Fashionomics Africa is a platform enabling African creators and designers to connect with consumers, allowing them to sell their goods to a broader consumer base and receive investment and funding. The initiative can potentially become a major driver in economic development and industrialization in Africa by generating new jobs and creating global supply chains.

Fashionomics Africa aims to develop the African textile industry through several methods. For instance, it has attempted to increase access to finance by connecting TA&A (African Textile, Apparel and Accessories) entrepreneurs with commercial banks, thus facilitating investment and allowing further funding to reach entrepreneurs, enabling them to expand their business activities. Other contributions have included helping TA&A entrepreneurs access markets through e-commerce and creating jobs for both skilled and unskilled labor. Its ultimate goal is to increase access to markets and finance and develop workers’ skills through mentoring and other networking opportunities.

Job Creation

Fashionomics Africa is currently under the leadership of the Gender, Women and Civil Society (AHGC). AHGC aims to target gender-based disparities and women’s empowerment. Fashionomics Africa’s mission will contribute to improving human capital, specifically that of women and children, through its efforts to make jobs and training more easily accessible.

Allowing women and children to have increased access to wages encourages the empowerment of these groups, providing them with higher disposable incomes. This increased access allows them to alleviate themselves from poverty, increase their living standards and become established members of any household, potentially protecting them from power imbalances in which they would be otherwise trapped due to a lack of financial freedom. This change supports poverty reduction in groups where the issue is especially prevalent, allowing women and children to afford an improved standard of living for themselves.

Sustainability

As well as promoting job creation and sustainable development, Fashionomics Africa contributes to many fair trade organizations, including promoting sustainability through discouraging fast fashion. Their repurposing and recycling of garments is a net positive towards reducing emissions, which have detrimental impacts on changing weather patterns. While fast fashion does not directly contribute to poverty levels, warmer climates have severe implications for underdeveloped nations, often causing droughts and famine, further exacerbating the levels of absolute poverty already present.

Poverty Reduction

While the mission of Fashionomics Africa is not directly a poverty reduction one, there will be many by-products of the organization that contribute to poverty reduction. Job creation and climate change counteraction will significantly alleviate poverty and allow many to live above the threshold of $2.15 a day. On a wider scale, this initiative is likely to drive development and industrialization throughout Africa, strengthening supply chains and alleviating African economies. This improvement will allow many to overcome poverty as domestic economies begin to thrive, enabling more state provision and welfare for those trapped in poverty.

– Hannah Bugeja
Photo: Flickr