Art Dubai 2013, the leading international art fair in the Middle East and South Asia chose to focus on West Africa through MARKER — a curated section of galleries spotlighting a country or region — selected by curator Bisi Silva (Director, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos).

Lagos-based Silva presented five galleries: Espace Doual’ art (Douala, Cameroon), Carpe Diem (Segou, Mali), Nubuke Foundation (Accra, Ghana), Raw Material Company (Dakar, Senegal) and Centre for Contemporary Art (Lagos, Nigeria) each reflecting the wide diversity of artistic practice in West Africa. The featured works exhibited represented the largest showcase to date of artists from the continent in the Middle East and included works across painting, photography, sculpture, sound art, and film. The artists participating include Soly Cissé, Ndidi Dike, Charles Okereke, Mary Evans, Abdoulaye Konaté, Aboubakar Fofana, Taiye Idahor, Em’Kal Eyongakpa and Ade Adekola.

Art Dubai located in the splendour of the city’s Madinat Jumeirah attracted a sea of heavy-hitters from the art world including Tate Modern Head of Exhibitions Achim Borchardt-Hume, Anne Pasternak, Artistic Director of Creative Time in New York, to Catherine Grenier, Associate Director of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. Important collectors of modern and contemporary African art were also in attendance: Prince Yemisi Shyllon, Sammy Olagbaju and Sandra Mbanefo Obiago all came to view works available from 75 galleries across the globe exhibiting at the illustrious fair.

Lagos-based writer-editor Tolu Ogunlesi who partcipated in Global Art Forum_7, the leading platform for cultural discussion and debate at the fair said, ” It was my first time at Art Dubai, and I was equally intrigued and impressed. The high-points of the fair for me were MARKER 2013 and the Yemisi Shyllon session. I felt understandably proud, as a Nigerian, listening to Prince Shyllon speak about his matchless collection, and now firmly believe that Nigerian and African art are on the cusp of deserved global prominence.”

By day one, many of the galleries within MARKER reported steady sales. Raw Material Company from Dakar sold a sculpture Valeur Marchande, 2012 by artist Senegalese Henri Sagna who primarily uses recycled materials, priced at $4000. Accra’s Nubuke Foundation solo booth of paintings by renowned Ghanaian artist Ablade Glover proved one of the fair’s star attraction and did brisk business with his series of vibrant coloured cityscapes selling for between $15,000-20,000. The wire and scrap-iron sculptures by Joseph Francis Sumégné on display at Cameroon’s Espace Doul’ art attracted serious interest from a private collector.

From Segou in Mali, Carpe Diem gallery featured a stunning collection of black and white photographs by Harandane Dicko selling at $1500 each. The 35 years old photographer based in Bamako has in recent years been making a name for himself in what has been heralded as the new school of Malian photography continuing the tradition of Malick Sidibe, Hamidou Maiga, Adama Kouyaté, Soungalo Male and Seydou Keita. MARKER curator Bis Silva and her Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos gathered praise for its eclectic booth notably for exhibiting sound artist Emeka Ogboh, Interludes, 2009, priced $3800 an edition of five. The sound installation including prints of sound waves explores 50 years of Nigeria’s independence. Using archival sound recordings of the voices of two of Nigeria’s former Head of States, Nnamidi Azikiwe and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the work examines the promises independence imposes itself on the contemporary present uncovering the ways in which nostalgia and memory play in the imagining of the nation.

Meanwhile many blue-chip galleries at the fair took the opportunity to exhibit a number of artists from Africa from their gallery programme. Italy’s Galleria Continua sold a work by Cameroon-born artist Pascale Marthine Tayou Chalks and Pins O, 2011, priced at $100,000 to the Belgian collector Guy Ullens.

Galerie Imane Fares from Paris showed two tapestry pieces with embroidered silk Lazy Haze, 2013 and Late Afternoon Shimmer, 2013 from Malawian-born and South African based artist Billie Zangewa’s. The Lebanese-Senegalese born dealer, who opened her self-named gallery in 2010 in the city’s fashionable St Germain focuses on contemporary art from the Middle East and Africa has drawn critical praise for her diverse programme of young and emerging artists and its elegantly curated exhibitions. Fares praised the fair and its excellent organisation, adding, “They were good curators around, and good collectors, also foundations! We sold works to a Turkish foundation. We will be doing the fair again next year”. Also at New York’s Lombard Freid Projects, the gallery displayed works from Mournir Fatmi, selling the Moroccan artist’s Father’s Carpet # 8, 2012, priced at $32,000.

