“Leaving the UK and going ‘home’ to Ghana” is an article by BBC News on reaspora, or reverse migration – the return of first and second generation immigrants to Africa. It comments on two video interviews with a lecturer/deejay and a businessman from Ghana, who have moved back to Accra from London in recent years. This article is useful to summarize a widespread view on reaspora …

A few weeks ago, Bloomberg posted an analysis of Africa’s luxury goods market containing useful data to understand a core aspect of the “Africa rising” narrative: the rise of the super-luxury economy of fashion and accessories. Citing projections by Euromonitor of a steady annual growth of Sub-Saharan GDP at 4-5% for the next five years, the study states that the continent is replacing Eastern Asia as …

I love True Africa‘s post on Muhammadu Buhari as a fashion icon. The article shows the carefully curated style of the Nigerian president, particularly his passion for headgear (that is not exempt from controversy) and eyewear, with some telling pictures. Looking at the images, one cannot but agree with the author that Buhari uses “public appearance as a catwalk”. I am interested in his look of leadership not …

Ethiopia is one of Africa’s biggest apparel and footwear manufacturers, supplying international brands the likes of Primark, Levi’s Strauss, Tesco, and Asos with cheap, streamlined manufacturing and domestically sourced cotton. According to the Ethiopian Investment Commission, the key reasons to invest in Ethiopia are: Abundant available workforce at very competitive costs: wages in Ethiopia are a fifth of China’s and half of Vietnam’s. Quality …

Laura Eboa Songue, Op-Ed: All African Fashion Needs is Structure – Songue lists five “essential pillars” to build a sustainable fashion industry in Africa: the creation of a pan-African fashion council to establish a framework of reference and maximize designer exposure; better training for designers (a point raised by Charity Nyirongo I discuss here); improvement of fashion-focused African media; launch of professional fairs to …