Fashion Festival To Create 400,000 Jobs Set For Debut In 2024
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – Preparations are on to stage the premier edition of the Meet Africa Fashion Festival (MAFEST) intended to create over 400,000 jobs for women and youths, according to a press statement issued by the organisers of the event, Mena Communications, in conjunction with Modela Couture, Lagos.
Disclosing that the fashion festival will take placed from February 13 – 15, 2024 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, the statement, signed by the Director of Communications, Media and Strategy for event, David Nwokorie, revealed the theme of MAFEST 2024 as ‘Celebrating Africa and the beauties of Nigeria’.
According to the statement, “The hosting of the show in Abuja sets in motion our plan to establish an industrial fashion hub that would activate the massive production of clothing for exports and local consumption. The hub is expected to create over 400,000 jobs on and off the pitch for women and youths.
“The show is choreographed to be a convergence of major stakeholders in Africa’s fashion and garment industry. Attending the event are leading fashion designers and models from Africa, industry influencers, celebrities, fashion enthusiasts, traders, industry professionals, and other major players from around the world”.
The festival, the statement added, is targeted “at influencing African governments and financial institutions to invest in Africa’s fashion and garment industry; considering its vastness as the second largest creator of jobs and wealth after Agriculture; MAFEST seeks to showcase Africa’s creative prowess. The show also makes way for budding fashion designers and models to showcase their abundant talents on runway, parading couture creations, avant-garde designs, and their cutting-edge innovations”.
Part of the three-day festival, the statement said, shall comprise “fashion shows, Fashion and garment exhibitions, Awards and B2G sessions that would define strategies on how to influence African governments and financial institutions to invest in the sector said to be worth”.
The fashion festival will comprise the crowning of ‘MAFEST Designer of the Year and MAFEST Model of the Year’, respectively.
“During the festival, there will be opportunities to network with headline fashionistas, upcoming and celeb designers, beauty enthusiasts, meet and greet moments, selfie and mingle galore with surprise guests, movie celebs, as well as beauty queens and Super Models from across four continents of the world,” the statement said.
