Deadline: September 20, 2019
Applications for Heineken Lagos Fashion Week’s incubator programme – Fashion Focus Africa are officially open! Fashion Focus Africa is a program that is dedicated to the growth and promotion of emerging talent in the African fashion industry.
Fashion Focus Africa is presented by Heineken Lagos Fashion Week in partnership with FetsWallet, Avivere and Sunlight. Fashion Focus presents unique opportunities for emerging talents to harness their skills through business development workshops, creative workshops, and mentorships. This long opportunity affords five young designers with some of the tools they need to grow.
About
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. Fashion Focus Africa has encouraged designers to hone their talent and develop much needed business acumen, that’s crucial for building businesses that can attain commercial success in Africa and beyond. Programme participants are provided with some mentoring, business and creative workshops.
Alumni of the Fashion Focus Programme include Orange Culture, Meena, Gozel Green, Mo Agusto, Titi Bello and Ejiro Amos Tafiri. Past recipients of Fashion Focus Fund include: Emmy Kasbit – class of 2017/2018 and Cynthia Abila – class of 2018/2019. Both winners received a 5 Million Naira cash grant and business mentorship with Avivere.
Last year, for the first time, 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.
Benefits
- Eligibility to apply for the #LagosFW Fashion Focus Fund
- Fellowship in Paris facilitated by Africa Fashion Fund
- Business and Creative Skills Workshop
- Business and Creative Mentoring
- Opportunity to showcase at Lagos Fashion Week in 2020
- Access to market opportunities
Eligibility
Applications open to all brands across Africa. Selection committee screens applicants to advance to the next round.
- Designers must have a minimum of 2 years working experience
- Designers will be required to send moodboards and sketches of their work in addition to physical samples
- Designers must have existing points of sale
- Designers must be capable of developing and presenting a full collection
Application
- Phase 1: Applications and Screening (August 26th – September 20th, 2019) – Applications open to all brands across Africa. Selection committee screens applicants to advance to the next round.
- Phase 2: Semi Finalists Presentations (October 24th, 2019) – 15 semi-finalists invited to present their collections during a one on one session with the selection committee at Lagos Fashion Week.
10 brands are eliminated. - Phase 3: Fashion Focus Finalists (January 2020) – The Fashion Focus 5 for 2019 – 2020 are announced.
All applications received will be reviewed. 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.
For more information, visit Fashion Focus Africa.
