Quote of the Day by Jacqueline Brown

June 19, 2020 Melanie Hawken

“Africa is becoming a viable landscape for fashion manufacturing and its doors are open for business.”

Jacqueline Brown, Founder, Africa Fashion Guide Ltd, (UK)

Quote of the Day by Lisa Videira

June 2, 2020 Melanie Hawken

“Africa is a precious diamond waiting to be polished and to shine brighter.”

Lisa Videira, founder, LV Digital, Lda (Angola)

Quote of the Day by Abigail Urey-Miller

August 13, 2019 Melanie Hawken

“African youth are not waiting for any reforms to happen. Our moment is now. The African continent offers tremendous business opportunities and we are committed to developing quality products and services.”

Abigail Urey-Miller, co-founder & CEO of Edgail Recycling Inc. (Liberia)

Entrepreneur Advice from Deola Sagoe: Celebrate your cultural roots to build globally competitive products

July 12, 2017 Melanie Hawken

Deola Sagoe, haute couture fashion designer from Nigeria, on 'African Spirit' — **Deola Sagoe**, haute couture fashion designer from Nigeria, on *'African Spirit'*

African designers need to celebrate their cultural roots and fashion history in order to become globally competitive….

“When I started out, it was with a certain philosophy, because at that time it wasn’t cool to look African. Africa wasn’t on the map as it is now. … There was nothing really happening in terms of African fashion going global, or Africans being able to make a business of African fashion outside of the shore of Africa. So I went into it, sort of, to prove a point and to say ‘Listen. We can do this. We can add value.’ And to also bring the attention of the world to our own native abilities.”

- Deola Sagoe, leading lady of African fashion, is a haute couture fashion designer from Ondo State in Nigeria. Deola has been at the cutting edge of high fashion since 1989 and became the first black woman to present a collection at AltaRoma, Rome’s celebrated fashion week, back in 2004. Her "globally appealing" style has earned her an enviable clientèle that ranges from Africa's first ladies, to society girls like Lydia Hearst, top model Alek Wek, and famous personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.

Quote of the Day by Sandra Idossou

July 12, 2017 Melanie Hawken

Sandra Idossou, founder of The ServiceMag (Rwanda) — **Sandra Idossou**, founder of The ServiceMag (Rwanda)

"I am a strong believer in Africa's potential and a great advocate of all things 'African'."

- Sandra Idossou is the founder of The ServiceMag in Rwanda, an insightful, colourful magazine in English, French and Kinyarwanda, with a 5000 copy print run and a dynamic online version. Sandra has a solid and diversified experience of more than 13 years in the hospitality industry as a trainer in 32 hotels [from 2-5 stars] in 25 countries in Africa. She is the author of the book titled “The Customer Care Handbook” and a weekly columnist on raising awareness on Customer Service in the Rwandan “The New Times”.

Entrepreneur Advice from Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu: Africa must build global brands

May 20, 2014 Melanie Hawken

soleRebel's international brand success is exemplified by their trendy store in Tawain

African entrepreneurs must build global brands....

“soleRebels is based on the revolutionary idea that to truly enjoy lasting development, developing nation producers MUST create, grow and control successful global brands and the equity developed in them, the very same formula that global brands in developed nations have so successfully deployed to build themselves and their countries...”

- Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu is founder and Managing Director of soleRebels, the world's fastest-growing African footwear brand and the only Fair Trade-certified footwear company in the world. Growing up in a poor suburb of Addis Ababa, Bethlehem decided that there was only one way to defeat poverty – use local craftsmanship to make products that can compete in the global marketplace. She decided on footwear and today 70,000 pairs of shoes leave her factory every year. soleRebels has been expanding rapidly and today exports to no fewer than 45 countries and is targeting 50 stand alone soleRebels retail stores across the United States by 2018 and 500 worldwide by 2022.