Going Global with African Textiles and Fashion

Join us on Thursday, February 16 for a webinar examining the place of African textiles and fashion in the global context. The panel  discussion will shed an important light on how to position the twin industries of textile and fashion as drivers of economic growth in Africa, and to release these sectors from the colonial structures that have hampered them from flourishing. Panelists bring their mix of expertise in policy, finance, design, and operations to offer important and diverse perspectives to this conversation centered around the $3 trillion dollar global fashion industry.

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Panelists:
Gavin Rajah | Gavin Rajah Couture
Gavin Rajah is an award winning cultural and creative entrepreneur/activist and vocal champion of women and children's rights. He is immersed in philanthropy and empowering vulnerable communities through his work. He is passionate about nurturing emerging creatives in Africa and creating communities of practice that are addressing issues of decoloniality in the fashion ecosystem. He has founded many initiatives, amongst the most notable, being Futurewear in South Africa which offers an immersive programme for young creatives as well as a programme that enables creatives to become digitally agile. He is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and sits on the advisory board for Harvard University's Centre of African Studies. Through his non-profit The Whitelight Movement he is actively involved in combating all forms of violence against women and children and using fashion to foster economic transformation in the lives of vulnerable individuals.

Diarra Bousso | Diarrablu
Diarra Bousso is a Serial Entrepreneur, Creative Mathematician and Multidisciplinary Artist born in Dakar, Senegal. She is the founder and Creative Director of the conscious lifestyle brand DIARRABLU. Diarra started her professional career on Wall Street as a Structured Products Trader and later Asset Finance Analyst but decided to resign after two years to follow her passion in design. She launched several startups since 2013, notably DIARRABLU with the aim to celebrate her African heritage while empowering local artisan communities. Today she has built a global fashion business through her innovative design concept merging algorithms, tradition, and sustainability. Diarra has showcased her collections during New York and Paris Fashion weeks and represented Senegal at World Fashion Week Paris. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Forbes, CNN, and The New York Times among others. She is a strong activist for the global celebration of the African cultural legacy and represents Senegal at the United Nations’ new platform for art and heritage. Diarra recently completed her Master’s degree in Mathematics Education at Stanford University with stints at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Center for Computational Research in Music and Acoustics. Diarra is focused on the teaching and research of Creative Mathematics in Silicon Valley while thoughtfully merging the worlds of math and arts for a multi-disciplinary approach to innovation in teaching, learning, and design. Her fashion group and its various subsidiaries are operated by her global team between Dakar, New York, San Francisco, Jakarta, Manila, São Paulo, and Madrid. The production in Senegal is a team of over 30 artisans who represent her biggest pride.

Ambassador Rama Yade | Atlantic Council Africa Center
Ambassador Rama Yade is director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center and senior fellow for the Europe Center. She is also Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco and at Sciences Po Paris. She is a Senegalese and French citizen. Prior to joining the Council, she was a consultant for the World Bank, advising the institution on education, youth, sports, human capital, and disability issues in Africa. She also has strong experience in the private sector as an editor in London, where she overviewed a collection of books about African millennials, and as director for development at a French consulting firm in corporate and social responsibility. Ambassador Yade has over a decade of experience working in French, European, and international politics. At the age of thirty, she was appointed as the deputy minister for foreign affairs and human rights of the Republic of France: the first ever French minister for human rights and the first woman of African descent to become a member of the French cabinet. Ambassador Yade prioritized women’s rights during the French presidency of the European Union in 2008. Thanks to strong advocacy, she strengthened the Paris Commitments and Paris Principles on ending the use of child soldiers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. From Chad to Haiti, she also mobilized resources to post-crisis areas to manage emergencies in cooperation with international nongovernmental organizations. In recognition of her work, she was Nelson Mandela’s personal guest on his ninetieth birthday in Johannesburg. She was subsequently appointed to the position of deputy minister of sports. In this role, she successfully promoted France’s bid to host the Euro 2016 football tournament as well as the 2018 Ryder Cup. Confirming her commitments towards the fight against discrimination, she led the campaign for all French sports federations to sign a charter against homophobia in sports and to get more involved in equal pay for female athletes. In 2010, Ambassador Yade was appointed as the ambassador of France to UNESCO, where she obtained in 2011, after twelve years of effort, the designation of World Heritage Site for the Causses and the Cévennes. Ambassador Yade is a parliamentary high civil servant and belongs to the French Senate In the Luxembourg Palace, she worked as legal senior advisor from 2000 to 2007, taking part in the law-making process for the Social Affairs Committee, developed a deep knowledge of worldwide parliamentary networks as the executive director of the France-West Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group and cooperated with the TV network of the Parliament, Public Sénat, as deputy director for programming and director of communications. Ambassador Yade received a master’s degree in political science and public affairs from Sciences Po Paris. She is the author of several books, including Noirs de France, Les droits de l'homme expliqués aux enfants de 7 à 77, Lettre à la jeunesse, Plaidoyer pour une instruction publique, Carnets de pouvoir, and Anthologie regrettable du machisme en politique.

Khanyi Mashimbye | African Export-Import Bank
Ms. Khanyi Mashimbye, a South African national, is an official at Afreximbank whose areas of focus are the implementation of the Banks Creative and Cultural Industry programme called Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) as well as the Banks Diaspora strategy. Ms. Khanyi Mashimbye has over 20 years’ experience in the African Fashion, Retail and Manufacturing industry. she holds a Masters degree of Business Administration from London School of Business and Finance and a Higher National Diploma in Fashion Design and Technology from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa. Ms. Khanyi Mashimbye also studied Organisational Behaviour from Herriot – Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K. Ms. Khanyi Mashimbye has worked as Head of Commercial- Sub Saharan Region in FreedomeE- Porto, Portugal. Prior to that, she co- founded a footwear production company ZETU Shoes that manufactures in Durban, South Africa. As part of Ms. Khanyi Mashimbye’s professional experience, she served as an Executive in Merchandise Division for Sail, Sport & Entertainment, now MARC Group Limited, Johannesburg, South Africa. She also worked for Edcon Retail, Johannesburg, South Africa where in her last position she served as Divisional Buying Manager for Edgars.

Moderator:
Rabi Yansané | Rabi Taabara – Bureau de Mode
Rabi Yansané is a Guinean-Senegalese, Paris-based fashion and design observer and entrepreneur. She worked many years alongside independent designers and craftspeople in Japan, Senegal, France, and Germany. In 2017, while living in Tokyo, she pivoted in her career to build her own company specialised in intercultural fashion. She first became a branding adviser for small Japanese fashion and lifestyle brands willing to develop their businesses in Europe. This was the first step towards her current project: in 2021, she started a Bureau de Mode aiming to build a bridge between African and Japanese aesthetics.

Thursday, February 16 | 10am-11:30am ET
Zoom Webinar
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