How E-Commerce and SMEs Are Transforming Africa’s Fashion Industries

Original Story Published by: BoF Studio, www.businessoffashion.com
Photo Source: BoF Studio

(Above) Two models wearing Senegalese brand Romzy Studio as part of the latest campaign on Ananse Africa, an e-commerce platform which promotes the work of African designers across the continent

Last week, BoF hosted a discussion on the ways in which e-commerce adoption and SME enterprises are transforming Africa’s fashion industry. The BoF LIVE featured Samuel Mensah, CEO of e-commerce platform Ananse Africa; Aparupa Chakravarti, director at advisory Botho Emerging Markets Group; and Mercy Mutua, head of access to finance at the Mastercard Foundation, moderated by BoF’s head of content strategy, Robin Mellery-Pratt.

Today, a number of Africa’s largest economies represent attractive fashion markets for both local designers and international brands. For one, the Nigerian apparel and footwear market was forecast to grow to more than $1.3 billion in 2022, according to Euromonitor International. Similarly, mega-cities in South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya have emerged as prominent fashion hubs.

However, the future potential of Africa as both a manufacturing hub and consumer market is still largely untapped.

“Africa has one of the oldest and most varied cultural heritages and its expanding middle class, which is the largest consumer of creative and cultural goods, has the potential to become a major driver of growth for creative and cultural industries in the digital age,” says Samuel Mensah, founder and CEO of Ananse and one of the authors of ‘Unleashing the Commercial Potential of African Creatives Through Digital Technology’, created in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, Botho Emerging Markets Group and the African Development Bank’s Fashionomics.

With 60 percent of the African population under 25, the over 50 nations (due to the UN refusing to recognise some self-declared states the exact number is disputed) combined have the youngest and second-largest population in the world. Africa is also forecast to surpass half a billion e-commerce users by 2025. As a result, entrepreneurs are increasingly tapping the opportunity by leveraging exponential growth in digital connectivity via social media on the continent — further developing logistics networks.