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Friday, February 29, 2008

Howard University African Business Conference 2008

Ladybrille is proud to be a media sponsor for the 1st Annual, Howard University African Business Conference. "The primary aim of the conference is to highlight business and career opportunities in African countries as well as create a platform to showcase the positively thriving economic side of the African story to the global community," says the organizers of the event.
"Howard University, as a leading Historically Black College (HBCU) in the U.S., and its auspicious proximity to various international organizations, embassies and universities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, has always garnered interest and support of African students and professionals in the U.S for its various events focused on Africa. With a large population of international students from African countries, and its role as a rallying point for promoting the African image in the Diaspora, we believe that the university is strategically poised to attract successful and enterprising individuals who are genuinely interested in pursuing business and career opportunities in African countries. We believe that the success version of the African story should naturally be told the world on the platform of Howard University; custodian and ambassador of the successes of the Black race."
The conference will take place on February 29 and March 1, 2008 on the Howard University campus in Washington, DC. The schedule of programs is as follows:
Friday, February 29
Registration - (12:00 noon to 5:00 pm)
Registration will commence on the first day with conference participants being treated to light refreshments as well as an exhibition of various places of interest in Africa. Conference participants will also pick up conference materials at the registration site.

Howard University School of Business MBA Tour - (1:00pm to 3:00pm)
Hourly tours of the Howard University School of Business, as well as the MBA program, will be given to conference participants.
Meet the HU ABC Sponsors - (3:15 to 4.30 p.m.)
A special corporate presentation opportunity for all HU ABC sponsors. Each sponsor will speak to participants about corporate identity, strategy, business scope, achievements, human resource development.
4th Annual African Fashion Show - (6:30pm to 9:00 pm)
The highly successful annual fashion show hosted by the African Students’ Association will serve as a fitting welcome to conference participants who will be regaled with exotic and eclectic fashion styles designed by both renowned and upcoming African fashion designers. Historically, this show has drawn over 500 people from across the United States.
Saturday, March 1
Breakfast/ Registration - (8:00am to 8:45am)
Opening/Keynote Address
- (9:00am-10:00am)
An opening address from the Dean of the Howard University School of Business will officially commence the day’s activities. A notable keynote speaker who is a highly successful individual and illustrious member of the African Diaspora will also address conference participants at this event.
Session 1 - (10:15am - 11:45am)
Panel 1: Understanding Infrastructural Development in the Telecom Industry

In view of the recent telecom boom in several African countries, this panel will shed more light on the growth of telecom operators in African countries. The panel will also highlight their role in building and developing telecom infrastructure, and include major telecom operators addressing their investment activities in telecom infrastructure as well as presence from a government regulatory body to speak to government policies that are enabling ventures.
Panel 2: Analyzing the Growth of Capital Markets in Africa
This panel will feature individuals from both international and local investment firms to speak to viable investment vehicles within the rapidly growing capital markets in various African countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana. The panel will also serve to raise awareness on the growing investment activities in these financial markets and their growth over the past couple of years.
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Thursday, February 28, 2008

South Africa Design Week, Design Indaba 2008

South Africa made an aggressive stake on the world's fashion map with competitive innovations and beautiful designs through its annual Design Indaba Expo. Held February 23rd to 26th, 2008 at the Capetown International Convention Center, [t]he curated event featured exhibitors with originality and creativity. There were assorted products on display ranging from eco-friendly fragrances, fashion designs and technological gadgets and gizmos.

Particularly interesting, for us, is South Africa's grasp of eco-friendly fashions and the fact that global consumers want a lifestyle that is stylish yet respectful of the environment. For example, the duo Irvan Damon and Gabriella Alberoni, "eco-entrepreneurs" and owners of the brand Carbon D'Afreeque were one of the exhibitors at the event. On Carbon D'Afreeque's site the duo explain the brand came about when in 2005, "[they] were frustrated by the mountains of colourful billboard PVC being created and so sadly being dumped, and [they] were in need of some fantastic travel bags as well."

