Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) to Spearhead Effort to Boost Continent’s Textile Exports to $15 Billion.
The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has announced a strategic partnership with Lagos Fashion Week 2025, aimed squarely at boosting the continent’s apparel and textile export industries. This crucial sector is projected to reach $15 billion by 2030.
This collaboration is a direct extension of AFC’s core mandate: to drive industrialisation and job creation through investments in infrastructure that transform African economies.
Now celebrating its 15th year, Lagos Fashion Week serves as a globally recognized stage for African creativity. The 2025 edition will specifically highlight key themes like circular fashion, responsible sourcing, and regional value chains.
These areas are precisely where AFC’s infrastructure investments are helping to bridge the gap between Africa’s creative talent and its industrial potential.
Samaila Zubairu, AFC’s President and CEO, positioned the partnership as a move to translate Africa’s creative promise into “measurable impact.” He stated that the collaboration supports the full fashion value chain by empowering youth, strengthening local manufacturing, and driving value addition so that Africa’s designers and manufacturers can “compete on a truly global stage.”
Omoyemi Akerele, Founder of Lagos Fashion Week, welcomed the AFC, noting that its commitment to sustainable infrastructure and local manufacturing perfectly aligns with their mission. Akerele envisions a future where Africa’s creative industries will not just inspire, but also produce and export value from within the continent.
Demonstrating its impact, the AFC, through its investor ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms, is actively enabling Africa’s shift from being a raw material exporter to a producer of finished goods.
To date, AFC-backed projects have collectively added over $50 billion to GDP and supported the creation of seven million jobs across 36 African nations.
