Introducing CAFET, the Centre for African Fashion Education and Technology, a social enterprise focused on developing the African fashion value chain through education and technology. Eme Bassey, a seasoned professional in the fashion business, made it her goal to revolutionize the value of Africa’s fashion industry in the world with CAFET.
“I like to call myself a fashion value chain builder… I’ve been in the fashion industry my entire working career,” Bassey said. “I am a businessperson at heart. I figured out there was a demand [in the fashion industry], so I kind of just said, ‘Hey, there’s something here, and I’m going to see this [through] to the end.’”
Eme Bassey’s introduction to the fashion industry began with her mother, a doctor with a passion for sewing and reworking clothes. As an undergraduate studying Economics at the American University of Nigeria, Bassey connected her knack for business with her mother’s love for clothes. Inspired by her mom, she started a small business, purchasing unique clothes during summer trips to London and selling them at school.
“When push comes to shove, there’s someone that is there for me [who] can support me. That was very encouraging,” Bassey said. “I think for her it was a bit nostalgic to see her daughter setting up a brand. She was very supportive throughout the entire process.”
After the success of her small venture, she realized the potential in starting her own manufacturing company. Due to the lack of manufacturing factories in Nigeria, Bassey traveled to Turkey, a country known for high-quality garment manufacturing facilities.
Unfortunately, reality fell short of her expectations.
“When I went to the factory, I [was] like ‘Is this all? Is this everything?’ I expected something a lot grander, and it occurred to me that this is not so out of reach,” Bassey said. “This [factory] is something that we can do in Nigeria. I don’t necessarily need to travel all the way to Turkey to produce. At that point, I decided to get some training.”
Bassey spent time in London, studying fashion business and manufacturing, while her mother honed her technical skills in sewing. With this newfound knowledge, they spent the next five years building Inighi Limited, a B2C (business-to-consumer) apparel brand providing homegrown Nigerian apparel to consumers across the globe.
“There were a lot of challenges that I encountered while running a brand, and I realized that it wasn’t just specifically me. It was something that applied across the industry.” Bassey said, addressing the hardships of building a fashion brand in Africa. “We have underlying foundational challenges like infrastructure, education…human capacity. I know the struggles, but I also know the opportunities.”
With Bassey’s understanding of the challenges in creating a brand in Africa and her connections in the fashion industry, CAFET was established to create exponential growth. Through partnerships with governments, development agencies, business, colleges, and investors, CAFET provides affordable industry education, trade services, consulting, and a range of technological fashion services.
“One of the things that I’m also really focused on right now [and] over the last year, has just been on scaling [brands] beyond Africa,” Bassey said. “How can we increase sales through wholesale channels [or] retail channels so that you can actually really grow?”
CAFET recently launched several initiatives, including market access programs for over ten emerging fashion brands in collaboration with Fidelity. Among her roster of projects, Bassey took pride in working with Checkwas Okafor, who founded Onchek, a manufacturing company with a 100% locally sourced supply chain and one million t-shirt sales to date.
“What I absolutely love about Onchek is that [Okafor] took the hard way…He decided to backwards-integrate into manufacturing his own cotton,” Bassey said. “It’s been exciting working with him just because he has the passion. He has the clarity of purpose, and I’m able to really promote his products. He’s absolutely fun to work with.”
Seeing success not only in Africa, but in other countries like the US, Bassey recognizes an opportunity to unlock the industry’s potential and increase its contribution to the GDP and job creation. She specifically cites the African Growth Opportunity Act, which provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for sub-Saharan African countries.
“For Africa, there are a lot of things that are aligning in our favor. There are a lot of macro and policy trends that are playing [out] right now and making this such a perfect time to really buckle down, grow this industry, and scale the business, the brands, and the manufacturers,” Bassey said.
Eme Bassey’s extensive, challenging journey reflects her deep commitment to helping others and transforming the African fashion industry. Outside of CAFET, she works as a consultant, helping to grow fashion manufacturers and brands. In all her ventures, Bassey empowers African fashion brands by providing the education, infrastructure, and global market access needed to succeed.
