Ghana’s Business Of Fashion Conference Concept Goes International – Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria

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So if you have passed by our blog in the past month and a half, you would have noticed our advert for the Business Of Fashion Conference that took place last week. It was definitely a resourceful act and one that had it’s benefits, with Olu Bashiru, director of the Business Of Fashion Conference in Ghana, we are certain that the Business of Fashion Conference is in safe hands, or at least when it comes to Ghana.

The concept was so good, that in less that a few days of promoting the event, the idea was embraced by Nigerian designer Asake Agoro and owner of Studio 29. It was exciting to notice it happen even before the event in Ghana. Although, the text for the Business Of Fashion Conference in Nigeria was copied straight of the FashionManiaGh flier for the event in Ghana. There is no problem with doing a Business Of Fashion Conference every or anywhere, but if you are going to copy the exact text of a flier, it would have been courtesy to have contacted or alerted them. This was very interesting considering that one of the main problem discussed in the Conference was the issue of copyright.

 

But aside the criticism, it was good to see the idea reach out further. In such cases with limited institutions available for fashion and designing in many African countries, the more networking established across the fashion industry the better and quicker things will develop.

What prompted me to actually write about this issue was when I woke up this morning and spotted the flier for the Business Of Fashion Conference in Kenya. That was enlightening. Hopefully this amounts to great benefits in Kenya. Also hopefully the organizers of all event can find to basis for networking amongst themselves.

Although going back to the point I made about safe hands, success in Africa is not easy, and most times for one to gain a little bit of momentum, you would have at least built up a number of competitors, enemies or haters or whatever people call them today. So in some cases, when people grasp onto any good idea, the first thing that happens is they go on a power trip or use the idea for some sort of personal gains and branding. The story behind most fashion week events in Africa.

 

It would be good to know that, if the Business Of Fashion Conference is adopted in their various countries and manages to establish itself as a national event, that the individuals behind it would use it as an opportunity to embrace the wider industry and not just their friends, whilst isolating those they feel might be competition or “enemies” and “haters”.

Let’s look forward to a successful Business Of Fashion Conference in Kenya, and hopefully look to seeing more around Africa.