Yemisi Izuora/Joseph Bakare
Sterling Bank Plc has announced its support for the 2015 Lagos Fashion Design Week (LFDW).
The support is in line with its policy toward growing the Small, Medium Enterprise (SME) sector which is considered the catalyst for economic growth and development.
The event begins tomorrow Wednesday Oct 28th through Saturday Oct 31st, 2015 at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Lagos Fashion Design week organized by Style House Files is regarded as one of the leading fashion events on the African Fashion calendar and has succeeded in repositioning the fashion sub sector as a useful tool for commerce and creativity in the country.
The multiday fashion event serves as an avenue where fashion professionals, buyers, consumers, enthusiasts and media operators come together to appreciate the current collections of African designers in the fashion capital of Lagos.
Runway shows and presentations featuring new season collections from designers in the African fashion industry alongside showrooms featuring fashion products, textiles and accessories are expected to be the order of the day during the four day programme.
Other highlights of the fifth edition of the Fashion Week are the Fashion Business Series and the Fashion Focus session.
The Business series seeks to facilitate conversations with key players from the Nigerian and Pan African fashion industry as a useful tool for exchanging ideas, networking and developing the fashion industry.
Fashion focus on the other hand concentrates on opportunities for emerging talents and how to harness their skills to sustain a global presence to a wider audience.
Explaining the reason for the Bank’s support, Sterling Bank’s Executive Director Mr. Abubakar Suleiman explained “with the abundant talent in the fashion industry and the opportunity that abounds to support the local economy, the subsector operators must be adequately supported”.
Suileman who disclosed that the Bank has also concluded plans to launch the next edition of its fashion competition, Sketch-a-mania at the event said the Bank would continue to support any initiatives aimed at ensuring the growth of the SMEs in the country.
According to him, Last year the Bank sponsored a workshop for operators in the SMEs segment of the country sector in the country to update them on developments in the sector. Just recently, the Bank came up with the MSME Academy where we invited successful operators in the sector to speak with them.
We will continue to support the growth of SMEs as part of our contribution to the growth of the economy.
We acknowledge that there are various aspects to the Small and Medium Enterprise and the fashion business is an important part of the whole. Fashion as a lifestyle and as a business is gradually pervading everywhere. Ranging from the increased interest in the consumption of
‘Made in Nigeria’ wears to the influx of various international fashion brands into the Nigerian market, fashion is undoubtedly something that must be taken seriously.