#HeinekenLFDW2015 Hosts An Impressive 4 Day Line-Up!

Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week took over the city of Lagos and timelines bringing the spirit of fashion to the African continent.
Throughout the course of the week, over 6,000 fashion insiders, including buyers, retailers, local & international press, celebrities, models, and special guests made their way through the #HeinekenLFDW2015 doors.

The 5^th Year Anniversary Edition kicked-off with the Tiffany Amber Nigeria show, and featured an outstanding line-up of emerging and established designers including Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi, Tsemaye Binitie, Iamisigo, Eki Orleans, Orange Culture, April by Kunbi, Ade Bakare and a host of others.
One of the major highlights of the week, was the Fashion Business Series, held on the 29^th and 30^th of October, it was a resounding success. This year the sponsors were Sterling Bank, Bank of Industry and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). The sponsors all made significant commitments to support the fashion industry by providing specific programs and low interest loans for fashion entrepreneurs. For example, the Managing Director of Bank of Industry (BOI), Rasheed Olaoluwa discussed how to access the N1 billion fund accessible to both men and women. They also announced they were working with NEPC to create a fashion manufacturing hub so that designers can create large volumes for retail or export. Sterling Bank’s Head of MSME Omolara Akinfolarin also announced they had low interest loans available to fashion entrepreneurs. In addition to funding for fashion, other topics covered were manufacturing, e-commerce, technology, the fashion value chain and luxury.  There were many speakers including Tunde Kehinde (MD ACE.ng), Toyosi Kolawole (MD Audeo Clothing), Reni Folawiyo (MD Alara), Andrea Iyamah (Founder/MD Andrea Iyamah Swimwear), Mobola Oniboboje (Alithea Capital), Tope Edu (MD Zegna Nigeria), Deola Sagoe, Mai Atafo, Commissioner of Commerce Osun State and many more. The underlying message of the fashion business series was that it would take a lot of hard work and collaboration to progress the industry. To paraphrase Nike Ogunlesi founder/CRO of Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, ‘there is no other way to progress fashion than to treat it as a business’.