Other wonderful surprises include works from a trio of distinguished Benin artists, Meschac Gaba, Dominique Zinkpè and Romuald Hazoumè. A display of Gaba’s iconic wigs’s and Zinkpè luscious paintings on paper took centre stage at Paris’ Galerie In Situ + Fabienne Leclerc while Hazoumè’ s Water Cargo, 2012, made of reconstituted motorcycle parts and plastic canisters graced the stand at London’s October gallery. Elisabeth Lalouschek, Director of the gallery maintained that there were ongoing discussions regarding the installation being acquired by an institution The artist himself was present at Art Dubai and could be regularly spotted elegantly roaming the fair in his exquisitely designed agbadas.

Maria Varnava, Founder and Director of Tiwani Contemporary in London focusing on visual art from Africa and its diaspora didn’t exhibit at this year’s fair but expressed what many fairgoers felt, “I thought Art Dubai 2013 was a well balanced, well organised fair with a strong talks programme. It was really exciting to see that this year’s MARKER curated section focused on West Africa and that the participating institutions from the region did very well in terms of sales. I really enjoyed Hossein Valamanesh at Grey Noise, Rana Begum at Bischoff/ Weiss but also, Em’Kal at Doual’art, Emeka Ogboh, Taiye Idahor at CCA, Lagos to name a few”.

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The seven short films which will be shot in Lagos, Abidjan, Kinshasa, Dakar, Johannesburg, Cairo and Nairobi are set for delivery in May 2013.

The work of these young film artists will show the face of a modern and cosmopolitan Africa and challenge long-standing clichés about the continent.

The filmmakers are Jim Chuchu of Kenya, Egyptian director Ahmed Ghoneimy, Folasakin Iwajomo of Nigeria, Marie Ka who is Senegalese/Martinique, Philippe Lacote of the Ivory Coast, Yohan Lengole of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South African director Vincent Moloi.

Responding to the development, GTBank CEO, Segun Agbaje said,“We are delighted to take part in supporting the work of African film artists who will share with the world their take on urban Africa, and wish that our support will encourage continued good work from these storytellers as well as others yet to come of age.”

Executive Producer Steven Markovitz commented: “Our filmmakers have never lived through a shortage of good ideas. Thanks to our partners we are now at that point where financial support and guidance will bring ideas to light in the best possible way.”

GTB has been a strong supporter of the development of arts in Africaand the creative industry.

In 2010, the lender sponsored the exhibition of the first African artist (Yinka Shonibare MBE) to display an art work in Trafalgar Square. It also has a rich online TV platform, Ndani TV, where it showcases African stories from all sectors.

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The Somali refugee child stars will be accompanied by their father, Mahdi Hassan Mohamed, and will meet up in Los Angeles with Rafiq Samsodien, Asad’s South African producer, who’s had sleepless nights making the trip happen.

Speaking at Tuesday’s double screening of the Western Cape’s two Oscar-nominated films, Asad and the Rodriguez documentary Searching for Sugarman, Rafiq said, “I haven’t slept in 24 hours. I’ve been trying to get these guys extended refugee status documents, passports, and visas, which is not an easy task. Arranging this trip has been the biggest production of my life: what we’ve managed to achieve in three weeks would normally take four years, so I need to thank Minister Naledi Pandor, The Department of Home Affairs and the American embassy for coming through for us.”

Written and directed by acclaimed American commercials director Bryan Buckley of Hungry Man, Asad is set in a war-torn fishing village in Somalia and follows a 12-year-old boy who must decide between falling into the pirate life and rising above it to become an honest fisherman.

Asad has scooped awards from 13 festivals around the world and has just received a glowing endorsement for Nobel Prize winner and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

Tutu says, “South Africa is a relatively young democracy only recently emerged from the shackles of tyranny and prejudice. We have much to learn and we also have much to teach. Asad is at once a painful reminder of the xenophobia that shamefully still exists in South Africa and a heartwarming tribute to our special ability as members of the human family to heal ourselves.”

The short film was sparked in part by a United Nations short documentary, No Autographs, which brought Buckley and his producer Mino Jarjoura to refugee camps in Kenya and Sudan in the summer of 2010.

