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African fashion doesn’t yet have an answer to Chanel or Dior. Newly launched investment fund Birimian seeks to change that as the first operational investment company dedicated to scaling African fashion brands into global luxury houses.
Birimian will provide $30,000 to $3 million of investment and will support high-potential brands from Africa and its diaspora with production, financial planning and distribution on the back end, while giving them access to fashion stakeholders, working with Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, Institut Français de la Mode, trade show Who’s Next and fashion prize Andam. Brands will also undergo financial due diligence with Ernst & Young and market positioning with consultancy Nelly Rodi to construct a five-year business plan.
It launches with four designer labels selected based on their social media engagement and existing international sales: Christie Brown (Ghana), Loza Maléombho (Ivory Coast), Simone et Élise (Ivory Coast) and Yeba (Belgium). The firm will invest in 10-15 brands total by September and mentor 20 more without taking a stake, says founder and chief executive Laureen Kouassi-Olsson, a specialist in African private equity who has built an all-female executive team to run the firm.
Africa’s textile and clothing market is estimated to be worth more than $31 billion according to the African Development Bank, and some African brands have gained global recognition in recent years as hubs of creativity have emerged, like Nigeria. But brands on the continent and in the diaspora struggle to reach the commercial success of international brands due to limited infrastructure, production capabilities and access to international buyers and press. While there’s a growing number of organisations that aim to globalise African fashion, from e-commerce platforms to NGOs, the continent’s fashion designers and artisans need both investment and business coaching that’s not Eurocentric to truly succeed, says Alexis Rai Gaynor Hernandez, director of digital strategy and partnerships at NGO the African Fashion Foundation.
“That’s what Birimian is all about,” says Kouassi-Olsson. “It’s creating a community of investors, of key industry strategic stakeholders to surround African brands and accelerate their expansion.”
African brands need to scale production to meet growing demand
In the wake of Covid-19 and the acceleration of the Black Lives Matter movement, the African luxury market is ripe for growth, says Kouassi-Olsson. “Covid-19 prompted luxury consumers to really question their “why”. They’re looking for brands with a significant mission, DNA and identity. They’re looking for consciousness and responsibility in what they’re consuming. African designer brands offer that quest for consciousness and that quest for responsibility,” she says.
However, before amplifying the brands on the global stage, it’s important the companies can cope with scale. Without the production and distribution capabilities to meet a surge in orders, brands find it difficult to maintain their businesses, she adds.
“My main challenge is at the level of production,” says Ivorian American designer Loza Maléombho, one of Birimian’s launch brands. “While we pride ourselves in working with local artisans and local craftsmanship, respecting deadlines, quality and quantity standards are a bit tricky to supply the growing demand of the business on the international scale. This is due to lack of training and infrastructure,” she says.
Maléombho, who has dressed Beyoncé, Solange and Kelly Rowland, will receive $150,000 of investment from Birimian to strengthen the business. Maléombho says Birimian’s training and management support, along with the financial investment, will allow her to focus more on the creative side of the business, including product design and storytelling.
Accessories designer Yeba Olaye wants to build “the African Celine”, with a focus on timeless luxury handbags for intellectual, strong women, akin to Phoebe Philo’s designs at the house. Olaye grew up in Europe but her brand has firmly African roots, she says. With Birimian’s help, she wants to be stocked in luxury retailers like Net-a-Porter. Past investors were too focused on quick profit to drive meaningful growth, she says.
The level of investment from Birimian depends on the size of the brand. Ghanian brand Christie Brown, identified as a high-potential brand, will receive around $500,000 investment to scale its production. With 86,000 Instagram followers, $600,000 in annual revenue and 40 per cent of sales coming from international markets, it’s the exact type of company Birimian is looking for, says Kouassi-Olsson.
Scaling production is not the be-all and end-all for success in African luxury, says Gaynor Hernandez, and budding African designers often model themselves after European brands, which often have creative directors or founders with entrepreneurial experience. But they only see the outward facing communication without understanding the strategy that really goes behind a true successful company, she adds. Now, she says, the focus is on production and operations, to build African fashion brands that are commercially viable for the long term. The African Fashion Foundation is keen for its designers to lean into slow fashion and show new models of luxury.
“Industry-wise, we are getting so much visibility, all eyes are on Africa and its creative industries right now. So is it really about taking this opportunity to align with what the competition was doing? Or do we take this opportunity to lead the way into a new era of what the industry could look like. We are challenging [designers] to idealise new models versus chasing the old.”
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