Next Tuesday, October 12th, Portugal Fashion will host the initiative PORTUGAL – AFRICA INVESTMENT ROUNDTABLE – “Closing the Investment Gap: Building Resilient Africa – Europe Textile Value Chains Post Covid”.
This is a day of reflection, debate and networking dedicated to business, investment, exports and partnerships between Portugal and Africa in the textile and clothing sector. Divided into thematic panels, the event is part of the program of the 49th edition of Portugal Fashion and includes, among its institutional guests, the presence of the Secretary of State for Internationalization, Eurico Brilhante Dias.
For the president of ANJE, Alexandre Meireles, the initiative PORTUGAL – AFRICA INVESTMENT ROUNDTABLE “will gather a critical mass of excellence in a reflection on the economic relations that the textile and clothing sector can provide between our country and the African continent. The fashion industry and the creative industries in general hold good opportunities for business, investment and partnerships between Portugal and Africa. It is, therefore, important to create platforms that enable the match between creatives/brands and investors, in order to convert into economic value the potential of creativity applied to textile and clothing. That is what we are doing with this initiative“, he concludes.
Moreover, the interventions of high representatives of public institutions, business associations, financial institutions and business groups, both from Portugal and Africa, are foreseen. Examples of these are the CEO of AICEP, Luís Filipe de Castro Henriques, the President of the CIP, António Saraiva, the President of ANJE, Alexandre Meireles, the President of ATP – Textile and Clothing Association of Portugal, Mário Jorge Machado, the vice-president of the Porto City Hall, Filipe Araújo, or the CEO of TMG Textiles, Manuel Gonçalves.
These Portuguese speakers are joined by international guests such as the President of the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank), Benedict Oramah, the CEO of the African Textile and Cotton Industry Federation, Emmanuel Mukua, the Vice President of Africa Finance Corporation, Mohammed Usman Abdul-Razzaq, the CEO of Pan African Capital Holdings, Chris Oshiafi, the CEO of Heritage Apparels, Abisade Adenubi, the President of Orango Investment Corporation, Paulo Gomes, the Farfetch’s Commercial and Sustainability Director, Giorgio Belloli, among others.
CANEX PROJECT SUPPORTS AFRICAN CREATIVES
The initiative PORTUGAL – AFRICA INVESTMENT ROUNDTABLE is part of the inaugural edition of the CANEX Presents Africa at Portugal Fashion project, which will take place during this fashion event, from October 12 to 16, in Porto. Under the CANEX project, eight African designers and fashion brands will hold individual fashion shows at the 49th Portugal Fashion and benefit from an intensive mentoring program, held in collaboration with the Portuguese textile industry and several national and international experts in the sector.
The CANEX program (acronym for Creative Africa Nexus) is the result of a partnership between ANJE, through Portugal Fashion, and Afreximbank, aiming to promote the African textile and clothing industry in our country. In this sense, CANEX seeks to empower the creative and cultural sectors of Africa through public and private investments, initiatives to promote internationalization, training and mentoring programs, technical and technological partnerships, digital modernization actions, among other business and human capital qualification activities. For all this, CANEX has a support fund for creative industries worth 500 million dollars (about 460 million euros).