Filming in Somalia would have been too dangerous, so the short was brought to Rafiq and The Asylum (now Egg Films Service) to shoot in Paternoster in the Western Cape.

Spoken in Somali with English subtitles, Asad stars an all-refugee cast, headed by Harun (14) and Ali (12). The brothers reside just outside Cape Town with their parents and 13 brothers and sisters. Before filming started, neither Harun nor Ali spoke English, so Buckley and Jarjoura had to deploy a translator. The boys had also never attended school, so they were illiterate and had to memorize their lines without a script or written point of reference.

“These two kids were diamonds in the rough,” Rafiq says. “But if you’ve seen the performances, they shine much brighter than any diamond I have ever seen in my entire life.”

Tutu agrees. “The young Somali actors Harun and Ali Mohamed are the stars of a compelling show. They are also real life stars in an inspirational South African story about hope and reconciliation. So are the filmmakers – South African Rafiq Samsodien and the US partners Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura. Before Asad the children had never attended school; now, thanks to the director, they have received catch-up private tuition and enrolled in a home school system. They are being equipped to contribute to our shared South African future. Their film has been nominated to receive an Oscar. They deserve two Oscars: one for the creative endeavor and the other for contributing to our collective understanding of our dependence on one another.”

All prize money Asad receives from festivals goes towards the boys’ school expenses. Since March 2012, the boys have progressed from illiteracy to excelling in the fourth grade, in English.

Rafiq thanked everyone who made the children’s trip to the Oscars possible, including Melanie Mahona at The Provincial Government of The Western Cape, Nils Flaatten at Wesgro, The City of Cape Town, Myatt International, Woolworths, Dr. Anwar Nagiah, Marcel Golding, Tahir Salie, Munier Parker and Oryx Media, and The National Film and Video Foundation, who are sponsoring the flights and accommodation, among other costs.

The Academy Awards take place on 24 February 2012 at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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It was graced with the presence of notable photographers such as Yetunde Babaeko, Seun Akinsanmi, Body Lawson and a host of others. Four certificates of recognition were awarded by the club to Yetunde Babaeko, Seun Akisanmi, Olawale Ajao, and Orelaja Akeem for their contributions to modern photography.

The exhibition opened on the 16th of December 2012 with 22 photographers displaying about 100 works called photo-arts. We call them photo-arts for they are photographs that can be used as art decorations for homes, offices, restaurants, hotels, etc.

Such a peculiar photography exhibition has never been recorded in Nigeria before now, and all artworks have been up for sale by the photographers.

Although the official closing ceremony of the exhibition was the 20th of January 2013, due to demand, the photo-art exhibition continues till the end of February; works gradually leave the venue from this week. Those who still want a quick look, admiration, or purchase of the works can visit Eko Photo Club’s Facebook page.

The second edition for EPOE starts in December 2013 and as is characteristic of itself, spill into 2014. Call for entries will commence on September 2013.

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Any self confessed shopper will have spent a huge portion of their disposable income in Selfridges & Co, an international award winning department store in the United Kingdom with a “open to the world” philosophy. With an “up and coming”, busy and modern technology approach to retail, it has been embracing the multicultural UK society and more importantly, it’s’ biggest financial spenders.

Home to a large African Diaspora, the UK is a popular travel destination for Nigerians visiting friends and relatives, going on holidays or conducting business. More economically, it has become a shopping Mecca. In February last year, sales to Nigerians were up 50 per cent from 2011 in London shops. Selfridges & Co reported that their spending was up by over a quarter in 2011, and that Nigerians have been among its top 10 overseas shoppers for the past five years.

“Africa is growing from strength to strength and particularly in the last 12 to 18 months we’ve seen Nigeria come through incredibly strongly,” explains Sue West, director of operations at up-market London department store Selfridges & Co.

Whilst poverty in Nigeria is declining, only a small slice of Nigeria’s population can afford consumer goods, with most purchases coming from the very low end of the price spectrum. But consumption is steadily rising. According to the EIU report, by 2030, Africa’s top 18 countries could have a combined spending power of $1.3 trillion.

An Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report entitled “Africa: Open for Business,” forecasted a nearly 4% real GDP growth for Sub-Saharan countries Angola, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa for 2012, with average growth expected to hit 5% a year from 2013 to 2016. This steady progress has given rise to a growing middle class. Approximately 310 million people in Africa are classified as middle class according to a 2011 report by the African Development Bank, driving demand for products like mobile phones, televisions and fashion.