They note, "South Africa has relatively relaxed by-laws, and, thus lots of billboards. So we set about to do something functional, eco-chic, less-is-more, clever, tough and water-resistant (for those beautiful South African high-veld storms), to help carry a super chic Mac or something glam to impress the ladies . . ." The duo would later design their first clutch called “Bon-bon”using organic bamboo lining for the inners. Today, they design a wide array of eco-friendly fashions including chairs, clutches, lap-top bags and lots more. On the clothing realm, designs were whimsical, theatrical and at times futuristic.

Check out some of our Editor's picks. All photos by Simon Deiner, SDR.co.za.

Ruby



Stiaan Louw


Mantsho


Lunar


Backstage at Lunar


I love Leroy




Afrodiva by Hip-Hop


Fundudzi




Earthquake




Amanda Laird Cherry



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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Fashion & Politics: Obama, Kenya, Nigeria et al

This week, fashion politics takes center stage in contentious battles. In the USA, African clothes worn by Senator Obama, while he visited Kenya in 2006, became the focal point of much heated debate as Drudge Report, a famous site for political junkies, published a picture with Senator Obama draped in Somalian African clothing. Drudge explains Senator Hillary Clinton's camp was responsible for releasing the picture to them. Senator Clinton has since denied the allegation. The point of the picture was to show Senator Obama as a Muslim which would scare Americans as they would conclude a man with the name "Barack Hussein Obama" who also wears head Turbans synonymous with Islam/being a Muslim is a bad idea as President of the United States of America.


The contentious debate over Senator Obama's turban cast a negative light on the African garments and needless to say sent & sends a mesage to many Americans that visiting African countries, with such Muslim garments and wearing the garments, is problematic.
A message that, in my opinion, is offensive to the African nations that offer their hospitality and respect by honoring American visitors with their clothing.




While Americans argue about the "Muslimness" of a candidate based on the African clothes they wear, a different and hot debate on "Indecent Dressing" takes place in Africa. For right now, it centers in Nigeria but make no mistake about it, India, Arab and other African countries have had to deal with the question of indecent dressing, time and time again. We wrote about this issue back in August of 2007. There are several articles covering the current proposed legisation in the Senate. A good article is the one by AllAfrica.com. If you are the type that likes to look at the actual language of a proposed bill/statute, you can click on the scanned images of the statutes below courtesy of Naija blog to see the wording of the statute.

The stated legislative intent behind the statute is to "prohibit and punish public nudity, sexual intimidation and other related offences in Nigeria." Public nudity is defined as a state of nakedness in the public or open; or state of indecent dressing in the open or public which exposes the following body parts of a human body:

      i. the breast of a female above the age of 14 years;
      ii. the laps of a female above the age of 14 years;
     iii. the belly or waist of a female above the age of 14 years;
     iv. any part of the body from two (2) inches below the shoulders downwards to the knee of a female person above the age of 14 years;
     v. any part of the body of the male person above the age of 14 years from the waist to the knee.

I don't doubt the intentions of the author of the bill, Senator Eme Ufot Ekaette, is positive as seen in the rest of the whole bill, especially in areas focused on professors demanding sex from their female students. I, however, think the statute overall is overbroad and vague, especially as to the definition of what constitutes "indecent dressing."Also, the statute carries an imprisonment sentence of six months for failure to comply with its provisions, a steep penalty for violations of unclear rules that can only be enforced arbitrarily in an already very corrupt society.

