She makes it happen!

More and more African women are standing up and doing more for themselves and their families creatively and financially. It is always important to support a course that empowers and recognizes women that are doing more to help themselves and to change the world around them. This made us happy to be part of the media partners of the day.

African Fashion Development and Empowerment Centre (AFDEC) in collaboration with Addurrah creations  and Ibile Vogue came together to organize an event that shows an array of up coming fashion brands in Nigeria. The event was titled 'She makes it happen!'.

The event took place at the Centre for Management and Development (CMD), Magodo Lagos and graduants of the AFDEC programme were also certfied.

Program of event included a presentation on 'Packaging your Business for external financing: A case of BOI' by Mrs Feyikemi Odunuga the CEO HT-Limited/Bank of Industry BDS consultant. In this session the women in attanedance were taught and reminded of the things they need to do with their businesses so that they are ready to source for external funding. Information included ensuring your businesses are registered, that you have business bank accounts and that taxes are duely paid.

The increasing use and presence of individuals on social media means that entrepreneurs need to learn how to use it to improve their business opportunities. A talk on 'How Fashion entrepreneurs can make the best use of media opportunities' was given by Ms. Jemmy of Allure by Vanguard.

One of the highlights of the event came during the presentation of 'How fashion entrepreneurs can maximize opportunities from the banking sector: A case of Diamond bank' by Mrs Chidinma Lawanson the Divisional Head, MSME & Agency Bank, Diamond Bank Plc. After her presentation all attendees were asked to drop in their business cards or a small sheet of paper with their names written on it into a bag. From the Bag a name was picked out and one of the attendees won N30,000. The winner was Amusan Rebecca of Becca Design. Mrs Chidinma Lawanson emphasised the need to have a complementary card detailing company information as it looks more professional and is easier to hand over to people.

Mentors in the fashion business shared their personal experience and challenges with attendees and also told them how best to navigate the challenges. The mentors that spoke included Mrs Kemi Robbins of Addurrah Creations, Mrs Toyin Olushola of Kimberly Designs and Mrs Temitope Alade of Ibile Vogue and also representative of FADAN.

More pictures from the event below