The Ndani project was collaboration between Selfridges & Co and Style House Files, which was to help the retailer engage with its growing number of Nigerian customers.

The Lagos-based fashion company opened the installation, giving Nigerian designers a chance to widen their market and showcase their creations outside the West Africa. Ndani, backed by Guaranty Trust Bank, presented the very best Spring-Summer 2013 pieces hand-picked from the runway shows of the most outstanding designers on the Lagos Fashion and Design Week schedule.

Omoyemi Akerele, director of Style House Files, says that Nigeria is an emerging market, with Nigerians are among the five biggest spenders at the department store.

“This will give our designers a platform, an opportunity for their pieces to be in Selfridges & Co, that’s a dream come true,” says Akerele. “For Selfridges & Co, on the other hand, it would endear their Nigerian customers — and not just Nigerian customers, African in general — more to the brand.”

Is this the beginning of bilateral fashion trade, between Nigeria, or Africa and the United Kingdom? Will Selfridges & Co benefit from the Ndani collaboration with the Nigeria local industry beacons like the Style House File, who can offer local knowledge and contacts? Or will it need more installations in the flagship store before it opens its store in Abuja? It looks like there are exciting prospects ahead.

The post Did The Ndani Collaboration Put Nigerian Retail Markets On A Platform? appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

According to the Nigerian born and London-based fashion maestro, “There was something about this T-shirt that stood out for me. I just had to have it. I went back home and pestered my mum for the money to buy the T-shirt which she gave to me. The occasion came to wear this T- shirt as it was church time on Sunday. It was worn with pride and almost a sense of knowing. Almost as if one were to predict the future – for on the front of the T- shirt were the words printed boldly “I’M REALLY FAMOUS.”

Adebayo started making shirts from newspapers which were held together with tapes and glue. He would make his younger ones put them on and have mock fashion shows. Even while he was at the University, where he had his first fashion show, Adebayo said “I knew then that after my degree this had to be my world. Just like the T-shirt I had when I was twelve -I just had to have this.”

Today, Adebayo is regarded as the Godfather of African Fashion in the United Kingdom as he had built a name for himself both at home and abroad. The media and critics of the fashion industry describe him as the KING OF COUTURE – for the individuality of his piece speaks for him in the international fashion community.

He is renowned for creating his own fabrics and presenting the most lavish and luxurious collections of gowns, his new bridge couture prêt, a porter collection also reflects the style and the elegance that has defined his career over the years while his success has opened doors for others in his field.

As one of the leading African designers in Europe; Adebayo Jones is known for creating the most luxurious and luscious fabrics, ranging from silks to brocades, velvets, chiffon’s organza’s, crochets and damask while presenting a fine, clean and classic lines. The fashion genius outstanding designs in formal wear and wedding dresses are second to none. His designs are often described as glamorous, elegant, magnificent, rich and mind blowing that are fit for royalty.

His influences, he says are from his travels, art, surroundings and also from the subconscious. “I have always loved fashion. It has always been my childhood dream. It was also my mother’s profession and I grew up seeing her make outfits for clients and particularly my elder sister. I had my sketch book with me always in school and would draw fashion sketches nonstop. University was no different either. I designed my outfits even when I was in school. I saved my pocket money and bought fabrics and designed my shirts and trousers. I always wanted to stand out. In school we took part in what was then called fashion parade. I was always involved if it had to do with fashion.”

Adebayo’s famous clients include singer/actress Patti Boulaye, TV star Sally Familoe, Miss World 2001 winner Agbani Darego, TV cum stage star Faith Brown and celebrity stylist Janet Ginnings. He has also designed and styled gowns for several winning Miss Nigeria contestants and for some finalists at the Miss Universe pageants.

In the past, Adebayo has worked for different brands including a company that line up Hollywood top celebrities on their books from Tina turner, Diana Ross to Shirley Bassey. He has also worked with Britain’s Katherine Hamnett CBE, a two time British Designer of the Year.

At the home front, Adebayo formerly worked with HRH Erelu Abiola Dosumu, who in the 80′s had opened her shop “Talala” on New Bond street where he once worked as an intern.

However, as he once told Yalda magazine, starting out was small. Having completed his first degree in humanities at the University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1985, Adebayo proceeded to a fashion college in London (London Central School of Fashion) to acquire a formal and requisite training for his first love – fashion design.

