AFC Returns as Lead Sponsor of Lagos Fashion Week 2026, Convening Session on Financing a Sustainable African Fashion Industry
Lagos, Nigeria, 21 October 2026– Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the continent’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, is returning as Lead Sponsor of Lagos Fashion Week 2026, reaffirming its commitment to empowering Africa’s creative industries as engines of inclusive economic growth, industrialisation and job creation.
Africa’s fashion industry holds significant potential to drive economic diversification, expand employment opportunities and strengthen the continent’s participation in global value chains. However, unlocking this potential requires more than creative talent. Investment by institutions such as AFC, in infrastructure, productive capacity, local manufacturing and access to capital, is essential to enabling African fashion businesses to scale, compete internationally and capture greater value within the continent.
AFC’s return builds on the success of its inaugural partnership with Lagos Fashion Week in 2025, which included a joint event with its investee company, ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP), bringing together approximately 300 participants to explore the relationship between African fashion, industrialisation, local manufacturing and value addition. The engagement highlighted the importance of connecting the continent’s creative talent with the industrial infrastructure and production capabilities required to build competitive fashion and textile value chains.
Building on this foundation, AFC’s participation in Lagos Fashion Week 2026 will focus on the investment and financing requirements for a more sustainable and climate-resilient African fashion industry. In collaboration with AFC Capital Partners, the Corporation will convene a panel discussion titled “OFF THE RUNWAY: Financing a Sustainable African Fashion Industry in a Changing Climate.” The session will bring together leaders from fashion, energy, sustainability and investment to explore how infrastructure, innovative financing and more resilient production systems can support the growth of Nigeria’s fashion industry, with lessons for the wider African market.
“Africa’s creative industries embody both our cultural pride and our economic promise. Through this renewed partnership with Lagos Fashion Week 2026, we are advancing AFC’s commitment to turn that promise into measurable impact—supporting the full fashion value chain to empower the youth, strengthen local manufacturing, and drive value addition on the continent,” said Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC. “By building critical infrastructure that underpins these creative value chains, AFC is ensuring that Africa’s designers and manufacturers can compete on a truly global stage,” he added.
Lagos Fashion Week has established itself as a globally recognised platform showcasing African design, creativity and innovation. AFC’s continued partnership reflects the importance of connecting this creative strength with the infrastructure, investment and industrial capabilities needed to build a more competitive and sustainable African fashion industry.
Omoyemi Akerele, Founder of Lagos Fashion Week said, “We are delighted to welcome African Fashion Corporation back as a key partner for Lagos Fashion Week 2026. Their focus this season speaks to the spirit of the African Fashion Coalition Manifesto and two of its central pillars: Community Led Creation and Inclusive Prosperity, and Circularity. Both recognise that community, resourcefulness and regeneration are not emerging trends, but foundations upon which African fashion has long been built. This partnership reinforces our continued commitment to the Manifesto’s vision of an African fashion industry that preserves indigenous knowledge, strengthens local production, creates shared economic value and builds a regenerative future rooted in our communities.”
AFC’s continued partnership with Lagos Fashion Week builds on its wider engagement across Africa’s creative landscape, including most recently, the launch of its ARD South Residency, a fully supported 3-month artist-in-residence program for young African artists, organized in collaboration with the ARD Art Institution in Cairo. These collaborations reflect the Corporation’s commitment to supporting the entrepreneurs, innovators and businesses contributing to Africa’s economic transformation. Through its investments in critical infrastructure and strategic sectors, AFC continues to support industrial development, strengthen local value chains and unlock opportunities for sustainable and inclusive growth across the continent.
About AFC
AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for pragmatic infrastructure and industrial investments across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development, and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth.
Nineteen years on, AFC has developed a track record as the partner of choice in Africa for investing and delivering on instrumental, high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. AFC has 49 member countries and has invested over US$20 billion in 36 African countries since its inception.
Media Enquiries:
Yewande Thorpe
Communications
Africa Finance Corporation
Mobile +234 1 279 9654
Email: yewande.thorpe@africafc.org