The fast growing Nigerian fashion industry has been given a new lifeline of N1billion by the Bank of Industry (BoI), on Tuesday in Lagos, to help it launch into the multibillion dollar global fashion market.
Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, Managing Director of the bank, said the fund was to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Olaoluwa added that Nigerian fashion designers were one of the most creative in the world, having trained in most of the best fashion schools across the globe.

He said the fund was an initiative under the Gender Unit of the bank, and also targeted toward women-owned businesses only.
“There has been a lot of talk about SME funding, but with less actions. This is why BoI has decided to increase its funding initiatives to cluster creations.
“BoI has so far recognised 34 cluster creations nationwide to drive our funding initiatives. So, we are able to tailor each cluster based on its peculiarities.



“We are excited about this fund because of the impact it is going to make in promoting job creation, especially among the youths because fashion business globally is worth about $1trillion.
“And with the growing population of over 170 million, increasing purchasing power of the middle class, it is obvious that fashion business is, and will be a money spinner for Nigeria’s economy in the next few years”, Olaoluwa said.
He decried the state of the textile industry, saying that it had not benefitted enough from the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), due to poor competitiveness.

Read more here http://www.dozzycouture.com/nigerian-fashion-industry-get-n1bn-boost-from-bank-of-industry/

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