His fashionpreneur stint has not been one without storm. According to Adebayo “Some have been incredibly wonderful and others have been heart-wrenchingly painful. I have known comfort as well as desertion. I have seen love as well as betrayal. I have known grace and the loss of loved ones. I have seen kindness.” In spite of this he said “All these varied experiences in pursuit of this dream and from every experience, the totality of a blessing has been gained. It is refreshing to know that I am never alone and can stand at all times, for if God be for me, nothing can work against me. I have become stronger and refined.”

He will be quick to say that his grace for resilience has worked for him. To him, “Failure is not in falling, it is in not getting up to fight again.”

Perhaps what has helped him so far is his resilience in what he does as he once acknowledged that for each piece he created, Passion, dedication, time, and a great deal of love and sacrifice go into it. “The need for an identity and signature to be embedded in the garment is important, so when someone sees a garment, they can tell immediately that’s an Adebayo Jones.”

Adebayo believes details will set your work apart.

The maestro recently celebrated 25 years in the fashion industry at the Africa Fashion Week London (AFWL) which was held at the London Spitalfields Market Halls to African and African inspired designers all over the world where he showcased his work to a 10,000 strong audience in London’s hip Shoreditch district this August, 2012.

Will he have been doing something else aside fashion, Adebayo said in an interview, “Fashion has always been a lifelong passion for me. As far back as I remember my dream has always been to explore, innovate and push the boundaries of new thought and creativity where fashion is concerned. From the conception of an idea to realizing, the end product gives one a buzz and satisfaction that cannot be quantified.”

Nevertheless, the fashion genius shares an equal passion for food and music. He sings and writes gospel songs. The fashion genius in his university days once belong to a group called the Ayoro voices. He sang at Isha and Arne Johansen’s wedding in Freetown. He also sang with a live band when he collected the Male Lifetime Achievement Award at BETTFA 2011 Awards.

As a foodie, he has a passion for exploring foods and has future plans to do something in the food industry as well.

On the reason for making London his business domain, Adebayo acknowledged that techniques, skills, availability of resources to function at one’s best is a very important catalyst to his brand’s success and there are limitations sometimes in operating back home as even the littlest of things like finding good quality zips which would not snap and embarrass your brand and your client in a situation can be tasking. He argued that basically most of those with successful brands back home do the shopping from abroad.

Adebayo, however, believes fashion can be a tool for development in Nigeria and in Africa. He said “Fashion is a huge industry. It is a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. There are economies that boast a great percentage of their revenue from the fashion industry. Nigerians was responsible for the second highest revenue documented for fashion in the UK.

Egypt is noted for her cotton as well as manufacturing. Egyptian cotton is easily the most covetable worldwide and does not come cheap either when purchasing fashion products made from it. It is highly esteemed and valued. Tunisia, Morocco etc are major manufacturing ports in North Africa. Morocco for leather goods, which are mainly exported to Europe and boast a base of factories for shirts, jeans and other fashion separates that produced for major international brands worldwide.”

“Considering how much fashion is a huge and integral part of Nigerian life, the right support, infrastructure set up, and a conducive atmosphere for factories to be able to operate with minimal obstructions, would not only create employment for thousands, should international brand begin looking in at such manufacturing bases and to take advantage of a massive workforce. It would also attract many investors both local and foreign. If we look in and put in the right infrastructure, it would be amazing opportunity for growth and investment as revenue can be realised in this industry.”

To fashionistas, Adebayo says, “If you do go into the industry … have a balance. Fashion has its excesses as well and be strong enough to say no to things that may be injurious to your health. I would rather be un-cool at a party than end in rehab later for one form of addiction or the other. Be yourself, eventually those who considered you un-cool then will in turn respect you.”

Not all is about making money. Adebayo Jones has over the years used his skills to support various charity Organisations by hosting charity fashion shows, and travelling the Globe in support of Organisations such The British Red Cross, UNICEF Children’s fund, Pink ball Fund, Support for Africa, Imperial Breast cancer Research Fund, Kanu Nwankwo heart foundation, The heart campaign among others. He has also contributed to Education both in the UK and abroad by working with various schools, colleges and universities in educating and training students for the fashion industry. His high-profiled company has also been a haven of employment to Nigerians and Africans in Diaspora.

