Ghanaian businesswoman and entrepreneur, Roberta Annan, has launched a 100 million Euros fund to channel investment into small and medium African creative and fashion enterprises. The Impact Fund for African Creatives (IFFAC), will award grants of up to 50,000 Euros to selected projects to accelerate the development of the continent’s creative sector.
The fund was launched during the Paris Fashion week, and was attended by fashion industry experts.
Roberta Annan, who founded the African Fashion Foundation (AFF), intimated that, in addition to the grants, IFFAC will make a further 250,000- 2 million Euros in venture capital available to African entrepreneurs who complete its skills-building program.
“I have encountered so much incredible talent all over the continent, such originality, and innovation. But I have also noticed a lack of management skills, infrastructure, and start-up capital necessary to scale these creative businesses. This is the motivation behind IFFAC”.
It is worth noting that Ize, a beneficiary of the Impact Fund program, also attended the launch after recently becoming the first African to open the Paris Fashion Week.
Chinelo Anohu, Senior Director of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF), stated that the Africa Investment Forum has been in talks with IFFAC as it curates projects that will feature at its upcoming AIF 2021 Market Days to be held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, from 1st to 3rd December 2021.
“I applaud IFFAC for its plans to bring early-stage capital deployment, along with a structured program of training and mentorship to artists and entrepreneurs like Nigerian designer Kenneth Ize. For all those investors in this room, who believe, like I do, in the potential for commercializing the exports of Africa’s creative genius, I invite you to contact the Africa Investment Forum”.
The AIF 2021 Market Days will showcase creative and cultural-sector deals from around the continent, including in film and television, as well as women-led projects, among other sectors.
While in Paris, Anohu also met European investors, including institutional investors, that are actively interested in Africa’s creative industry, as well as other key priority sectors under the Forum’s Unified Covid-19 response pillars. These sectors include technology, renewable energy, and agro-processing.
Details on the AFF and PPF
The African Fashion Fund (AFF), which is part of the Roberta Annan Capital Partners (RACP), focuses on education and capacity building for African brands. RACP is a registered Mauritius Company with subsidiaries to be registered in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Luxembourg. RACP focuses on Wealth Management and Impact investments. It has an Impact Investment portfolio, Frallain Group, a UK registered entity that “provides risk capital to African brands and incorporates social impact within their brands’ ethos, providing a platform with industry experts in fashion, sales and distribution, PR and communication for the commercialization of these brands”.
The Paris Peace Forum (PPF) is an independent NGO, formed in 2018 after the original impetus came from President Macron in 2017. The first edition of the Paris Peace Forum was inaugurated by Heads of State and Government from the 84 countries invited by the President of the French Republic to participate in the commemorations.
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