Made in Nigeria

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SME SPOTLIGHT
Bellafricana - On
An Afrocentric
Mission
There has been a rise in the number
of creative indigenous (made in
Nigeria, Africa) brands that have
great quality with little or no financing
from either the government or larger
institutions. We are on the list of brands who
do not sit out waiting on the government to
fix every hole in the economy. We believe in
creating and innovating ideas to make our
economy a better place.
Bukky Asehinde aims to help creative Afrocentric/Indigenous
businesses in Africa
connect to their local and global consumers.
As part of her mission to bridge the gap between
creative producers of Made-in-Nigeria
non-oil creative products and their consumers,
Bellafricana, a company owned by Bukky,
launched an online platform in April 2016,
showcasing unique businesses of products
and services made in Nigeria (Africa).
The online platform (www.bellafricana.com)
was launched to empower, promote and
celebrate creative indigenous brands in
Africa. Starting with Nigeria her home-land,
the goal is to take it one African Country at
a time.
Expansively, Bellafricana is an initiative with
a focus on Made-in-Nigeria non-oil product
development, where customers and
suppliers engage and
transact to bridge the
buyer-seller gap and
create a wider outreach
for Nigerian products
locally and globally.
Bukky created a platform
to enable creative
MSMEs thrive, whilst doing all it takes to
bring the quality products to the forefront.
She believes that a support group/community
for these businesses will enhance the
non-oil export in the Nigerian economy.
Bukky wondered –“Why should we wait on
financial backing from the government and
big institutions to help this industry, when
we can create a platform to connect these
indigenous businesses, maximise raw materials
in Nigeria, providing employment for
local talents within the country and create
wealth for the nation?”
After conducting her own research, she soon
realised, however, that the major challenge
these businesses are facing majorly has to
do with marketing and understanding the
trade, which
is the heart of any business.
“Without marketing, a brand will not be
visible.”
Bellafricana strives to connect indigenous
businesses to the consumers. They push
these small businesses with effective marketing
which would increase sales, help hire and
train more local talents joining the companies,
which will, in turn, contribute to the
growth of the Nigerian economy and also
help decrease the unemployment rate.
In her quest to bring as many quality
Made-in-Nigeria (Africa) brands to the forefront,
Bukky has put together an initiative to
Celebrate Small Creative Businesses with the
aim of encouraging more talents in Nigeria
to look inwards, be original and create
more globally acceptable brands.
An initiative called African Creative Exhibition
and Awards (termed ACE Awards),
backed by the Nigerian Export Promotion
Council (NEPC) and endorsed by the Lagos
State Government, Ministry of Tourism,
Arts and Culture, Nigerian-British Chamber
of Commerce (NBCC), Nigerian-American
Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Lagos Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and
Nigeria-Britain Association.
The ACE Awards is the first of its kind in Africa,
launched on April 17, 2017. The second
edition was successfully held on April 28,
2018; which was a 3 phase event - Conference,
Exhibition and Awards Dinner.
With the support of the Nigerian Export Promotional
Council, Bellafricana has positively
supported some indigenous businesses with
over 5 million naira, and is directly impacting
over 1000 businesses in Nigeria and gradually
Africa.
Some of the creative businesses on Bellafricana
include; Organic Life Plus, Ethnik by
Tunde Owolabi, Ile Ila, Ty-Tys Design, Modara
Naturals, MitiMeth, Mimiremi Textiles, Adire
Lounge and so much more.
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