He’s phenomenal success has been widely acclaimed all over the world and has received various international award to boot. In 2009, he was honored with the N4LIFE AWARD first special recognition for his outstanding contribution to fashion industry in the UK and for promoting the image of Nigeria positively through fashion on a global platform.

On the 29th of November 2009 at the Nigeria fashion awards held in Abuja Nigeria, Adebayo Jones won the BEST NIGERIAN DESIGNER IN DIASPORA AWARD; while in 2010, the designer was the recipient of three Fashion awards in the UK alone.

The veteran fashion designer is also a proud recipient of The BEFFTA MALE LIFETIME ACHIEMENT AWARD (2011), NEL AWARD for outstanding contribution to Fashion (2011). He has also won The Best Designer in Diaspora from three major organisations: CITY PEOPLE AWARDS ( 2006), NIGERIA FASHION AWARDS (2008), and SIDEVIEW STYLE AWARDS (2011).

The post Meet Africa’s Fashion Maestro, Adebayo Jones appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

Blackberry, the official technology partner of LFDW for the second consecutive year, developed a Style House Files (SHF) application which is now live on the BlackBerry App World, delivering live feeds and pictures from the show which kickstarts today in Lagos, and will hold till the 27th.

The app also reports event schedules and venue guides, supports online discussion forums, photo sharing and more.

MTN Lagos Fashion and Design Week brings together Nigerian fashion makers, industry, consumers and the media, to view new collections of innovative Nigerian designers.

Also at the show, Blackberry will be on hand to offer free device software upgrades and technical assistance.

Nigeria’s fast rising middle class has purchased over 2 million units of Blackberrys, drawing RIM to cultivate friendship with Africa’s second largest economy. In August, the smartphone maker officially opened a store in the heart of Lagos, the commercial hub of the Nigeria.

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Jakote, who was the first runner-up at Miss Tanzania 2006 competition, said the Kidoti brand is a reflection of her own image and personality. The label, she said is an authentic Tanzanian lifestyle brand founded in 2011.

Jokate asserts that her creation is inspired by a unique blend of African traditional costumes and modern outfits of both sexes. The Kidoti brand carries the tagline “Define Your Beauty”.

“I am pleased by the impact of the fashion brand that now tries to penetrate the Tanzanian market,” she said.

The beauty model expressed confidence on her newly introduced brand. “I am sure I will reach my target and dominate the industry. My brand’s vision is to transform the fashion industry. The brand will carry an array of products including the synthetic hair extensions, a clothing line, fashion accessories and cosmetics,” she said.

Jokate showcased her first creations at the Red Ribbon Fashion show, which was organised by Tanzania Mitindo House in December 1, last year; to ascertain the strength of the brand.

“I was very impressed due to the fact that my design thrilled many fashion show stakeholders,” she said.

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The much anticipated novel, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra, was released to the UK market on Thursday. Subsequent releases will be made in Achebe’s home country, Nigeria and the US on October 11, this year.

His new novel, which dubbed as a history and memoir, chronicles Achebe’s experience during the Nigerian Biafra civil war in the 1960s (1967-1970) as it affected his native eastern region descent, the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria. The gruesome civil war almost destroyed his nation leaving about one million people dead.

“There Was a Country is a distillation of vivid observation and considered research and reflection,” Achebe’s UK publisher, Allen Lane says.

“It relates Nigeria’s birth pangs in the context of Achebe’s own development as a man and a writer, and examines the role of the artist in times of war.”

During the Biafra war, Achebe acted as roving cultural Ambassador for the Biafran Republic when the south-eastern area tried to split from Nigeria in 1967. Although he has not make any literary contribution on the event over the years, echoes of his thought on the issue are seen occasionally in some of his writings including his collection Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems.

Experts believe that the release of a Biafra memoir at this time by Achebe is urgently needed in a country that remains deeply fractured on other levels, despite the book’s focus on events that happened more than four decades ago.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with 160 million people, groups and about 250 ethnic groups. It is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south. Despite this uniqueness in diversity, the country has been plagued with speculation of splitting as there has been a notable disputes that has had immeasurable impact on the country’s independence since 1960.

A history professor at Nigeria’s Lagos State University, said Dapo Thomas, said that “Achebe is sustaining the debate on integration, on unity and on oneness.”

“Until there is a sovereign agreement from the peasants to the elite that we want to remain as one, we must continue that debate. A nation cannot remain comatose while these issues are unresolved.”

