14 Nov 2017

Africa as a continent has so much to give to the world in the fashion industry, says CEO and founder of African Fashion International, Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe.

 

Delivering a key note address during De Beers Women Summit in Gaborone recently, Dr Moloi-Motsepe said as the world moves towards higher levels of industrialisation and sophisticated technologies, African women should target to get their share of value in the world fashion industry.

 

Addressing women entrepreneurs and leaders she said so much was unexplored in Africa, which presented ample opportunities for business to thrive.

 

Africa, she said had so much to give the world in terms of its cultural heritage, creativity and knowledge. 

 

She noted that statistics indicated that two thirds of the world’s literate people were women; but women continue to earn about 75 cents in a dollar, which was far less than that of their male counterparts. This, she attributed to impediments such as institutional and cultural issues, gender stereotypes, which she said must be tackled at leadership level.

 

Dr Moloi-Motsepe, who is also deputy chairperson of Motsepe Foundation, which joined the Giving Pledge in 2013- an organisation that was started by Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet to scale up philanthropy and embark on community and societal development initiatives, said women’s participation in key leadership roles was low. 

 

Therefore, she said there was need for women to stand up for themselves and grab opportunities. 

 

The enterprising medical doctor who has taken a leap into the fashion industry said the fashion industry in Africa had not been performing optimally. 

 

This, she said called for imperatives to ensure that fashion designers understood the business of fashion. She emphatically stated that women needed to understand the dynamics at play and assert themselves well in fashion where African designs must be taken to the world.

 

She stated that so much was at women’s disposal as statistics show that 80 per cent of world consumers were women while 64 per cent of the world’s educated people were women. She said this, then gave the women power, which they often do not see.

 

Further, Dr Moloi-Motsepe said statistics showed that there were increasing numbers of women buying diamond products.

 

“This means, the women do not wait for the men to buy diamonds for them, they buy it for themselves,” she said.

 

Thus, she said, the buying patterns showed that women were increasingly becoming more economically empowered. She emphasised the need for gender parity to begin at home where role clarity between boys and girls was created to afford both gender equal opportunities.

 

She said gender parity could not be achieved by leaving the males behind.

 

She said women should stand up and show that Africa was not a basket case.

 

“The world still hasn’t come to terms with the fact that there is so much creativity, talent and innovation in Africa. Africa is not a basket case,” she said.

 

She added that women entrepreneurs should do away with letting their emotions take over once they thought of a business idea. 

 

Instead of allowing emotions take over, she said, they must employ strategic means on how they were going to achieve their idea.

 

Dr Moloi-Motsepe, who also seats in the Harvard Kennedy Women’s Leadership Board, the Global Agenda Council of The World Economic Forum and many other boards, further asserted that there was need for women to adopt research-based nudges to ensure effective implementation of their ideas. It takes time for people to appreciate an idea and this will happen with African fashion which is slowly penetrating the world, she added.

 

To take African fashion to the world, Dr Motsepe revealed that her company, African Fashion International, has in the past taken young designers to reputable fashion weeks such as the London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion week and many others, where the reception was gradually becoming.

 

She commended De Beers for partnering with United Nations Women and setting up a target of reaching gender parity in its leadership positions by 2020. She said commitment that came from a higher level ensured that there was real change on the ground, which would yield results. BOPA