The obvious constitutional arguments have been made. See the All Africa article linked above. Several questions, however, spring into my head on this proposed legislation. The part about the exposure of a female breast 14years and above and her laps. Is this an acknowledgement that Nigeria's culture and society has changed drastically to adopt mostly Western notions of nudity? Growing up in Nigeria, I observed women, particularly the poor and uneducated expose their breasts as they go about their daily tasks of cleaning the house, breast feeding e.t.c. In addition, cultural outfits worn by the Hausas[Northern Nigeria], the Calabars [Eastern Nigerian] usually expose the waist/belly buttons and at times the laps. Does it mean Nigerian society is now sexually alert, for lack of a better word, that these cultural norms are to be discarded?

Independent of the constitutional, cultures and norms arguments, I also wonder if the interference of contractual relationship argument can be explored.

Fashion retailers including market women are responding to the demand of certain types of clothes in the marketplace be they tube tops, mini skirts, halter tops, shorts and what have you. There is a demand and thus prohibiting the wearing of such outfits is essentially interfering with the freedom to contract and engage in contractual relations in the market place. Obviously, this argument hinges on Nigeria being a democratic society, which it is, and it embracing capitalism, which I am not so sure it has truly embraced. In any event, what are your thoughts?









Article by Uduak Oduok
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Where Can I Purchase Ready Made Ankara Outfits?

Q. "Is there ANY ankara designer who has a website that one can actually view and purchase an item from? I have looked through ALL your links and none of them do. [S]ome don't even publish their prices. What are they afraid of? Haven't they heard of Paypal or Visa? If one does not have the time for a fitting or resides in a non- popular city how else can one purchase a ready to wear ankara outfit? HELP!" ~Florence

A. Hi Florence, thanks for your e-mail. Designers, readers, please give Florence your suggestions. Meanwhile, Florence, I think you should check out our post on Ankara which includes the Urban knit brand & Sika designs here. I'd suggest you contact the designers on our site directly and ask regarding their price points and where you can get their garments in the USA.

E-retail for African Apparel Designers
As to prices on site or paypal/Visa, high end designers African or non-Africans usually do not have the prices of their garments listed on their site. That is where the retail stores come in to carry their brands. A lot of the African designers linked on Ladybrille.com sites are consistent with the status quo, especially since most do not mass produce. However, your question touches on the movement that is part of Ladybrille and we hope spreads across the net. E-retail for African apparel manufacturers and designers, we believe, is what levels the playing field for Africa's fashion industry and allows it sell directly to customers, without having to woo and appease buyers to give us a chance. An African owned fashion business that has done an excellent job of e-retail is Toni Payne Cosmetics.

For most, especially African brands in Africa, the problem is the supply chain including logistics that happens after the consumers in USA & [Europe] order their fashion products and how they get the product to Western consumers intact and in a timely fashion. Basically, Africa e-retailing is still in its infancy but it's only a matter of time when you'll be able to click on sites akin to GAP.com or Nordstrom.com, figure out what you like, see the price and order. For now, again, contact the designers directly. By the way, a new e-retail store owned by the Liberian born, Fashion Buyer, Chioma Amegashiemight be helpful. You can e-mail her on what you want and if she gets enough of such demands, she will be ordering from the brands on our site and more. Again, designers, please help to fill in the gap with your suggestions in case we missed something.
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Sunday, February 24, 2008

South African Retailers Unite Against Power Crisis

South Africa has been hit with a power crisis that has most local and especially international businesses nervous about their investments. Recently, South African retail businesses and citizens have decided to do something about it with the launch of "The Power of One" campaign. The campaign calls citizens of South Africa to use less power and save the country from pending disaster. Read all about the power crisis here and the campaign here.

On a lighter note and still on the South Africa front, the first ever Stars Of Mzansi Awards, an award show focused on highlighting the best talents in the South Africa’s fashion and entertainment industry takes place on February 29th, 2008. A few of the categories we think you'll be interested in follow:
Mzansi Star Fashion: David Tlale, Asanda Madyibi, Marianne Fassler and Gavin Rajah

Mzansi Star Music
: Hip Hop Pantsula, Karen Zoi, Freshlyground and Lira

Click here for more info. on the award.
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