Achebe is widely known for his revered book, Things Fall Apart, which centers on the collision between British colonial rule and Igbo traditional society has been translated in 50 languages was published 54 years ago. The book has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.

He remains a respected figure in Nigerian and African literature.

“Just as we read Shakespeare, it’s not possible for any student in this department to graduate without reading the works of Chinua Achebe,” said the head of the English department at the University of Lagos, Adeyemi Daramola.

His legacy is secure in Nigeria but his absence has been felt, said Daramola.

“For Achebe to have been away for so long, we have indeed missed him.”

The 81-year-old veteran relocated to the United States after his accident in 1990 which has left him immobilized in a wheel chair. He is now a Professor at Brown University in Rhode Island.

He is credited as having played a seminal role in the founding and development of African literature. He has indeed continue to have an revered seat among world writers not only because of his storytelling gift but for his talent as a critical thinker and essayist who has written extensively on questions on the role of culture in Africa and the socio-political significance of aesthetics and analysis of the post-colonial state in Africa.

He was the founding editor of the Heinemann African Writers Series. Achebe also edited the University of Nsukka journal Nsukkascope, founded Okike: A Nigerian Journal of New Writing and, assisted in the founding of a publishing house, Nwamife Books–an organization responsible for publishing other ground breaking work by award-winning writers.

Achebe has been honoured with awards like: The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2010), Man Booker International Award (2007), UNESCO Fellowship for Creative Artists (1960) as well as a Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

The post Chinua Achebe Releases Long-Awaited Memoir appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

Having started how own design company, Christie Brown Ltd, in 2008, Obuobi went from making clothes for her friends and family to being a designer for Africa’s elite. As African designs gain popularity over the world, thanks in part to being worn by the likes of Michelle Obama and Beyonce, Obuobi is ideally placed to take advantage of a sector that looks set for growth. In 2009 she won the coveted “Emerging Designer of the Year award” at Arise Fashion Week in South Africa, while she was the only Ghanaian designer to be chosen to showcase at Paris Fashion Week.

At the heart of Obuobi’s success is employing skills that she learnt at a young age and experimenting with the traditional prints to reinvigorate them and re-attract people to African designs. “My grandmother was a seamstress so, from my youth, I was surrounded by pieces of rich, vibrant African prints and quickly learnt to appreciate the wonders of elegant design,” she says. “When I was slightly older, I would save old clothes and alter them in funky, unique ways to update and personalise my wardrobe; friends would often compliment the work I’d done so I gradually gained confidence in transforming my ideas into wearable pieces.”

This desire to see more experimentation with African prints in Ghana and across the rest of Africa was what inspired the 2008 launch of Christie Brown, named after her grandmother. Obuobi believed that there were opportunities to be had in persuading people that African design could once more be new and interesting, and that more people could be persuaded to wear African prints if the design was approached from a new angle. “The material was mostly used in very traditional ways and I knew that I could think of more interesting, modern designs in which to incorporate the gorgeous prints,” she says. “I wanted people to be re-inspired by African prints; I wanted to cultivate fresh appeal for them.”

Her label has come a long way since. The brand has seen its international appeal grow, and this success has been acknowledged in a number of magazine features, both on the African continent and abroad. Obuobi’s designs have featured in internationally renowned magazines, such as Grazia, Marie Claire, Destiny and Arise. Obuobi herself was invited to sit on a panel at the African Economic Forum at Columbia University in New York.

Christie Brown recently launched in Lagos at Temple Muse as part of the brand’s growing expansion plans into the rest of Africa. Plans are afoot to expand out of Africa also. “After two years of success in Ghana, the brand has penetrated the Nigerian market, with me as a Nigerian-based partner, completely dedicated to driving the brand forward,” Obuobi says. “We are now stocked exclusively at luxury boutique, Temple Muse, and we currently have deals in the works to stock the brand at a series of exclusive boutiques in Holland and to begin sale of our accessories line in the US.”

Obuobi is ambitious for Christie Brown to expand even further, and even suggests that there may be a possibility of the company launching a men’s wear line in the future.

“At Christie Brown, we have a clear set of long-term goals and a concrete strategy for expansion of the business,” she says. “Already, the company is growing at a fast pace. We’ve trained and retained more expert craftsmen. Things are extremely promising and I’m confident that, with the loyalty of our amazing clients and the support of Christie Brown fans across the globe the brand will only flourish.”

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