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E-Commerce Opening Doors for African Fashion Industry

ADDIS ABABA (6 May) - Africa's role as a consumer of fashion has been on the rise in recent years. This trend is largely due to the emergence of e-commerce, which provides Africans the opportunity to buy clothing from retailers with no physical presence on the continent.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the growth of e-commerce is enabling small-scale African designers to also become producers of fashion, as they showcase their collections to consumers worldwide. African shopping Web sites like Jumjum and Longa are making the work of African designers available for purchase not just throughout the continent, but also as far away as London and New York. - [1] - .

"African designers are finally gaining visibility," says Mazaa Absher, founder of Abbi Sportscore, Afri ca's fastest-growing athletic footwear company. "We have always had terrific design and production capacity here on the continent, but it was hard getting it out into the world. Now we are generating more sales online than we are in our stores."

- [2] - .

Even as Ms. Absher has transformed her company into an international powerhouse, she continues to highlight the advantages of manufacturing its products in her home city of Nazret. - [3] - . Africa's strong textile sector and innovative designs combine tradition and wearability, and this formula is allowing companies like hers to set their sights beyond the continent. "As more cities in Ethiopi a-and all over Africa- improve their manufacturing capacity, it will become easier to reach the rest of the world," says Ms. Absher. - [4] - .

8 February

Ms. Mala Chelvi

60 Jalan Tun Razak

54200 Kuala Lumpur

Dear Ms. Chelvi,

We are delighted to inform you that you have been nominated as a finalist for the Small Business Challenge competition this year. Now in its fifth year, this competition is designed to highlight innovative products and services launched by young entrepreneurs. The Web application that you developed, which provides a means of matching charitable organizations with volunteers, earned one of the top scores from our panel of judges.

In the next round of the challenge, you will participate in a live presentation about your product before a panel of expert judges. The three people with the best presentations will receive one-time grants of MYR 10,000 each to invest in their businesses.

Please go to sbc.org/competition and submit an outline of your presentation, a brief video that clearly illustrates the use of your application, and a passport-sized photograph of yourself. You will also need to sign a consent form allowing us to use your name and photo, if needed, in promotional materials on our Web site. The deadline for submission of these materials is 10 March.

Best regards,

Felix Pang

Chairperson, Small Business Challenge Committee