The Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy (FMACTCE) and the Confederation of African Fashion Associations (CAFA) are pursuing policy reforms to grow Africa’s fashion industry from $60 billion to $500 billion.
The FMACTCE–CAFA disclosed during a press briefing during the ongoing Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) WKND 2026 in Lagos on Thursday that tye target could be achieved if African nations had structure and framework that treated African fashion as an industry.
The Minister of FMACTCE, Hannatu Musawa, said Nigeria’s signing of the African Fashion Industry Growth Charter on Nov. 5, 2025, marked the beginning of efforts to establish a structured continental fashion industry.
While emphasising the need to translate the agreement into practical economic benefits, Musawa said the government was working with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to secure the African Union’s consideration and adoption of the Charter.
“A signature only matters if something follows it,” she said.
Musawa said Rwanda was progressing toward becoming the second country globally and the first in East Africa to formalise its participation.
She said CAFA was also engaging Austria and Turkey on shared textile infrastructure, including a central factory serving African countries, international production standards, training and global distribution.
Musawa said some of the world’s largest textile companies had expressed interest, with discussions ongoing.
The minister also announced plans for the African Global Fashion Games in 2028, featuring seven disciplines under common rules.
Participating countries would each contribute a thread toward a World Cloth, symbolising the continent’s collective participation in the fashion industry.
Earlier, CAFA President Lai Labode said Africa’s biggest challenge was not a shortage of fashion talent but the absence of structures to support the industry’s growth.
“Nigeria and the rest of Africa, we don’t have a shortage of talent. What Africa needs is structure,” he said.
Labode said the continent needed unified policies covering cotton cultivation, textile processing, intellectual property protection, logistics and international market access.
He said Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials and invest in processing and manufacturing to retain more value and create employment.
Labode also disclosed plans to establish about 10 African fashion houses across the continent, with additional centres proposed for New York, Paris, Milan and London.
He said CAFA was developing central platforms to support African fashion exports and marketing, while promoting common standards across the continent.
The CAFA president urged African countries to support the intellectual property framework under the African Continental Free Trade Area, noting that only two countries had signed the relevant protocol.
Also speaking, CAFA Mission Coordinator Reginald Ekeanyanwu said Africa needed to approach fashion as a continental business rather than a collection of fragmented national industries.
Ekeanyanwu said Africa accounted for only two per cent of the estimated $1.84 trillion global fashion ecosystem, despite its cultural influence and contribution to fashion.
He said CAFA was seeking to grow Africa’s fashion ecosystem, currently valued at about $60 billion, to $500 billion through coordinated policies and investment.
He said the African Fashion Industry Growth Charter would support an integrated production chain covering commercial cotton cultivation, ginneries, fibre production, textile factories, artisans and designers.
“We are saying that Africa will grow the right kind of cotton and Africa will grow it in commercial ways,” he said.
Ekeanyanwu said CAFA also planned to establish an e-commerce marketplace and introduce a common quality standard and trademark to improve the competitiveness of African fashion products.
He said the organisation was working toward developing African luxury brands capable of competing internationally, noting that branding accounted for significant value in the global fashion business.
The mission coordinator said CAFA was also prioritising artisan training, intellectual property protection and employment through increased local production.
He cited the recent Egbaliganza programme, which attracted participants from more than 50 countries and trained nearly 200 artisans.
He added that a factory established in Abeokuta had employed some participants trained through the initiative.
Ekeanyanwu said the organisation was engaging African governments and diplomatic missions to secure wider continental participation in the Charter.
Newsextra24 reports that CANEX is a platform established by Afreximbank to support the development of Africa’s creative and cultural industries.
The platform was also established to address some of the challenges faced by this industry through the provision of access to finance, capacity building, trade, investment and export promotion, access to new market opportunities, digital solutions, and policy advocacy to fast-track the scaling of Africa’s creative sectors within the global economy.
