In a bid to promote innovation, encourage home grown solutions and improve the quality of life for the common man through meaningful collaborative relationships across communities, Mbari Uno, a platform that educates, promotes engagement, develop sustainable solutions and establish a Sub- Saharan African design industry has launched in Lagos.

Mbari Uno, was borne out of the need to create a platform that would engender collaborations among designers, design enthusiasts, sponsors, manufacturers, industries and the general public.
Building on the pillars of design research, education and development, Mbari Uno will teach and showcase design, profile designers and chronicle design firms. The platform will also create great design work, establish and promote the design industry as well as document the design discipline in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the absence of a holistic directory for the design industry in Nigeria with little local reference or examples to benchmark its design practice, the visionaries Chuma Anagbado and Obinali Okoli birthed Mbari Uno which literally translates to a ‘House of Collaboration’ to share ideas and develop indigenous solutions among design aficionados, government and stakeholders.
Speaking at the launch, Co-founder Mbari Uno, Chuma Anagbado said that, “ Mbari Uno is set to attract design patrons, consultant and investors to help emerging designers gain access to innovative spaces, trainings, professional assistance, and any other service that will fast track them to success.”

He noted that “the idea is to continually chronicle and publish the profiles of both formal and informal trained design professionals, firms, publications, events, schools, designs clusters and routinely publish insights, views, opinions, solutions, to position among others on design-based issues using the media. “We want to conceive, design and develop frameworks that will promote the culture of probing, innovation, collaboration and sustainable engagements that seek to improve the quality of life of the common man.”
Mbari Uno is poised to become a ‘go-to hub’ for all things design, a platform that will drive visible human capital development and position Nigeria as a leading design nation in Africa as well as build an increase in the number of successful design startups originating from Sub-Saharan Africa.

The vision of Mbari Uno is to establish a framework for the creation of design hubs across various cities in Sub-Saharan Africa, where host communities will engage in prototyping ideas and designing solutions that will benefit them.
For more information, visit www.mbariuno.com