ January 2020. Fashion Focus Africa is presented by Heineken Lagos FashionWeek in partnership with Fets Wallet, Avivere and Sunlight.
LFW Grand finale is slated for October 23 till 26, at the Federal Palace Hotel.
