A B2B website dedicated to fashion and textiles in Africa is soon to be launched by The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Special Envoy on Gender, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. 

Whether in New York, London, Milan or Paris, the fashion runways all agree: African fabrics are inspiring more and more famous designers. Fashion is not just about design or inspiration. It’s also a multi-million dollar industry that creates millions of jobs, including in textile and clothing manufacturing.

In Africa, the fashion industry could generate €15.5 million in the next five years. Of course, that’s a far cry from the €1.3 billion that it generates worldwide. The entire textile/clothing market is already worth more than €31 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa and accounts for the second largest number of jobs in developing countries, following agriculture. What’s more, the vast majority of workers are women and young people.

Based on these figures, the AfDB’s Office of the Special Envoy on Gender launched the Fashionomics (“the economy of fashion”) initiative during the Bank’s 2015 Annual Meeting in Abidjan. This initiative will offer the Bank’s support to micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MPME) in the fashion and textile industry in Africa (see report summary). The Bank has already invested €10 million in Madagascar, in the support project for investment promotion (PAPI), focused on MPME in these industries and in particular on women and young people.

The AfDB is dedicated to combating poverty and improving the lives of people of the continent and engaged in the task of mobilizing resources towards the economic and social progress of its Regional Member Countries. If you want to assist them in this mission, and believe you have the necessary skills, take a look at their current vacancies.

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